N.L. youth centre grappling with crumbling infrastructure, rodents and mould, documents reveal
Access-to-information request reveals looming problems at the Whitbourne detention centre
A collection of emails, meeting minutes and inspection reports reveal severe infrastructural and capacity problems at the Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Centre in Whitbourne, raising concerns about safety at the province's only detention facility for minors.
CBC has obtained documents dating back to January 2023 that refer to failing infrastructure, severe leaks, and the existence of mice and mould — similar to problems seen at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, the province's largest adult corrections centre.
The documents suggest the disrepair is long-standing, refer to some units as "uninhabitable" and disclose concerns brought forward by youth about safety. Two youth residents have pursued legal action, according to the documents.
The facility houses and provides education to young people from Grade 7 to Grade 12, who are waiting for trial or are serving time for offences.
As late as December 2024, the centre reached capacity. Justice Department administrator Trudy Smith emailed Ron Walsh, the building's system manager, asking about the potential to repair one of the building's units to make more space.
The facility has six units in total. Units 4, 5 and 6 have not been maintained by the Transportation and Infrastructure Department.
Smith also writes that there are residents living in Units 1, 2A, 2B and in Unit 3 that must be separated by court order because of mental health and safety needs.
Smith writes that not having enough space to separate residents "can make operations unsafe for youth and staff."
Rising youth incarceration
Adrienne Peters, a criminologist who studies youth, said the centre's disrepair is shocking, but that she's not surprised. She has tried to do research at the youth centre, but says the Justice Department has kept the door locked shut.
What these documents reveal sounds similar to what's happening at HMP, but it's perhaps more concerning because it involves youth, Peters said.
Peters says there has been an uptick in youth offending across the country.
She said removing children from their community can be detrimental, but then going into an unsafe environment can increase stress levels.
"What's concerning is the environments that they're then expected to spend time in," said Peters.
"For some kids, it feels like survival, right?" said Peters. "I cannot imagine spending more than ... half a day in any place like that without [it] having a major impact on my health and well-being."
The Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act came into effect in 2003, with the intention of reducing the "overuse of incarceration, particularly for young people," explained Peters.
Peters said during the early 2000s, research was coming out demonstrating the negative effects of incarceration on youth development. Since then, it's been in decline — until recently.
"This is the first time in my life where we have to say there's a shift now, and we are seeing an increase in criminalization across the board," she said, noting researchers haven't yet pinpointed a cause.
Those statistics echo a warning last fall from the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association about rising violence in schools across the province. The union cited a recent report that revealed a 29 percent increase in physical violence attacks in 2024 compared to a year prior.
Peters said there could be a correlation between rising levels of violence and higher rates of youth incarceration
She said schools play a huge role in a child's development and that right now, there aren't many supports in place for youth experiencing neurodevelopmental conditions or trauma.
"If young people are frustrated and ... don't have the emotional regulation to go along with the feelings that they have … then violent reactions are unfortunately sometimes normative, particularly within traumatized persons," said Peters.
Staff bring buckets to use the bathroom
The youth centre's capacity issues have been aggravated by failing infrastructure, the documents reveal. In a December email, Smith also wrote that Unit 3 was without water, requiring staff to bring in buckets to use the bathroom.
The infrastructural issues at the centre did not stop there, with a January 2023 note about water ingress through a window.
"Looks like something is growing on the wall," said the work order request.
The documents obtained by CBC News include meeting minutes from the centre's health and safety committee meetings.
A meeting held on April 21, 2023, discusses leaks, broken locks and doors, a cracked window, dangling electrical cords, a broken water drain, a broken exhaust pipe, and heating issues.
Over a year later, a meeting held on Sept. 24, 2024, discussed the exact same issues, also adding concerns about a broken security camera, an uncleaned ventilation system, and a fly infestation in one of the units.
In September 2023, an inspector also found issues with roof leaks, calling them "persistent," and calling for a roof repair due to potential mould and mildew. The inspector recommended a roof replacement.
Again, an inspector reported ongoing leaks on Nov. 14, 2024.
Youth take legal action
Shawn Hillyard, a social worker working at the centre, sent an email to Smith on Feb. 20, 2023, stating that the youth felt the living conditions in units 1 and 2 feel unsafe, "due to the structural integrity of the facility."
One of the incarcerated young people, he said, had complained about water damage, mice feces and mould in the bathroom, and a broken ceiling in Unit 2.
On the same day, Smith sent an email to Ron Walsh, the building's system manager, stating that two youths were pursuing legal action related to the facility's infrastructure problems.
Walsh responded that "all these issues are being addressed on an ongoing basis."
Over a year later, on June 27, 2024, Trudy Legge, a youth counsellor, alerted Smith again about these concerns. Legge said staff were worried about the extent of leaks in Unit 1, and said that the leaks are expanding into other rooms.
On Sep. 26, 2024, Lori-Ann Byrne from the province's child and youth advocate office emailed Smith and Hillyard urging them to examine air quality due to concerns raised by youth about high temperatures during the summer months.
Peters says drastic changes are needed to fix these problems.
"We need to take a step back and think about the current structure of these institutions and then the funding of that as well," said Peters.
She also thinks the social issues that lead to youth crime and solutions need to be examined, including community-based supports and therapeutic environments.
"Individuals actually need to be able to heal and be rehabilitated," she said. "The government, I think, really needs to think about the long-term costs of not doing something sooner."
In a statement, the provincial department of transportation and infrastructure told CBC News that design work for a new roof for units one through four is underway and main building roof replacement was done in three phases between 2014 and 2018.
The centre's current capacity is 28, but units five and six are "unoccupied and not salvageable for use," the statement said.
"A pest control contract in place that addresses rodent issues and staff conduct daily inspection checks. Also, there is regular inspection of the facility for surface mould and nothing of this nature has been detected to date," it said.
The province can't speak specifically about the youth in the centre, including legal matters they may be involved in, the statement added.
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