Trailer: The Youth Development Center
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Andy Perkins wanted to get it right, to keep all the memories straight. So he wrote it down. In three Word documents, Andy typed out a personal history of his time at a place called YDC, the Youth Development Center. Andy had just reached out to some lawyers, and he figured it would be important to get all the stories together in one place. I'm worried I didn't put something in that would be needed. I'm worried I'll hear that I didn't get all the stories in the correct order or something crazy like that.

These things happen. It was 30 years ago. I remember these things extremely vividly. This is the first time Andy has talked about any of this publicly. It would be hard for anyone. But it's an especially big deal because the place Andy's talking about, YDC, it's New Hampshire's state-run juvenile jail. And yet, for decades, it's been close to impossible to know what's really going on in there. Because they take kids, most of the records are confidential.

It's been 30 years since Andy left YDC, but a few years ago, he saw something on the news. Something that made him realize he was far from the only one with a story. The horror of the whole thing is not what they did to us. It's just nobody believed us. It's become a breeding ground. You might as well call it a production company of antisocial behavior. What I wanted was to hear somebody look me in the eye and say, I'm sorry.

I'm Jason Moon, and I'm going to take you inside YDC, a place that boys and girls were forced by court order to live in, that was supposed to nurture them, that instead hurt them in some of the worst ways imaginable. A place that for decades was a black box that people are finally seeing into. And what they're finding is absolutely shocking. How did this happen? How did it finally come to light? I'll show you.

From New Hampshire Public Radio, the Youth Development Center. Coming June 26th. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts.