The attorney general’s office in New Hampshire has agreed to a $10 million settlement in the case of a man who claimed he was gang-raped in a stairwell at the state’s youth detention center in the 1990s. Michael Gilpatrick’s lawsuit against the state was set to be the second out of over 1,300 cases to go to trial, but both parties chose to settle out of court. The settlement amount is four times the maximum available through the state’s victim settlement fund for abuse claims, though it is less than half of what a jury awarded in a previous lawsuit. Gilpatrick, who was 14 when he was sent to the Youth Development Center in 1997, accused 10 staff members at the center of sexual and physical abuse in his lawsuit. The settlement allows him to avoid a potentially emotional court proceeding.
The new location now accommodates only individuals accused or convicted of the most serious violent crimes, with a smaller facility in place.
