Miramichi centre| Teen: We're served dated food; bugs can be found in cells

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A young man at the New Brunswick Youth Centre in Miramichi says he's living in hell.

CENTRE OF CONTROVERSY: New Brunswick child and youth advocate Bernard Richard says he’s received complaints about the New Brunswick Youth Centre in Miramichi.

Bugs in his cell, a lack of activity time, threats and expired food products are some of the things he said he lives with every day.

The youth, who can't be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has several months left on his sentence.

But he said he doesn't know how much longer he can stand being there.

"I get it. We are incarcerated and are paying for what we did, but this is supposed to be a place that rehabilitates us," the young man said.

"People need to know what we're going through in here. Even though we got ourselves in trouble, I think we should still have rights."

New Brunswick child and youth advocate Bernard Richard said he has concerns about the facility too, but for different reasons.

The facility is overcrowded, has adult inmates and is too much like a prison, Richard said.

"The centre is not doing the job it was intended to do and unfortunately, its philosophy seems to have changed over the years," Richard said.

"It is currently too much like a prison than a treatment centre for rehabilitating at-risk youth and having adults there flies in the face of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child."

The New Brunswick Youth Centre is under review following the death of 19-year-old Ashley Smith.

The Moncton girl was found unconscious and later died after a suicide attempt in an Ontario facility five months ago.

She spent three years in the Miramichi facility.

"The people coming in to do the review aren't getting a clear picture of the conditions here," said the young man at the centre.

"It's like they are doing all this stuff to make themselves look better for the review and we're stuck scraping (feces) and pencilled markings off the walls that some of us didn't even do because they want to make (the centre) look better than it is."

The incarcerated youth said the facility is being painted, cupboard doors replaced and the inmates have been asked to clean the cells and create a "motivational" mural.

Richard said he received complaints about the cleaning, but was well aware of the conditions at the centre before the Smith investigation began.

He said his office does regular reviews of the facility and has concerns about it.

"The biggest problem I see, is a significant number of the youth should not be at the centre because it is not set up to deal with serious behavioural issues," Richard said. "It doesn't have a psychologist or child psychiatrist on staff and it should not have adults there."

Chrystiane Mallaley, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety which oversees the centre, defended the facility.

She said it has room for at least seven more youth and the adults are in a separate building.

"We've received no recent reports about problems with the conditions in the centre and make sure, upon arrival, all youth are informed of their ability to contact the child and youth advocate should they have any concerns," Mallaley said.

"The entire facility is inspected every day and we follow the strict requirements of the Department of Health in that regard."

The centre has regular maintenance and cleaning, Mallaley said.

While there is an overcrowding problem in the adult units, none of the youth have to share cells, Mallaley said.

"The health and safety of all those in our custody is very important," she said.

"We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that it is a safe and healthy environment."