Current and former lawmakers from both major parties are demanding accountability and change from state leadership and the Maryland National Guard after The Baltimore Sun uncovered repeated staff abuses of the vulnerable teens enrolled over the last six years in the state’s Guard-run camp for at-risk youth, the Freestate Challenge Academy.
Internal incident reports, investigative and disciplinary records, as well as criminal charges The Sun reviewed showed teens at the camp were subject to violent attacks 14 times since 2019. Nine of the attacks teens suffered were by the very staff charged with caring for them.
Calling the reports out of Freestate “deeply concerning and unacceptable,” Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, called for the program to take accountability for its failures and work to ensure its cadets were safe from harm in the future.
While the camp repeatedly dismissed staff who were violent with the 16- to 18-year-olds, each year, more staff hit and humiliated the teens — or encouraged them to hurt one another. Staff punched, slapped, and screamed at teens.
Two staff members were dismissed and charged with starting an after-hours “fight club” in which they encouraged the teens to beat each other. A lawsuit brought by one of the staff members, who alleged he was wrongfully dismissed from the camp, Marcus Lisbon, details that he and the other staffer participated in the fight club, beating the teens themselves.
A youth advocate and a clinical psychologist who studies youth and violence told The Sun the reports of regular abuse indicated staff training was insufficient.
Lisbon’s fellow staffer, Michael Roundtree, wrote to Adjutant Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead, who heads the Maryland National Guard after his dismissal, alleging the same. The letter was included in Lisbon’s suit against the Maryland Military Department.
“During my brief time at Freestate, I have always put my best efforts to fulfill my job responsibility,” his fellow staff member, Michael Roundtree, said in the letter. “Without having the proper training in policy and procedure, I was left to model myself after the example of my leadership, but to no avail. It led me on a path of unprofessional and self-destructive behavior. While this is no excuse … it did directly affect my understanding and knowledge of how to properly perform my duties.”
Lisbon referred The Sun to his lawyer, who hung up on a journalist. Roundtree did not respond to a request for comment.
State ‘failed’ Freestate teens
“When these things fail, they fail the victims in three ways,” said former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich, a Republican. “It’s a bad investment of taxpayer dollars, state and federal, and you’ve failed these kids. You’ve made them worse and you’ve made the streets more unsafe. It’s lose-lose-lose.
“There’s so many related issues — challenged families, failing schools, troubled kids, drugs. Sometimes, you’re creating a more dangerous kid who’s going to end up in the adult system,” Ehrlich said.
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, declined to comment on the abuses The Sun reported, or say if there were plans to improve staff training or implement stricter hiring standards.
Birckhead closed Freestate in September after an inspection by a National Guard representative found the facility inadequate to house the teens; the Maryland Guard has said it plans to reopen Freestate after renovations are completed.
But state leaders, past and present, say Freestate needs to make significant changes to its culture before reopening.
“The Challenge Academy serves especially vulnerable young people,” Alsobrooks said. “I, alongside our federal delegation, expect to see full accountability for these horrific acts and a plan of action that will prevent such violence from happening once the Academy reopens.”
Her counterpart, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, called on the Guard to implement stronger hiring and training practices before reopening the camp.
“I have been deeply troubled by reports that call into question the ability of Freestate Challenge Academy to provide its cadets with a quality education in a safe environment,” Van Hollen said to The Sun in a statement. “While I’ve been encouraged to see some accountability, the persistent pattern of violence that has been demonstrated is simply not acceptable. The Maryland National Guard must ensure full accountability for these actions.”
Van Hollen told The Sun in November he was in conversation with the Guard following earlier reporting about its duty to “ensure the physical safety and mental well-being of [Freestate] cadets.” He did not respond to a question asking what the conversation entailed or revealed.
‘A familiar story’
The Maryland Military Department and Maryland National Guard declined to tell The Sun what training Freestate staff are given for dealing with adolescents, what backgrounds they hire from and how staff are qualified to work with and reshape adolescent behavior.
“The current Maryland Military Department leadership remains committed to providing the safest possible environment for young people who choose to participate in the Freestate Challenge Academy,” said Maryland Military Department Public Affairs Manager Chazz Kibbler in November. “We take seriously any allegation of misconduct and acted quickly and appropriately whenever concerns were brought to our attention.”
The Challenge program is federally funded and free to attendees, created in 1993 using Department of Defense monies, but each Challenge Academy is overseen by its state’s Guard. Governors serve as the commander-in-chief of their state’s National Guard troops.
Ehrlich, who governed the state from 2003 to 2007, told The Sun these abuses were worrisome, but unsurprising.
“This has been a troubled agency for decades,” Ehrlich said. “It’s a familiar story for those of us in public service.
“The general concept of these tough-love, boot camps and all that, it’s a good idea and they have worked at certain times. But,” he said, “There’s some essential elements. You have got to have a sound plan, quality staff and leadership. In this case, all three appear to be lacking.
Ehrlich said he’d like to see joint leadership from the governor, the state secretary of the Department of Juvenile Services, and the General Assembly.
“This is all happening here,” Ehrlich said. “These are our kids.”
State leader urges public schools to avoid recommending Freestate
State Del. Lauren Arikan, a Republican in whose district resides Aberdeen Proving Ground, home to Freestate, told The Sun she was sharing the paper’s reporting with Harford County Public Schools and would encourage them to refrain from recommending the program to Harford County students and families.
“Until the public has a clear understanding of what kind of staff training there is and how the program intends to make sure this never occurs again through strengthened hurting processes, Harford County Public Schools should absolutely not be recommending this program as an option for our struggling students,” Arikan said.
A former Bel Air public school student who enrolled in the camp in 2022 told The Sun he was attacked by other teens in the middle of the night and beaten in the head with a homemade blackjack. Despite staff knowledge of earlier nocturnal attacks, he said, they did not maintain a consistent watch throughout the night, leaving the teens unattended for up to a half-hour at a time.
(The attack the former cadet, Nathanael Royal, described did not appear in the incident report records the program provided The Sun.)
“The public also deserves to understand why there have been repeated staffing failures leading to harm to kids. It’s beyond disturbing,” Arikan said. “Even one staff member behaving in such a manner should have launched a hiring process overhaul. The fact that multiple … employees have been fired over violent behavior is unacceptable.”
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