A school for troubled youth where a 17-year-old died last year owes Maryland more than $2 million, according to a lien filed by the state attorney general?s office.
The state loaned Bowling Brook Preparatory School the money over the past nearly 20 years, beginning in 1989, so the school could be built and renovated. But after Isaiah Simmons III was restrained there last year for about three hours and died, the school closed.
That violated the loans, according to the lien.
“There?s no bad blood here,” said Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for Attorney General Doug Gansler. “We just want what?s owed.”
The loans were approved by the Department of Juvenile Services with the understanding that the 54-acre property in Keymar would be used as a school for juveniles for the next 30 years.
But because the building stopped being used as a school for troubled youths, the money needs to be repaid, according to the lien, which was granted last year.
Courts in Maryland could order minors to Bowling Brook after they were convicted of a crime. The school was privately run on behalf of the state.
Simmons, for instance, was placed there after he was convicted of armed robbery.
But only two weeks later, after an outburst, he was held down, stopped breathing and died. His death drew national attention, and his family has called for felony and civil rights charges against the counselors. The counselors are charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment for allegedly failing to call 911 until 41 minutes after Simmons stopped breathing.
Matthew Murnane, attorney for the Bowling Brook board, did not return calls for comment.
Bowling Brook “does not intend to let this tragedy overshadow its accomplishments,” Murnane wrote in a March 2, 2007, letter to state officials.
It was a week before the school closed its doors forever.
