A former longtime guard at Maine’s only youth prison was charged with assault last year for allegedly putting a teenager in a headlock and lifting him off the ground.
John Emerton, 44, of Gray, was charged with misdemeanor assault last winter. He has denied the charge in court, although the episode triggered a state licensing board to revoke his ability to serve as a corrections officer in Maine again.
The use of force against teens in Long Creek Youth Development Center has drawn scrutiny in recent years as guards have tried to tame cycles of unrest at the South Portland prison, sometimes with controversial methods. But Emerton’s case is the first known time that prosecutors have criminally charged a guard for conduct inside the prison.
The pending criminal case is not Emerton’s first brush with the criminal justice system since he started working at Long Creek, however. He has been convicted of drunk driving twice, most recently in 2023. He was on his second period of probation when he allegedly assaulted the teen in 2024, according to public documents obtained by the Bangor Daily News.
Emerton has not been employed by the Maine Department of Corrections, which operates Long Creek, since last February. His employment ended shortly after a criminal investigator for the department issued him a summons for assault, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. Jill O’Brien, a department spokesperson, declined to discuss details of his employment other than to confirm he no longer worked for Long Creek.
The BDN attempted to reach Emerton at a phone number listed in court paperwork but it had been disconnected. A reporter attended his most recent court date in December, but he did not show up. His criminal defense lawyer, Sheila McLaughlin, could not be reached for comment. Last Tuesday, a judge sanctioned her for her failure to appear with her client at his two most recent court dates.
In July, the Maine Criminal Justice Academy’s board of trustees, which oversees the certifications for all Maine law enforcement and corrections officers, revoked his certification for the conduct at the center of his pending assault case. The board has the authority to revoke licenses for conduct that constitutes a crime using a burden of proof that is lower than the reasonable doubt standard prosecutors must meet in court.
On July 9, 2024, Emerton placed a 16-year-old in a headlock while he and two other Long Creek officers were removing a mattress from the boy’s room, according to a written decision revoking his corrections certification. Emerton “wrapped his arms around [the teen’s] neck and pulled [his] head against his torso,” lifting the teen’s feet off the floor, the document says.
A corrections investigator found that Emerton’s conduct constituted an inappropriate use of force, the record shows. The department notified the academy of the finding in December, 2024, and an investigator summoned him for assault in late January.
Emerton began working at Long Creek in 2007, only a few years after the South Portland prison opened. His tenure spanned dramatic changes and cycles of tumult, as correctional leaders dramatically reduced the number of kids sent to prison while staff struggled to meet the severe mental health and behavioral needs of the remaining population.
In July 2014, Westbrook police arrested Emerton for operating under the influence. He was later convicted. The criminal justice academy placed his certification on a three-year probation after he completed a substance use counseling program.
In September 2021, Emerton was found unconscious behind the wheel of his vehicle, which left the road and hit a tree in Scarborough, according to academy records. His blood alcohol was over the legal limit. He was again charged for operating under the influence, pleading guilty to the charge in late 2022. A second count was dropped after he completed a court program for second-time offenders. Long Creek also suspended him for a week without pay that April, according to a discipline record.
The academy allowed Emerton to enter into another three-year probationary agreement in June 2023 that required him to abstain from alcohol for a year and attend counseling. The agreement, which noted that Emerton had met with the board and expressed responsibility and remorse for his actions, also required him to notify the board within three days of any new criminal charges.
The last known case that prosecutors examined the use of force by Long Creek guards was in 2021 after a watchdog group raised the alarm over the guards’ use of prone restraints to quell a series of violent disturbances that rocked the prison that summer.
The unrest prompted an outside investigation that criticized the state for failing to address dangerous conditions and a failed legislative effort to ban the tactic, but the Cumberland County prosecutors decided not to bring charges against Long Creek staff after reviewing the conduct. (District Attorney Jackie Sartoris did not respond to an inquiry on Friday about whether prosecutors have brought other cases that have not been publicized.) A review of closed academy cases shows no Long Creek employees have been seriously disciplined since 2019.
Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland, who sponsored the bill to ban prone restraints and wants to close Long Creek, referred to the 2021 ordeal on Tuesday during a briefing with corrections officials about a series of escapes from the prison over the summer.
“It’s heartening that the DOC and prosecutors are taking this case seriously,” he said on Friday of the Emerton case. “But the episode just underlines that Long Creek is an inherently violent institution and not a place to keep kids.”
