PORTLAND (WGME) — Multiple investigations are underway, and two senior officials have resigned, after a series of violent clashes between residents and staff at Long Creek Youth Development Center.

Advocates allege staff members are using dangerous restraints, and on Friday, the Maine Department of Corrections responded with a plan to improve safety.

“This system is dangerous and no place for children,” said Representative Charlotte Warren, D-Hallowell, who chairs the legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

She said reports coming out of Long Creek are disturbing.

This month, Disability Rights Maine sent a letter to the Department of Corrections with “urgent concerns about the health and safety of youth at Long Creek.”

It says staff used the dangerous “prone restraint” on six youth in the span of one hour, holding one juvenile in that position for over 28 minutes.

Other examples include using chokeholds and responding in riot gear.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty says there have been five incidents between residents and staff in less than two months.

He says 80 percent of residents are high-risk individuals who have committed serious crimes like gross sexual assault and robbery.

“They may flip a table over, grab a table leg and threaten staff with it, then they damage property, breaking windows, breaking computers, busting into offices,” Liberty said.

Liberty says use of force is always reviewed. If there’s any question, it’s referred to the District Attorney’s Office, which is being done in this case.

“When we find inappropriate use of techniques, people are held accountable and that’s what we’re doing now,” Liberty said.

This week, the superintendent of Long Creek and head of Juvenile Services both resigned.

Liberty says the department is teaming up with the Center for Children’s Law and Policy, a national organization, for a comprehensive review of operations.

They’re also looking to add more behavioral health clinicians and re-train staff.

“This is certainly a spike in these incidences and we’re doing everything we can to reduce that,” Liberty said.

Warren and other lawmakers are calling on Governor Janet Mills to set a date and close Long Creek.

A spokesperson for the governor says the facility is needed to accept youth who can’t be placed elsewhere, and she’s committed to juvenile justice reforms signed into law earlier this year.