An attorney says the man who filed the first of nearly 1,200 lawsuits alleging decades of abuse at New Hampshire’s youth detention center was treated like a “sex slave and punching bag.” Former detainee David Meehan’s allegations were outlined Tuesday as trial began in the litigation against the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Meehan, who spent three years at what was then called the Youth Development Center, returned to the Manchester facility for the first time in 25 years Tuesday afternoon, along with jurors who will decide whether the state is responsible for the abuse he alleges.

Eleven former state workers have been arrested and more than 1,000 other former residents have filed lawsuits of their own.