Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms - CNN -
>EDMOND, Okla. -- The Edmond School District is showing Eyewitness News 5 camera crews the seclusion rooms in schools that have become the center of a lawsuit.
The parents of Noah Ashford, 11, and their attorney said Noah was locked in one of the rooms and abused"This room is a small closet basically that they've turned into a form of punishment," said attorney Angela Smith.
The family said that Noah, a special-needs student, attended Centennial and Orvis Risner elementary schools in Edmond and was locked inside seclusion rooms in both.
(This is just a regular classroom," said Randy Decker of the Edmond School District. "Students with different needs would be in here.")
He said that special-needs students require special care. He said that's why special-needs classrooms have two areas where children can calm down.
"(One) is just kind of a seclusion or isolation area. It's not in a different room," Decker said. "As you can tell, it's blocked off a little bit. They can go in and sit down and do their work there."
(Ashford's family said Noah was mistreated and locked in one of the seclusion rooms for an extended period of time.)
(Decker said the room is automatically unlocked and a student could push the door open from the inside. He said that if a child seems violent or continues to act out, a teacher can push a red button that will keep the door locked as long as the teacher's hand is there.)
He said that the district sees the rooms as a good way to maintain a safe classroom environment for all the students and the rooms are allowed under the law. Decker said every time a student is placed in one of the rooms, the teacher has to fill out a form to document it.
Decker was not able to answer whether parents of special-needs students find out about the rooms when their child enrolls.
www.publicbroadcasting.net/.../State.School.Board.Bans.Seclusion.Rooms - You Can View The U-Tube At http://www.koco.com/r/24102603/detail.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Wisconsin.
By Chelsea Lawliss
Monday, April 12, 2010
In 2006, a 7-year-old girl was fatally injured at Rice Lake Day Treatment Clinic in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. A staff member held her in a prone position for an extended period of time after being put into a “cool down” room for refusing to stop blowing bubbles in her milk. A person several times her size held her facedown on the floor as a consequence for blowing bubbles. A medical examiner determined that she died from “complications due to chest compression asphyxiation.”
This is an extreme case of the misuse of seclusion rooms and restraints, but it is one that is not uncommon. This horrific story is only one of many that I came across when doing research about the debate about the use of seclusion rooms and restraints in an education setting. Each story was more awful than the one before it. Many children, especially those with disabilities, are being subjected to physically and emotionally damaging treatments because some teachers are not equipped with the necessary training and tools in which to establish the best learning environment for all of their students.
After reading Hannah Shtein’s March 12 column, “Address growing special ed needs” and Geoff Jara-Almonte’s March 16 column, “Student seclusion sometimes necessary,” I felt compelled to offer another viewpoint — that of a professional.
Professor Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Teacher Education and a distinguished scholar of special education, made her opinions clear at the onset of our interview: seclusion rooms, in the way they are currently being used, are wrong. This is not a statement based on biased opinions, but rather founded on her research and education on the causes and effects of punishment.
Nowhere in The Cap Times’ March 11 article, “Should schools use seclusion rooms, restraints?” was there mention of what the proper use of a seclusion room is. The focus, instead, was placed on “educators using these methods only as a last resort to keep children and staff safe.” According to professor Hanley-Maxwell, this focus is misdirected.
While the use of seclusion rooms is intended to keep students and others safe, the focus of this form of punishment should be more centered on how to modify a certain behavior and then reinforce subsequent positive behavior.
An important concept to understand is the relationship between punishment and reinforcement. According to LDonLine, the world’s leading website on learning disabilities and ADHD, “punishments are consequences that weaken behavior and reinforcers are consequences that strengthen behavior.” For behavior to be managed with consequences, there is a specific process that needs to be followed every time.
The problem must be defined in a way that is understood by the child. There needs to be a strategy designed to change the behavior and then an effective reinforcer needs to be identified and applied consistently to change the behavior.
*The reports of the misuse of seclusion rooms across the country are blatant proof of the lack of understanding of this process. To be clear, punishment that is used in an aggressive, cruel manner or overused will most likely provoke unexpected behavior that can be seen as emotional, destructive or just “another problem” to be dealt with.
Hanley-Maxwell said, “Without a positive incentive and environment to come back to, time spent in a seclusion room will be more detrimental than positive to a child’s emotional and physical well-being.”
http://badgerherald.com/oped/2010/04/12/seclusion_rooms_over.php
--------------------
NOTE>Mar 11, 2010 ... About two-thirds of Madison's public schools now use seclusion rooms; most also have teams of staff trained to use physical force to hustle ...
host.madison.com/.../article_1b3c4886-2bc8-11df-bd32-001cc4c03286.html -
-----------------------------
Monday, January 17, 2011
Jonathan King was 13 when he hanged himself inside a “seclusion room”
Dec 17, 2008 Jonathan King was 13 when he hanged himself inside a “seclusion room” at a Gainesville school for special needs children in 2004.
The unfurnished, 8-foot-by-8-foot room at the Alpine Psychoeducational Program was used for dealing with unruly children. The Kings say they never saw the room until his death and claim school officials kept them in the dark about its being used.
articles.cnn.com/.../seclusion.rooms_1_seclusion-autistic-children-special-education?_.
--------------------------------
Children Put In Seclusion Rooms (Locked From The Out Side & The Window Covered With Paper)
A report published earlier last year by the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) provided
additional examples, including one in which a 7-year-old Wisconsin girl, who was diagnosed with an
emotional disturbance and ADHD, died of suffocation after several adult staff pinned her to the
floor in a “prone restraint” because she was blowing bubbles in her milk.
A handful of earlier accounts also exposed the widespread use in schools of “seclusion rooms” or
“time-out rooms”–basically, solitary confinement cells for difficult-to-control children. Mary Hallowell
wrote about one such case in her 2009 book Forgotten Rooms. According to an article the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution:
Education researcher Mary Hollowell spent months chronicling an alternative high school in rural
Georgia before she discovered the awful secret that continues to haunt her today. Walking with the
principal down a hall, Hollowell heard a loud pounding. She followed the principal into a room and
then through a connecting doorway that led to a solitary confinement cell double bolted from the
outside.
“The cell was dark inside and had a small, square window,” she said. “It was the kind of set-up you
saw in a mental institution, not a school.” Inside the cell was a boy Hollowell recognized; she had
tutored him in reading and even had artwork from him. “I felt like I had been punched in the stomach
when I realized what I was seeing,” she says. “The principal’s comment to me was that most people
didn’t know this room was there.”
*As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: “Seclusion rooms are allowed in Georgia public
schools provided they are big enough for children to lie down, have good visibility and have locks
that spring open in case of an emergency such as a fire. In 2004, Jonathan King, 13, hanged himself in
one such room, a stark, 8-foot-by-8-foot ‘timeout’ room in a Gainesville public school.” Jonathan was
also a special ed student, who had ADHD and depression. He had talked about suicide to the
school psychologist, but she concluded it was “an escape or attention-getting technique,” according
to the Gainesville Times. A civil rights lawsuit brought by his parents was thrown out of federal court.
These are the sorts of abuses that H.R. 4247 seeks to address. And the pressing need for federal
legislation is clear from the GAO report: ”GAO found no federal laws restricting the use of
seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level,”
it said. In addition, “GAO could not find a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that
collects information on the use of these methods or the extent of their alleged abuse.”
Yet 153 members of Congress chose to vote against a law that would expose and limit what can in
some cases only be described as the torture of schoolchildren.
Perhaps not so shocking after all: In a country that condones torture not only in its military detention
centers, but in its state and federal prisons, immigration jails, and juvenile detention centers, it was
only a matter of time before it trickled down, even into our schools.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
School Seclusion Rooms Outrage Parents | NBC PhiladelphiaJul 28, 2009 ... Emotions ran high after austic children were placed in seclusion rooms at a West Chester school. Now parents want answers as to why ...
www.nbcphiladelphia.com/.../School_Seclusion_Rooms_Outrage_Parents_Philadelphia.html -
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(WABE: State School Board Bans Seclusion Rooms (2010-07-09)Jul 9, 2010 ... ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - The Georgia School Board has banned the use of "seclusion rooms" for students with behavior problems. )...
The unfurnished, 8-foot-by-8-foot room at the Alpine Psychoeducational Program was used for dealing with unruly children. The Kings say they never saw the room until his death and claim school officials kept them in the dark about its being used.
articles.cnn.com/.../seclusion.rooms_1_seclusion-autistic-children-special-education?_.
--------------------------------
Children Put In Seclusion Rooms (Locked From The Out Side & The Window Covered With Paper)
A report published earlier last year by the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) provided
additional examples, including one in which a 7-year-old Wisconsin girl, who was diagnosed with an
emotional disturbance and ADHD, died of suffocation after several adult staff pinned her to the
floor in a “prone restraint” because she was blowing bubbles in her milk.
A handful of earlier accounts also exposed the widespread use in schools of “seclusion rooms” or
“time-out rooms”–basically, solitary confinement cells for difficult-to-control children. Mary Hallowell
wrote about one such case in her 2009 book Forgotten Rooms. According to an article the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution:
Education researcher Mary Hollowell spent months chronicling an alternative high school in rural
Georgia before she discovered the awful secret that continues to haunt her today. Walking with the
principal down a hall, Hollowell heard a loud pounding. She followed the principal into a room and
then through a connecting doorway that led to a solitary confinement cell double bolted from the
outside.
“The cell was dark inside and had a small, square window,” she said. “It was the kind of set-up you
saw in a mental institution, not a school.” Inside the cell was a boy Hollowell recognized; she had
tutored him in reading and even had artwork from him. “I felt like I had been punched in the stomach
when I realized what I was seeing,” she says. “The principal’s comment to me was that most people
didn’t know this room was there.”
*As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: “Seclusion rooms are allowed in Georgia public
schools provided they are big enough for children to lie down, have good visibility and have locks
that spring open in case of an emergency such as a fire. In 2004, Jonathan King, 13, hanged himself in
one such room, a stark, 8-foot-by-8-foot ‘timeout’ room in a Gainesville public school.” Jonathan was
also a special ed student, who had ADHD and depression. He had talked about suicide to the
school psychologist, but she concluded it was “an escape or attention-getting technique,” according
to the Gainesville Times. A civil rights lawsuit brought by his parents was thrown out of federal court.
These are the sorts of abuses that H.R. 4247 seeks to address. And the pressing need for federal
legislation is clear from the GAO report: ”GAO found no federal laws restricting the use of
seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level,”
it said. In addition, “GAO could not find a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that
collects information on the use of these methods or the extent of their alleged abuse.”
Yet 153 members of Congress chose to vote against a law that would expose and limit what can in
some cases only be described as the torture of schoolchildren.
Perhaps not so shocking after all: In a country that condones torture not only in its military detention
centers, but in its state and federal prisons, immigration jails, and juvenile detention centers, it was
only a matter of time before it trickled down, even into our schools.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
School Seclusion Rooms Outrage Parents | NBC PhiladelphiaJul 28, 2009 ... Emotions ran high after austic children were placed in seclusion rooms at a West Chester school. Now parents want answers as to why ...
www.nbcphiladelphia.com/.../School_Seclusion_Rooms_Outrage_Parents_Philadelphia.html -
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(WABE: State School Board Bans Seclusion Rooms (2010-07-09)Jul 9, 2010 ... ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - The Georgia School Board has banned the use of "seclusion rooms" for students with behavior problems. )...
Kids Dieing FRom Abuse
Children Abused
A report published earlier last year by the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) provided
additional examples, including one in which a 7-year-old Wisconsin girl, who was diagnosed with an
emotional disturbance and ADHD, died of suffocation after several adult staff pinned her to the
floor in a “prone restraint” because she was blowing bubbles in her milk.
A handful of earlier accounts also exposed the widespread use in schools of “seclusion rooms” or
“time-out rooms”–basically, solitary confinement cells for difficult-to-control children. Mary Hallowell
wrote about one such case in her 2009 book Forgotten Rooms. According to an article the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution:
Education researcher Mary Hollowell spent months chronicling an alternative high school in rural
Georgia before she discovered the awful secret that continues to haunt her today. Walking with the
principal down a hall, Hollowell heard a loud pounding. She followed the principal into a room and
then through a connecting doorway that led to a solitary confinement cell double bolted from the
outside.
“The cell was dark inside and had a small, square window,” she said. “It was the kind of set-up you
saw in a mental institution, not a school.” Inside the cell was a boy Hollowell recognized; she had
tutored him in reading and even had artwork from him. “I felt like I had been punched in the stomach
when I realized what I was seeing,” she says. “The principal’s comment to me was that most people
didn’t know this room was there.”
*As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: “Seclusion rooms are allowed in Georgia public
schools provided they are big enough for children to lie down, have good visibility and have locks
that spring open in case of an emergency such as a fire. In 2004, Jonathan King, 13, hanged himself in
one such room, a stark, 8-foot-by-8-foot ‘timeout’ room in a Gainesville public school.” Jonathan was
also a special ed student, who had ADHD and depression. He had talked about suicide to the
school psychologist, but she concluded it was “an escape or attention-getting technique,” according
to the Gainesville Times. A civil rights lawsuit brought by his parents was thrown out of federal court.
These are the sorts of abuses that H.R. 4247 seeks to address. And the pressing need for federal
legislation is clear from the GAO report: ”GAO found no federal laws restricting the use of
seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level,”
it said. In addition, “GAO could not find a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that
collects information on the use of these methods or the extent of their alleged abuse.”
Yet 153 members of Congress chose to vote against a law that would expose and limit what can in
some cases only be described as the torture of schoolchildren.
Perhaps not so shocking after all: In a country that condones torture not only in its military detention
centers, but in its state and federal prisons, immigration jails, and juvenile detention centers, it was
only a matter of time before it trickled down, even into our schools.
A report published earlier last year by the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) provided
additional examples, including one in which a 7-year-old Wisconsin girl, who was diagnosed with an
emotional disturbance and ADHD, died of suffocation after several adult staff pinned her to the
floor in a “prone restraint” because she was blowing bubbles in her milk.
A handful of earlier accounts also exposed the widespread use in schools of “seclusion rooms” or
“time-out rooms”–basically, solitary confinement cells for difficult-to-control children. Mary Hallowell
wrote about one such case in her 2009 book Forgotten Rooms. According to an article the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution:
Education researcher Mary Hollowell spent months chronicling an alternative high school in rural
Georgia before she discovered the awful secret that continues to haunt her today. Walking with the
principal down a hall, Hollowell heard a loud pounding. She followed the principal into a room and
then through a connecting doorway that led to a solitary confinement cell double bolted from the
outside.
“The cell was dark inside and had a small, square window,” she said. “It was the kind of set-up you
saw in a mental institution, not a school.” Inside the cell was a boy Hollowell recognized; she had
tutored him in reading and even had artwork from him. “I felt like I had been punched in the stomach
when I realized what I was seeing,” she says. “The principal’s comment to me was that most people
didn’t know this room was there.”
*As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported: “Seclusion rooms are allowed in Georgia public
schools provided they are big enough for children to lie down, have good visibility and have locks
that spring open in case of an emergency such as a fire. In 2004, Jonathan King, 13, hanged himself in
one such room, a stark, 8-foot-by-8-foot ‘timeout’ room in a Gainesville public school.” Jonathan was
also a special ed student, who had ADHD and depression. He had talked about suicide to the
school psychologist, but she concluded it was “an escape or attention-getting technique,” according
to the Gainesville Times. A civil rights lawsuit brought by his parents was thrown out of federal court.
These are the sorts of abuses that H.R. 4247 seeks to address. And the pressing need for federal
legislation is clear from the GAO report: ”GAO found no federal laws restricting the use of
seclusion and restraints in public and private schools and widely divergent laws at the state level,”
it said. In addition, “GAO could not find a single Web site, federal agency, or other entity that
collects information on the use of these methods or the extent of their alleged abuse.”
Yet 153 members of Congress chose to vote against a law that would expose and limit what can in
some cases only be described as the torture of schoolchildren.
Perhaps not so shocking after all: In a country that condones torture not only in its military detention
centers, but in its state and federal prisons, immigration jails, and juvenile detention centers, it was
only a matter of time before it trickled down, even into our schools.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Texas Inmate's Death Prompts Investigation
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Texas_Inmates_Death_Prompts_Investigation_Firings.html
Texas Inmate's Death Prompts Investigation, Firings
Five county jailers have been fired in the wake of an investigation into an inmate’s death.
LONGVIEW (January 4, 2011)—The unexplained death of a Gregg County Jail inmate on Dec. 29 led to the termination of five jailers and brought on an intensive investigation.
Amy Lynn Cowling was arrested on outstanding misdemeanor warrants on Christmas Eve and later was found unresponsive in her cell on Dec. 29.
Cowling was taken to a Longview hospital where she was pronounced dead of an unknown cause.
The Tyler Morning Telegraph and the Longview News-Journal report
that officials say one of the fired jailers, Tomeka Cross, 34, has been charged with tampering with a government document for falsifying a jail log.
Cross so far has not commented on the accusations.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has also found the jail
in noncompliance in past inspections.
Gregg County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Claxton said in a statement
that the cause of death has not been determined for Cowling.
Texas Inmate's Death Prompts Investigation, Firings
Five county jailers have been fired in the wake of an investigation into an inmate’s death.
LONGVIEW (January 4, 2011)—The unexplained death of a Gregg County Jail inmate on Dec. 29 led to the termination of five jailers and brought on an intensive investigation.
Amy Lynn Cowling was arrested on outstanding misdemeanor warrants on Christmas Eve and later was found unresponsive in her cell on Dec. 29.
Cowling was taken to a Longview hospital where she was pronounced dead of an unknown cause.
The Tyler Morning Telegraph and the Longview News-Journal report
that officials say one of the fired jailers, Tomeka Cross, 34, has been charged with tampering with a government document for falsifying a jail log.
Cross so far has not commented on the accusations.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has also found the jail
in noncompliance in past inspections.
Gregg County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Claxton said in a statement
that the cause of death has not been determined for Cowling.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Alleged corruption at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility.
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201011230630/OPINION/11230302
The fallout from a federal lawsuit and a U.S. Justice Department probe of a Mississippi lockup for youths should come swiftly in the form of legislative hearings, but it remains to be seen if any action will be taken.
It's not as if state officials don't have a sort of roadmap for how to address the alleged corruption at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. The allegations come seven years after the U.S. Justice Department sued the state over its treatment of teen offenders housed at training schools.
The state eventually acknowledged wrongdoing in that earlier case and entered into a consent decree to make changes at Oakley Training School and Columbia Training School. Those changes resulted in Columbia's closure, and a reduced inmate population at Oakley, which now only houses the most violent offenders.
It could be argued the claims against Walnut Grove are particularly disturbing because some legislators had held it up as a model for how youth detention centers should be run. Opened in 2001, the facility was to offer inmates, aged 13 to 22, general education development, brick masonry, adult basic education and job skills training. The lawsuit filed last week by the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and Rob McDuff, a Jackson attorney, contends most of the 1,200 inmates at the lockup aren't even getting basic education.
The 376,000-square-foot facility in Leake County is overseen by the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, a group appointed by the town. The authority has a contract with the state to house the inmates. The authority then contracts with GEO Group, Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based private prison company, to operate the prison. Both the authority and GEO Group are named as defendants in the lawsuit, as well as Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and state Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham. The lawsuit centers on allegations of inmate abuse fueled by staff shortages and lax oversight. The same kind of environment was described in the training school probe.
House Juvenile Justice Committee Chairman Earle Banks, D-Jackson, said he wants to hold hearings on the allegations as soon as possible.
Banks said he wants to hear from parents of inmates, the operators of the facility, former inmates and former staff. But he said he already has some ideas for proposals geared toward rectifying the situation. For example, Banks wants to strengthen state laws pertaining to the notification of parents when an inmate has been hurt at a corrections facility. During a news conference in Jackson last week, one inmate's father said he didn't know the location of his son for two weeks after the youth was severely attacked.
Senate Judiciary B Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, said he's also concerned about the allegations raised in the lawsuit. "Certainly, these allegations need to be investigated, which will occur during the course of the lawsuit," Tollison said. "If it is determined that the Legislature needs to make changes regarding the operation of Walnut Grove, then we should do so."
While other lawmakers may want to wait to see how the case unfolds - through the courts and the federal probe - Banks wants to move forward on legislation.
"Whatever the Justice Department does is appreciated, but I am a state lawmaker dealing with state issues in Mississippi," said Banks. "Every day it goes without being handled, that means more kids have to go with this type of alleged treatment."
Shelia Byrd covers Mississippi politics and government for the Associated Press bureau in Jackson.
The fallout from a federal lawsuit and a U.S. Justice Department probe of a Mississippi lockup for youths should come swiftly in the form of legislative hearings, but it remains to be seen if any action will be taken.
It's not as if state officials don't have a sort of roadmap for how to address the alleged corruption at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. The allegations come seven years after the U.S. Justice Department sued the state over its treatment of teen offenders housed at training schools.
The state eventually acknowledged wrongdoing in that earlier case and entered into a consent decree to make changes at Oakley Training School and Columbia Training School. Those changes resulted in Columbia's closure, and a reduced inmate population at Oakley, which now only houses the most violent offenders.
It could be argued the claims against Walnut Grove are particularly disturbing because some legislators had held it up as a model for how youth detention centers should be run. Opened in 2001, the facility was to offer inmates, aged 13 to 22, general education development, brick masonry, adult basic education and job skills training. The lawsuit filed last week by the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union and Rob McDuff, a Jackson attorney, contends most of the 1,200 inmates at the lockup aren't even getting basic education.
The 376,000-square-foot facility in Leake County is overseen by the Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, a group appointed by the town. The authority has a contract with the state to house the inmates. The authority then contracts with GEO Group, Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based private prison company, to operate the prison. Both the authority and GEO Group are named as defendants in the lawsuit, as well as Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and state Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham. The lawsuit centers on allegations of inmate abuse fueled by staff shortages and lax oversight. The same kind of environment was described in the training school probe.
House Juvenile Justice Committee Chairman Earle Banks, D-Jackson, said he wants to hold hearings on the allegations as soon as possible.
Banks said he wants to hear from parents of inmates, the operators of the facility, former inmates and former staff. But he said he already has some ideas for proposals geared toward rectifying the situation. For example, Banks wants to strengthen state laws pertaining to the notification of parents when an inmate has been hurt at a corrections facility. During a news conference in Jackson last week, one inmate's father said he didn't know the location of his son for two weeks after the youth was severely attacked.
Senate Judiciary B Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, D-Oxford, said he's also concerned about the allegations raised in the lawsuit. "Certainly, these allegations need to be investigated, which will occur during the course of the lawsuit," Tollison said. "If it is determined that the Legislature needs to make changes regarding the operation of Walnut Grove, then we should do so."
While other lawmakers may want to wait to see how the case unfolds - through the courts and the federal probe - Banks wants to move forward on legislation.
"Whatever the Justice Department does is appreciated, but I am a state lawmaker dealing with state issues in Mississippi," said Banks. "Every day it goes without being handled, that means more kids have to go with this type of alleged treatment."
Shelia Byrd covers Mississippi politics and government for the Associated Press bureau in Jackson.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
IN MEMORY OF ASHLEY SMITH AGE 19
Coroner's inquiry will take broad look into death of troubled teen Ashley Smith
By Linda Nguyen and Carmen Chai, Postmedia News November 12, 2010
Smith, 19, was found dead in a segregated prison cell at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., on Oct. 19, 2007. She had tied a piece of cloth around her neck and strangled herself to death.
Dr. Bonita Porter, Ontario's deputy chief coroner, wrote in a long-awaited decision. "Her state of mind is part of the circumstances of her death and will be relevant to the issue of 'by what means' the death occurred.
"A commission of inquiry would be the only way to look at the systematic realities for the mentally ill in our prison system," said lawyer Julian Falconer from Moncton, N.B., where he is visiting the family. "Ashley Smith was in essence tortured over an 11-, 12-month period and anyone who thinks this was one isolated incident that never happened before or ever happened again . . . nothing short of a royal commission of inquiry will be able to address that."
Last week, Falconer and lawyers with the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the province's advocate for children and youth made submissions to Porter that the inquest should at least include the 11 months Smith was held in federal custody.
The lawyers argued that those months were instrumental in shaping Smith's state of mind prior to her death, because she was shunted 17 times to facilities and institutions in five different provinces in what they called a failure of the prison system.
(The majority of the prison transfers were a result of staff fatigue and a shortage of beds.)
Throughout her incarceration, Smith was also kept shackled and in segregation. Inmates are only supposed to be kept segregated for a maximum of 60 days, but that time allowance was reset upon each of Smith's prison transfers.
(Reports later revealed that on the day of her death, prison guards were told ahead of time to not intervene until she had stopped breathing. Criminal charges laid against the guards were later dropped.)
They also argued that the transfers resulted in her never being properly diagnosed with a mental condition, and prevented her from benefiting from therapy.
Her family has formerly requested a criminal probe by the RCMP into how Smith was treated in prison.
According to prison documents, Smith was repeatedly pepper sprayed and drugged against her will and her requests for assistance were "routinely" ignored in these last months.
The documents, which chronicle Smith's life starting on June 14, 2007, revealed nearly 200 "use of force" incidents, 10 cases of involuntary body cavity searches and 90 instances where Smith's requests for programs, hospital treatment and calls to a lawyer were denied, said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, a non-profit advocacy group for federally sentenced women.
About 1,000 records have been reviewed so far since the remaining documents in Smith's file were released to the group from Corrections Canada in August.
"It's clear there are many incidents, a multitude of instances of use of force against her, and we believe from the documentation that many of them were unjustified. We know there was forcible treatment — unlawful treatment — in situations where Ashley had the authority to withdraw consent and refuse treatment but she was forced," Pate said, noting these latest records from Corrections Canada are "contrary to the impression that has been created.
The inquest will no longer be limited by age, geography, date or nature of the institution where Smith was held and allow a coroner's jury to access documents, reports and evidence of Smith's experiences while imprisoned in both youth and adult facilities across the country.
Smith was first incarcerated at 15 in her native New Brunswick for breaching her probation after an original incident in which she threw crab apples at a postal worker. She racked up institutional charges that saw her time behind bars continually extended.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/Coroner+inquiry+will+take+broad+look+into+death+troubled+teen+Ashley+Smith/3819344/story.html#ixzz15DXzCFeH
By Linda Nguyen and Carmen Chai, Postmedia News November 12, 2010
Smith, 19, was found dead in a segregated prison cell at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., on Oct. 19, 2007. She had tied a piece of cloth around her neck and strangled herself to death.
Dr. Bonita Porter, Ontario's deputy chief coroner, wrote in a long-awaited decision. "Her state of mind is part of the circumstances of her death and will be relevant to the issue of 'by what means' the death occurred.
"A commission of inquiry would be the only way to look at the systematic realities for the mentally ill in our prison system," said lawyer Julian Falconer from Moncton, N.B., where he is visiting the family. "Ashley Smith was in essence tortured over an 11-, 12-month period and anyone who thinks this was one isolated incident that never happened before or ever happened again . . . nothing short of a royal commission of inquiry will be able to address that."
Last week, Falconer and lawyers with the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and the province's advocate for children and youth made submissions to Porter that the inquest should at least include the 11 months Smith was held in federal custody.
The lawyers argued that those months were instrumental in shaping Smith's state of mind prior to her death, because she was shunted 17 times to facilities and institutions in five different provinces in what they called a failure of the prison system.
(The majority of the prison transfers were a result of staff fatigue and a shortage of beds.)
Throughout her incarceration, Smith was also kept shackled and in segregation. Inmates are only supposed to be kept segregated for a maximum of 60 days, but that time allowance was reset upon each of Smith's prison transfers.
(Reports later revealed that on the day of her death, prison guards were told ahead of time to not intervene until she had stopped breathing. Criminal charges laid against the guards were later dropped.)
They also argued that the transfers resulted in her never being properly diagnosed with a mental condition, and prevented her from benefiting from therapy.
Her family has formerly requested a criminal probe by the RCMP into how Smith was treated in prison.
According to prison documents, Smith was repeatedly pepper sprayed and drugged against her will and her requests for assistance were "routinely" ignored in these last months.
The documents, which chronicle Smith's life starting on June 14, 2007, revealed nearly 200 "use of force" incidents, 10 cases of involuntary body cavity searches and 90 instances where Smith's requests for programs, hospital treatment and calls to a lawyer were denied, said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, a non-profit advocacy group for federally sentenced women.
About 1,000 records have been reviewed so far since the remaining documents in Smith's file were released to the group from Corrections Canada in August.
"It's clear there are many incidents, a multitude of instances of use of force against her, and we believe from the documentation that many of them were unjustified. We know there was forcible treatment — unlawful treatment — in situations where Ashley had the authority to withdraw consent and refuse treatment but she was forced," Pate said, noting these latest records from Corrections Canada are "contrary to the impression that has been created.
The inquest will no longer be limited by age, geography, date or nature of the institution where Smith was held and allow a coroner's jury to access documents, reports and evidence of Smith's experiences while imprisoned in both youth and adult facilities across the country.
Smith was first incarcerated at 15 in her native New Brunswick for breaching her probation after an original incident in which she threw crab apples at a postal worker. She racked up institutional charges that saw her time behind bars continually extended.
Read more: http://www.canada.com/Coroner+inquiry+will+take+broad+look+into+death+troubled+teen+Ashley+Smith/3819344/story.html#ixzz15DXzCFeH
Monday, November 8, 2010
Blood Pooled Near His Head
Kenneth Hernandez's fate was sealed by a guard's grunt.
That small utterance took on larger significance at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, 200 miles northeast of Sacramento, where Hernandez was imprisoned on drug and weapons charges. He was housed in a gym filled with bunk beds and lockers – typical in the state's crowded prisons.
On May 26, 2004, Hernandez, then 21, had the misfortune of crossing paths with Officer David Sharpe between rows of beds. Sharpe said Hernandez struck the guard's chest with his elbow. Another guard said he heard Sharpe grunt. Hernandez denies any such attack.
In sworn statements, witnesses said that Sharpe, who stands 6 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds, bear-hugged Hernandez – 5 feet 9 and 140 pounds – from behind. He threw Hernandez head-first into a metal locker. Hernandez fell to the floor, with Sharpe on top of him, then twitched and jerked violently. Blood pooled near his head.
In a subsequent court proceeding, Sharpe confirmed those events but faulted the confined area and said he did not intentionally injure Hernandez.
"He's having a seizure!" some of the prisoners said they shouted in alarm. Sharpe kneeled on the back of the convulsing prisoner.
"Shut the f--- up!" Sharpe yelled, pressing his forearm against the nape of Hernandez's neck, according to inmate witness statements in the prison investigation report.
Hernandez was airlifted to Reno for emergency surgery, his skull fractured.
Back in his cell weeks later, Hernandez suffered from facial paralysis, seizures and vomiting, according to medical records. He also had to defend himself against the serious charge of assaulting an officer.
Hernandez told The Bee he didn't get a fair hearing because key evidence was barred. The prison investigator disallowed photographs of the scene, a complaint by other inmates alleging criminal misconduct by Sharpe, and statements from FBI examiners, according to his report.
Also rejected by the investigator was Hernandez's "stress voice analysis" – a lie-detection method – conducted by High Desert internal affairs, which the inmate claimed proved his innocence.
The investigator did include in his report accounts of inmates, who said they saw Sharpe attack Hernandez without provocation. None said Hernandez attacked the officer and no guards witnessed the event.
But the hearing officer, Lt. J.L. Bishop, said the inmates' testimony "lacks credibility," because they fear revenge from other prisoners for supporting a guard.
Guards said that inmates moved to the floor reluctantly when ordered to during the altercation, Bishop wrote. That reticence, he said, "strongly colors this incident in staff-assaultive tones."
The linchpin was the officer's recollection of the grunt.
Sharpe's grunt, "prior to commanding the inmates to 'get down' strongly indicates that he was struck with force," Bishop wrote, "and without warning."
Bishop found Hernandez guilty and sentenced him to five months' loss of good-behavior credit, a year without family visits and a possible term in the hole.
Six years later, Hernandez is out on parole. He still has trouble with balance, and said in cold weather the clip that secures his skull makes his head ache. As of 2009, Sharpe still worked at High Desert.
'I'll answer to God'
Hernandez's injuries were severe, but his due-process experience was typical of accounts from dozens of inmates in state lockups.
Current and former correctional officers said guilty findings often were preordained informally and hearing officers knew they would be in trouble with higher-ups if they didn't consistently find inmates guilty.
Gerald Edwards, a former lieutenant at Calipatria State Prison east of San Diego, said he conducted about 100 rule-violation hearings in the last few years of his 24-year prison career. In 2009, Edwards alleges he was harassed by superiors after ruling in favor of inmates four or five times.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/01/2928417/rights-of-prisoners-under-siege.html?
That small utterance took on larger significance at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, 200 miles northeast of Sacramento, where Hernandez was imprisoned on drug and weapons charges. He was housed in a gym filled with bunk beds and lockers – typical in the state's crowded prisons.
On May 26, 2004, Hernandez, then 21, had the misfortune of crossing paths with Officer David Sharpe between rows of beds. Sharpe said Hernandez struck the guard's chest with his elbow. Another guard said he heard Sharpe grunt. Hernandez denies any such attack.
In sworn statements, witnesses said that Sharpe, who stands 6 feet tall and weighed about 300 pounds, bear-hugged Hernandez – 5 feet 9 and 140 pounds – from behind. He threw Hernandez head-first into a metal locker. Hernandez fell to the floor, with Sharpe on top of him, then twitched and jerked violently. Blood pooled near his head.
In a subsequent court proceeding, Sharpe confirmed those events but faulted the confined area and said he did not intentionally injure Hernandez.
"He's having a seizure!" some of the prisoners said they shouted in alarm. Sharpe kneeled on the back of the convulsing prisoner.
"Shut the f--- up!" Sharpe yelled, pressing his forearm against the nape of Hernandez's neck, according to inmate witness statements in the prison investigation report.
Hernandez was airlifted to Reno for emergency surgery, his skull fractured.
Back in his cell weeks later, Hernandez suffered from facial paralysis, seizures and vomiting, according to medical records. He also had to defend himself against the serious charge of assaulting an officer.
Hernandez told The Bee he didn't get a fair hearing because key evidence was barred. The prison investigator disallowed photographs of the scene, a complaint by other inmates alleging criminal misconduct by Sharpe, and statements from FBI examiners, according to his report.
Also rejected by the investigator was Hernandez's "stress voice analysis" – a lie-detection method – conducted by High Desert internal affairs, which the inmate claimed proved his innocence.
The investigator did include in his report accounts of inmates, who said they saw Sharpe attack Hernandez without provocation. None said Hernandez attacked the officer and no guards witnessed the event.
But the hearing officer, Lt. J.L. Bishop, said the inmates' testimony "lacks credibility," because they fear revenge from other prisoners for supporting a guard.
Guards said that inmates moved to the floor reluctantly when ordered to during the altercation, Bishop wrote. That reticence, he said, "strongly colors this incident in staff-assaultive tones."
The linchpin was the officer's recollection of the grunt.
Sharpe's grunt, "prior to commanding the inmates to 'get down' strongly indicates that he was struck with force," Bishop wrote, "and without warning."
Bishop found Hernandez guilty and sentenced him to five months' loss of good-behavior credit, a year without family visits and a possible term in the hole.
Six years later, Hernandez is out on parole. He still has trouble with balance, and said in cold weather the clip that secures his skull makes his head ache. As of 2009, Sharpe still worked at High Desert.
'I'll answer to God'
Hernandez's injuries were severe, but his due-process experience was typical of accounts from dozens of inmates in state lockups.
Current and former correctional officers said guilty findings often were preordained informally and hearing officers knew they would be in trouble with higher-ups if they didn't consistently find inmates guilty.
Gerald Edwards, a former lieutenant at Calipatria State Prison east of San Diego, said he conducted about 100 rule-violation hearings in the last few years of his 24-year prison career. In 2009, Edwards alleges he was harassed by superiors after ruling in favor of inmates four or five times.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/01/2928417/rights-of-prisoners-under-siege.html?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)