HEAL NEWS ARCHIVE
This archive holds all articles
previously posted at
www.heal-online.org/news.htm dated prior to the current calendar day, month,
and/or year. Please click the above link to return to the HEAL News Page
at any time.
Teen Liberty News Archive
Audit: Hempstead
nonprofit used money for beer--Sept. 5th, 2008--A
Hempstead agency that housed troubled
teens allegedly used public money to buy beer and violent video
games, and to pay $47,865 in bonuses to its workers in violation of
its contract with the county, according to a
Nassau County audit released yesterday.
It also billed other counties for the use of
beds that Nassau County had already paid for, in what amounted to
$834,000 in overcharges, Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman
said in the audit.
The audit sketched out a broad pattern of
wasteful and inappropriate spending by the Leadership Training
Institute that Weitzman said was the worst case of fiscal abuse he
had ever seen by a nonprofit agency. (Unable to locate story
at time of archiving. Source:
www.newsday.com Date: September 5, 2008)
New Report Calls to End Beating of
Children in Public Schools
--Read
the report,
A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of
Children in U.S. Public Schools.
A shocking report illuminates the state
of disturbing forms of discipline in U.S.
schools. Released last week by the ACLU and
Human Rights Watch, the report finds that
more than 200,000 public school students in
the U.S. were punished by beatings during
the 2006-2007 school year. Further,
minorities and students with mental and
physical disabilities are punished at
disproportionately higher rates in the 13
states that corporally punished more than
1,000 students per year -- despite no
evidence that these students commit
disciplinary infraction at such
disproportionate rates.
The report,
A Violent Education: Corporal
Punishment of Children in U.S. Public
Schools,
found that children ranging in age from 3 to
19 years old in Texas and Mississippi are
routinely physically punished for minor
infractions such as chewing gum, talking
back to a teacher, or violating the dress
code, as well as for more serious
transgressions such as fighting.
Corporal punishment, legal in 21 states,
typically takes the form of "paddling,"
during which an administrator or teacher
hits a child repeatedly on the buttocks with
a long wooden board. The report shows that,
as a result of paddling, many children are
left injured, degraded, and disengaged from
school.
"Every public school needs effective
methods of discipline, but beating kids
teaches violence and it doesn't stop bad
behavior," said Alice Farmer, Aryeh Neier
Fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU,
and author of the report. "Corporal
punishment discourages learning, fails to
deter future misbehavior and at times even
provokes it."
The ACLU and Human Rights Watch call
upon the U.S. government to prohibit
corporal punishment in all public schools
and urge state governments, school boards,
superintendents, and administrators to
eliminate physical punishment in their
schools.
>> Learn more, and read the report.
For
complete story,
click here.
Miss. man accused
in Medicaid scam--August 1st,
2008--
COLUMBUS,
Miss. (AP) - The founder of an
organization dedicated to helping troubled
teens stay out of jail is himself behind
bars, facing felony charges stemming from an
alleged Medicaid scam.
Aaron Ray Pulsifer of Columbus is former
executive director of the Youth Challenge Program. He was being held
Thursday at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.
Prosecutors
accuse the 31-year-old Pulsifer of using the
organization to aid in a nearly 3-year
scheme in which he illegally received more
than $1.1 million.
Court
documents say Pulsifer stole the identity of
a woman, then made false reports to the
state Division of Medicaid claiming she had
provided diagnostic and counseling services
for dozens of program Youth Challenge
participants. For complete story,
click here.
Children as Big
Pharma Guinea Pigs: 98 Percent of Drug Trials on Children Have no
Safety Checks--August 18th, 2008--(NaturalNews)
Fewer than 2 percent of drug trials conducted on children have
independent safety advisory boards, a review published in the
journal Acta Paediatrica has found.
Researchers from Nottingham University
reviewed reports on 739 international drug trials that had been
published between 1996 and 2002. They found that although 74 percent
of studies described their safety monitoring procedures,
less than 2 percent included an independent
safety review committee.
Such committees are composed of independent
health experts who can review the study data as it comes out and
warn if the drug appears to be placing study participants at risk.
"It is invaluable to have an independent
monitor who can swiftly question any adverse drug reactions or
differences in illness and death rates between groups taking part in
the clinical trials," said lead researcher Helen Sammons. "Parents
also need to be made aware of the risks of adverse drug reactions
when a child takes any medicine so that they can make informed
decisions that balance those risks against the possible benefits the
drug
may provide their child."
The Nottingham University review also
suggests that independent committees lead to more rigorous safety
standards. Of the 13 studies with independent review committees, six
were halted early due to highly toxic drug effects.
None of the studies without independent
committees were stopped early.
Although the researchers looked only at
studies conducted on children, they said the statistics for adult
trials are probably similar. For complete story,
click here.
Sentencing Children
to Die in Prison--August 18th, 2008--Ian Manuel
was 13-years-old when he participated in a robbery attempt in
Florida, leaving the victim with a nonfatal gunshot injury. Ian
turned himself in to police, and his attorney told him he would
receive a 15-year sentence if he pled guilty. Instead, he was
sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Ian's is one of several stories told in the
Equal Justice Initiative's (EJI) new report, Cruel and Unusual:
Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison (pdf). The
Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama is a private, nonprofit
organization that provides legal representation to indigent
defendants and prisoners. The EJI study found 73 cases in the United
States where 13- and 14- year-olds have been sentenced to life
without parole--in other words,
sentenced to die in prison. EJI argues that
giving this harsh sentence to young teenagers violates the U.S.
Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and
unusual punishment and is also counter to international conventions.
The United States is almost alone in the world in imposing life
sentences without parole for crimes committed by children at such a
young age. EJI notes that giving such sentences to juveniles has
been condemned in a number of international agreements, including
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This
appalling pattern of injustice has prompted a nationwide litigation
campaign to challenge these harsh penalties and have the children
considered for parole-eligible sentences as soon as possible.
For complete story,
click here.
Police Say Cult
Starved Toddler--August 12th,
2008--A
toddler whose remains were found inside a
suitcase in Philadelphia this spring was
starved to death by members of a religious
cult, including his mother, in part because
he refused to say "amen" after meals, police
said.
Ria Ramkissoon, 21, the
mother of Javon Thompson,
was charged Sunday with
first-degree murder in the
boy's death, and Baltimore
police said Monday that
three other members of a
group called 1 Mind
Ministries have also been
charged with first-degree
murder.
Members did not seek medical
care for Javon when he
stopped breathing, and the
boy died in his mother's
arms, according to court
documents that described
police interviews with a
confidential informant and
two children. He would have
been about 19 months old
when police say adults
stopped feeding him in
December 2006. For
complete story,
click here.
Federal agency:
Shoreline schools excluded children with
disabilities--August 7th,
2008--The
Shoreline School District discriminated
against students with disabilities, a
federal civil-rights investigation has
found.
The 15-month investigation
centered on the district's
February 2007 decision to
exclude from its classrooms
children newly placed at the
Fircrest School, a state
residential facility in
Shoreline for people with
disabilities. As a result of
that decision, the
investigation found, 11
Fircrest youths didn't go to
school at all, some for as
long as three months. Others
received an inadequate
education.
The
records of 23 youths at
Fircrest were reviewed by
the U.S. Department of
Education's Office for Civil
Rights (OCR). All but one
had attended public school
before going to Fircrest.
"I
think what the investigation
confirms is that public
schools are for every
child," said Stacy Gillett,
who filed the complaint as a
board member of the Arc of
Washington, an advocacy
organization for people with
disabilities.
Shoreline officials didn't
return repeated calls
seeking comment.
While
it did not admit wrongdoing,
the district entered into a
settlement agreement with
OCR that requires it to
revise its policies and
practices. Kids with
disabilities will not be
excluded from public school
and will have opportunities
to participate with other
children. An independent
team of professionals, along
with OCR, will oversee
Shoreline's progress.
For complete story,
click here.
State Senator Wants
Juvenile Prison Shut Down--August
7th, 2008--SPRINGDALE
- If Sen. Sue Madison had her way, the
Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment
Center in Alexander would be closed and
bulldozed.
She called the
juvenile prison
in southwest
Pulaski County a
"grim" place
while discussing
child welfare
issues during a
meeting of the
Arkansas Kids
Count Coalition
on Thursday.
It's a place
where the state
is "warehousing
juveniles
because someone
is mad at them,
either the
juvenile judge
or school
officials,"
Madison said.
The state's
challenge is
finding the
money to replace
the treatment
programs with
community-based
programs that
are more
effective, she
said.
Reform of
Arkansas'
juvenile justice
system is one of
a laundry list
of issues the
Coalition
supports to
improve the
welfare of
children across
the state, said
Paul Kelly, a
senior policy
analyst with
Arkansas
Advocates for
Children and
Families.
The juvenile
justice system
relies too
heavily on
confined
incarceration of
children who may
have family or
mental health
issues rather
than criminal
behavior.
The Kids Count
Coalition recommends
greater attention on
preventive measures,
placing children in
smaller therapeutic
environments and
expanded community
services to better
serve children
rather than shipping
them off to secure
confinement, away
from their schools
or families.
For complete story,
click here.
Teen Screen Lawsuit
Advances: Federal Court Affirms Family's Rightto Sue School for
Subjecting Teen to Mental Health Test Without Parental Consent--August
6th, 2008--SOUTH BEND, Ind. A federal court has given the green
light to a civil rights lawsuit filed by Rutherford Institute
attorneys in defense of a 15-year-old Indiana student who was
subjected by school officials to a controversial mental health
examination without the knowledge or consent of her parents. In
ruling that the lawsuit filed on behalf of Chelsea Rhoades and her
parents, Michael and Teresa Rhoades, may proceed to trial, the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of
Indiana upheld the claims that the local school district deprived
the Rhoades family of their federal constitutional rights to family
integrity and privacy when it subjected Chelsea to the "TeenScreen"
examination. A copy of the lawsuit is available here:
http://www.rutherford.org/PDF/Filed_Complaint.pdf. For
complete story,
click here.
Straight, Inc. and KHK survivors protest
locally--July 15th, 2008--Numerous
Straight, Inc. and Kids Helping Kids
survivors, along with other concerned
activists, traveled from 5 different states
and the Greater Cincinnati area to
participate in the July 11, 2008 protest in
Milford, Ohio. The group protested Kids
Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center (aka
Pathway Family Center, PFC and/or KHK), a
behavior modification teen treatment
facility which is not only the current
renamed version of Straight, Inc, it also
still uses the STRAIGHT, Inc. treatment
modality.
The protesters’
mission was to express opposition and to
educate local residents about the “treatment
methods” used by PFC, methods which this
group believes pose a substantial risk of
harm to children. Specifically, the
protesters strongly object to, among other
things, the use of coercive thought reform,
isolation from parents, peers and society,
unlicensed host homes, unqualified peer
staff, unnecessary and/or disproportionate
punishments, and the denial of basic human
rights such as total bathroom privacy.
Additionally, the demonstrators are
extremely concerned about children having
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other
serious mental health issues caused by their
ordeal in Pathway. Repeated reports to state
agencies of systematic abuse and other
improprieties have also been ignored for
years.
This protest comes on the heels of the U.S.
House of Representatives overwhelming
approval of H.R. 6358, The Stop Child Abuse
in Residential Programs for Teens Act of
2008. Recent congressional investigations
uncovered thousands of allegations of abuse,
neglect and youth deaths in private teen
behavior modification facilities in the
United States. This legislation aims to
protect youth in all private treatment
facilities, including Pathway Family Center.
The rocky start of the
protest itself did not deter the determined
activists from sharing their message. One
Pathway official (Monica Mertens, according
to Pathway insiders who spoke with
protesters) displayed unprofessional conduct
by confiscating one of the protestor’s
signs. PFC officials also summoned Miami
Township police twice. The first time was to
remove protesters from the far side of the
driveway who occasionally crossed it without
blocking incoming traffic. The second time,
participants were later told, was an attempt
to stop protesters from videotaping the
public event. Demonstrators did comply with
law enforcement’s request to stay off to the
sides of Pathway’s entrance but were never
asked to stop filming. In spite of these
incidents, the peaceful protest resumed
without further confrontation.
At the demonstration
itself, protesters carried and displayed
numerous signs including “Coercive Thought
Reform is Not Treatment,” “KHK Tortured Me,”
and “Close PFC Now”. Many drivers showed
solidarity either by honking, giving the
thumbs up or by shouting “Thank you! My
friend (or relative) was in there. This
place stinks!” In addition, many passersby
stopped, took literature and were given the
free DVD set of the congressional hearings
and KHK news footage. Even former clients of
Straight and KHK, with no previous knowledge
of our protests, no prior contact with
activist survivors, saw the protest and
stopped to speak with survivors. Both
supported our efforts.
As the event was
winding down, current PFC peer
staff/graduates initiated peaceful
discussions. At times the talks became a bit
heated and emotional. Certainly there was
much disagreement. But for the most part,
both sides remained civil.
At the end of the day,
the exhausted survivors unanimously agreed
that this event was nothing less than a
smashing success and felt rejuvenated by the
interest from the community. All
participants vowed to continue their quest
to educate the community about the harmful
Straight Inc treatment model used by Kids
Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center. Their
mission is to protect children from these
harmful treatment methods.
(Webmaster Note: This protest was
organized in large part by
HEAL-KY. Want to join in
taking action to protect children from
torture,
contact us now!) For
complete story,
click here.
Charges filed in teen's
death at boot camp--July 15th, 2008--A
Montrose County grand jury Tuesday handed up a raft of charges
against operators and staff of a youth-rehabilitation camp in
connection with the death of a 15-year-old Utah boy who died in
their care. Caleb Jensen died in May 2007 from an untreated
staph infection at a court-ordered wilderness camp run by
Alternative Youth Adventures in Montrose. The program was
shuttered after his death and surrendered its state license.
The grand jury filed various charges of negligent homicide, child
abuse resulting in death and manslaughter against the staff and
management, as well as Keith Hooker, the camp's medical director.
For complete story,
click here.
US school rebuked for ibuprofen strip search--July
12th, 2008--A
divided US appeals court has ruled an
Arizona school violated the
constitutional
rights of a 13-year-old student by
conducting a strip search
for ibuprofen.
Suspecting that a
student had violated a policy against
prescription or over-the-counter drugs
without permission, public school
officials in Safford, Arizona, ordered a
search of Savana Redding.
A school nurse had
her remove her clothes, including her
bra, and shake her underwear to see if
Ms Redding was hiding anything.
The 2003 search,
prompted by a tip from another girl, did
not find ibuprofen, which is found in
common medications like Advil and Motrin
to treat pain like cramps and headaches.
Higher doses require
a prescription.
Previous court
decisions ruled the school did not
violate the US Constitution's Fourth
Amendment rights against unreasonable
searches and seizures because officials
have a legitimate interest in protecting
students from prescription drugs.
The 6-5 ruling by a
panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of
Appeals on Friday overturned an earlier
decision, setting out its reasoning in
an extensive 75-page ruling with many
details on the complications of eighth
grade life.
"Directing a
13-year-old girl to remove her clothes,
partially revealing her breasts and
pelvic area, for allegedly possessing
ibuprofen, an infraction that poses an
imminent danger to no one, and which
could be handled by
keeping her in the
principal's office until a parent
arrived or simply sending her home, was
excessively intrusive," Justice Kim
McLane Wardlaw wrote for the majority.
For complete story,
click here.
Memories of Casa by the Sea--July 10th,
2008--I'm
not sure if your organization publishes
e-mails, but you have my permission to
publish mine. Yes, my name is Ramey Smith.
I read some of the articles on your web site
and found a few about a place called Casa by
the Sea in Ensenada, Mexico. I spent almost
one year there, from January to November in
1999. On my first day at Casa, I was pulled
off my bed, which was the top bunk, and fell
to the concrete floor busting my face and
nose . As I lay there bleeding, I thought
these people are going to kill me.
I was in fear for my
life at Casa, so I played along with the
program the best I could . I made it to
level four in the Bold Family. That is how
they identified us. They put us in a group,
gave it a name, and called it a "family."
Anyway, I finally got out of there when my
mother's terminal cancer got so bad my
father pulled me from Casa by the Sea. I
spent the last 2 1/2 months of my mothers
life at her bed side.
In my opinion, WWASP
are a bunch of criminals who manipulate
parents. But they did teach me one valuable
lesson which I can pass on to troubled
youth. Watch out. Your parents can send you
to a foreign prison over night and there is
nothing you can do about it. You have two
choices. You can resist and get beat up, or
you can play along until you get out.
I'm glad they finally
closed down Casa by the Sea. That place was
crazy. Sometimes I actually started to think
I was going crazy.
WWASP does have a
wonderful program for brain washing or pain
washing children to make them behave. But
I'll tell you what. It doesn't last. I ran
in to one of the upper level kids that
graduated from the program. We were at a
Taco Cabana at like 2:30 am and he and some
other kids came stumbling in drunk. He
didn't change. Not for long, at least.
Like in Mexico, where
Room Restriction (R&R) consisted of lying on
your face, chin pressed on the hard tile
floor, and your hands behind your back. They
might as well have hog tied us because if
you didn't hold that position on your own
for 4 to 6 to 12 hours, they had plenty of
un-educated idiots to make you wish you had.
I heard so many times kids screaming for
help, screaming to there parents, screaming
for mommy or daddy, screaming out to God to
help them. What could we do? If we tried to
help, we would be in the same boat. We'd
lose our few privileges, get demoted to
Level One and spend 2 to 4 weeks in R&R with
our chins on the floor.
I wish we had been
strong enough and organized enough to take
that place over by force. I remember
thinking about it all the time when I began
my captivity there. We out-numbered the
staff by at least 20 or 30 of us to 1 staff
member. I would have enjoyed hog tying those
bastards up and letting them enjoy some Room
Restriction, and feed them rotten fish and
other horrible things like they fed us. I
won't even go into how bad the food was.
Well, that's why they wouldn't let us talk
without permission, or speak English. They
knew if we had gotten organized, we would
have overrun the place.
I had dreams about it
after I left that godforsaken crap hole. I
would wake up in the middle of the night and
run into the hallway of my house for
formation.
I learned a lot of
Spanish while I was in Mexico because I had
no choice. But I still can't stand it. I had
a dream of going back there one day and
liberating all the children whose parents
are paying top dollar to have them
victimized. For complete story,
click here.
Beatings Claimed At High-End Juvie Camp:
Staff at Rancho Valmora Accused of Abusing Students--May
11th, 2008--May 11, 2008 (Albuquerque Journal -
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- When his
son started dabbling in drugs and alcohol, Corey Manning sent the
14-year-old to Rancho Valmora, hoping the $6,000-a-month program
would help straighten him out. Instead, the boy was beaten every
night for his first two months in the Mora County residential
treatment center, according to Manning.
On April 24, a staffer there, Clarence
Padilla, was arrested and charged with three counts of child abuse
and six counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was
released on bond from the San Miguel County Detention Center and has
a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 28 in Mora County Magistrate
Court.
The statement of probable cause quoted Dale
Parker, Rancho Valmora administrator, as claiming Padilla physically
assaulted three students and "also influenced and enforced many more
incidents of physical abuse." It names six victims.
Parker informed the New Mexico State Police
after residents of Padilla's nine-boy dorm complained of beatings.
At times, Padilla allegedly organized some of the bigger residents
to attack other boys during the night, often using a sock stuffed
with a bar of soap to prevent bruises, according to parents and a
treatment center official.
Flora Gallegos, court-appointed attorney for
Padilla, did not return a call from the Journal for comment.
The Children, Youth and Families Department,
which licenses Rancho Valmora, sent a team last week to investigate
health and safety there, spokeswoman Romaine Serna said. Their
report is not complete yet, she added.
The more recent alleged incidents, which
arrest records indicate occurred over a 10-month period, have left
some parents plagued with anger, shock and guilt, asking how a place
where they sent their children for help ended up hurting them.
"The guilt that hits you is
indescribable," said Manning, a resident of Santa Clara, Calif.
"We entrusted our child to them to provide a
safe environment," said George Dombrovski, a Fairfax, Calif.,
resident. "It's inexcusable to have physical abuse like this ... "
For complete story,
click here.
FTC Urges Caution When Considering 'Boot
Camps' --July 9th, 2008--When parents or guardians are
considering finding a residential treatment program for a troubled
teenager, the decision is often a difficult one.
While residential treatment programs may
appeal to families, some of whom are looking for a less-restrictive
alternative to incarceration or hospitalization, no standard
definition exists for these programs. Such programs are not
regulated by the federal government, and many are not subject to
state licensing or monitoring.
In an effort to help parents and guardians
with these decisions, the Federal Trade Commission has written a new
publication with 15 questions to ask representatives of residential
treatment programs. To learn more go to
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/products/pro27.shtm.
The Federal Trade Commission works for
consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business
practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid
them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC's
online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online
database available to more than 1,500 civil and criminal law
enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC's Web site
provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. For
complete story,
click here.
Rescued man has change of heart about teens--July
7th, 2008--HE
broke down and wept when he learnt that two
teens had risked their lives to save him
from drowning.It was almost a week later,
when The New Paper on Sunday visited him in hospital on Friday, that
Mr Seow Swee Lin, 66, found out about how he was rescued.
An interview with the amputee had
appeared in The New Paper on 27 Jun, after
he was found living at the void deck of a
block on Yishun Avenue 5.
He was supposed to have moved to a
shelter the Chong Pang Zone 2 Residents'
Committee had found for him, but he had
refused.
When we visited Mr Seow at the Singapore
General Hospital where he had been warded
since last Saturday night, he had no
recollection of what had happened.
'I woke up and found myself in hospital.
I don't remember falling into the water,' he
said in Mandarin.
All he remembered was that he had gone to
the Merlion Park around 8pm.
'I was very troubled as I didn't want to
stay in the shelter, and I wanted to sit
somewhere to think about what to do and
where to go,' he said.
He said only the night before, he had
been sleeping at a Toa Payoh void deck when
four youths had tried to rob him.
When told what the two boys had done to
save his life, Mr Seow covered his face with
his hands and wept.
'I feel that I learnt something today.
Before this, I thought badly of teenagers
because of those four who tried to rob me,'
he said when he had recovered sufficiently
to talk.
'Now that I know I was saved by two
youths, I realise that I cannot think that
all teenagers are punks because of a few
black sheep.'
He was very grateful to the teens who had
saved his life. (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg
Date: July 7, 2008)
Fire destroys dorm at school for troubled
teens--June 26th, 2008--ABBEVILLE,
S.C. --Authorities say fire destroyed a dorm
at a boarding school for troubled teens in
Abbeville County, but no one was injured in
the blaze. Carolina Springs Academy Director
Elaine Davis says several students returning
to the dorm after lunch Wednesday smelled
smoke. Fire officials say the blaze
burned for more than two hours and destroyed
the dorm at the school which specializes in
helping students that aren't reaching their
potential because of their behavior.
The school has moved the boys to another
dorm on campus. The Red Cross plans to give
them bedding, clothes and school supplies.
(Webmaster Note: Carolina Springs Academy is
a WWASPS program and confirmedly abusive.
It should be closed, permanently.)
(Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.charlotte.com Date: June 26,
2008)
Breaking News: House Passes Legislation to
Stop Child Abuse in Teen Boot Camps and
other Residential Programs--June 25th,
2008--The House Wednesday
overwhelming passed HR 6358 (formerly HR
5876) by a vote of 318-103, with provisions
to ban degrading and humiliating treatment,
set national standards, create a national
hotline that must be accessible to teens in
program to report maltreatment and $15
million in funding for enforcement and
regulation. (Webmaster Note:
NOT
GOOD ENOUGH!!!! Children are being
tortured, brainwashed, and killed at these
facilities. The entire industry needs
to be shut down. No program should be in
operation unless and until strict guidelines
and competent, effective objective and
impartial third-party oversight is in full
force. Our children deserve better!)
For complete story,
click here.
Teen safe house to open in Kalaeloa--June
24th, 2008--O'ahu's first state-sponsored Ke Kama
Pono structured group home for troubled, nonviolent teens is
expected to open in Kalaeloa sometime next year. (Webmaster
Note: This is a "Federally Funded Program" and needs to
be monitored closely as it may be the new "face" of re-education.)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.honoluluadvertiser.com Date: June 24, 2008)
ACLU
sues Texas youth prison system claiming abuse--June 11th, 2008--AUSTIN,
Texas (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Texas youth
prison system on Thursday, claiming girl inmates have been
traumatized by practices such as solitary confinement and strip
searches. The lawsuit filed in Austin on behalf of five
girls held at the Brownwood facility claims the Texas Youth
Commission is violating inmates' constitutional rights and
international standards on protecting children from abuse and cruel
treatment. For complete story,
click here.
Boy
suffocated during school punishment
Coroner's Report--June
20th, 2008--MONTREAL - After
nine-year-old Gabriel Poirier was discovered
lifeless in his classroom last April 17, his
parents were told their autistic son had
stopped breathing after hiding under a heavy
therapeutic blanket.
Now a coroner has revealed that Gabriel's
teachers had tightly wrapped him in the
buckwheat-stuffed blanket, leaving only the
tips of his ears sticking out, as punishment
when he became disruptive. They left him
unsupervised in a corner for 20 minutes,
returning when a timer sounded.
Gabriel was unconscious and blue in the
face. He was rushed to hospital, where he
died the following night surrounded by his
family.
In a report published yesterday, Coroner
Catherine Rudel-Tessier concluded the child
suffocated. She said the teachers at the
special-needs school in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu,
Que., failed to follow guidelines for the
blankets, which are used commonly to calm
autistic children.
"He was only 53 pounds, he was so small,"
Gilles Poirier, the boy's father said at a
news conference yesterday. "How can they
wrap him up like that in a 40-pound blanket?
How can this treatment be tolerated?"
Ms. Rudel-Tessier said proper use of the
blanket called for a child to be rolled at
most once and for his head to be left
uncovered. The blanket was to be used as a
relaxation therapy, not as a punishment, and
teachers were supposed to keep an eye on
children using the blankets.
"A child rolled 'at least four times' in
such a heavy blanket is under restraint,"
the coroner wrote. For complete story,
click here.
Teen treatment center looks for area land--
GRANTS- The Grants City Council will hear a
detailed proposal on Tuesday night from Frank Sipan on the
possibility of opening a Boys Town in Grants. Boys Town, which
also accepts girls, is a national organization that helps troubled
teens.
Sipan said Boys Town would help those young people throughout the area
become stable and productive citizens. The organization has an 80
percent recovery rate. This is a self-contained community, and
members have their own mayor, post office and other amenities.
The next regular City Council meeting will be on June 24 at 6 p.m.
at City Hall. For more information call the city clerk at 287-7927.
For complete story,
click here. (Webmaster
Note: Boys Town is confirmedly abusive. Please speak out
against this and any other grants!)
ACLU sues Texas youth prison system--June
12th, 2008--AUSTIN (AP) - The American
Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit
against the Texas youth prison system over
use of solitary confinement, strip searches
and other practices at a lockup for girls in
Brownwood.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal
court in Austin on behalf of 5 girls held at
Brownwood. The suit claims the Texas Youth
Commission is violating inmates'
constitutional rights and international
standards on protecting children from abuse
and cruel treatment.
TYC spokesman Jim Hurley, who had not seen
the lawsuit, said the agency is taking steps
to improve how it deals with female inmates.
He also noted the agency recently ended a
long-term isolation program that had been
used a different facility. (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving.
Source:
www.kdbc.com Date: June 12, 2008)
Facing huge hurdles, The Starting Place
starts over--June 12th, 2008--Nancy
Merolla began her new job on April 7, but
her hiring wasn't officially announced until
May 29. "I guess they wanted to see if
I'd stick around," Merolla joked the other
day. At least I think she was joking.
Merolla has her hands full as the new CEO of
the Starting Place, a teen drug abuse and
mental health treatment center that hit
bottom earlier this year. A Hollywood
police investigation into possible sexual
abuse by former staff against teen clients
continues. (Webmaster Note: Kids
should be given second chances, not sexual
predators.) (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.sun-sentinel.com Date: June
12, 2008)
Ex-employees sue boot camp accused of abuse--June
3rd, 2008--Five former employees of
a northwest Missouri boot camp where a child
died in 2004 have sued for alleged malicious
prosecution.
The workers
had been sued by
Thayer Learning
Center in a case
that eventually was
dropped. In that
lawsuit, Thayer
alleged that the
ex-employees made
false statements and
false allegations to
law-enforcement
officials and others
about activities at
the camp.
In the lawsuit
filed Monday, the
former employees
allege that Thayer
sued them to keep
them and others
quiet, describing
the lawsuit against
them as an attempt
“to keep the truth
about their facility
secret.”
The workers’
lawsuit also accuses
Thayer of suing them
“to hide from the
appropriate
authorities and
parents the fact
that … the usual
methods used by
(Thayer) did indeed
and actually
constitute child
abuse.”
The case filed in
Caldwell County
Circuit Court names
Thayer Learning
Center and the
facility’s owner,
Willa Bundy, as
defendants.
Bundy and an
attorney for the
center did not
return phone calls
Monday and Tuesday.
Allegations of
child abuse at
Thayer — about 50
miles northeast of
Kansas City in
Kidder — came to
light after Roberto
Reyes, 15, died in
November 2004, less
than two weeks after
enrolling.
No charges were
filed in connection
with Roberto’s
death, but the FBI
recently conducted a
preliminary
investigation and
sent its findings to
the U.S. Department
of Justice.
Officials there are
reviewing the case.
Thayer officials
have said that
allegations of abuse
were “ludicrous and
false.”
In its 2003
lawsuit, Thayer
alleged that the
workers made false
statements to third
parties about the
center “physically
abusing and harming
its students” and
accused them of
violating written
contracts by
contacting parents,
government agencies
and law-enforcement
officials to discuss
specific students
and school
operations.
Those contacts,
Thayer alleged,
forced the school to
“have to continually
… deny these false
allegations” and
caused the loss of
potential students.
Thayer dropped its
lawsuit last month.
In their lawsuit,
the ex-employees
said contractual
agreements could not
be used to prevent
individuals from
reporting abuse.
They accuse Thayer
of “covering up the
fact that they had
an unqualified and
unsupervised staff
engaging in child
abuse.”
Phil Elberg, a
New Jersey attorney
representing the
plaintiffs, alleged
by phone that
Thayer’s 2003
lawsuit “was clearly
intended to scare
people into shutting
up.”
The plaintiffs
did not specify a
dollar amount but
alleged that the
center’s
“outrageous”
behavior “showed an
evil motive” and
therefore entitles
them to exemplary
damages in addition
to actual damages,
attorneys’ fees and
“such other relief
as the court deems
just and proper.”
Elberg said the
plaintiffs — Nanette
Burge and Candessa
Williams of
Gallatin, Mo.; Linda
Glenn and Janet
Traylor of Hamilton,
Mo., and Regina
Burge of Jamesport,
Mo. — would not
comment.
(Unable to locate
story at time for
archiving.
Source:
www.kansascity.com
Date: June 3, 2008)
Guilty verdict in bus killing--June
10th, 2008--A Baltimore man with
two previous murder convictions and almost
two decades of documented psychiatric
illnesses was found guilty but not
criminally responsible yesterday in the
killing of a fellow inmate aboard a prison
bus - and state officials aren't sure what
to do with him.
Kevin G. Johns Jr., who had
faced a possible death
penalty, suffered from
mental disorders that
prevented him from being
able to obey the law when he
strangled another prisoner,
a judge ruled. After a
prosecutor said Johns, 25,
might be too dangerous for
the state's maximum-security
psychiatric hospital,
Harford Circuit Judge Emory
A. Plitt Jr. gave attorneys
for the state prison system
and health department two
weeks to sort out where he
should be sent.
The verdict came after a
two-hour commentary from
Plitt on what he called "a
preventable tragedy." The
judge placed some of the
blame for the Feb. 2, 2005,
murder of Philip E. Parker
Jr. on a prison system that
had "ample warnings" about
Johns' deteriorating mental
health and his propensity
for violence.
The judge questioned why
prison doctors had stopped
giving Johns medication and
why correctional officers
did not more closely guard
him during the nighttime bus
ride from Hagerstown to
Supermax in Baltimore. After
Parker's murder, three
correctional officers on the
bus were fired, and the
prison system revamped its
transportation policy,
eliminating all nighttime
bus trips.
"Based on the undisputed
evidence presented to me
during the trial," Plitt
said, "it seems to me that
the death of Mr. Parker
could have been avoided."
The judge gave an exhaustive
recitation of Johns' history
of mental illness, which
began at age 9, spanned
5,000 pages of evaluations
and included a dozen
diagnoses over the years,
including fetal alcohol
syndrome, lead poisoning,
and schizo-affective
disorder.
In 2002, Johns killed an
uncle in Baltimore whom he
had accused of physically
and sexually abusing him.
And in January 2004, while
serving his 35-year sentence
at a prison in Hagerstown,
Johns strangled his
16-year-old cellmate.
As he was being sentenced to
life in prison without the
possibility of parole in
that killing, Johns said
that he would "do it again."
A day later, he strangled
Parker.
Plitt punctuated many of his
remarks with the phrase
"another cloud in the
gathering storm," borrowing
from defense attorney Harry
J. Trainor Jr.'s description
of Parker's murder as "a
perfect storm."
The case was moved from
Baltimore County and heard
by a judge rather than a
jury at the request of
defense attorneys. The
eight-day trial ended May
20, and Plitt, a former
attorney for the prison
system, said he had been
poring over evidence and
researching legal issues
ever since.
As Plitt reached the end of
his comments and announced
his finding that Johns was
not criminally responsible,
Parker's family, dressed all
in black, stood and left the
courtroom. Parker, 20, was
serving a 3 1/2 year
sentence for a robbery with
a pellet gun. Years earlier,
Parker and Johns had lived
together in a residential
treatment center for
troubled teens.
(Webmaster Note:
Behavior modification
programs/residential
treatment centers/programs
contribute to the
destruction of our society.
So much so that not only the
above case, but Columbine
(both boys had been through
an anger "management"
program and were on
prescription psychotropic
medication), Virginia Tech
(shooter was a survivor of a
behavioral "health"
residential "treatment"
center), and DeKalb in IL
(shooter was a survivor of a
behavior modification
program and on prescription
psychotropic medication).
Who's taking responsibility?
Not the Frankenstein,
cultish, behavior
modification industry?
Well, they should be held
responsible, whether they
wish to be or not.
This has to stop!) For
complete story,
click here.
Mat Anderson: Teens
aren't as bad as most depictions--June
4th, 2008--As
a teenager, I remember reading innumerable
news stories about how crazy my peers and I
were and how teens were a troubled group of
sexually promiscuous, drug-addicted party
animals that cared about nothing but
themselves.
I always found
this to be a little off-putting because I
knew that I wasn’t crazy, sexually
promiscuous or drug-addicted, and I was
pretty sure that the majority of my peers
weren’t either. But I still wondered if I
was an abnormal teen who was just out of the
loop about what was cool. This bothered me,
because like most teenagers, I desired to
fit in and be normal. I wondered, “Am I
expected to experiment with drugs and have
sex? Am I uncool if I don’t?”
Now that I’m
older, I’ve realized that it’s probably
unlikely that those behaviors are the norm
for most teens. However, it’s often the
negative behaviors of the minority that make
headlines and shape the way society views
all teens. Experts say that the way teens
are portrayed in the media is often far from
what is true about their age group. They say
false impressions are negatively affecting
how parents parent and teachers teach, and
how young people think about themselves.
If young people
grow up hearing the stereotype that it’s
normal for them to get drunk or high, have
sex, get pregnant or vandalize property,
then that may be what they’ll end up doing.
Experts say this is because during
adolescence, teens are trying to find their
identity, and a big part of that is fitting
in and being part of the crowd.
But according to
the Centers for Disease Control, the
majority of the crowd hasn’t had an
alcoholic beverage in the past 30 days, has
never tried marijuana, and only 50 percent
have had sex.
This reality can
be leveraged to promote healthy choices
through “social norming.” Social norming
operates on the notion that if the general
impression is that most kids don’t drink
alcohol, then those who do drink will drink
less, and fewer will start drinking in the
first place. Several colleges, high schools
and middle schools have found this to be
highly effective in limiting risky behaviors
among young people, and parents can
incorporate this same strategy into their
parenting style. Here are some tips:
* Keep the lines
of communication open. It’s important to
have regular conversations with teens that
provide them with accurate information about
the issues that they face. Remind them that
the norm for most teens isn’t to go out
partying and drinking.
* Be mindful of
the messages you’re sending. During prom and
graduation season, many parents say things
like, “I know everyone else may be drinking
but …” It’s important for parents to be
aware that the majority of teens won’t be
drinking and that parents may be subtly
sending the message to teens that those
behaviors are the norm.
* Communicate
values and morals. It’s important for teens
to know what the norm is for your family. If
teens understand that they are expected to
live up to certain shared morals and values
regarding behaviors like sex and drinking,
then that will affect how they act when
outside of the home as well.
* Be an example.
The most important influence on teens is
parents, so it’s important to demonstrate
appropriate behaviors. Your teen will often
“do as you do,” so it’s vital that your
actions mirror the behaviors you desire from
your teen.
Teens aren’t
crazy, they’re merely trying to find their
identity as they transition from childhood
to adulthood. While we should be mindful
that they will make some mistakes along the
way, parents shouldn’t sit by and accept a
harmful and destructive lifestyle as the
norm from anyone they love, especially their
children and the future of our society.
For complete story,
click here.
US Teen Students Having Less Sex And Doing
Less Drugs--June 5th, 2008--US teens are engaging in fewer
risky behaviors than in years past according to the results of a new
federal survey conducted by the CDC. (Unable to locate story
at time of archiving. Source:
www.dogflu.ca Date: June 5, 2008)
When Is "Tough Love"
Torture?--May 4th, 2008--"Last
time this country witnessed somebody with a
bag over his head and a noose around his
neck, the world was horrified and the nation
was embarrassed," thundered Rep. George
Miller, on hearing
testimony this April
regarding abusive treatment of troubled
teens in unregulated residential programs.
"To be told [by these witnesses] that this
is considered a valid therapy by someone in
the care of someone else's child…It's hard
to believe."
Miller—who
chairs the House
Education and Labor
Committee—had called for
the congressional
hearings to introduce
legislation to regulate
the programs, which use
such "tough love"
methods in an attempt to
discipline difficult
adolescents. He'd also
requested a Government
Accountability Office
(GAO) investigation. At
the first round of
hearings last October,
the GAO had released its
initial report, finding
"thousands" of
allegations of child
abuse, medical neglect
and "reckless and
negligent operating
practices," in "boot
camps, "wilderness
programs" and
"academies," which
currently hold tens of
thousands of American
youth. Two additional
GAO reports were
introduced at the April
hearings—with
investigators describing
the treatment of some of
the youth as "torture."
One youth was beaten for
weeks and denied medical
attention after a
suicide attempt left him
with an exposed bone
from a broken arm;
others were taunted,
then ignored as they lay
dying; some were even
hooded and had nooses
placed around their
necks.
Sitting in the
audience—and well aware
of how difficult it can
be to get people to
comprehend the extent
and severity of the
abuse taking place in
these programs—was Phil
Elberg, a New Jersey
medical malpractice
attorney. His cases
against the industry
helped bring the issue
to congressional
attention and his work,
mentioned in two of the
three GAO reports,
helped guide
investigators in
understanding the issues
and key players. Elberg
has probably done more
than anyone else to hold
the billion-dollar teen
treatment business
accountable. If the
legislation passes, he
may soon have many more
cases—and perhaps,
finally, some
competition from other
lawyers for them.
For complete story,
click here.
Let kids talk and be kids--June 1st,
2008--A 12-year-old stands facing
the wall, lunch tray jammed between his
stomach and wall so that he can eat. It's
not lunch at a juvenile detention center or
boot camp, but lunch at Lee Middle School.
According to the
school, this punishment is
the "consequence
administered by teachers"
for students in the silent
lunch area who don't remain
silent and are disruptive.
Punishment? Or abuse?
As parent of a Lee
student, someone who's
regularly been a parent
volunteer and an East Coweta
High resource teacher, and
as a long-time educator, I
was shocked to learn
students are regularly
treated this way by
educational professionals
who should be able to manage
behavior more appropriately.
Silent lunch? You're
kidding. What offense is so
heinous a student has to be
silent during one of the
rare times in the school day
when social interaction is
possible? What crime does
standing against a wall fit?
Silent lunch? When did
the noise of a lunchroom
filled with happy kids
interacting with one another
become offensive?
Having lunch with my kids
was always the highlight of
the week. Kids are
spontaneous, animated,
outgoing social beings. I
loved to listen to them,
talk with them. I learned
the most interesting things.
Was enthralled by the
constantly changing tapestry
of evolving personalities.
Saw the world through eyes
that hadn't become jaded.
Students against the
wall? This is middle school,
not the Marine Corps.
When did teachers forget
children are children? Look
up the latest teen suicide
and drop-out rates. Middle
schoolers are dealing with
some of the most dramatic
life-altering transitions
they'll face in life.
Lunch should be a
time-out from the day's
activities and pressures, a
neutral zone where kids can
socialize and be kids.
Nick De Bonis
Sharpsburg For
complete story,
click here.
Abuse allegations leave Victory Forge
Military Academy without students--May
2nd, 2008--PORT
ST. LUCIE — The last of the 16
teenage boys living in the barracks at
Victory Forge Military Academy went back to
their families earlier this week.
The Department of
Children and Families asked
parents April 24 to remove
their sons from the private
military academy on Biltmore
Street while its
investigators look into a
child abuse claim. The case
appears to stem from an
incident last month when
police found a runaway
student with shackles around
his legs.
DCF spokeswoman Ellen
Higinbotham said
investigators are trying to
wrap up as quickly as
possible because they
realize students still have
to take final exams.
Col. Alan Weierman, the
school's president, said the
lead investigator told him
Thursday the probe likely
wouldn't take the full 60
days allowed under law.
Weierman said he's been
recommending "extremely
frustrated" parents join a
class-action lawsuit against
DCF. He claimed agency
officials are setting back
the cadets and costing the
parents money by taking the
drastic measure of asking
the boys to stay away from
the school during the
investigation.
"They chose to be
vindictive and not look at
the situation the way it
stands," he said. "They
treated us like we were a
second-class citizen as a
program."
DCF has investigated
child abuse allegations at
Victory Forge several times
in the past.
In one recent case, Palm
City resident Donna Pooler
filed a December complaint
with DCF over the treatment
of her 17-year-old son, D.J.
Pooler said Thursday her
son has a scar on his foot
because he never received
proper medical treatment for
an abscess. He developed the
injury shortly after
arriving at the school in
February 2007 because his
military boots were too
small, his mother said.
Pooler turned to Victory
Forge because her son was
"totally out of control" and
had no male influence in his
life after his father died.
She agreed to pay more than
$28,000 to enroll him.
Pooler's son now shows
more concern for other
people and has a "nice
military bearing," but the
experience has left him
"zombie-like in his
emotions," Pooler said.
She decided to pull her
son out of the school while
he was home at Christmas.
"He was terrified to go
back to that place, and I
decided I wasn't going to
take him back," Donna Pooler
said. For complete
story,
click here.
Lawsuit threatened over teen foster care
center--May 31st, 2008--Two
days after a court appointed consultant
blasted a Lauderhill youth shelter, citing
''insurmountable safety concerns'' for
troubled teens, Florida's top child advocacy
group threatened to sue private child
welfare bosses if they do not improve care.
In a
lengthy, tartly
worded letter sent
Thursday to the top
administrators of
ChildNet, Broward
County's privately
run foster care
agency, the head of
Florida's Children
First is demanding
that the agency halt
all admissions to
the Quest Group Home
and significantly
improve its system
of care for
adolescent foster
kids.
''It is shocking
to me,'' FCF
executive director
Andrea Moore wrote,
``that the lead
agency in Broward
County charged with
protecting the
state's dependent
children is not just
willing to tolerate,
but actually
facilitate, the
continued existence
of a blatantly
dangerous and
substandard
facility.''
(Unable to locate
story at time of
archiving.
Source:
www.miamiherald.com
Date: May 31, 2008)
'Individuals will be expected to report
to the centre every day for an intensive training programme.'
Tories plan boot camps for jobless youths
--Automatic referrals if out of work
for three months --Companies
and voluntary groups to run centres 26
May 2008 A future Conservative government will bring in "boot camps"
for unemployed young people aged between 18 and 21 who refuse to
take a job, Chris Grayling, the party's welfare spokesman, will say
tomorrow. Grayling plans to ask private sector companies and
voluntary organisations to run the intensive training centres.
Individuals will be expected to report to the centre every day for
an intensive training programme. Grayling will say: "We plan to
introduce much tougher rules for young people under the age of 21
claiming jobseeker's allowance. For this group, the welfare to work
process will start much earlier. There will be employment 'boot
camps' and community work programmes for those who don't find a job.
Staying at home doing nothing will be a thing of the past." [Work
camps - so corpora-terrorists get free slave labor?] For
complete story,
click here.
Lincoln
Man Accused of Binding, Gagging Teen Boys--May 19th, 2008--LANCASTER
(KPTM) - A Lancaster County man is under arrest for binding,
gagging, blindfolding and hanging teenaged boys from the rafters of
a detached garage. Police say 57-year-old Sanford Kaplan
victimized the teens starting in 2000 at his home at 14647 Country
Lane. After serving a search warrant, investigators seized items
used to bind the boys, a home computer and a camera. Kaplan was
booked on several counts of false imprisonment and 3rd degree sexual
assault of a child and child abuse on Wednesday. For complete
story,
click here.
Rotenberg records reportedly are seized--May
15th, 2008--State Police seized
documents late last week from the offices of the
Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton
that are related to a prank phone call last
summer that led two students to wrongfully
receive dozens of punishing electrical shocks,
according to two people with direct knowledge of
the investigation.
The collection
of evidence has
to do with a
yearlong grand
jury
investigation
led by the
office of
Attorney General
Martha Coakley,
said Kenneth
Mollins, a New
York lawyer
who has
filed several
lawsuits against
the school and
who said he
spoke to a
representative
of Coakley's
office about the
Rotenberg
investigation.
Mollins said he
was told the
grand jury is
also examining
possible
financial
improprieties by
the school.
The second
source, who
works for the
state and asked
to remain
nameless because
this person is
not authorized
to speak about
grand jury
proceedings,
said State
Police
investigators
came with a
search warrant
and left with
boxes of
documents. The
source said the
investigation
had an ambitious
scope and
involves
multiple
government
agencies.
For complete
story,
click here.
When Is "Tough Love" Torture?--May
4th, 2008--"Last time this country
witnessed somebody with a bag over his head and
a noose around his neck, the world was horrified
and the nation was embarrassed," thundered Rep.
George Miller, on hearing
testimony this April
regarding abusive treatment of troubled teens in
unregulated residential programs. "To be told
[by these witnesses] that this is considered a
valid therapy by someone in the care of someone
else's child…It's hard to believe."
Miller—who
chairs the House Education
and Labor Committee—had
called for the congressional
hearings to introduce
legislation to regulate the
programs, which use such
"tough love" methods in an
attempt to discipline
difficult adolescents. He'd
also requested a Government
Accountability Office (GAO)
investigation. At the first
round of hearings last
October, the GAO had
released its initial report,
finding "thousands" of
allegations of child abuse,
medical neglect and
"reckless and negligent
operating practices," in
"boot camps, "wilderness
programs" and "academies,"
which currently hold tens of
thousands of American youth.
Two additional GAO reports
were introduced at the April
hearings—with investigators
describing the treatment of
some of the youth as
"torture." One youth was
beaten for weeks and denied
medical attention after a
suicide attempt left him
with an exposed bone from a
broken arm; others were
taunted, then ignored as
they lay dying; some were
even hooded and had nooses
placed around their necks.
For complete story,
click here.
Hung Jury Declares Mistrial In Van Dragging Of
15-Year-Old Girl--May 3rd, 2008--Almost
a year after 15-year-old Siobhan McClintock was
allegedly dragged behind a van at a church
bootcamp for troubled youth, her named abusers
are set free due to hung jury despite witness
testimony, medical treatment and photos of
multiple injuries.
On Friday, May 2, 2008, the Judge in the case of Charles Flowers,
47, and a bootcamp worker, Stephanie Bassitt, 21,
declared a mistrial, as the jury could not
reach a decision as to where the young girl sustained her injuries.
Last summer, Siobhan was entered into Love
Demonstrated Ministries, International's
32-day Boot Camp for "at risk" youth. The
program, founded in 1995:
...for teen boys through the
Faith Outreach Center. The camp's aim is to
"instill discipline, respect for authority,
integrity, unity and morality," according to
the camp's Web site. In 1997, he began to
accept girls to the program.
While at the camp, Siobhan was said to have
fallen behind in morning drill exercises and
when she did, she was tied to a van and dragged
along.
An
eye-witness account of the incident was
provided during court.
Two days after the incident, the troubled teen
returned home, much to the shock of her mother.
The mom took pictures of the injuries to
Siobhan's legs, shins, chin, stomach, back,
hands and feet. Her mom also had her treated as
well as removed her from the program.
Flowers and the worker were indicted on felony
assault charges less than two months later.
Their
trial began at the end of April.
Just a few days into the trial, the
Judge reduced the charge of felony assault
to a Class A misdemeanor, stating that a rope
and van were in no way considered "Deadly
Weapons".
In a hung jury decision of 9-3, in favor of a
"not guilty" verdict for Flowers and an 11-1
vote in favor of a "not guilty" verdict for
Bassitt, the Judge declared a mistrial in the
case.
The main reason cited for their weighted
decision towards not guilty was that their was
no clear proof of where the evidence of the
teen's injuries originated.
Although due process is every American's right,
where does eye-witness account, injuries
consistent with dragging and medical treatment
not provide evidence? The teen was obviously
troubled and many such teens placed in these
types of programs are pathological liars.
Moreover, there are often so many situations
involving the parents that are not known to the
public and these parents have a history of
allowing such behaviours to occur and then in
desperation, place their "troubled" children in
programs like this one.
The children will do anything to escape and the
parents will do anything to enable their
children.
The whole case is "hung" as this young girl has
probably skirted her own problems, the alleged
abusers got away with it and the court system
failed. For complete story,
click here.
Shackled teen 'was running for his life'--May
2nd, 2008--PORT ST.
LUCIE — When her son ran away the first time
from Victory Forge Military Academy, she thought
she understood why.
It was a
strict place, there was
discipline and rules, she
thought. Maybe he wasn't
used to it.
But when he
fled again from the boot
camp-style boarding school -
this time in leg shackles -
the woman says she knew
something was wrong.
The
16-year-old Port St. Lucie
boy said "he was running for
his life," his mother, who
declined to give her name or
his, said Friday.
Academy
staff found the boy and
called the police. Port St.
Lucie officers who responded
saw the boy wearing the
shackles.
Police
questioned whether using the
leg restraints was legal,
said Victory Forge school
commander Alan Weierman. So
police decided to contact
the Department of Children
and Families, he said.
As a result,
both police and DCF are
investigating whether the
use of the shackles was
child abuse.
Although
police officials say they
can't discuss the case
because it is still open,
the case has been forwarded
to the state attorney's
office for review, a
spokesman said.
DCF
officials also declined to
discuss their investigation.
But DCF did
contact parents last week
informing them of the
accusation and telling them
to remove their sons from
the school.
By Monday
afternoon, all 16 boys had
left the academy.
Weierman
says the shackles are not
abuse. They're used only to
restrain the boys and are
removed as soon as the
student agrees not to run
away again. The head of the
academy also says parents
are told what they could
expect if their son ever ran
away - he would be placed in
shackles, and an extra three
months would be tacked on to
the 12-month commitment they
make when they enroll their
teen.
But the
mother of the Port St. Lucie
boy says she never knew her
son was being shackled. She
learned about the
restraints, she says, when
her son was found in early
April.
By that
time, Weierman has said, the
boy had been wearing
shackles on and off for 10
days.
The teen's
mother called the shackles
"child abuse" during an
interview Friday.
"To shackle
a kid, hey, that's abuse,"
she said.
The woman
said she sent her son to the
academy because, as a single
mother, she was looking for
a way to discipline the boy
after he had been showing
her disrespect.
A friend of
hers suggested Victory Forge
and since the boy had
expressed an interest in one
day joining the military,
she believed the academy
would be a good experience,
she said.
The teen's
first day at the school was
Feb. 26. He ran away about
two weeks later.
At the time,
she thought he wasn't used
to the discipline. Then the
boy called and told her he
had been called names,
including a racial slur.
The mother
says the boy returned after
she talked with the school.
But during his return, she
says, she began having
regrets.
The woman
says she was about to pull
her son out of the school
when police contacted her on
April 6 asking whether she
had seen the teen. He had
run away again, police said.
When she
discovered her son had been
shackled, she began to
regret making him go back to
the academy.
"Right there
and then, I felt so guilty
putting him there," she
said. "It really hurt."
She says the
boy later told her that
while at the school he had
also been punched in the
face and choked.
The woman
said she and her son both
gave statements to police
about their allegations. She
says she's now talking with
attorneys to fight the
contract requiring her to
pay the academy the rest of
the $28,600 she agreed to
pay for her son's
enrollment.
On Friday,
Weierman said the woman's
claim that she didn't know
about the shackles is a lie.
He denies that the teen was
ever punched or choked. Had
it happened, he would have
called police, Weierman
said.
"To my
knowledge, that never took
place," he said.
Weierman
says the mother is making
the allegations because she
wants to back out of her
contract with the school.
"To me, it's rather
suspicious and convenient,"
he said.
But the
woman says she's concerned
about what happened to her
son. "As a parent, as a
mother, I'm still angry,"
she said. "I'm upset."
For complete story,
click here.
Breaking:
'They're just laying down, waiting to hear
something. They're on high risk.'
Several Students Arrested At Locked-Down
High School 28 Apr 2008 (WA) Several students have been
arrested at Mount Tahoma High School after officials put the campus
under a "high risk" lockdown on Monday. Earlier, KIRO 7 reporter
Kevin McCarty said students off campus heard from students in
classrooms who were told the lockdown was a "high risk" one,
requiring students to lie down on the floor behind closed doors
until the school is 'clear.' Officials said a student who had been
suspended was found on campus Monday with a loaded handgun.
For complete story,
click here.
Lawmakers and witnesses compared the treatment of
teens in the camps to the kind of torture faced by
prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Greg Kutz has led an investigation into youth
residential programs for the Government
Accountability Office. He says the programs use
deceptive marketing practices when trying to
persuade parents of troubled youngsters to enter the
programs.
Kutz testified that investigators uncovered cases
in which a pit bull was trained to bite students and
where teens had bags placed over their heads and
nooses slipped around their necks.
A visibly angry Congressman George Miller says
"it's hard to believe that people would do this to
somebody else's child." He has introduced
legislation to prevent such abuses and boost
oversight of boot camps. (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
www.krdo.com
Date: April 24, 2008)
Teen boot camp hearing targets Missouri agency--April
24th, 2008--WASHINGTON
| In a hearing designed to expose deceptive
marketing practices in the residential treatment
industry for troubled teens, a northwest Missouri
referral agency was singled out Thursday on Capitol
Hill.
The hearing, held before a
House committee, included
testimony of examples of
cruelty and neglect used by
officials at boot camps and
residential treatment
centers.
It highlighted what Greg
Kutz called “deceptive and
other questionable”
marketing tactics by some
referral agencies. Kutz, who
is leading an investigation
into youth residential
programs for the federal
Government Accountability
Office, specifically named
Parent Help of Gallatin,
Mo., as one of them.
For example: Despite online
descriptions that say Parent
Help workers will “look at
your special situation and
help you select the best
school for your teen,” all
three GAO investigators who
called Parent Help with
fictitious stories about
their children were referred
to Thayer Learning Center.
Parent Help is owned by John
Bundy, while Thayer is owned
by his wife, Willa Bundy.
“They didn’t disclose that
to us as parents,” Kutz
testified.
Thayer Learning Center,
where Roberto Reyes of
California died at age 15 in
November 2004 after his
parents were referred to the
school through Parent Help,
is located about 50 miles
northeast of Kansas City in
Kidder. Parent Help is less
than 15 miles from there.
Officials at Thayer and
attorneys for Thayer didn’t
return calls from The
Star on Thursday.
The GAO found that among the
more questionable practices
were false promises of tax
incentives and insurance
reimbursements. Monthly
charges ranged from $2,800
to $13,000, Kutz said.
(Unable to locate story at
time of archiving.
Source:
www.kansascity.com
Date: April 24, 2008)
Feds eye 'boot-camp
therapy'--April 25th, 2008--WASHINGTON
— Boot camp therapy companies use deceptive
practices in getting parents to enroll troubled
teens in programs where they can end up abused and
neglected, the Government Accountability Office has
found.
The findings come at the same time House Education and Labor
Committee Chairman George Miller introduced the "Stop Child Abuse in
Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008," designed to create
federal oversight of wilderness therapy programs, also known as
therapeutic boarding schools, boot camps and behavior modification
facilities.
At a committee hearing Thursday, Gregory
Kutz, GAO's managing director of Forensic
Audits and Special Investigations, said the
most recent investigation looked at eight
closed cases of abuse or death, including
abuse at the Whitmore Academy in Utah in
November 2004. GAO found that "ineffective
management and operating practices, in
addition to untrained staff, contributed to
the death and abuse of youth enrolled in
selected programs."
Kutz told stories of teenagers being
forced to lie face down on red-ant hills,
being bitten by pit bulls, being forced to
endure extreme physical endurance tests in
120-degree heat and other abuse.
Kutz also said the GAO found "examples of
deceptive marketing and questionable
practices in certain industry programs and
services" after calling 14 programs with
fictitious parents looking for information
for fictitious children. He played audio
tapes of phone calls made to certain
wilderness programs.
One excerpt included a woman at a
referral service telling the GAO caller to
tell his wife that this was a "college prep
boarding school," because she might "freak
out" if she thought the caller wanted to
send his daughter to a place "where there
are drug addicts and people that are all
screwed up."
Another example had a referral agent
recommend a particular program to GAO
because "the bipolar, the depression, those
kinds of things, they just go away after a
while" when the participants follow a
special whole-grain diet and exercise
program.
There were other examples of conflicts of
interest, as one referral service kept
directing participants to a Missouri boot
camp that it owned. Other examples showed
misleading information on health insurance
reimbursement or encouraging tax fraud
through charitable donations.
Thursday's hearing was a follow-up to one
the committee held in October at which GAO
released a report outlining 10 cases where
teenagers died in such programs, including
five deaths in Utah. For complete
story,
click here.
Police found teenage boy in shackles--April
25th, 2008--PORT
ST. LUCIE — The Department of Children and Families
told parents of boys at a boot camp-type boarding
school to remove them this week after police found
one of the boys shackled, according to the school's
leader.
Victory Forge Military Academy's
board president and school
commander, Alan Weierman,
acknowledged Friday that the
school uses shackles to restrain
runaways and that an
investigation was launched when
a Port St. Lucie police officer
saw a 16-year-old runaway being
restrained. For complete
story,
click
here.
Teen boot camps under scrutiny--April 25th,
2008--Washington
- Lawmakers are calling for federal regulation of
so-called "boot camps" for kids. They are all across
the country, but alleged abuses at the camps were
described as "sickening."
One case, caught on tape, got national attention.
Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died after being roughed up
by staff at a youth boot camp in Florida. Now
congressional investigators say they have found
thousands of other cases they say turned their
stomachs.
"The abuses included staff members forcing
children to remain in so-called stress positions for
hours at a time, to undergo extreme physical
exertion without food, water, or rest; and to eat
their own vomit," said Rep. George Miller (D-CA).
Often modeled after military boot camps, the
camps exist to straighten up troubled teens, but
investigators said they were reminded of the
abuses inmates suffered at the Abu Graib prison in
Iraq.
"A 16-year-old boy having trouble breathing and
walking was tortured and humiliated for days. One
staff member told the boy he deserved an Academy
Award for faking it," said Gregory Kutz, Government
Acccountability Office.
Kutz said the sales pitches often mislead. Camp
officials were recorded telling an investigator
posing as a teen's father what not to tell his wife.
"I want you to tell her it's a college prep
boarding school," the official said.
One who was abused himself as a 13-year-old said
he is still scarred by it.
"I have nightmares today of being back in that
place and being told that I'm never gonna leave that
things are gonna never change," said Jon
Martin-Crawford of Hancock, New York.
Investigators said they found more than 1,500
cases of reported child abuse at residential
facilities including boot camps, more than 100 of
those were in Indiana.
Lawmakers are calling for federal standards for
youth boot camps with periodic inspections.
For complete story,
click here.
Cook saw dragging at boot camp--April 26th,
2008--A
witness testified on Friday that she saw two
Christian boot camp officials abuse a 15-year-old
girl last summer at a Banquete ranch, including
dragging her behind a van.
Charles Flowers, 47, and
Stephanie Bassitt, 21, of
Love Demonstrated Ministries
boot camp, are on trial for
aggravated assault. They are
accused of using a rope to
tie trainee Siobahn
McClintock to a van on June
12 and then dragging her
behind it.
Barbara "Bobby" Greer said
she was working as a cook on
the ranch during a portion
of the boot camp held on the
property. After witnessing
the dragging she wanted to
call 911 but felt like she
was under the control of the
ranch owners.
"Every time she would fall
they would drag her through
the gravel," Greer said.
The day before, Greer said
she saw a man pin Siobahn
down with his boot on her
neck while he sprayed water
in her face.
The Floresville teen, who
now is 16, has said she was
pinned to the ground several
times by Bassitt and Flowers
at the camp when she could
no longer exercise.
For complete story,
click here.
GAO cites concerns over wilderness therapy programs--April
25th, 2008--WASHINGTON
(AP) - A new government report says some companies use deceptive
marketing practices to convince parents to enroll their troubled
teens into boot camp-style therapy programs where they can end up
abused and neglected. The Government Accountability Office
looked at eight cases of abuse and death at the camps, including at
the Whitmore Academy in Utah in 2004. The agency's managing
director told members of Congress on Thursday the review found
ineffective management and untrained staff contributed to dangerous
conditions at the camps. He told stories of teens being forced to
lie on red-ant hills and being bitten by pit bulls. The
chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee has introduced a
bill to create federal oversight of wilderness therapy programs.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.localnews8.com
Date: April 25, 2008)
Stop Child Abuse in Programs that Supposedly "Help"--April
23rd, 2008--Rep.
George Miller (D-CA) will introduce legislation
tomorrow, aimed at reining in the billion dollar
"troubled teen" industry, which, according to the
New York Times,
detained about
100,000 children and adolescents as of 2005-- a
number which had quadrupled in 10 years.
Right now, many states
regulate dog kennels and
nail salons more
assiduously than they
monitor these "tough
love" programs, which
are essentially
private prisons: the
teens cannot leave or
contact the outside
world. And there is no
federal regulation at
all: in fact, the feds
don't even know how many
teens are incarcerated
in these programs or how
many programs exist.
That question may begin
to be answered tomorrow,
in a new Government
Accountability Office
report.
At the last hearing, a
GAO
report finding
thousands of allegations
of abuse and ten deaths
at these "boot camps"
"emotional growth" or
"therapeutic" boarding
schools, harsh
"wilderness programs and
"academies," was
presented to the house
Education and Labor
Committee. After hearing
accounts of teens
"forced to eat vomit,
lie in urine and feces,
forced to use
toothbrushes to clean
toilets and then on
their teeth," the
ranking Republican on
the committee said that
he generally opposes
increased federal
regulation, but "there
are some times when it
has to happen."
For complete story,
click here.
Fed
study says troubled teens abused in some residential treatment
centers--April 25th, 2008--WASHINGTON
-- Troubled teens have been repeatedly abused, neglected and even
subjected to clear cases of torture in residential treatment
centers, such as the wilderness therapy programs that flourish in
Utah, according to a two-pronged federal study that also uncovered
misleading marketing practices used to sell these program to
parents.
A House committee received the
findings of this General Accountability Office study on Thursday,
hearing about one program where teens had bags placed over their
heads and nooses tightened around their necks, similar to what U.S.
soldiers did to prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In
another case, a teen was forced to lay on a red ant hill and was not
allowed to remove the ants from his face or body. (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
http://origin.sltrib.com
Date: April 25, 2008)
Children Abused in Unregulated
'Boot Camps,' Critic Charges--April 24th,
2008--“Your
dog has more protection than your children,” says
Maia Szalavitz, a journalist who has investigated
so-called "tough love" camps and residential
programs supposedly aimed at helping troubled teens.
Congress
will hold a second round of hearings Thursday on
problems highlighted by Szalavitz and others. Rep.
George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education
and Labor Committee, is chairing the probe of
widespread abuse in the programs.
There have been at least 10 deaths of children held
in teen “wilderness programs,” “boot camps,”
“emotional growth boarding schools,” and other
residential facilities. The first round of hearings
last October prompted
bipartisan
outrage at industry abuses that committee members
compared to “human
right
abuses in third world countries.”
Several victims portrayed in Szalavitz' book, "Help
at Any Cost," are scheduled to testify at the
hearing. She has called the "tough love" programs
"an industry out of control and answerable to no
one."
“Most parents are unaware that in many states, dog
kennels and nail salons are more highly regulated
than the health and safety of children in so called
'tough love teen boot camp' institutions. Anyone,
including ex-convicts, can open a program. No
qualification or certification is required,”
Szalavitz said.
Szalavitz is a fellow of the Statistical Assessment
Service (STATS), a not-for-profit Washington, DC,
group that highlights the use and abuse of science
and statistics in the media. For complete
story,
click here.
Teen 'Boot Camps' Again in
Spotlight--April
23rd, 2008--Residential
programs for troubled teens will be getting more
scrutiny from Congress this week, where
investigators will reveal the results of an
undercover investigation. Some of the outfits,
which purport to help troubled children, have
generated hundreds of allegations of death and
physical, sexual and emotional abuse, ABC News
reported last October.
"Kids being forced to eat
their own vomit, to eat
dirt, to not be allowed to
go to the bathroom...all in
the idea that somehow this
is building character," is
how Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.,
described what congressional
investigators found when
they probed some of the
programs.
At a hearing before Miller's
House Education and Labor
Committee Thursday,
investigators are expected
to reveal alarming new
details showing how
deceptive marketing and
conflicts of interest could
lead good parents to send
their children to bad
programs, Hill sources say.
Miller is also expected to
introduce legislation aimed
at strengthening oversight
of the programs.
At a hearing last fall,
investigators
told
Congress that "boot
camp"-style programs tend to
be loosely regulated and are
sometimes found to have
untrained staff using
reckless or negligent
operating practices.
For complete story,
click here.
Foster care home faces
probe--April 19th, 2008--A
Broward judge Friday ordered an investigation into a
shelter for troubled foster children after
court-appointed guardians for the teens complained
the group home was unsanitary, beset by violence and
failing to properly document incidents in which
children ran away or were harmed.
Attorneys for the Broward
Guardian-ad-Litem Program,
which provides volunteers to
represent the best interests
of children who were abused
or neglected, told Circuit
Judge David Krathen they had
uncovered about 140
Lauderhill police reports,
including incidents of
children running away, using
drugs or harming each other.
''We are very, very
concerned about the safety
of all the children at the
facility,'' said Howard
Talenfeld, a Fort Lauderdale
attorney representing the
guardian program. ``What we
need is a complete and
thorough investigation to
see that each and every
child is safe.''
At the center of the dispute
is a Lauderhill shelter,
called Impact Community
Services, that houses about
12 teenagers under the
supervision of ChildNet, a
private foster care agency
that is licensed and funded
by the Department of
Children & Families.
Talenfeld said guardians had
seen reports of children
having sex with each other,
including an incident
involving a disabled teen
who would not have been
capable of consenting to
sexual activity. Talenfeld
said he also had seen
reports of assault and
battery, and more than 125
cases of children running
away.
At the guardian program's
request, Krathen appointed
an attorney with Legal Aid
Service of Broward County,
Walter Honaman, to
investigate the shelter and
report back to the court.
''We must make sure none of
these kids are in harm's
way,'' the judge said.
Melissa Zelniker-Presser, a
Broward attorney, said she
represents a 17-year-old boy
with mental retardation who
lived at the shelter until
recently.
According to a report, he
''was forced to have sex''
with another boy who already
had shown signs of
aggression. ''I am concerned
for the safety of . . .
other children who live
there,'' Zelniker-Presser
said. (Unable to
locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.miamiherald.com
Date: April 19, 2008)
Teens learn to face
consequences at reform school--April
13th, 2008--...
"Kids typically are angry when
they get here, angry at their parents for sending
them away, angry at us for being
here, just
angry," McMahon said. "We address that on Day One,
asking them why they are here and helping them with
their initial treatment plan, then their master
plan.
Though hundreds of families rave
about residential programs such
as this one, others have horror
stories.
Julia
Scheeres, author of a
best-selling memoir, "Jesus
Land," will beg any parent
who'll listen to not believe
slick brochures and a program
director's word.
Scheeres, now 41, spent a year
in a religious-based reform
school in the Dominican Republic
along with her adopted brother,
David. Her parents sent them
there from their Indiana home
when Julia was 17.
At
the school, she witnessed
physical abuse regularly and
lived in a constant state of
fear and depression.
"Some
kids, who are deep in drugs or
other bad crimes, may find these
places work," she said. "But for
kids like me and my brother —
who simply didn't get along with
our parents and were doing
normal teenage rebellions — they
do far more harm than good. I no
longer have a relationship with
my parents."
Scheeres is quick to point out
that she has no knowledge of
Eckerd. She just wants to tell
parents to fully investigate any
program before sending kids
away.
Eckerd has had hundreds of kids
come and go through its program
over the past 40 years, but its
record isn't spotless.
In
2000, 12-year-old Michael
Wiltsie died at the Ocala, Fla.,
camp after being physically
restrained by a 300-pound
counselor. Though Florida
juvenile justice authorities
were critical of Eckerd, no
criminal charges were filed.
McMahon also has first-hand
experience with tragedy. He was
the camp director at the
Appalachian Wilderness Camp in
2005 when Travis Parker, 13,
died at the state-run camp for
troubled boys near Cleveland.
Six people were initially
charged with murder in Travis'
death. McMahon was never
charged. He did testify in court
that his review of the incident
found all the workers properly
applied a restraint hold on
Travis and didn't use excessive
force. Charges against everyone
were dropped. For complete
story,
click
here.
San Jose center for
troubled teens closing abruptly--April
10th, 2008--The
region's center for emotionally disturbed children
is abruptly shutting its doors, following scathing
reports of unsafe conditions and multiple violations
of state law governing locked treatment facilities.
Although owners of the
Starlight Adolescent Center in San Jose said its
closing was not connected to recent complaints,
records show the facility was cited by state
officials in recent months for 14 violations that
placed children in "immediate risk" and 12 others
that posed potential harm.
State records show one
youth had his arm broken in January while being
restrained; a bulimic teenager lost 15 pounds at the
facility, and staff complained to state
investigators of inadequate training.
In addition, in
February, an outside agency charged the Starlight
facility with "unlawful and irresponsible" behavior
for its use of physical restraint and seclusion to
subdue the teenage mentally ill patients, including
518 violations of state law. "Starlight must be
sanctioned for its failure to protect vulnerable
children," said the second critical audit of the
facility in two years by the Mental Health Advocacy
Project, which the county funds to monitor the
rights of mentally ill patients.
The decision to close
the facility in June comes amid a growing concern
among experts about the wisdom of keeping mentally
ill youth in locked facilities on a long-term basis.
The average stay at Starlight is one year.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source:
www.mercurynews.com Date: April 10, 2008)
Parents of Killed Intruder:
Wrong People, Wrong Time--April 9th, 2008--DURAND
- A fourteen year old Durand boy is killed after a home invasion
turned deadly Sunday. Today his family speaks out and Travis
Castle's parents must have a lot of unanswered questions. At the top
of that list is how could their child, their fourteen year old son,
who does not have a criminal record could ever be mixed up in this
deadly mess.
Kimberly Britton & Clyde Castle Travis Castle's
Parents
A love for horses and a passion for riding, it's the
legacy Travis leaves behind. “There wasn't nothing he couldn't do.
He could do anything,” says his father Clyde Castle. “He could drive
a truck and trailer at fourteen years old and probably better than I
can.”
In just two and half weeks, Travis would have turned
fifteen, but his life was cut short Sunday. Ogle County Sheriff's
police say Travis and two other boys broke into a home just outside
Stillman Valley to steal guns.
“One of them told him, 'Get out of the car, Travis.
You're going in with us,’” Clyde remembers. “He didn't want to go
in,” adds the boy’s mother, Kimberly Britton.
But Travis did go in, and before he got out, the
young teen was met by house guest in the hallway. Police say that
man fatally shot Travis after the boy pointed a gun at him.
“I talked to him at 9:30,” Kimberly tells 13 News.
“He was staying the night at his friends. He said, 'Mom, I'll be
home in the morning. Love you and everything's going to be alright.’
But the next morning Travis never showed up. “We looked and we
looked and we couldn't find him,” Kimberly says.
His family admits Travis shouldn't have been
involved, but they say it was peer pressure. The boy recently
started attending a school for troubled teens. That's where his
parents say he got mixed up with the wrong crowd.
“The two things I told him growing up, 'I hate a
thief and liar.' And Travis wasn't either one,” says Clyde. And he
has message for the other suspects. “The boys who influenced him, I
hope you have to live with this the rest of your life, the rest of
your life that you killed my son.”
Those boys still have not been caught. Detectives
believe they may be in Winnebago County. (Webmaster Note:
"Troubled teen" programs are not worth the trouble!)
(Unable to locate story at time fo archiving. Source:
www.wrex.com Date: April 9,
2008)
8-year-old suspended for
sniffing marker--April
3rd, 2008--WESTMINSTER
– Adams School District 50 is defending its decision
to punish a third grader for sniffing a Sharpie
marker.
Eight-year-old Eathan
Harris was originally suspended from Harris Park
Elementary School for three days. Principal
Chris Benisch reduced the suspension to one day
after complaints from Harris' parents.
Harris used a black Sharpie marker to color a
small area on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. A
teacher sent him to the principal when she
noticed him smelling the marker and his
clothing.
"It smelled good," Harris said. "They told me
that's wrong."
Eathan's father, John Harris, says the school
overreacted for treating Eathan as if he was
huffing, or inhaling, marker fumes.
"I think it's outlandish," John Harris said.
"It's ridiculous."
Eathan shyly shook his head "no" when a reporter
asked if he knew about "huffing."
Benisch stands by his decision to suspend
Harris, saying it sends a clear message about
substance abuse.
"This is really, really, seriously dangerous,"
Benisch said.
In his letter suspending the child, Benisch
wrote that smelling the marker fumes could cause
the boy to "become intoxicated."
A toxicologist with the Rocky Mountain Poison
Control Center says that claim is nearly
impossible.
Dr. Eric Lavonas says non-toxic markers like
Sharpies, while pungent-smelling, cannot be used
to get high.
"I don't know whether it would be possible for a
real overachiever to figure out a way to get
high off them," Lavonas said. "But in regular
use, it's just not something that's going to
happen."
"If you went to Costco and bought 50 bags of
Sharpies and did something to them, maybe
there's a way to get creative and make it
happen," Lavonas said.
Adams County School District 50 leaders were
unfazed by the poison control center's medical
opinion.
"Principals make hundreds of decisions everyday
based on our best judgment. And in that time,
smelling that marker, I felt like, 'Wow, that's
a very serious marker,'" Benisch said.
Despite the medical evidence, Benisch promised
to draw an even clearer line on markers.
"We've purged every permanent marker there is in
this building," he said.
Eathan Harris says he's happy to be back in
school after his suspension, but he did confide
he worried the school's disciplinary action
might hurt his dream of one day becoming a
professional football player. (Webmaster Note:
For more commentary on this story, see:
http://onlinelunchpail.blogspot.com/2008/04/8-year-old-suspended-for-sniffing.html)
For complete story,
click here.
Development, Testing, and
Findings of a Pediatric-Focused Trigger Tool to Identify
Medication-Related Harm in US Children's Hospitals--April
1st, 2008--Glenn S. Takata, MDa,b, Wilbert Mason, MD, MPHc,d, Carol
Taketomo, PharmDe, Tina Logsdon, MSf and Paul J. Sharek, MD, MPHg OBJECTIVES.
The purposes of this study were to develop a pediatric-focused tool
for adverse drug event detection and describe the incidence and
characteristics of adverse drug events in children's hospitals
identified by this tool. METHODS. A pediatric-specific trigger
tool for adverse drug event detection was developed and tested.
Eighty patients from each site were randomly selected for
retrospective chart review. All adverse drug events identified using
the trigger tool were evaluated for severity, preventability,
ability to mitigate, ability to identify the event earlier, and
presence of associated occurrence report. Each trigger and the
entire tool were evaluated for positive predictive value. RESULTS.
Review of 960 randomly selected charts from 12 children's hospitals
revealed 2388 triggers (2.49 per patient) and 107 unique adverse
drug events. Mean adverse drug event rates were 11.1 per 100
patients, 15.7 per 1000 patient-days, and 1.23 per 1000 medication
doses. The positive predictive value of the trigger tool was 3.7%.
Twenty-two percent of all adverse drug events were deemed
preventable, 17.8% could have been identified earlier, and 16.8%
could have been mitigated more effectively. Ninety-seven
percent of the identified adverse drug events resulted in mild,
temporary harm. Only 3.7% of adverse drug events were identified in
existing hospital-based occurrence reports. The most common adverse
drug events identified were pruritis and nausea, the most common
medication classes causing adverse drug events were opioid
analgesics and antibiotics, and the most common stages of the
medication management process associated with preventable adverse
drug events were monitoring and prescribing/ordering.
CONCLUSIONS. Adverse drug event rates in hospitalized children are
substantially higher than previously described. Most adverse drug
events resulted in temporary harm, and 22% were classified as
preventable. Only 3.7% were identified by using traditional
voluntary reporting methods. Our pediatric-focused trigger tool is
effective at identifying adverse drug events in inpatient pediatric
populations. For complete story,
click here.
Kids in trouble for sexual
harassment--April
3rd, 2008--WASHINGTON,
Apr 3, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A "zero-tolerance"
approach to sexual harassment has led to increasing
numbers of complaints in elementary schools and even
in nursery schools.
In one Texas
case, a 4-year-old received an in-school
suspension for pressing against an aide's
breasts while he was hugging her, The
Washington Post reports. A kindergarten
student in Hagerstown, Md., was accused of
harassment for allegedly pinching a little
girl's rear end.
Virginia
reported that 255 students were suspended
from elementary schools last year for
sexually offensive conduct and in Maryland,
there were 166 suspensions, including three
from pre-schools and 16 from kindergarten,
the Post said.
Ted Feinberg,
assistant director of the National
Association of School Psychologists in
Bethesda, Md., said that accusing
6-year-olds of sexual harassment "doesn't
make sense to me." He said that he worked
for 30 years in the schools without a real
case of sexual harassment in elementary
school.
"Kids can be
exploratory in behavior, they can mimic what
they see on TV," he told the Post.
(Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
http://portal.tds.net Date: April
3, 2008)
Nearly 200 taken from
sect's West Texas ranch--April 6th,
2008--ELDORADO
-- After several anxious hours late Saturday,
tensions appeared to be easing at the YFZ Ranch in
West Texas as state troopers streamed past
checkpoints and escorted another busload of girls
from the secretive polygamist sect's compound.
Around 11 p.m., police
scanner traffic
indicated that
authorities had
"cleared" the church's
temple and were moving
to the compound's annex.
There was no indication
that authorities' search
for children on the
ranch was coming to a
close.
Earlier in the evening,
some of the sect's
members refused to allow
authorities to entering
the church's massive
white temple.
Allison Palmer,
assistant district
attorney for the 51st
District, which includes
Schleicher and Coke
counties and part of Tom
Green County, said that
authorities "were
preparing for all
possibilities" and that
ambulances and other
equipment were on
standby.
"This is a very
sensitive area, and
members of this church
feel very strongly about
nonmembers entering that
area," Palmer said.
"This is a very
important to them. It is
proving to be difficult
to obtain their
permission to enter that
building."
Palmer credited
Schleicher County
Sheriff David Doran with
obtaining the
cooperation of the sect
to allow the search to
continue. She wouldn't
say whether
investigators had
searched all the other
buildings.
183 removed
Earlier Saturday,
officials said they had
removed 137 children and
46 women from the ranch.
Investigators said they
planned to keep
searching until every
child was accounted for
at the YFZ (Yearn For
Zion) Ranch.
The second full day of
searching at the
property had
investigators going
building to building in
the hunt for more
children. State
officials have blocked
access to the ranch
since Thursday in
response to a report of
physical abuse of a
16-year-old girl, law
enforcement officials
said Friday.
Child Protective
Services spokeswoman
Marleigh Meisner said
Saturday that
authorities have removed
137 children from the
ranch, which is an
outpost of the
Fundamentalist Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints, based in
Colorado City, Ariz.,
and Hildale, Utah. Of
the 137 children, about
40 were boys.
Meisner said she didn't
know whether
investigators had found
the 16-year-girl whose
complaint of abuse
reached CPS officials
Monday.
"I can't confirm that we
have even found that
girl," Meisner said.
Eighteen of the girls
have been legally
removed from the ranch,
and foster homes have
been located for them,
Meisner said.
The other 119 children
remain under the care of
CPS caseworkers at
Eldorado's First Baptist
Church, the Eldorado
Civic Center and a local
elementary school.
All the children have
been interviewed, and
some of the 46 women who
had been removed from
the ranch are mothers of
the children being
questioned, Meisner said
at a news conference
Saturday.
"We need to know if they
are safe, if they have
been abused, neglected
or are at high risk of
abuse," Meisner said.
She said CPS
investigators' presence
in Eldorado could
continue indefinitely.
Meisner said that she
planned to be in
Eldorado "for a while."
(Unable to locate story
at time of archiving.
Source:
www.star-telegram.com
Date: April 6, 2008)
Sex abuse, violence alleged
at teen jails across U.S.--April 4th,
2008--JACKSON,
Mississippi (CNN) -- Girls as young as 13 say
they were shackled for weeks at a time in
Mississippi.
Erica was 16 when she was forced to wear leg shackles at a Mississippi detention center, she said.
A Texas teen was
allegedly
offered birthday
cake in exchange
for sex.
A guard drove
his knee into
the neck of a
frail suicidal
Ohio boy after
the youth was
wrestled to the
ground and held
down by other
guards who
stripped him and
covered his face
with a smock, a
state report
said.
More than two
dozen girls at
an Indiana
lock-up describe
"networking" --
their term for
sneaking into
each other's
cells to have
sex, with no
interference
from guards.
This is a
glimpse into
what America's
juvenile jails
look like,
according to
lawsuits,
criminal cases
and experts who
have spent years
delving into
what they call a
broken system.
"It's a
nationwide
crisis that has
been going on
for years, one
the public has
never been told
the extent of,"
said psychiatric
social worker
Jerome Miller,
the co-founder
of the National
Center on
Institutions and
Alternatives,
who has
evaluated and
helped reform
juvenile jails
for more than
three decades.
This summer,
Mississippi
plans to close
Columbia
Training School,
a juvenile
facility that
houses mostly
minor offenders.
They are often
runaways from
abusive homes.
Erica was 16
when she was
sentenced to
Columbia after
running away, a
probation
violation of an
earlier
marijuana
conviction.
She admits she
was a girl quick
to sass her
parents, full of
anger about the
death of a
relative that
happened around
the same time
Katrina wrecked
her family's Bay
St. Louis,
Mississippi,
home.
Nervously
touching a
sparkly barrette
in her red hair,
she cries as she
describes how
guards forced
her legs into
tight metal
shackles. She
said she was
cuffed and
chained when she
ate and used the
bathroom -- and
was even forced
to play soccer
that way against
other girls.
Guards called
her "Chain
Gang," she said.
"I will always
remember them
things around my
ankles, the way
they cut into
me," she said,
pulling up her
pant leg to show
slash-mark scars
on her ankles
and heels. "They
made you feel
like you were
nothing."
Watch teen
explain suicide
attempt was cry
for help »
Represented by
attorneys with
the
Southern Poverty
Law Center,
Erica and nine
other girls
housed at
Columbia are
suing the state,
claiming they
endured a range
of sexual and
physical abuse,
including
shackling. Don
Desper, a
licensed
therapist and
former employee
at Columbia who
opposed the
practice, told
CNN it was used
to prevent the
teens from
escaping.
In a handwritten
affidavit, a
15-year-old girl
described a male
guard molesting
her. She wrote:
"He came inside
my cell half way
half of his body
and he started
touching me and
he tryed (sic)
to kiss me and
then he left he
came back with
my snack in his
hand and he
opened my cell
again and he
started grabbing
me around my
waist and he
tryed (sic) to
stick his hands
in my pants and
I started
crying."
When the lawsuit
was filed in
2007, a U.S.
Justice
Department
monitor was
making periodic
inspections at
Columbia as part
of a 2005
settlement with
Mississippi in a
previous case.
The Justice
investigation
that led to that
settlement found
Columbia youths
were hog-tied,
forced to strip
and eat their
own vomit and
were held in
isolation in
what was called
the "Dark Room,"
a windowless
room with a hole
in the floor
used as a
toilet.
Read the Justice
Department
report that
describes girls
being shackled
to poles
Hundreds of
youths have
allegedly
suffered similar
abuse at
juvenile
detention
centers across
the United
States,
according to
experts
interviewed by
CNN and court
records checked
for this story.
The
U.S. Justice
Department
has sued nine
states and two
territories
alleging abuse,
inadequate
mental and
medical care and
potentially
dangerous
methods like the
use of
restraints. The
department
doesn't have the
power to shut
down facilities
-- states do --
but through
litigation it
can force a
state to improve
its detention
centers and
protect the
civil rights of
jailed youths.
Another facility
under Justice
scrutiny is
Oakley Training
School near
Jackson,
Mississippi,
which was sued
by the
department at
the same time as
Columbia. Gov.
Haley Barbour
recently
announced
Columbia's
inmates would be
transferred this
summer to Oakley
when Columbia is
closed.
But the Justice
Department said
Oakley has
satisfied barely
a fraction of
requirements the
department set
for it years
ago. According
to a March 2008
Justice report,
there is an
"enormous amount
of work" needed
to make Oakley a
safe and
productive place
to rehabilitate
troubled teens.
Barbour would
not respond to
questions for
this report. The
Mississippi
Department of
Human Services,
which runs
Columbia and
Oakley, refused
to answer most
of a CNN public
records request
citing pending
litigation and
also declined to
be interviewed.
The U.S. Justice
Department could
not talk
specifically
about ongoing
cases, but Lisa
Krigsten, civil
rights division
principal deputy
assistant
attorney
general, noted
the department
is going after
double the
number of
juvenile jails
for civil rights
violations
during the Bush
administration
than in any
previous
administration.
"We take this
seriously and
are committed to
protecting the
vulnerable
children who are
in these
places," she
said.
A CNN check of
other juvenile
facilities shows
that, despite
years of court
wrangling,
serious problems
persist.
In Ohio, a dozen
employees at the
Scioto Juvenile
Correctional
Facility have
been indicted
since 2003 on
charges relating
to physical and
sexual abuse of
youth, according
to a May 2007
Justice report.
Five were
convicted of
various charges,
including sexual
battery and
assault; six
cases were
dismissed and a
jury found one
employee not
guilty.
In January, a
state-hired
consultant
blamed a
"culture of
violence" in
Ohio's juvenile
jails for
numerous abuses.
The expert's
report details
examples of
"egregious use
of force" by
guards and
included a video
he viewed of a
2007 incident in
which a "frail"
boy who was
threatening to
harm himself was
restrained by
guards.
The boy was
wrestled to the
ground, cuffed
and stripped,
with one guard
seen putting his
full body weight
on the boy's
back while
driving his knee
into the boy's
neck.
A so-called
"Suicide Smock"
was placed "over
his airways,"
the report said.
"The youth
actually screams
that he can't
breathe."
For complete
story,
click here.
Authorities remove children from
polygamists' West Texas compound--April 4th, 2008--ELDORADO,
Texas — Child welfare officials Friday took custody of 18 girls who
lived at a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by
polygamist leader Warren Jeffs following an abuse complaint to state
authorities.
A total of 52 girls, ages 6 months to 17
years, were bused away on Friday to be interviewed, but only 18 were
immediately taken into state custody, said Texas Child Protective
Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner. No arrests had been made.
Meisner said CPS was looking for foster
homes for the girls, most of whom have rarely been outside the
insular world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints. They were temporarily being housed at a local civic
center, she said.
"We're dealing with children that aren't
accustomed to the outside world so we're trying to be very sensitive
to their needs," said Meisner.
Authorities had interviewed about half the
girls since arriving at the remote compound with law enforcement on
Thursday evening, she said. Interviews were expected to continue
over the weekend.
The investigation began with a call alleging
physical abuse of a 16-year-old girl living there, Meisner said.
On Friday afternoon, Department of Public
Safety officials began executing a search warrant at the compound.
The warrant is for records dealing with the
birth of children to a 16-year-old and any records listing a
marriage between Dale Barlow, 50, and the girl, according to the San
Angelo Standard-Times, which cited court records released late
Friday in Tom Green County. Prosecutors in Tom Green, a larger
county north of Eldorado, were handling the case.
An arrest warrant was issued, but the
individual DPS is looking for had not been located by Friday
evening, said spokeswoman Tela Mange. She said she could not reveal
whose name was on the warrant. (Unable to locate story at time
of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: April 4, 2008)
Doctor is sued in death of girl, 4 Her
psychiatrist treated her with powerful drugs--April
4th, 2008--The parents of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley are awaiting
trial on charges that they killed her in December 2006 with an
overdose of psychiatric drugs. A medical malpractice suit
filed yesterday asserts that a Tufts Medical Center psychiatrist who
diagnosed the girl as bipolar when she was 28 months old and then
treated her for two years with a regimen of powerful drugs is to
blame for her death. "This child was subject to mostly
telephone prescriptions and a slipshod diagnosis," said Boston
lawyer Andrew C. Meyer Jr., who represents Rebecca Riley's estate
and filed the suit against Dr. Kayoko Kifuji in Suffolk Superior
Court. Six weeks before Rebecca Riley was found dead on Dec.
13, 2006, in a Hull house shared by her parents and other relatives,
a nurse at her Weymouth preschool warned Kifuji that she suspected
the child was overmedicated because she was often too tired to
participate in school activities and appeared like a "floppy doll,"
according to Meyer. Kifuji did not reduce her
medication after examining the child, he said. "They made her
a 4-year-old zombie," said Meyer, whose Boston law firm Lubin &
Meyer specializes in medical malpractice cases. "We don't believe
that she did suffer from bipolar or that this was the appropriate
medication." The suit was filed on behalf of a court-appointed
guardian who is serving as administrator of Rebecca Riley's estate
and is protecting the interests of the girl's 13-year-old brother
and 7- year-old sister. It seeks unspecified damages for the
wrongful death and pain and suffering endured by Rebecca, as well as
the loss suffered by her brother and sister, who are in foster care
and have been named the beneficiaries of her estate. Kifuji
could not be reached for comment yesterday. Since the child's death,
Kifuji remains on staff at Tufts Medical Center, but no longer
treats patients. She has voluntarily agreed not to practice
medicine, pending an investigation by the state Board of
Registration in Medicine.
Tufts Medical Center released a statement yesterday saying: "We have
not received any official notification of a lawsuit. We remain in
support of Dr. Kifuji and the care she provided." Kifuji
diagnosed Rebecca Riley with bipolar disorder and attention deficit
and hyperactivity disorder and prescribed clonidine, a blood
pressure medication that is sometimes used to calm aggressive
children, Seroquel, an antipsychotic drug, and Depakote, an
antiseizure drug, according to court records. The child died from an
overdose of the prescription drugs, and, by itself, the amount of
clonidine in her system was fatal, court records indicate. Clonidine
and Depakote are approved by the FDA for adults only. A trial
date has yet to be set for Michael and Carolyn Riley, who were
initially charged with first-degree murder in intentionally
overmedicating their daughter and knowing that it would be fatal.
For complete story,
click here.
Schools
embrace fingerprint scanning--By
Pauline Vu,
Stateline.org
Staff Writer--
The lunch lines in West Virginia's Wood
County schools move much faster than they used to. After
students fill their trays with food, they approach a small
machine, push their thumbs against a touch pad — and with that
small movement, they've paid for their meal.
For half the state's school districts, as
well as hundreds more across the country, the days of dealing
with lost lunch cards or forgotten identification numbers are
over.
"A student cannot forget their finger,"
said Beverly Blough, the director of food service in Wood County
School District, which in 2003 became the first district in West
Virginia to use finger scanners.
But the emergence of finger scanning has
also sparked a backlash from parents and civil libertarians
worried about identity theft and violation of children's privacy
rights. In several cases when parents have objected, school
districts have backed down, and some states have outlawed or
limited the technology.
A growing number of schools are using
biometrics, or the science of identification based on
physiological or behavioral features like facial or voice
recognition, to have students pay for meals, log their
attendance, board buses, check out books and visit the nurse's
office. Administrators cite many benefits, chief among them
efficiency.
Fingerprints are scanned, but the prints
themselves are not saved; instead, a finger's ridges and arcs
are turned into "data points," which are converted into a
numerical identifier assigned to each student.
Pennsylvania-based identiMetrics, which
offers biometric identification products, has sold fingerprint
scanners to about 1,000 school districts in about half the
states, mostly in the Northeast and South, said Anne Marie
Dunphy, the company's chief financial officer. By the end of the
fiscal year, she expects the business will triple or quadruple
over the previous year.
Dunphy said rural districts seem to be
taking the lead on implementing the technology. "You would think
that it would be the technology-rich, wealthy districts along
the Northwest corridor, and it's the complete opposite. We have
installations in very rural areas in Indiana, where the
backyard's a cornfield and there's an Amish lady working the
cash register," she said.
But the technology's emergence has raised
concerns for parents about whether their children's information
is safe.
"It just opens a huge database out there
that's just easy for identity theft," said Joy Robinson-Van
Gilder, an Illinois mother who rallied legislators last year to
place limits on the technology in her state. "I think it's
against their civil rights, without a doubt, and it is an
invasion of privacy."
Illinois is the
only state that requires schools to get parental permission
before scanning students' fingerprints. Iowa banned
biometrics outright in schools, and Michigan doesn't allow
fingerprinting because of a 2000 attorney general opinion that
it would violate state law.
Arizona could join this group. Last month,
a Senate committee passed a bill to ban the use of biometrics in
schools.
Scanning opponents argue that districts
don't have policies in place for what information to collect,
how long to keep it, how to delete it when it's no longer needed
and who should have access to the information. They also say
that schools, unlike banks or major government agencies that
also collect biometric data, don't have the financial resources
to ensure that it is secure.
"The benefits certainly do not justify the
privacy violations that we're seeing," said Alessandra Meetze,
executive director of the Arizona chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union. "I don't think collecting fingerprints from
very little kids sends the right message…They're essentially
treating (students) like criminals for the sake of efficiency."
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.stateline.org
Date: March/April, 2008)
Jewish family sues Jamaican reform school
for troubled teens--March 25th, 2008--A
battle has erupted in the Orthodox Jewish community over a
Brooklyn teenager sent by his prominent
family to a behavior boot camp accused of terrifying abuse.
Isaac Hersh, 16, has been trapped since
last summer at Tranquility Bay, a reform school on the island of
Jamaica with a soothing name - and harsh
discipline, according to the lawyer hired to try to get him out.
"It's a modern-day concentration camp," said
Maryland lawyer
Joshua Ambush. Isaac's estranged
parents sent him to the boot camp last year after luring him back to
Brooklyn from his new home in
Texas, court papers claim. Isaac's
twin brother, Sol, is panicked he's next to go. "He's very
worried about his brother. He's very worried about himself, too,"
said a friend of the family who asked to remain anonymous.
Tranquility Bay offers the promise of turning bad boys into focused
achievers, but the walled-off camp with barred windows has been
called a nightmare. Children have been beaten, forced to eat
their vomit and made to stand in painful contortions for hours,
according to a separate suit filed in
Utah by former students against private
boot camps, including Tranquility Bay. The case has so riled
up members of the normally insular Orthodox community that several
are taking the rare step of publicizing Isaac's situation. For
complete story,
click here.
Sins against kids--March
20th, 2008--The General Assembly does not
legislate based on facts, relying instead on perceptions, personal
experiences and
political pandering. And nowhere is that more apparent than in
the way the state responds to juvenile crime. Despite the fact
that only 5 percent of youth
arrests owe to serious offenses, legislators have toughened the
juvenile system over the years in response to the myth of the
teenage "superpredator." At the
same time that lawmakers don't believe 17-year-olds are mature
enough to buy cigarettes or drive past midnight, they maintain that
teens are old enough to
be viewed as adults when they break the law. In Georgia, a teen
as young as 13 can face life in prison for some offenses. Now,
JUSTGeorgia — a coalition
of Voices for Georgia's Children, the Georgia Appleseed Center
for Law and Justice, and Emory's Barton Child Law & Policy Clinic —
is offering up a new
code. The comprehensive rewrite is based on four years of work
by the State Bar of Georgia's Young Lawyers Division and interviews
with hundreds of people
across the state, including advocates, victims of juvenile
crimes, foster children and law enforcement. Despite their varying
perspectives, all those interviewed
agreed that the Georgia statutes dealing with young people who
violate the law or who are victims of abuse and neglect are not in
the best interests of
children. Since its introduction in 1971, the Georgia
juvenile code has wandered far afield from its founding principle
that when a young person errs, the law
should rehabilitate, not punish. For complete story,
click here.
"Baby ASBOs" for children as young as 10--March
18th, 2008--LONDON
(Reuters) - Troubled teenagers and children as young as 10 would be
hit with anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) under a government
plan unveiled on Tuesday to fight youth crime. About 1,000 of
the country's "most challenging" children will be forced to sign
good behaviour contracts under the 218-million pound programme,
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said. Under the expansion of the
Family Intervention Projects, the troublemakers would be supported
by "non-negotiable" workers. But failure to abide by the
contract will lead to a criminal record, and a behaviour order
dubbed a "baby ASBO". "The support is non-negotiable -- if
young people don't take the help, or refuse to mend their ways they
will face the consequences," Balls said in a statement. "For
example (they will face) an Anti-Social Behaviour Order to stop bad
behaviour and an Individual Support Order to compel them to
co-operate with support. These are court orders with criminal
records and sanctions for those who breach them." For
complete story,
click here.
Judge orders California to enforce county
juvenile hall standards--March 12th, 2008--A
judge has ordered California authorities to set strict deadlines for
bringing county juvenile halls up to state standards if they fail
inspections. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Patrick
Mahoney ruled the Corrections Standards Authority has been giving
counties too much time to correct problems that include overcrowding
and excessive use of force.The authority inspects juvenile halls
every two years. The judge says counties must submit an
improvement plan within two months. They then must make changes
within three months or risk having their juvenile jails shut.
Legal advocates sued the authority in 2006. They say as many as half
the detention halls were allowed to operate despite failing to meet
minimum state guidelines. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.sacbee.com Date: March 12, 2008)
Tranquility Bay is 'private jail', author says--Reports
on the use of Tranquility Bay in Jamaica, as a rehabilitation
facility for troubled youth in the Cayman
Islands has come under fierce criticism from American
journalist and author Maia Szalavitz. Speaking to Cayman Net
News in a telephone interview on
Monday, 10 March, she said: “No other government has ever sent
a child there.” Ms Szalavitz, who contacted Net News after
reading a previous article with
family members raising concerns about a young Caymanian at the
facility, is author of the book “Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled
Teen Industry Cons
Parents and Hurts Kids” (Riverhead Books, 2006). She said that
whilst researching for her book she “spoke to dozens of parents and
teens who report
horrifying abuses at Tranquility Bay.” According to Ms
Szalavitz, she spent three years “looking at troubled teen
programmes” when researching her book,
and estimates that about 20 per cent of that time was spent on
Tranquility Bay. Her research took her to Jamaica in an
attempt to get inside the facility, but
she was refused entry. “It looks like a South American prison,”
Ms Szalavitz said of what she observed from the outside. She
related seeing bars on windows
which were blacked out, preventing anyone from looking in and
keeping those inside from looking out. “Basically, it is an
unregulated, private jail,” she said. “They are complete
amateurs; I don’t understand why any government agency would send
children there.” (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source:
http://caymannetnews.com
Date: March 10, 2008)
The Age of Consent: When Young Love Is a
Sex Crime--March 7th, 2008--Share
Twelve years ago, Frank Rodriguez pleaded guilty to sexually
assaulting a child. Faced with two to 20 years in prison on the
charge, he signed a plea bargain that gave him seven years
probation. He was told he must never be near children. That
meant he couldn't be any place where children gather, like
playgrounds or parks, which made it tough to find work. Age of
Consent: What Should It Be?"They literally just break you down to
nothing," Rodriguez said. "They tell me I can't do this, I can't do
this, you know. It gets real bad." Rodriguez completed his seven
years' probation without another violation, but he will forever be
on the Texas sex offender registry. And what was the nature of the
sex crime he committed? Well, when he was 19, Frank had sex with his
15 year-old girlfriend, Nikki Prescott, at her suggestion. "It was
my idea," she said. "I would say I pushed it more." Watch the story
tonight on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET and watch John Stossel's special
"The Age of Consent' next Friday, March 14 at 10 p.m. ET Nikki, now
27, was a freshman in high school at the time. Frank, now 30, was a
senior. She says the relationship was not at all unusual at their
high school. "All my friends were having sex, all of them," Nikki
said. "All my friends, you know, were dating older guys." Sexually
Active Teens: Right or Wrong?'I Was Not Raped' Nikki's mom, Melissa
Wiederhald, knew her daughter was intimate with Rodriguez, and at
one point even took Nikki to Planned Parenthood to get her birth
control pills. She didn't like what the couple were doing, though,
and she thought their relationship was getting too serious. One
night, after an especially bad fight with Nikki, in a fit of anger,
Nikki's mom made a fateful decision. "I said, 'This is it,'"
Wiederhald recalled. "I said, 'We're going to the police station.' I
said, 'I've had it.'" Wiederhald went to the police station because
she knew that it was illegal for Rodriguez and her daughter to be
having sex. The age of consent in Texas is 17, and Nikki wasn't
quite 16. Wiederhald didn't think that Rodriguez was violating
Nikki, but she felt she had no other way to make a point to her
teenage daughter. For complete story,
click here.
Survey: 13,000 Claims of Abuse Reported in U.S. Juvenile Centers
2004 through 2007--March 2nd, 2008--COLUMBIA,
Miss. — The Columbia Training
School — pleasant on the outside, austere on the inside — has
been home to 37 of the most troubled young women in Mississippi.
These are harsh and
disturbing charges — and, in the end, they were among the
reasons why state officials announced in February that they will
close Columbia. But they aren't
uncommon. Across the country, in state after state,
child advocates have deplored the conditions under which young
offenders are housed — conditions
that include sexual and physical abuse and even deaths in
restraints. The U.S. Justice Department has filed lawsuits against
facilities in 11 states for
supervision that is either abusive or harmfully lax and shoddy.
Still, a lack of oversight and nationally accepted standards of
tracking abuse make it difficult to
know exactly how many youngsters have been assaulted or
neglected. The Associated Press contacted each state agency
that oversees juvenile correction
centers and asked for information on the number of deaths as
well as the number of allegations and confirmed cases of physical,
sexual and emotional abuse
by staff members since Jan. 1, 2004. According to the survey,
more than 13,000 claims of abuse were identified in juvenile
correction centers around the
country from 2004 through 2007 — a remarkable total, given that
the total population of detainees was about 46,000 at the time the
states were surveyed in
2007. For complete story,
click here.
Youth pleads to get out of rehab--February
29th, 2008--A 16-year-old
girl, who was forcibly sent to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica for
rehabilitation, has made a “heart-wrenching” plea to her mother
to remove her from the youth facility. A letter, which was
given to
Cayman Net News by the minor’s mother, Latchmin
“Charlene” Scott, is dated 27 January and was given to Mrs Scott by
her
daughter’s former Social Worker, Carol Robinson, during the
week beginning 17 February. “I really need you at this time;
please I
am begging you to get me out of here. Please it was bad enough
in girls home but now it’s worse,” writes the minor. The issue
was
first reported in this publication earlier this month after the
juvenile was allegedly swiftly moved from the Frances Bodden Girls
Home
in Grand Cayman to Tranquility Bay without the family’s
approval. The young person’s aunt, Jan Scott of Cayman Brac,
expressed
concerns over possible violations of her niece’s human rights
and said the minor was not properly assessed before being
dispatched to Jamaica for rehabilitation. Jan Scott also
stated that she felt the decision and handling of the matter was
unjust and
may worsen her niece’s condition. Latchmin Scott is very
concerned with the way in which her daughter has been treated by the
authorities. “She needed help but it could have happened in a
different way,” she said. The mother explained that her
daughter, who
went to the Frances Bodden Girls Home in September 2007 after
being made a ward of the court, was not happy at that facility.
According to Latchmin Scott, her daughter’s dissatisfaction was
not helped by the Department of Children and Family Services’
decision to prevent her from visiting or maintaining contact
with her mother. Latchmin Scott said that she had always
sought to
maintain communication with her daughter, an issue that is now
exacerbated by her removal to Tranquility Bay. She believes
that
Ms Robinson, who was the social worker in the case prior to the
minor’s removal to Tranquility Bay, misled her about the action that
would be taken by the Department of Children and Family
Services following a third suicide attempt by her daughter.
Rather than
sending the teenager to the Jamaican facility, “she (Ms
Robinson) told me the judge was re-considering the decision to go to
Tranquility Bay,” and would withdraw the order pending further
investigations, said Latchmin Scott. However, Latchmin Scott
later
found out that her daughter was sent to the facility in Jamaica
the very day she and Ms Robinson had that conversation. In her
letter,
the minor describes how she feels about being at the
rehabilitation centre. “I am so depressed and frustrated; this place
is much
worse than you think and heard.” She continues,
“Yesterday a supervisor came and told me that the court order was
for two years
but Mommy … I know I won’t last here two months or more!”
Speaking of her future, the teenager states, “But my future has pure
grey clouds and overcast skies from my point of view. Me coming
here made my intentions of becoming a lawyer or something in
life (go) down the drain.” “Mom, you know me inside out
and when I tell you that I’m not happy and comfortable you know what
I
mean, how I feel and what I’m capable of doing.” While
Latchmin Scott was pleased to hear from her daughter, she was
equally
upset by its content and felt that the system had failed her
daughter. Ms Robinson was asked to comment on the case. She
said it
was no longer on her caseload and that queries should be
directed to Deanna Lookoy, Director of Children and Family Services.
Efforts to get comments from Mrs Lookloy by email and telephone
before press deadline were unsuccessful. (See Follow-up
letter to editor by Maia Szalavitz.)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
http://caymannetnews.com Date
February 29, 2008)
Police: Worker Assaulted Teen In Marietta
Treatment Center--February 28th, 2008--MARIETTA,
Ga. --
Police say a worker at an
adolescent treatment center slipped into a patient's room in
the middle of the night and sexually assaulted her. It
happened at the
Hartmann Center in Marietta. A teenaged girl complained Robert
Lee Jones snuck into her room while she was sleeping and
fondled her. Marietta Police arrested Jones and charged him
with sexual assault. He is still in the Cobb County Jail tonight.
The
courts send troubled teens to the
Hartmann Center for treatment for substance abuse problems.
For complete story,
click here.
TYC to close Sheffield Boot Camp--February
28th, 2008--Texas Youth
Commission officials plan to close the Sheffield Boot Camp in
remote West Texas, a facility that has been plagued for months
by staff shortages and a dwindling count of incarcerated youths.
Located in a remote part of West Texas, the camp that once housed
128 boys held just 17 today, officials said. Fifty-nine staff
members were on duty Wednesday. The closure, confirmed
this morning in a letter to legislative leaders, is the first for
the troubled agency after months of rumors that Sheffield and
other lockups were targeted. "It is apparent that the agency
will continue to experience staffing difficulties that
make the long-term viability of the Sheffield facility
tenuous," Youth Commission Conservator Richard Nedelkoff said
in a letter to the legislative leaders. "We are putting
together a plan to transition all youth and employees at
Sheffield to other TYC facilities by the end of March 2008. ... I
do not believe there are any remaining options for this facility."
At a time when several Youth Commission lockups still do not meet
the 12:1 staffing ratio mandated by law, Sheffield had about
1:3. Oddly, the youth population was drastically cut in
October because there was not enough staff to properly guard
them. The agency is 528 correctional officers short of a
budgeted staff of 2,776. In his letter, Nedelkoff
said while a review continues of possibly closing other youth
lockups, "I anticipate we will need to utilize the remaining
facilities" through August 2009. Nedelkoff was not immediately
available for comment. Legislative leaders had said they
expected as many as three lockups might be closed in coming
months because of a declining population of incarcerated
teenagers and a continuing shortage of staff. In
addition to Sheffield, the Victory Field boot camp in Vernon and the
West Texas State School in remote Pyote have been listed as up for
possible closure. The West Texas State School is where
allegations that incarcerated teenage boys were being
sexually assaulted by officials while top Youth
Commission officials looked the other way, triggering a
headline-grabbing scandal a year ago that resulted in the firing of
top management and the agency being placed in conservatorship.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.statesman.com Date:
February 28, 2008)
Tarnished View of Wonder Drugs--February
17th, 2008--When they were
first introduced in the early 1990s, new antipsychotic medications
for severe mental illness were seen as wonder drugs that were safer
and more effective than their predecessors. Sales soared as doctors
tried them on new conditions, including dementia, aggression and
other behavioral problems. Children and the elderly were among the
biggest users. But now, several studies questioning some of
the drugs' benefits have led many doctors to talk of using them for
shorter periods and with tighter monitoring, because of side effects
that include sedation, obesity and diabetes. "You can't just
pop someone on it and see them in a year," said Jason Karlawish, a
geriatric psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania.
These drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, offer a contentious
case study of a common pattern in pharmaceuticals. New drugs are
typically approved for narrow uses and get tried off-label on
conditions that are difficult to treat. Companies' sales
efforts stoke up overall use until the research catches up years
later, dulling the early enthusiasm. While some patients are helped,
lawsuits are also a common legacy. The atypicals were
originally approved for severe mental illness - schizophrenia and
bipolar disorder - which had limited markets. But under a determined
marketing effort portraying them as safer and more effective than
their predecessors, the atypicals came to be tried beyond their
approved uses for nursing-home residents, prisoners, and children
younger than 6 years old. Total U.S. sales for the class
reached $13 billion in 2007, doubling sales of 2002, according to
IMS Health Inc., a pharmaceutical-information firm. Atypicals carry
such names as Risperdal, made by Janssen Pharmaceutica, part of
Johnson & Johnson; Zyprexa from Eli Lilly & Co.; Seroquel by
AstraZeneca P.L.C.; Geodon by Pfizer Inc.; and Abilify by
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. All over the country, state officials
are discovering that atypicals have become the largest drug class in
Medicaid, the health program for the poor. And many state
officials question whether that reflects overzealous marketing or
real need. Several states, including Pennsylvania, are suing some
drugmakers for allegedly promoting the drugs beyond approved uses
and commissioning "ghost-written" articles to stoke use of the
drugs. The drugmakers reject the suits' claims and are
obtaining new approvals from the Food and Drug Administration to
treat more conditions. In the last two years, Janssen's Risperdal
got approval to treat schizophrenia in adolescents and the
irritability of autism in ages 5 to 16. Atypicals remain a
cornerstone of care for serious mental illness. Ellen Sholevar,
director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Temple University
School of Medicine, said atypicals could help children even though
they had not been well-studied. Antipsychotics are used when young
children appear to be out of control and represent a danger to
themselves or others, or have "very severe disorders where there is
no other viable treatment option," she said. Naas Siddiqui,
25, of West Philadelphia, said that antipsychotics eased her manic
symptoms and helped her graduate from Yale University in 2007. While
Zyprexa made her lethargic and gain weight, she said, Abilify calmed
her. She gets her blood tested every six months and sees a
physician more frequently. "I don't want to stay on it permanently.
But I think it's helped me significantly," she said. A
different view of the drugs came from Nicola Huff of Pleasantville,
N.J., whose son, John Aaron, took Risperdal for seven years to
resolve his behavioral problems. But at age 14, he developed a
well-known drug side effect: female-size breasts that had to be
surgically removed. "He would ask me 'Am I a girl?' And I
would tell him 'no,' " Nicola Huff said. Tammy Wandling, whose
son Austin has autism, said a psychiatrist put him on Risperdal at
age 4. In less than nine months, Austin developed a baseball-size
growth in his right breast. "I couldn't believe how big it was,"
said his mother, who lives near Charleston, W.Va. Research
suggests Risperdal, like the older antipsychotics, can cause an
increase in the hormone prolactin, which directs breasts to enlarge
and make milk. Risperdal's label warns about the possibility. The
experience helped drive both women to hire Steve Sheller and James
J. Pepper, both Philadelphia lawyers. "They're being given an easy
out with a pill. But the easy out may create a much more serious
problem," Sheller said. (Unable to locate story at time
of archiving. Source:
www.philly.com Date: February 17, 2008)
Teen accuses Evins staff of abuse--February
22nd, 2008--EDINBURG — More
allegations of abuse have surfaced at the Evins Regional Juvenile
Facility, less than a month after administrators there pledged to
reform policies on restraining inmates. A former teenage
resident claims a staff member at the troubled detention center
threw him to the ground and violently attacked him after a raucous
group therapy session in July 2007. The incident left
15-year-old Robert Romero Jr. with a dislocated hip, fractured
pelvis and a ruptured artery in his thigh, according to a federal
lawsuit filed this week against Evins and the Texas Youth
Commission, the state agency that oversees the detention center. “It
takes quite a lot to make a grown man cry,” his father, Robert
Romero Sr., said. “But after I saw my son, I broke down in tears.”
The accusations come within three weeks of a proposed settlement
agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Texas Youth
Commission that would end a civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of
Evins inmates. The facility has come under intense scrutiny in the
past two years after several inmates accused guards of using overly
violent means to restrain them. Romero’s attorney,
Christopher J. Gale, sees his client’s cases as proof that Evins’
troubles are far from over. “There has been a lot of concern
there about the use of force,” he said. “We have to remember that
these are just kids.” For complete story,
click here.
How growing woes doomed a Hollywood drug
clinic--February 21st, 2008--There
were the big things: the constant escapes, the fistfights and the
sex abuse allegations, and the former financial officer accused of
stealing $2 million. And the little ones: the filthy floors,
the missing toilet paper, and the mattresses that were old and
wafer-thin. Eventually, the problems plaguing The Starting
Place's residential drug treatment program in Hollywood simply
became too much to ignore. For years, administrators at
Florida's Department of Children & Families and a local advocacy
group that routinely inspected the program for troubled teens,
nudged and coaxed and cajoled. Managers of the program -- which had
maintained a very good reputation since opening in 1969 -- promised
to do better. Hundreds of pages of DCF records, obtained by
The Miami Herald on Wednesday, show they seldom did. Last
week, DCF shuttered the residential treatment program, 2057 Coolidge
St., revoked its licenses and moved about 45 youths into alternative
programs. The treatment center in Plantation also run by The
Starting Place, has not had such problems and remains in operation.
The chairwoman of the program's board, Lynn Strauss, could not be
reached for comment Wednesday. The actions come amid a host of
recent troubles: Hollywood police, along with the Broward Sheriff's
Office's child abuse investigations unit, are looking into
allegations that some youths were sexually abused by staff, said
Jack Moss, DCF's top administrator in Broward County. The
investigations remain ongoing. (Unable to locate story at time
of archiving. Source:
www.miamiherald.com Date: February 21, 2008)
SPLC Campaign Closes Mississippi Girl's
Prison!--Seven months after
the Southern Poverty Law Center sued Mississippi to stop the
physical and sexual abuse of teenage girls confined at the notorious
Columbia Training School, the state has decided
to close the facility.
For complete story,
click here.
Reform school failure--February
12th, 2008-A year after the
sexual and physical abuse of young inmates by Texas Youth Commission
wardens was disclosed, little has improved and the agency's
leadership continues to founder. Entrusted with the custody of
thousands of Texas teenagers with behavioral problems, the
agency remains a ship adrift in need of a strong captain rather than
another deck chair shuffle. The forced resignation Monday of
Acting Director Dimitria Pope by Conservator Richard Nedelkoff has
key state legislators wondering what measures are necessary to
get the TYC out of crisis. Last week Nedelkoff, a gubernatorial
appointee and the third person to hold the position in the last 12
months, repeatedly told lawmakers at a hearing that he had not
decided who would be named full-time director. He was then
embarrassed when Pope testified that he had already ruled her
out. Nedelkoff later demanded that Pope resign or be fired,
and she stepped down. Pope was brought in from the adult
prison program to manage TYC after the previous director and
board of trustees resigned. She was criticized for expanding
the use of pepper spray to subdue juvenile inmates, ignoring a
report on excessive use of solitary confinement and approving
the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars for office
furnishings. Nedelkoff's own decisions have come under fire.
He receives a $160,000 annual salary for his state position,
but he also kept his CEO position at Eckerd Youth
Alternatives, a Florida company that is in the juvenile
corrections business. After becoming TYC conservator, he brought in
several consultants with links to Eckerd. After being called on the
issue last week, he resigned from the firm, a hollow gesture,
as he will likely return to it after the temporary conservator
position expires. State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, the
chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, is an admirer
of Pope's performance in the state prison system and said she
was in an impossible position at TYC without the resources or
administrative support to do the job. Whitmire said a top
priority should be relocating isolated youth facilities to
more urban settings, where most of the inmates come from and
where medical resources and prospective employers are more
readily available. Unfortunately, legislators where the institutions
are located resist moving them and, by making the issue a hot
potato, have delayed much-needed restructuring of the system.
Whitmire said Nedelkoff's lack of candor in dealing with legislators
last week has damaged his credibility. "To be honest, I'm not sure
what we've got in this guy, and I'm going to obviously work with
him, because the stakes are too high," Whitmire said. "This
agency needs some stability, and he's going to have to prove
to me he can provide it." It's shocking and unacceptable
that after a year of attempted reform of the TYC by the governor and
the Legislature, so little has been accomplished and so much remains
to be done. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source:
www.chron.com Date:
February 12, 2008)
How Teenage Rebellion Has Become a Mental
Illness--January 28th, 2008--For
a generation now, disruptive young Americans who rebel against
authority figures have been increasingly diagnosed with mental
illnesses and medicated with psychiatric (psychotropic) drugs.
Disruptive young people who are medicated with Ritalin, Adderall and
other amphetamines routinely report that these drugs make them "care
less" about their boredom, resentments and other negative emotions,
thus making them more compliant and manageable. And so-called
atypical antipsychotics such as Risperdal and Zyprexa -- powerful
tranquilizing drugs -- are increasingly prescribed to disruptive
young Americans, even though in most cases they are not displaying
any psychotic symptoms. Many talk show hosts think I'm kidding
when I mention oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). After I assure
them that ODD is in fact an official mental illness -- an
increasingly popular diagnosis for children and teenagers -- they
often guess that ODD is simply a new term for juvenile delinquency.
But that is not the case. Young people diagnosed with ODD, by
definition, are doing nothing illegal (illegal behaviors are
a symptom of another mental illness called conduct disorder). In
1980, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) created
oppositional defiant disorder, defining it as "a pattern of
negativistic, hostile and defiant behavior." The official symptoms
of ODD include "often actively defies or refuses to comply with
adult requests or rules" and "often argues with adults." While
ODD-diagnosed young people are obnoxious with adults they don't
respect, these kids can be a delight with adults they do respect;
yet many of them are medicated with psychotropic drugs. An
even more common reaction to oppressive authorities than overt
defiance is some type of passive defiance. John Holt, the late
school critic, described passive-aggressive strategies employed by
prisoners in concentration camps and slaves on plantations, as well
as some children in classrooms. Holt pointed out that subjects may
attempt to appease their rulers while still satisfying some
part of their own desire for dignity "by putting on a mask, by
acting much more stupid and incompetent than they really are, by
denying their rulers the full use of
their intelligence and ability, by declaring their minds and spirits
free of their enslaved bodies." Holt observed that by "going
stupid" in a classroom, children frustrate authorities through
withdrawing the most intelligent and creative parts of their minds
from the scene, thus achieving some sense of potency. Going
stupid -- or passive aggression -- is one of many nondisease
explanations for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Studies show that virtually all ADHD-diagnosed children will pay
attention to activities that they enjoy or that they have chosen. In
other words, when ADHD-labeled kids are having a good time and in
control, the "disease" goes away. There are other passive
rebellions against authority that have been medicalized by mental
health authorities. I have talked to many people who earlier in
their lives had been diagnosed with substance abuse, depression and
even schizophrenia but believe that their "symptoms" had in fact
been a kind of resistance to the demands of an oppressive
environment. Some of these people now call themselves psychiatric
survivors. For complete story,
click here.
Family worry over child's welfare--The
inadequacy of juvenile detention and rehabilitation facilities in
the Cayman Islands, which has resulted in the use of the
Tranquillity Bay youth rehabilitation facility in Jamaica, has once
again raised questions about the level of treatment given to
Caymanian youth. Jan Scott of Cayman Brac has expressed
concerns over possible violations of a relative’s human rights after
the juvenile was allegedly swiftly moved from the Frances Bodden
Girls Home in Grand Cayman to Tranquillity Bay without the family’s
approval. Ms Scott said the minor was not properly assessed before
being dispatched to Jamaica for rehabilitation. She feels the
decision and the handling of the matter was unjust and may worsen
the child’s condition. Over the past week, Cayman Net News has
been contacting the Department of Children and Family Services, CAYS
Foundation and the Human Rights Committee for comments through phone
calls and emails, but all remained tight-lipped on the matter.
Numerous numbers dialled for Tranquillity Bay in Jamaica went
unanswered for several days. Maureen Brooks, Frances Bodden
Girls Home Manager, said that, as the matter relates to a juvenile,
she would prefer that media inquires be addressed to the CAYS
Foundation. The CAYS Foundation, a government entity, oversees both
the girls’ and boys’ homes in Grand Cayman. Following the
death of one parent, the minor moved in with the other parent but
that relationship soured, resulting in the child being sent to
Frances Bodden Girls Home. According to Ms Scott, the relative
is still mourning the death of her parent and is apparently “acting
out” or “seeking attention” – a cry for help, as she described it.
The child’s troubles began, Ms Scott alleges, when the juvenile was
taken to court for an incident at school for which the court advised
that she be sent to Tranquillity Bay. This decision, coupled with
“other issues,” drove her over the edge, Ms Scott believes. Ms
Scott further alleged that the child was “pulled from her bed” at
Frances Bodden and “locked up” by
police before sending her to the
Tranquillity Bay facility for rehabilitation. There are
outstanding questions about the handling, treatment, possible
violation of human rights and care of this child, Ms Scott said. She
contacted the Civil Service who, she said, had “insufficient
information on this serious matter”. The situation has had an
even more devastating effect because no family member was able to
see the child before she was flown off the Island, she said.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.caymannetnews.com
Date: January, 2008)
Texas Youth Commission shake-up fails to
eliminate punitive and inhumane measures against juveniles.--January
20th, 2008--On the same day last November that the Chronicle
published an editorial calling for speedy rebuilding of the
scandal-scarred Texas Youth Commission, the agency ombudsman sent an
alarming memo to TYC acting director Dimitria Pope. A year
after revelations of sexual abuse of inmates by reform school guards
and wardens led to ouster of the TYC board and management, it seems
the agency is slipping back into its bad habits. In the memo, chief
ombudsman Will Harrell alerted Pope to evidence that agency
employees were putting more young people in solitary confinement in
violation of TYC's policies and procedures. Under the TYC's
Behavior Management Program and its "Stop the Violence" campaign,
TYC supervisors have become increasingly reliant on sending teens
with behavioral problems to isolation cells without required due
process hearings or psychological evaluations. Even worse, according
to Harrell, some of the inmates at a correctional facility in Mart,
east of Waco, have been left in solitary for days and even weeks
with scant access to therapy, sanitary conditions and outside
exercise. The ombudsman cited a case in which a youth had been
locked down for eight days. He was allowed on only two occasions to
go to classes and was given outdoor recreation only once.
"Conditions in security are inadequate and unsanitary," Harrell
wrote. "One cell has no light or bed, yet a kid has been in the cell
for over 24 hours." Records obtained by the Chronicle indicate that
since August, the number of young people placed in isolation across
the state rose from 52 to 82. As Harrell reminded Pope, the
settlement of a 1983 lawsuit brought against the TYC bans the use of
isolation as a mode of retaliation or as a first-resort punishment
against youth offenders. With only a few exceptions, the agreement
allows placement in solitary only as a last resort and for a period
not to exceed 24 hours. It also calls for the student to be released
from isolation as soon as he is under control and not posing a
danger to himself or others. Harrell recommended that a TYC
team audit the transfers of youths to solitary and release those who
do not meet the criteria or did not receive due process and
psychological exams. Until that happens, a moratorium on isolation
should go into effect. A thorough evaluation of agency use of
solitary confinement should be accompanied by implementation of
positive rather than punitive behavior mod programs. In the
two months since Harrell sent his memo, nothing has been done to
address the issues he raised. While Pope was unavailable for
comment, newly appointed TYC conservator Richard Nedelkoff indicated
he had not been told of Harrell's concerns and would analyze the
situation and come up with recommendations in 35 to 40 days.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: January
20, 2008)
German teen sent to cope in Siberia--January
18th, 2008--German authorities
exasperated at the antisocial behaviour of a 16-year-old boy have
sent him to a remote Siberian village for an "intensive educational
experience", it emerged yesterday. The unusual measure by youth
welfare officers in the central state of Hesse raised fresh
questions about how to deal with delinquents who have been blamed
for a series of ugly crimes. The boy, who has not been
identified, was dispatched east after behaving violently in school
and at home and attacking his mother. He is being forced to fend for
himself in boot camp-style conditions in the forlorn village of
Sedelnikovo, several hours drive from the city of Omsk, in the
western Siberian interior. He has had to cope by collecting
and chopping firewood to make his own fires, digging his own toilet
and pumping water supplies from a well. He will stay there for nine
months, separated from family and friends, the internet and
television, under a programme designed specifically for him.
Under the supervision of a Russian-speaking German assistant, the
boy is also attending school. Once he returns to Germany, he will be
monitored for a further two years. "We deliberately sought a
region that was particularly lacking in allure," said Stefan Becker,
the head of the youth and social department in Giessen, calling it
"the ultima ratio" in the attempt to re-educate the boy, for whom
all other measures had failed. "[The youth] spends most of his time
trying to cope with his day to day existence, living in conditions
like we had 30 or 40 years ago," he added. "If he doesn't chop the
wood, his room is cold. If he doesn't fetch water, he can't wash."
The Hesse authorities have defended the move as an "educational
adventure" and say an inspector who visited the boy believed the
"treatment" was working. Hundreds of other youths have been sent on
similar programmes to countries as diverse as Greece and Kyrgyzstan.
The details have emerged in the midst of one of the most heated
state election campaigns that Germany has known for years, in which youth crime has featured
prominently. The Christian Democratic state president of Hesse,
Roland Koch, has called for boot camps and "warning-shot" arrests to
be applied to young criminals, and his election speeches have
particularly focused on clamping down on immigrants, said to be
responsible for half of all crimes committed by the under-21s.
The chancellor, Angela Merkel, has backed Koch's campaign, saying
that the discussion was long overdue. Koch's stance on crime and
immigration has won national resonance and the Hesse vote on January
27 - as well as one in the state of Lower Saxony on the same day -
is an early test for Merkel ahead of next year's federal election.
But the decision to send the teenager to Siberia is a step too far
for some, particularly as equally bleak, though not as cold, regions
are to be found in Germany. One commentator called it "more akin to
a reality TV show than a social welfare programme". Some have
described it as a cost-cutting measure, which, at €150 a day (£111),
is about a third of the price of a similar scheme in Germany. For
complete story,
click here.
Prank led school to treat two with shock
Special ed center duped, report says--December 18th,
2007--Two special education
students at the controversial Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in
Canton were wrongfully delivered dozens of punishing electrical
shocks in August based on a prank phone call from a former student
posing as a supervisor, a state investigative report has found.
School staffers contacted state authorities after they realized they
had been tricked on Aug. 26 into delivering 77 shocks to one student
and 29 shocks to another, according to Cindy Campbell, a spokeswoman
for the Department of Early Education and Care, which drafted the
report. Both students were part of a Rotenberg-run group home in
Stoughton for males under age 22. The Judge Rotenberg center,
which serves about 250 adults and children from across the country,
has been under fire for more than two decades for its unorthodox
behavior-modification treatments, including electric shock
treatments. Its defenders say that the school takes in troubled
students, some with self-damaging behavior, who have been rejected
by other schools. The center, which Massachusetts officials
have tried twice to close because of its treatment methods, focuses
on serving people with autism, mental retardation, and emotional
problems. Ernest Corrigan, a spokesman for the Rotenberg
center, said the school contacted law enforcement "within hours"
after discovering the prank, and that such an incident has never
before happened at the school. Corrigan said they have
instituted new safeguards to prevent such occurrences. He also said
that while the school regrets the incident, the two male students
who received the wrongful shocks did not experience any serious
physical harm and did not need medical treatment afterwards.
The shock devices, which are strapped to some students' arms, legs,
or torsos, deliver two-second electric jolts to the skin. The
devices are controlled remotely by teachers. State officials
said the identity of the prankster is known to law enforcement
authorities, but they would not release his name publicly and he has
not been arrested. The identity of the staffer who was fooled into
administering the shocks has also not been released. State officials
indicated that some disciplinary action took place, though they
would not specify what it was. According to records from the
Disabled Persons Protections Commission hotline phone log, there are
repeated complaints about the incident. One entry said "the caller
claimed that the shocks were approved, however, they were not."
Based on the prankster's call, one of the students was also
wrongfully placed in four-point restraints, limiting mobility of all
four limbs. Critics of the Rotenberg school say the case shows
that school officials have failed to live up to their public
promises to deliver electric shocks only sparingly and with great
oversight. "This shows a systemic breakdown at the center," said Leo
Sarkissian, executive director of ARC of Massachusetts, which
represents people with cognitive and developmental disabilities. "It
only takes a phone call to instigate shocks to this degree."
For complete story,
click here.
Young girl arrested for bringing steak
knife to school--December 18th, 2007--A
10-year-old girl faces a felony weapons charge after she brought a
kitchen knife to school to cut up her lunch. The Sunrise
Elementary 5th grader was brown-bagging it. Her mom packed her a
piece of steak for lunch, so she put a knife in the brown bag so she
could cut the steak. Teachers saw her cutting the steak and
immediately took the knife and called deputies. But a couple
of teachers took the utensil and called the sheriff. When deputies
arrived, they were unable to get the child's parents on the phone,
so they arrested her and took her to the county's juvenile
assessment center. Police say they didn't handcuff the child, but
they did make her undergo a complete assessment. The girls
uncle says his niece is devastated over the arrest and has been
crying her eyes out. School officials say it doesn't matter
what the knife was being used for. They said they had no choice.
The student now faces a felony charge for the possession of a weapon
on school property and the principal suspended her for ten days.
The sheriff's office has turned the case over to the State
Attorney's Office. (Webmaster Note: Stop oppressing and demonizing
children. Where's your common sense?) For complete
story,
click here.
Juvenile inmates' suit alleges abuse by
guard--December 6th, 2007--DALLAS
— Seven inmates who were held at the Coke County Juvenile Justice
Center have sued the private firm that operated the lockup, claiming
they were abused by a guard who was a registered sex offender.
The inmates allege they were mentally, physically and sexually
abused in 2006 and early 2007 by David Andrew Lewis, 24, who worked
the night shift until he was fired in March. The federal civil
rights lawsuit, which was filed Friday in San Antonio, names GEO
Group Inc. The Florida-based company ran the facility in Bronte, 30
miles northeast of San Angelo, until the state removed all inmates
and canceled GEO's contract in October citing unsanitary and unsafe
conditions. Lewis was not named as a defendant. GEO
spokesman Pablo Paez said the company had no comment about the
lawsuit. Lewis couldn't be reached. The Texas Youth Commission also
declined to comment. GEO fired Lewis when it learned about his
sex offender status as a result of an investigation stemming from
the overhaul of the TYC, which has been racked by claims of sexual
abuse and mismanagement. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: December 6, 2007)
Survivors Protest Kids
Helping Kids--December 2nd,
2007--On Friday, November
30th, a handful of protesters hit Milford, holding signs outside of
the “Kids Helping Kids” facility. They claim the institution
is a cult-like brainwashing center that abuses children in the name
of treatment. “The treatment was based on North Korean
brainwashing of American prisoners,” said Anthony Connelly.
“The abuse I endured occurred from 1986 until 1988. It ranges from
verbal assaults to solitary confinement.” "Kids Helping Kids
uses identical techniques that
Straight Inc. used. It was shut down in the early 90’s for
allegations of these horrible abuses,” explained Connelly. “In
1993, Kids Helping Kids moved from Hebron, KY into the Straight Inc.
building in Milford.” “This is a behavior modification
program, which is part of a congressional investigation into
widespread allegations of abuse,” continued Connelly. “CA Rep.
George Miller and the Government Accountability Office recently held
hearings on these abuses and deaths of teenagers and are attempting
to implement bill HR-1738. I fear this bill, if signed into law,
would not be enough to stop this atrocious dilemma.”
Representatives from Kids Helping Kids did not respond to our
inquiries for comment. “My human rights were violated and I
was tortured into submission starting at age 14,” said Connelly.
“Some tactics used on us were food deprivation, sleep deprivation,
humiliation, physical abuse, no communication with the outside
world, memorize and adhere to all program doctrine. I was also
forced to lie to progress and eventually became brainwashed through
the use of these uncanny methods.”
(Webmaster Note: Anthony Connelly coordinates
HEAL-KY. Actions in OH
& KY) For complete story,
click here.
Report gives state's Youth Court system
scathing review--November 28th, 2007--Mississippi'
s Youth Court system compromises public safety and violates the
constitutional rights of children because of overwhelming caseloads
and inadequate resources, according to a report. The two-year
study by the Mississippi Youth Justice Project of the Southern
Poverty Law Center and the National Juvenile Defender Center also
outlined other problems plaguing the system, including: Untimely
appointment of attorneys to represent youths. Inadequate
representation of youths. An overflow of referrals from
schools. Youth courts are overrun with referrals from local
schools where children are routinely arrested for minor,
school-related offenses that drain resources, clog dockets and fill
detention-center beds, according to the study. (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.clarionledger.com
Date: November 28, 2007)
Suit says TYC breaks pepper-spray rules--November
19th, 2007--AUSTIN — Texas Youth
Commission staffers continue to use pepper spray against inmates for
offenses no more serious than speaking out of turn or refusing to
follow rules, two Texas advocacy groups argued in court Monday.
Attorneys for Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. have accused the
agency of violating its own guidelines by allowing staff members to
use pepper spray on inmates in "passive-resistance situations" when
they pose no serious threat to anyone. The attorneys say the
use of pepper spray inside TYC units has skyrocketed this year —
1,221 incidents to date, compared with 196 incidents in all of 2006.
In early October, a 17-year-old male youth on suicide watch at the
Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg was apparently sprayed
for refusing orders to keep his hands out of the tray slot in his
cell door. Other youths have apparently been sprayed for
refusing to get out of bed; talking during lunch or refusing to
follow the dress code, the suit contends. "Pepper spray is the
high-tech equivalent of old-fashioned corporal punishment," Steve
Martin, a longtime expert on corrections who has been hired by the
advocacy groups, said outside the Travis County courtroom. He
said it was ludicrous for the agency to suggest that pepper spray
did not cause injuries. "It causes intense burning and pain and
panic," he said. The advocacy groups are suing TYC, accusing
it of failing to follow an agreement reached by the two sides in
September that was supposed to limit the instances in which pepper
spray could be used. After three hours of testimony, state
District Judge Gisela Triana urged both sides to attempt to reach an
agreement by Wednesday on specific instances in which the use of
pepper spray would be appropriate. TYC's critics claim the
agency is seeking authority to broaden, not limit, the use of pepper
spray at its units. Proposed use-of-force guidelines would
allow pepper spray to be authorized by a unit's administrator "on a
case-by-case basis" not just to protect against loss of life or the
threat of serious bodily harm. "It hugely expands it," said
Deborah Fowler, legal director for Appleseed No one at TYC or the
Texas Attorney General's office would comment on the proposed rule
changes. But earlier, attorneys for TYC argued that pepper
spray is often apt to cause fewer injuries to staff and offenders
than manual restraint. "Juvenile correctional officers had a
history of laying hands on these kids to try to control them and as
a result, some of the staff and kids were injured," said Terry
Thompson, of the Attorney General's office. Pepper spray was
listed in the agency's manual as a last-resort means of controlling
out-of-control youth. But the acting executive director,
Dimitria Pope, tried to change that policy in early August by
ordering staff to use pepper spray before resorting to physical
restraint. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.chron.com
Date: November 19, 2007)
Child held without mom at Texas detention
center--DALLAS
— An 8-year-old girl was separated from her pregnant mother and left
behind for four days at a detention center set up to hold immigrant
families together while they await outcomes to their cases.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they had to
transfer the Honduran woman because she twice resisted attempts to
deport her and was potentially disruptive. ICE spokesman Carl
Rusnok said guards and ICE staff watched the child after her mother
was removed from the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility.
But others are critical of the agency's handling of the case, saying
it put the girl at risk and is another example of why the facility
should be closed. "Here, it's the government itself that has
the custody of this child and then leaves her without proper
supervision," said Denise Gilman, who oversees the Immigration
Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, which provides
legal services to Hutto detainees. (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: November, 2007)
Handle With Care:
The state continues to license a
Midstate youth treatment facility where two have died and many
others have been abused--The
Chad Youth Enhancement Center is a privately owned residential
treatment facility nestled in the rolling
hills off of a winding, two-lane road just southeast of Clarksville.
Barns fashioned out of untreated wood and horses tucked behind white
fences dot the pristine grazing land that leads to the facility’s 20
tree-lined acres. Just a few yards from an empty pasture
marked by a few intermittent hay bales, Chad’s gym, school building
and three dormitories sit, looking clinical and quite unremarkable.
Chad is a place where kids—some criminals or drug addicts, or with
serious emotional and behavioral disorders—go to get help. All are
between the tender ages of 7 and 17, and most have problems so
severe that other facilities will not admit them. It’s what Chad
prides itself on: taking the most troubled and disadvantaged
children “to overcome those obstacles that may be hindering their
healthy emotional growth.” Chad is also a place where two
teens have died in two years. And where allegations of excessive use
of force, and verbal and physical abuse at the hands of the
facility’s staff have slowly piled up in the offices of Tennessee
state regulators for nearly a decade. In 2005 medics arrived
at Chad to find the body of Linda Harris, a 14-year-old resident
from Amityville, N.Y., limp on the floor of the hallway outside of
her room. According to a brief police office report, Harris
had “become unruly by not staying in bed and was flashing the boys”
when Chad staff pulled the girl’s arms behind her back and escorted
her to a time-out room. It was at this point that Harris “became
limp and fell on the floor” and the Chad staffers sat down next to
her and held her arms behind her back as she lay on her stomach.
After approximately 30 seconds, according to the report, staff let
her go as Harris remained belly down and appeared to
be crying. A few minutes later, the Chad
employees noticed that her breathing had slowed, so they rolled her
over and called 911. While an ambulance was en route, Harris stopped
breathing. She was pronounced dead after arrival at Gateway Medical
Center in Clarksville. For complete story,
click here.
The U.S. Psycho-Pharmaceutical-Industrial
Complex--Z Magazine--November, 2007--In
Eugene Jarecki's documentary film Why We Fight, about the U.S.
military-industrial complex, U.S. foreign policy critic Chalmers
Johnson states: "I guarantee you when war becomes that profitable,
you are going to see more of it." Similarly, as mental illness has
become extremely profitable, we are seeing more of it. On
September 4, 2007, the New York Times reported, "The number of
American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder
increased 40-fold from 1994 to 2003. . . .Drug makers and
company-sponsored psychiatrists have been encouraging doctors to
look for the disorder" ("Bipolar Illness Soars as a Diagnosis for
the Young"). Not too long ago, a child who was irritable,
moody, and distractible and who at times sounded grandiose or acted
without regard for consequences was considered a "handful." In the
U.S. by the 1980s, that child was labeled with a "behavioral
disorder" and today that child is being diagnosed as "bipolar" and
"psychotic"--and prescribed expensive antipsychotic drugs.
Bloomberg News, also on September 4, 2007, reported, "The expanded
use of bipolar as a pediatric diagnosis has made children the
fastest-growing part of the $11.5 billion U.S. market for
antipsychotic drugs." Psychopathologizing young people is not
the only reason for the dramatic rise in sales of such
antipsychotics as Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Johnson & Johnson's's
Risperdal (each, in recent years, grossing annually from $3 to $4
billion). Much of Big Pharma's antipsychotic boon is attributable to
generous U.S. government agencies, especially Medicaid. The Medicaid
gravy train has been fueled by Big Pharma corruption so over-the-top
that it has been the subject of recent media exposures. The
Associated Press, on August 21, 2007, reported, "A groundbreaking
Minnesota law is shining a rare light into the big money that drug
companies spend on members of state advisory panels who help select
which drugs are used in Medicaid programs for the poor and
disabled." Those advisory panels--dominated by physicians--have
great influence over the $28 billion spent by Medicaid on drugs, but
only Minnesota, Vermont, and Maine require drug companies to report
monies paid to physicians. The AP article focused on John E. Simon,
a psychiatrist on the Minnesota advisory panel since 2004, who
received $489,000 from Eli Lilly between 1998 and 2006. The top
drugs paid for by Minnesota Medicaid, according to the AP article,
have been antipsychotic drugs, especially Eli Lilly's Zyprexa.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
http://zmagsite.zmag.org (Z
Magazine) Date: November, 2007)
Are we too quick to medicate children?--November
5th, 2007--KATIE'S middle
child "has always had a lot going on in her head," says her mother.
And much of it has been a mystery to Katie, who has coped with her
daughter's escalating tantrums, combative behavior, bouts of
fearfulness and just-plain-oddity since the 11-year-old was a
toddler. Katie, left, worries whether medication is the right
solution for her temperamental 11-year-old daughter. "No one wants
to feel that their child is a guinea pig," she says. A month
ago, Katie, a 38-year-old L.A.-area mother of three, brought the
child to a psychiatrist. The child's behavior and performance in
school were exemplary, but an ill-tempered outburst had gotten the
preteen kicked out of a Girl Scout troop she had joined at age 5.
The girl was confused and heartbroken over her ejection. The
daughter came away from the appointment with a diagnosis of bipolar
disorder. Katie, who asked that her full name be withheld to protect
her daughter's privacy, came away with a list of 10 powerful
psychiatric medicines and a momentous decision to make. Some
combination of these mood-stabilizing, anticonvulsive and
antipsychotic drugs, Katie was told, would probably control her
daughter's problematic behaviors, that a psychiatrist termed,
"symptoms of a disease." Now it's Katie who has the racing
thoughts and the alternating bouts of fear, anxiety, relief and
anger. As she ponders whether her daughter's strange behavior really
amounts to mental illness -- and whether medication is the answer --
she says, "I feel like I'm flying blind." And she's not
reassured by the suspicion that the psychiatric profession is as
confused about diagnosing and treating mental illness in children as
she is. All these psychiatric labels and pills may keep many kids on
track and even save lives, Katie says. But both seem to be dispensed
with little certainty as to what they mean and how they work -- and
even less debate over their long-term consequences for children.
In 2005, the latest year for which statistics are available, at
least 2.2 million American children over the age of 4 were being
treated for serious difficulties with emotion, concentration,
behavior or ability to get along with others. It's a figure
mental-health professionals say has exploded in the last decade and
a half, along with sales of a wide range of psychiatric medications
for use by children. A welter of studies has shown that kids
are being diagnosed at younger ages, with a wider range of disorders
and with more severe disorders than ever before. And in growing
numbers, they are being medicated with drugs whose safety,
effectiveness and long-range effects on children have not been
demonstrated by extensive research. A study published in
September found that the diagnosis among children of bipolar
disorder, a mental illness long thought not to exist in kids, grew
40-fold over the last decade. The prescribing to kids of
antipsychotic drugs typically used to treat the symptoms of bipolar
illness have soared as well, despite continuing concerns over side
effects such as weight gain, metabolic changes that can lead to
diabetes, and tremors. Psychiatrists admit they haven't drawn
clear lines between problem behaviors and mental illness, especially
in kids, and they are debating future fixes. But until those fixes
are made, parents -- with their kids' futures on the line -- are
left with little to guide them when a child is tagged with a
psychiatric label. Protection from what? Katie's
maternal instincts tell her she must protect her child. But from
what, she asks -- a disease that threatens health, happiness and
future? A bogus label applied to an admittedly challenging kid? Or
drugs with potentially harmful and little-studied side effects?
And protect her exactly how -- by resisting or by medicating? "I
don't want to face her as an adult and say I didn't do everything I
could to make her well. I feel like I'm answering to her future
self," Katie says. "But so much of this is a crapshoot. No one
wants to feel that their child is a guinea pig." Mental-health
professionals have long warned that the stigma of mental illness and
the cost of its treatment have left millions of Americans with
psychiatric disorders to suffer untreated. But as childhood
diagnoses of mental illness have surged, some in the profession
charge the field of child psychiatry with the opposite problem. A
scourge of over-diagnosis, says a growing body of critics, has come
to child psychiatry. The trend, say these critics, threatens
to turn kids like Katie's daughter -- a preteen whose behavior is
certainly odd but whose school life remains on track -- into
potentially lifelong patients. And, they add, it has changed the way
Americans think about children. Critics warn that as psychiatric
diagnosis and medication of children becomes more widespread,
teachers, well-meaning neighbors and relatives, and parents
themselves are becoming less willing to accept youthful misfits for
who they are and to help them adapt without prescribing drugs or
attaching labels. (Webmaster Note: See the
HEAL Parenting Guide)
For complete story,
click here.
Parents take caution--November
5th, 2007--When
an unruly child is too much to handle, parents become desperate for
a solution. Some will even resort to enrolling their children into
residential treatment programs or wilderness therapy camps. The
controversial "tough love" strategies to turn troubled teens around
is further being looked at under a microscope with a newly released
study by the Government Accountability Office that says the programs
place children in potentially life-threatening conditions.
Some opponents to these rehabilitation programs call them an
industry for "teen torture," while parents with children who have
been straightened out profess them to be miracles. The GAO, however,
found that majority of programs and camps to do more harm than good.
In its study, revealed in October at Congressional hearings,
thousands of allegations of abuse and neglect over nearly two
decades were gathered with primary focus on the deaths of 10
teenagers - five of which occurred in Utah. (Webmaster Note:
The article further inaccurately proclaims that UT effectively
regulates and licenses programs for teens. The State of Utah
covers up abuses and other violations at teen programs in their
state. Do not send your child to Utah.. Keep them at
home! Take responsibility for your own family!) (Unable
to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.thespectrum.com
Date: November 5, 2007)
DENNIS TOWNSHIP, N.J.: 2nd-grader is
suspended for making picture of gun--October
21st, 2007--A second-grader's drawing of a stick figure shooting a
gun earned him a one-day school suspension. Kyle Walker, 7,
was suspended last week for violating Dennis Township Primary
School's zero-tolerance policy on guns, the boy's mother, Shirley
McDevitt, told The Press of Atlantic City. Kyle gave the picture to
another child on the school bus, and that child's parents complained
about it to school officials, McDevitt said. Her son told her the
drawing was of a water gun, she said. (Webmaster Note:
Stop the war on children!!) (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.stltoday.com Date: October 21, 2007)
It's a crime what courts do to kids just
being kids--October
27th, 2007--You want your jaw to drop into your lap, your eyes to
well up? You should take a peek at my e-mail inbox or listen to the
voice mail that arrived on Friday. There was Sheldon Page, who
hadn't slept the night before and picked up the paper the moment
they threw it on his doorstep. He read in this space on Friday of
the elementary school boy now facing criminal charges for allegedly
slapping a female classmate on the buttocks. He called. His
14-year-old grandson was due in court Friday afternoon for
sentencing. His anguish had kept him awake. A 13-year-old girl had
told her mother the boy touched her bottom during a game of tag in
May. The boy ultimately pleaded guilty to sexual assault and
was placed in a juvenile facility Tuesday. "It is the most
outrageous thing I've ever heard of," Sheldon Page, 51, said. "He is
a kid, a teenager playing a kid's game, and now they've made him a
criminal." There was the lawyer who wrote to tell of his
client, a fourth-grader charged with sexual assault for putting his
hand in the pants of a female fourth-grader. The police picked him
up at school. "Common sense has left the building," he writes.
There was Catherine - who, like almost all who called or wrote,
asked that I not use a last name. "Tell that boy's parents to
leave the country because it will be hell on earth from now on," she
said. Her grandson was 11 years old when an 11-year-old girl
told her parents they were on the playground swing together and she
could feel his genitals. "He was convicted of sexual
harassment, and life has been hell ever since," Catherine said.
Now 13 years old, he has registered as a sex offender, sees a
probation officer once a month and must undergo lie-detector tests.
He cannot go more than four blocks from home without his parents,
she said. At school, he is not allowed to touch anyone and must use
a private restroom. "Tell those parents I feel sorry for their
son and them," she said. And then there was Mel. His story is
typical of the more than a dozen I've heard since Friday's column
appeared. Mel is 63. He has a 12-year-old boy. It was late in
the last school year when a shoving match broke out at the boy's
school. About eight kids were involved. One kid suffered a cracked
lip and a few bruises. The cops came for only Mel's kid and one
other. Assault and
intent to commit injury were the charges. Mel hired an attorney,
took his boy out of the school after he served a one- day suspension
and got him a tutor to help him finish the school year. He also put
the boy in counseling. "With that many witnesses, there was no
way we could win. Our lawyer told us," Mel said, "that the best
thing we could do is take a deal or spend $20,000- plus for a
trial." So his boy took the deal, which wasn't much of one.
Forty-five days in jail, deferred, the judge ordered, plus two years
of supervised probation, 75 hours community service,
anger-management classes, court costs, $600 restitution, a two-year
restraining order and a written apology to the victim. "It was
a schoolyard fight, and not much of one at that," Mel said in an
interview. "You just don't know what such a little thing can lead to
until you get tangled up in it." (Webmaster Note: Stop
the war on youth!!!) For complete story,
click here.
Deputy indicted, accused of battery at teen
academy--October
26th, 2007--A Palm Beach
County grand jury has indicted a sheriff's deputy on charges of
official misconduct and battery in an incident with a teen at a
Belle Glade military-style academy. Deputy Jason Rosen, 36,
was booked and released from the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday
evening, after the grand jury handed down the indictment, which has
not yet been unsealed. Besides official misconduct, which is a
third-degree felony, and misdemeanor battery, he also is charged
with falsifying an official document. Rosen has been on paid
administrative leave since March 4, when he got into the altercation
with the teen at the Eagle Academy. The sheriff's office internal
affairs department is also investigating the incident but has not
issued its report. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.palmbeachpost.com Date: October 26, 2007)
Sexual misconduct plagues US schools--October
21st 2007--An Associated Press investigation found more than 2,500
cases over five years in which educators were punished for actions
from bizarre to sadistic. There are 3 million public school
teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of
abusive educators — nearly three for every school day — speaks to a
much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims.
Most of the abuse never gets reported. Those cases reported often
end with no action. Cases investigated sometimes can't be proven,
and many abusers have several victims... The findings draw
obvious comparisons to sex abuse scandals in other institutions,
among them the Roman Catholic Church. A review by America's
Catholic bishops found that about 4,400 of 110,000 priests were
accused of molesting minors from 1950 through 2002... For
complete story,
click here.
2 Youth Counselors Charged in California
Boy's Death--October 12th, 2007--Two
counselors at a residential youth treatment center in Draper where a
14-year-old boy died in June were charged Thursday in connection
with the boy's death. Deborah Cole and Jorge Ramirez, from
Youth Care Inc., 12600 Minuteman Drive, each face one count of abuse
or neglect of a child, a third-degree felony. On June 27,
Brendan Blum of California was suffering bowel and stomach problems.
He had been vomiting and suffering from diarrhea all night, said
Draper Police Sgt. Gerry Allred. Rather than contacting the on-call
nurse as the facility's policy dictates, the boy was simply given
some medicine and put in a separate room away from the rest of the
boys, he said. The next morning, the boy, who was listed as a
disabled child because he had Asperger's syndrome, was found dead on
his mattress. "There was no really good reason why they didn't
take him ... no explanation except they just thought it was an upset
stomach," Allred said. An autopsy determined the boy had an
obstructed bowel that deteriorated as the night went on, Allred
said. The on-call nurse, who was later interviewed by police, said
if she had been called to look at the boy she would have advised he
immediately go to the hospital, he said. The Utah State
Medical Examiner concurred, "if medical intervention had been
obtained, (the boy's) death would have been preventable," according
to court documents. The boy's mother, Dana Blum, said she is
appalled that workers at the facility didn't take him to an
emergency room. Any time a child dies while in the care of a
licensed facility, the facility should be shut down immediately, she
said. Blum has filed a complaint with the Utah licensing board
and is waiting for the investigation to be completed. She
hopes the individuals who operated the facility will be held
accountable along with the workers. (Webmaster Note: The
Utah Dept. of Licensing and Child Protective Services cover up abuse
at these facilities and warn parents, and I quote, "Parents should
really do their research before sending their child to Utah."
Simple answer, don't send your child to Utah.) For complete
story,
click here.
Teen ‘boot camps’ get congressional scrutiny--October
10th, 2007--WASHINGTON
| The death of 15-year-old Roberto Reyes at a “boot camp” for
troubled teenagers in rural Missouri three years ago drew the
attention of Congress on Wednesday. Thousands of teenagers
have possibly been abused and many have died as a result at similar
residential disciplinary treatment programs, a federal investigation
has found. The report by the Government Accountability Office
addressed problems at several disciplinary programs across the
country. Concerns included withholding food, drink and medical care,
as well as reckless practices by untrained staff. Its findings, that
more than 1,600 employees at treatment centers in 33 states had been
linked to incidents of abuse in 2005 alone, were the subject of a
House hearing Wednesday. The GAO echoed some of the findings
of a 2005 Kansas City Star investigation, which uncovered
several alleged instances of abuse at the Thayer Learning Center in
Kidder, Mo., north of Kansas City. The owners have denied any
wrongdoing. The focus of the hearing was also on parents,
forever haunted by choices they’d give anything to take back.
“His mother and I will never escape our decision to send our gifted
16-year-old son to his death,” testified Bob Bacon of Arizona, whose
son, Aaron, died at a Utah wilderness therapy camp. “We were conned
by their fraudulent claims and will go to our graves regretting our
gullibility.” The GAO said that during three weeks in 1994
when Aaron was constantly forced to hike, he complained of severe
abdominal pain, lost 20 percent of his body weight and lost control
of his bodily functions. He received no medical care. It also
found little oversight. Some states license the centers. Others,
such as Missouri, don’t. “These allegations range from neglect
to torture, a word that I don’t use lightly,” said Democratic Rep.
George Miller of California, chairman of the House Education and
Labor Committee. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.kansascity.com
Date: October 10, 2007)
Troubled US teens suffer abuse, neglect at
'boot camps'--October 11th, 2007--WASHINGTON
(AFP) — Troubled American teens have been abused and neglected at
the high-discipline, "tough love" programs which are supposed to
help them, and have sometimes paid with their lives, according to a
report by the US Congress. The report presented to a committee
of US lawmakers Wednesday spoke of "thousands of allegations of
abuse, some of which involved death, at residential treatment
programs across the country and in American-owned and operated
facilities abroad between 1990 and 2007. "Today we will hear
stories of children denied access to bathrooms and forced to
defecate on themselves; children forced to eat dirt or their own
vomit; children paired with so-called buddies whose job was to abuse
them," Democratic lawmaker George Miller said at the presentation of
the report on residential treatment centers, which are designed to
help troubled youths. The report, drawn up by the Government
Accountability Office (GAO), was released as a Florida court began
hearing the case of the beating death -- caught on video tape -- of
14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson at a program for young offenders.
"During 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff members involved
in incidents of abuse in residential programs," it said.
For complete story,
click here.
Congress Probes Teen Boot Camps--October
10th, 2007--WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal investigator and parents
whose children died at youth boot camps urged other families
Wednesday to avoid enrolling teens in such programs until there is
more oversight of them. "Buyer beware, " said Greg Kutz, who
led a congressional investigation into the camps. "You really don't
know what you're getting." The Government Accountability
Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found thousands of
allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at boot camps,
also referred to as residential treatment programs, since the early
1990s. Kutz, who led the investigation, said the GAO closely
examined 10 closed cases where a teenager died while enrolled in one
of these programs. "Ineffective program management played a
key role in most of these deaths," Kutz testified before the House
Education and Labor Committee. He said the staff at the
facilities was often poorly trained, and kids weren't properly fed
and were exposed to dangerous conditions. He said teenagers' cries
for medical assistance or help were ignored. Kutz said in only
one of the 10 cases studied closely was anyone found criminally
liable and sentenced to serve prison time. Residential
treatment programs are slickly marketed to parents who are at a loss
as to how to help an emotionally troubled teen, Kutz said. In the
cases he studied, "The parents were pretty much told what they
wanted to hear," Kutz said. Bob Bacon, of Phoenix, Ariz.,
whose son Aaron died while enrolled in a wilderness program in Utah,
said he was fooled by the owners of that facility into believing his
son would be well cared for. "We were conned by their
fraudulent claims and will go to our graves regretting our
gullibility," he said. Bacon said his son was forced to hike
eight to 10 miles a day with inadequate nutrition and was not given
protective gear to withstand freezing temperatures. When Aaron
complained of severe stomach pains and asked for a doctor, his pleas
were ignored even though he had dramatically lost weight and
suffered from other serious symptoms, his father testified. Aaron
died of an acute infection related to a perforated ulcer.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: http://ap.google.com
Date: October 10, 2007)
Tough-Love Teen Camps A "Nightmare"--October
10th, 2007--For years, people have complained about abuses at
so-called boot camps and other wilderness programs where frustrated
parents send their troubled teens to get straightened out.
Today,
USA Today gets a sneak peak at the findings from the first
federal inquiry into the programs, and the results reveal a lot of
tough love -- minus the love. The Government Accountability
Office cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states in 2005,
according to a study to be released later today. It also looked at a
sample of 10 deaths since 1990 and found untrained staff, inadequate
food or reckless operations were factors. In half of those cases,
the teens died of dehydration or heat exhaustion. "This
nightmare has remained an open secret for years," said Rep. George
Miller, D-Calif, who has designed a bill to encourage states to
enact regulations. "Congress must act, and it must act swiftly."
Investigators counted thousands of cases of abuse, using Web sites
and news reports. Five of the 10 programs where teens died are still
operating. The GAO didn't release names, but USA Today pieced
together a few of the cases from news reports. For complete
story,
click here.
Congressional Hearing: Tough
Love or Teen Torment: Will the Industry Finally Be Regulated?--October
8th, 2007--Congress is finally looking into the "troubled teen"
industry and the deaths, human rights abuses and other problems that
have occurred in teen "boot camps" "wilderness programs" and other
"tough love" residential settings. In many states, these
institutions are less regulated than dog kennels and nail salons.
On Wednesday, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), Chair of the House
Education and Labor Committee, will hold a full committee
investigative hearing and present results from a Government
Accountability Office report that he commissioned. The investigation
promises to be revealing-- and may be highly unfavorable to industry
claims that it can regulate itself. My book,
Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and
Hurts Kids (Riverhead, 2006), was the first to expose
systematic problems in the industry and the complete lack of
regulatory oversight on programs that are essentially private jails
for kids. The book helped spur Miller's push for legislation.
As it stands now, there is more federal regulation protecting mule
deer than there is preserving the rights of children in these
institutions. Anyone can open one-- there are no qualifications
required, nor criminal background checks. Some owners have even made
deals with prosecutors and regulators to stay away from their
facilities, due to accusations of sexual and other kinds of child
abuse. But they were not made to leave the industry! And no
legal authority is required to inspect these facilities or see to it
that kids are well-treated in them. Teens placed in these
settings do not have any right to appeal their confinement: they may
be held without contact with the outside world until they turn 18.
Moreover, in the programs, they are often subject to "therapies"
that many consider torturous: food deprivation, sleep deprivation,
total isolation, punitive restraint and constant emotional and even
sexual humiliation. When such tactics are used on suspected
terrorists, there is a human rights outcry-- but these programs have
done everything short of water-boarding kids with impunity for
decades. (Webmaster Note: Water-boarding has been done at
various teen programs in Mississippi and Georgia, perhaps others as
well, if water-boarding is the practice of
drowning/reviving/drowning, it's done at teen programs in the US.)
For complete story,
click here.
Parents want academy closed--October
7th, 2007--LUCEDALE - Barbara Ramirez
of Chicago wants a Lucedale home for troubled youth shut down
because of poor living conditions, student abuse and the inability
of the school's officials to prevent students from escaping.
Ramirez said she began the campaign to shut down the Gulf Coast
Academy after a recent visit to the school where her daughter,
Tianna, 17, is enrolled. Ramirez attended a seminar at the
school but found what she considers intolerable conditions. "I
was appalled," Ramirez said. "The seminar was held in the chapel. I
went into the bathroom and it was filthy. Three roaches were
crawling up the wall. I almost got sick." That was just the
beginning. Her daughter told her stories about poor food,
abusive discipline, student fights and escapes. While Ramirez could
not confirm the stories, she did see broken glass in the school yard
and broken windows patched with plastic garbage bags. She also
learned that her daughter was not seeing a psychologist each month
as promised or having weekly counseling sessions. "I don't
have any idea what the kids were doing for recreation," Ramirez
said. "I never saw any of the kids outside and weeds are growing in
the swimming pool." Ramirez also said there was no security
and that the staff lied to the parents attending the seminar.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.hattiesburgamerican.com Date: October 7, 2007)
Ammonia was 'tipping point' in teen's boot
camp death, doctor says--October 4th, 2007--PANAMA
CITY, Fla. — A Florida teen who
collapsed during a confrontation with boot camp guards died of organ
failure after they repeatedly used ammonia capsules to try to revive
him, a doctor testified Thursday...Drill instructors Henry Dickens,
Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr.,
Henry McFadden Jr., Joseph Walsh and nurse Kristin Schmidt each face
up to 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of
a person under 18. A 25-minute surveillance video of the
altercation, which the jury viewed Thursday, shows the guards
covering the teen's mouth and waving ammonia capsules in his face on
three separate occasions, once for as long as five minutes, while
Anderson appears to pass in and out of consciousness. For
complete story,
click here.
Missouri boot camp part of national
investigation--October 3rd, 2007--A Missouri boot
camp where a student died nearly three years ago is part of a
federal investigation into the nation’s facilities for troubled
teens. Three former employees of Thayer Learning Center in
Kidder, Mo., told The Kansas City Star this week that
government investigators told them Thayer was a key focus of that
investigation. Greg Spies, a Kansas City attorney for Thayer,
said Thayer officials have “fully cooperated” with investigators for
the U.S. Government Accountability Office who recently visited the
facility and interviewed students. The GAO, the investigative
arm of Congress, is conducting the nationwide investigation into
residential treatment programs for children at the behest of U.S.
Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat. A hearing is scheduled
for Oct. 10 in Washington, D.C., before the House Education and
Labor Committee, of which Miller is the chairman. Ultimately,
Miller’s office hopes to convince Congress that boot camp-type
facilities should be more stringently regulated. Thayer —
which is exempt from state oversight under Missouri law — houses
more than 100 troubled teens about 50 miles north of Kansas City. It
has been the subject of numerous child abuse allegations, most of
which came to light after the November 2004 death of student Roberto
Reyes. (Unable tolocate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.kansascity.com
Date: October 3, 2007)
TYC investigates how prison's 'deplorable
conditions' escaped detection--October 2nd,
2007--The Texas Youth Commission is investigating why juvenile
inmates endured squalor and deprivation at a privately run West
Texas prison that was repeatedly praised by TYC's own
quality-assurance monitors. The agency began busing the 197
male inmates from the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center before
dawn Tuesday. Officials also canceled an $8-million annual contract
with operators of the state's largest private juvenile prison,
citing "deplorable conditions." For complete story,
click here.
CBS, you've got to be kidding me--September
28th, 2007--WASHINGTON — When they
write the cultural history of childhood in 21st-century America, I
hope they leave room for a few unkind words about "Kid Nation."
CBS' latest new reality show is about 40 kids from 8 to 15 years old
who are dropped into a ghost town in New Mexico with only a
production crew to call their own. The kids' task, we are told, is
to "try to fix their forefathers' mistakes and build a new town that
works." Their real job, of course, is to attract viewers who
want to see what happens to the "first ever kid nation." Will kids
left to their own devices create a democratic idyll or a savage
anarchy? There is nothing particularly new about the
conflicting images of children as innocents and children as beasts.
It's as old as mythology. It lives on in the heart of every parent
who's seen her child turn from a screaming sociopath at the
supermarket checkout to a philosopher king at the beach: "Who
painted the sky blue?" But the real founding fathers of "Kid
Nation" leave little to chance or choice. It's the producers, not
the so-called "pioneers," who determine the structure of the town
called Bonanza. It's the adults who lay the cultural grid down the
main street. And this makes "Kid Nation" an entry into the annals of
childhood as it's now lived and argued about in America. You
see, this is what the adults brought with them from Hollywood to
Bonanza: competition, class and consumerism. In the very first
episode, the children were directed to form four armies for color
war. They were told that victory would determine their class status.
And it did. In a scenario Karl Marx couldn't have made up, the
winners of the war were dubbed "upper class," the runners-up were
labeled "merchants," then "cooks," and finally "laborers." The
little capitalists were allowed to use their very unequal paychecks
for very unequal chores to pay for goodies at the town store. The
producers did everything but deny the lower-income children their
health coverage. Cutthroat competition, class divisions,
unrelenting consumerism. Maybe it is reality programming after all.
Aren't these the basic three C's of the culture in which we are all
raising children? Parent bashing is the favorite indoor sport
these days. It's behind the voyeurism that makes "Supernanny"
popular and Britney Spears unpopular. It's why we cheered the judge
assigning the sinking celebrity a parenting coach. Ordinary
parents are held responsible for protecting their children from
every imaginable danger. They are fed a high-anxiety diet of horror
stories about lead paint in toys, Crocs on escalators and killer
cribs. If you Google "danger" and "children," you get 21 million
hits of everything from online predators to junk food. Yet,
even the most watchful parents are not immune to criticism. The
latest villains are the helicopter parents. See them hover over
their children's lives! Watch them pull the invisible apron strings
of a cellphone, book their children's playdates and write their
college entrance essays while squashing their sense of imagination.
Parents even have to protect kids from overprotection. The back
story is that America has privatized child-raising. We regard
children as the wholly owned subsidiary and responsibility of their
families. Parents, in turn, can become so absorbed in worrying about
the side rails on cribs that we lose focus on the cultural
environment that encases all of us. And there is no bike helmet that
can protect our children's brains from the three C's. Before
it premiered, "Kid Nation" itself was charged with endangering the
children by violating child-labor laws and even child-abuse laws.
Indeed, the
consent form that the parents signed is as creepy as the ones
you don't read before you go into surgery. Even creepier was the
scene when two homesick children cried and not one adult had the
impulse to drop a camera and offer comfort. Nevertheless, the
real trouble in Bonanza is not that the cast of mini-survivors was
exposed to "serious bodily injury, illness or death." It's that the
children urged to build a better town (read "world") than their
forefathers were manipulated into the copycat media culture. The
reward is a gold star literally worth its weight in gold: $20,000.
The only hero so far is 8-year-old Jimmy, the New Hampshire boy who
had the good sense to go home. As for the rest?The children of
Bonanza didn't make the rules. They inherited them. It's not a kid
nation. It's our nation. (Webmaster Note: Sometimes it
pays to write a letter to the editor.
Tell CBS "Shame on You".
Also see:
http://www.cbskidnation.blogspot.com/
) For complete story,
click here.
Federal Way woman pleads guilty in
foster-child abuse--September 25th, 2007--A
woman who burned her foster daughter's tongue with a heated
fork, beat her feet with dumbbells and stuck a needle into the
girl's eye several times pleaded guilty Monday to three
counts of assault. Chornice Y. Kabbelliyaa, who also goes by the
last name of Lewis, pleaded guilty in King County Superior
Court to one count of first-degree assault and two counts of
second-degree assault for her treatment of her foster daughter, who
is also her cousin. Kabbelliyaa, 34, of Federal Way, had been
the girl's licensed foster mother since the girl was 5 years old.
The woman was arrested last year after Child Protective
Services was called by a neighbor who reported seeing Kabbelliyaa
punch the girl, hit her with an umbrella and lock her in an outside
storage unit for hours. Physicians examining the girl found
serious damage to the girl's right eye, scarring, bruising and a
severely burned tongue. The girl, who was then 14, told police
and CPS investigators that her foster mother had become angry on one
occasion and plunged an insulin needle into the pupil of her right
eye, holding it in her eye for several minutes and telling the girl
not to move or she'd be blinded. A medical examination showed
similar puncture wounds to the pupil of the girl's left eye.
In addition, police and prosecutors said in charging papers,
Kabbelliyaa beat the girl with crutches, an umbrella, canned goods
and keys. Charging documents also state that Kabbelliyaa would
turn on the stove's burner until it was red-hot before pressing the
girl's palm onto the burner. Kabbelliyaa, who is scheduled to
be sentenced on Nov. 16 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent, will
face a standard sentencing range of 10 years to a little more than
14 years. Prosecutors said they will seek a top-end sentence.
For complete story,
click here.
Teacher jailed on stalking charges--September
25th, 2007--A teacher and reserve
police officer has been jailed on charges of stalking a 15-year-old
girl, one of his former students, while awaiting trial on charges
that he raped her. Vernon Heizer, 50, of Nespelem, a teacher
at Grand Coulee Dam Middle School, remained in jail Monday with bail
set at $100,000. He has been dismissed as a Grand Coulee reserve
police officer and placed on leave from his school job, Okanogan
County Sheriff Frank T. Rogers and school-district officials said.
Heizer came under scrutiny after his estranged wife found a cellular
telephone marked "broken" with other items in a box after he moved
out of their home in June, according to documents filed by
prosecutors. Sheriff's detectives determined that the phone had been
used to exchange numerous calls and text messages with a girl who
told authorities they had also exchanged nude photographs of each
other, sheriff's Sgt. Michael Lee Worden wrote. Heizer said he
formed a close relationship with the girl when she was in a sixth
grade but denied her account that they had been having sex since
October or November, when she was 14. Heizer was arrested and
charged in July with two counts of third-degree child rape and one
each of third-degree child molesting and communicating with a minor
for immoral purposes. Heizer was released on bail. Several
witnesses reported that Heizer began driving by the girl's home and
school in mid-August and that he had been seen in a vehicle parked
near her home, Rogers said. Heizer was arrested Sept. 14 on charges
of stalking a witness in violation of a protection order. For
complete story,
click here.
Ex-Teacher Charged With Teen Sex in S.C.--September
24th, 2007--COLUMBIA,
S.C. (AP) - A former teacher was charged with having sex with a
teenage boy, the
third teacher in the same county accused of such crimes in the
past year and a half, authorities said Monday. Karen
Robbins, 49, was arrested over the weekend and charged with
three counts each of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and
committing a
lewd act on a child. The sex occurred with a 15-year-old in her
car and twice at her home between September and November 2005,
according to arrest warrants. Robbins was a private school
teacher at the time, and officials said the accusations did not
involve one of her students. For complete story,
click here.
ITV under fire for attack on teens--September
23rd, 2007--ITV's flagship current affairs series, Tonight With
Trevor McDonald, has been accused of deliberate misrepresentation in
one of its programmes, 'Ann Widdecombe v The Hoodies'. Sir
Trevor McDonald has promised to investigate the complaints
personally, after community leaders and a cross-party alliance of
politicians in the north London borough of Islington said Widdecombe
falsely depicted the Andover estate there as a 'dump' terrorised by
gangs of out-of-control youngsters. 'Ann Widdecombe was
basically out to get a specific story and, by hanging around at
night time and shoving her camera into the faces of young people,
demanding that they account for themselves, she made sure she got
it,' said Terry Stacy, deputy leader of Islington council. 'It was a
cheap way to demonise young people.' For complete story,
click here.
Wanted: good foster parents--September
21st,2007--To Joey Charlton, a supervisor at the Children's
Administration office that handles the placement of abused and
neglected children from King County, Wednesday was a good day
— only seven crises for his team to handle. That's seven kids
who were pulled from their parents' homes and were in need of
immediate placement — immediate, as in right this
minute, today. On any given day, Charlton's five
placement coordinators also juggle dozens of other cases they
consider long-term, where there is perhaps an extra day or two
before the youth gets out of juvenile detention, or a week before a
foster parent calls it quits. Last week, Charlton said, it
took nine straight hours of phone calls before they could find a
temporary home for a 3-year-old boy. Not long before that, they had
to find a home for six siblings whose parents had been
arrested — and who spoke only Cambodian. It is a difficult job
under the best of circumstances. But it's made even tougher because
Washington has a shortage of foster parents. State
workers first try to find relatives; next, they look for a nearby
licensed foster home that will accept the child. When that doesn't
work, they're sometimes forced to go across the state to find space.
Statewide, only three in 10 of these children stay in the same city.
For those who wind up far from home, their trauma is magnified. Not
only do these kids lose their parents, but they lose most
everything else they know: their teachers, their friends, their
local park. "The common denominator is they're all scared and
they're all loyal to their families," Charlton said. Now, DSHS
has launched an agency wide focus on foster parenting, recruiting
foster parents
in places and in ways they never have before, reaching out to
everyone from struggling migrant workers to well-paid Microsofties.
In addition, they're urging people in the community to get involved
with abused children's lives in other ways. And they're turning to
unusual tools, such as marketing campaigns and demographic studies,
to improve the statistics. (Webmaster Note: Many
pre-teens and teens in the foster system are placed in abusive
behavior modification programs such as Provo Canyon School when no
other placement is available. If you have the room, the time,
and the love, please become a foster parent.) For complete
story,
click here.
Honored Utah teacher admits sex crimes--September
21st, 2007--A man honored
as among the best teachers in Utah pleaded guilty Thursday to felony
sex
charges involving 11 students in his suburban classroom. Frank
Laine Hall, 37, who taught first grade at Rosamond Elementary School
in the Salt Lake City suburb of Riverton until his arrest in March,
could get up to 30 years to life in prison, prosecutor Rodwicke
Ybarra said. Hall remains free on $500,000 bond until his
sentencing Nov. 14. Hall received a Huntsman Award for
Excellence in Education in 2006, for being one of the best teachers
in Utah. (Webmaster Note: Again, please don't send your
children to Utah!!!) For complete story,
click here.
Seattle counselor fired after being caught
in online sex sting--September 20th, 2007--A
Seattle-area counselor surrendered his health-care
credentials last week after he told the Department of Health he
engaged in a sexually explicit online chat with an adult
posing as a teen three years ago. Malcolm McKay was a
counselor
in private practice and also counseled troubled youths at the Ruth
Dykeman Children's Center when the activities came to light. The
Internet site for the Seattle Institute for Sex Therapy,
Education and Research also lists him as one of its "educators."
The Dykeman Center immediately "terminated his employment,"
according to Tom Rembiesa, president and CEO. The center
reported him to police, Child Protective Services and the DOH.
The investigations did not turn up any evidence of inappropriate
behavior with his clients. McKay was never charged with a crime.
DOH documents say that over two days in September 2004, McKay
chatted online with an adult posing as a 14-year-old boy. The
adult worked with Perverted-Justice.com,
a group that targets online child predators. McKay
transmitted "naked, graphic photos" of himself and appeared "to be
grooming his chat-mate for a sexual relationship," the DOH statement
of charges said. For complete story,
click here.
Witness in polygamist trial: Sex awkward
but not forced--September 20th, 2007--ST. GEORGE,
Utah — A member of a polygamous sect who entered into an arranged
marriage with his 14-year-old cousin testified Wednesday that he
never forced himself on his wife. Allen Steed took the
stand in defense of Warren Jeffs, 51, the leader of the
Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) who is facing two
counts of being an accomplice to rape. Prosecutors claim Jeffs used
his iron-fisted influence to force the marriage, and later sex,
in 2001. The alleged victim, now 21, testified last week that
Jeffs forced her to marry Steed and that her husband ordered
her to have sex. When she complained to Jeffs that Steed was
"touching her" in ways she did not like and asked that the marriage
be dissolved, she said, the self-styled prophet refused...
Steed, 19 when church leaders told him to marry his cousin,
acknowledged Wednesday that he had been a clumsy suitor. Socializing
between the sexes before marriage is prohibited in FLDS society.
"I'm sure it wasn't easy ... knowing now how I was then," Steed said
softly. Visibly uncomfortable, Steed had to stand to be heard
and occasionally dabbed at tears. "I've never been really good at
communication," he said. Steed acknowledged that his cousin
was standoffish to him and had made clear at times that she didn't
desire the marriage. But other times she was affectionate, he
said... The two remained married until 2004, when the accuser left
Steed for another FLDS member and fled the church. Jeffs then
dissolved the marriage. Steed said he understood his testimony
could be used against him if he were to be charged but was willing
to speak anyway. Under cross-examination, Steed said he did not
believe the government's laws apply to him. Steed said,
however, that he would never lie for Jeffs. "It'd be against God's
law," he said. The defense ended its case after Steed's
testimony, and prosecutors called a sole rebuttal witness. Jane
Blackmoore is a midwife who attended to the accuser when she had a
miscarriage in 2002. Blackmoore testified that the accuser
said her husband was abusive. "She felt like she had been forced,"
Blackmoore said. "She didn't use the word 'sex' but said, 'My
husband doesn't take no for an answer.' " (Webmaster Note:
Please don't send your child to Utah or a program founded by or
headquartered in Utah. Keep your children safe. Keep your
children at home.) For complete story,
click here.
Award reduced in Mormon church abuse case--September
19th, 2007--The state Court of Appeals has overturned a portion of a
2005 civil court verdict that found The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints financially liable after a church member sexually
abused his two stepdaughters. The appellate court ruled on
Tuesday that while the Mormon church still owed the two
stepdaughters a little more than $1.2 million because a bishop kept
one from reporting the abuse, the church was not financially
responsible for the stepfather's liability in the case. That
decision will reduce the amount that was awarded to the girls in
2005, although attorneys were not immediately sure by how much.
The two sisters, Jessica and Ashley Cavalieri, had originally won a
$4.2 million award in a King County civil trial that held the
stepfather, Peter N. Taylor, and the church liable for the years of
abuse. (Webmaster Note: Don't send your child to Utah!)
For complete story,
click here.
U.S. military uses moderate clerics to try
to change radical minds--September 19th,
2007--WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has introduced
"religious enlightenment" and other education programs for Iraqi
detainees, some of whom are as young as 11, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas
Stone, the commander of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, said
Tuesday. Stone said such efforts, aimed mainly at Iraqis
who have been held for more than a year, are intended to "bend them
back to our will" and are part of waging war in what he called "the
battlefield of the mind." The religious courses are led by Muslim
clerics who "teach out of a moderate doctrine," Stone
said, according to the transcript of a conference call he held from
Baghdad with a group of defense bloggers. As a result of the
increased U.S. troop presence in Iraq this year, the number of
Iraqis in U.S. detention has swelled from about 10,000 last year to
more than 25,000. That includes more than 820 juvenile
detainees, most of whom are held in a facility that the military
calls the "House of Wisdom." The schooling there "tears apart"
the arguments of al-Qaida, such as "Let's kill innocents," and helps
to "bring some of the edge off" the detainees, Stone said. The
effort to reshape attitudes among the growing detainee population is
aimed at addressing a problem that has vexed U.S. troops in Iraq for
the past four years: Military detention facilities have
served as breeding grounds for extremist views, transforming some
prisoners into hard-core insurgents, according to military
analysts. Stone said he wants to identify "irreconcilables" — those
detainees whose views cannot be moderated — and "put them away" in
permanent detention facilities. Psychiatrists, psychologists,
counselors and interrogators help distinguish the extremists from
others, he said. (Webmaster Note: Now it all makes
sense, doesn't it? See:
www.beyondbusiness.net/openletter.htm
and
www.heal-online.org/root.htm)
For complete story,
click here.
Should teachers be able to bring guns to
school?--September
18th, 2007--ASHLAND, Ore. — In court documents, she's known as "Jane
Doe." Innocuous enough, but the woman behind that pseudonym pushes
one of the nation's hottest political buttons: guns and
school
safety. What Ms. Doe wants to do is take her Glock 9-mm pistol
to the high school in Medford, Ore., where she teaches.
She's licensed to carry a concealed weapon, and she has what many
supporters say is a legitimate reason for being armed: a restraining
order against her ex-husband based on threats he's allegedly made
against her and her children. But district policy prohibits
anyone except a law-enforcement officer from bringing a weapon onto
campus. When word got out that she had a concealed-carry permit,
administrators reminded her of that policy... "Jane Doe," who
agreed to be interviewed by phone on condition of anonymity, says
she does not want to be viewed as an "Annie Oakley." Trying to
extricate herself from an abusive relationship led her to buy her
first gun just a few years ago, she says. Before that, she had
not been a gun-rights activist... According to the National
Conference of State Legislatures, 37 states have laws specifically
banning guns at schools. In Washington state, the law
prohibits teachers from carrying firearms on school
property. In general, administrators, teachers
organizations and law-enforcement agencies favor such laws. In the
confusion of a school shooting, police officials have said,
adding guns to the situation just makes it more dangerous.
The state panel investigating the April 16 shootings by a mentally
disturbed student who killed 33 people at Virginia Tech University,
the nation's deadliest school shooting, agreed. "If
numerous people had been rushing around with handguns, the
possibility of accidental or mistaken shootings would have increased
significantly," the panel wrote... In Michigan last week, 16 state
lawmakers sponsored legislation allowing teachers,
administrators and other school employees to carry concealed
weapons on school property. Ohio has a similar bill pending.
South Carolina, Alabama and Virginia are among several other states
that have considered lifting school-campus gun bans this
year, according to Stateline.org,
which tracks state issues... So far, just one state — Utah — allows
concealed weapons on campus.
Utah's law applies to public colleges and universities. The
University of Utah opposed the 2004 legislation that allows weapons
on campus, but lost in the state supreme court. For complete
story,
click here.
Federal Prosecutor Arrested In Child Sex
Sting--September 17th, 2007--DETROIT -- A U.S.
Justice Department official has been arrested on suspicion of
traveling to Detroit over the weekend to have sex with a minor.
John David R. Atchison, 53, an assistant U.S. attorney from the
northern district of Florida, was arraigned in U.S. District Court
in Detroit Monday afternoon. An undercover officer posed as a
mother offering her child to Atchison for sex, according to police.
Prosecutors said Atchison flew from Pensacola, Fla., to Detroit on
Sunday intending to have sex with the 5-year-old girl. He was
arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. He is charged with
enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. According
to authorities, Atchison made contact with a detective working
undercover for the Macomb County Sheriff's department's. The
detective, acting as the child's mother, allegedly arranged a sexual
encounter between Atchison and her 5-year-old daughter, police said.
In deposition, detectives said Atchison suggested the mother tell
her daughter that "you found her a sweet boyfriend who will bring
her presents." The undercover detective expressed concern
about physical injury to the 5-year-old girl as a result of the
sexual activity. Detectives said Atchison responded, " I am always
gentle and loving; not to worry, no damage ever, no rough stuff
ever. I only like it soft and nice." For complete story,
click here.
Experts Question Study on Youth Suicide
Rates--September 14th, 2007--Last
week, leading psychiatric researchers linked a 2004 increase in the
suicide
http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/suicide-and-suicidal-behavior/overview.html
rate for children and adolescents to a warning by the Food and Drug
Administration about the use of antidepressants in minors. The F.D.A.
warning, the researchers suggested, might have resulted in severely
depressed teenagers going without needed treatment. But the
data in the study, which was published in The American Journal of
Psychiatry and received widespread publicity, do not support that
explanation, outside experts say. While suicide rates for
Americans ages 19 and under rose 14 percent in 2004, the number of
prescriptions for antidepressants in that group was basically
unchanged and did not drop substantially, according to data from the
study. Prescription rates for minors did fall sharply a year
later, but the suicide rates for 2005 are not yet available from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "There doesn't seem to be
any evidence of a statistically significant association between
suicide rates and prescription rates provided in the paper" for the
years after the F.D.A. warnings, said Thomas R. Ten Have, a
professor of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania In the
report published last week, the authors analyzed data on suicides
and antidepressant use over several years in the United States and
the Netherlands. They argued that drug regulators may have created a
larger problem by requiring pharmaceutical companies to place
warnings on antidepressants, scaring away patients and doctors. The
F.D.A. warning label says that a potential side effect in young
people is an increase in suicidal thoughts and behavior.
"The most plausible explanation is a cause and effect relationship:
prescription rates change, therefore suicides change," said Dr. J.
John Mann, a psychiatrist at Columbia University and a co-author of
the study. But Dr. Ten Have and other experts, while noting
that it may still turn out that a reduction in prescriptions is
leading to increased suicides among young people, said that the new
study neither proved nor disproved this. Instead, some experts
say, the study illustrates why suicide trends are so difficult to
understand - and why this debate has been so polarizing and
confusing. In an interview, Robert D. Gibbons, a professor of
biostatistics and psychiatry at the University of Illinois at
Chicago and the lead author of the journal article, acknowledged
that the data from the United States that he and his colleagues
analyzed did not support a causal link between prescription rates
and suicide in 2004. "We really need to see the 2005 numbers on
suicide to see what happened," he said. But Dr. Gibbons
defended the paper, saying that when taken in the context of
previous studies that linked falling antidepressant use to increased
suicide rates, "this study was suggestive, that's what we're
saying." Other experts, however, said that the problem with
such studies is precisely that they are suggestive rather than
conclusive and are open to interpretation. Suicides are rare and
uniquely personal events that can be driven by many factors:
worsening depression or other mental illnesses, breakups or job
loss, lack of drug or psychiatric treatment, even easy access to
guns. In calling for the labeling change on antidepressants,
F.D.A. scientists based their decision on data from drug makers'
clinical trials, considered the gold standard in medical research.
Those trials have shown that young patients who took antidepressants
were about twice as likely than those on placebos to report suicidal
thoughts or attempts, though the numbers in both groups were small.
Yet none of the youngsters in the trials, most of which ran for no
more than a month or two, actually committed suicide. And most
psychiatrists with long experience using antidepressants in children
say the benefits far outweigh any risk. In studies of data
collected before 2004, Dr. Gibbons, Dr. Mann and others found clear
associations between prescription patterns and suicide rates.
For instance, prescription rates for patients from ages 10 to 24
rose steadily in the 1990s, while the suicide rate in that age group
fell 28 percent from 1990 to 2003, according to a government report
released last week. In another study, researchers at Columbia
University, analyzing data from 1990 to 2000, found that for every
20 percent increase in the use of antidepressants among adolescents,
there were five fewer suicides per 100,000 people each year.
Psychiatric researchers have found similar patterns among some age
groups in other countries, including Sweden, Japan and Finland.
But many uncertainties remain. While the suicide rate for
adolescents has fallen over the last decade, it has remained largely
unchanged for the overall population, though prescriptions for
psychiatric medicines have risen sharply in all age groups. Adjusted
for the demographic changes, about 11 Americans per 100,000 killed
themselves in 2004, the same as in 1994. Demographics can play
a role: White people kill themselves about twice as frequently as
African-Americans and Hispanics, so as the population becomes more
diverse, the suicide rate ought to drop, all else being equal. And
suicide rates also appear to be negatively correlated with economic
growth, which was exceptionally strong from 1994 to 2000. Advances
in medicine also mean more lives can be saved now. With so
many potentially confounding factors at play, interpreting the
relationship between prescription rates and suicides is difficult,
said Andrew Leon, a professor of biostatistics at Weill Cornell
Medical College who has served on F.D.A. panels studying suicide
risk and antidepressants. "These kinds of studies are very
important in giving us a sense of the rates of disease and death in
a population and how those may correspond to other things," Dr. Leon
said. "But what they don't do is tell us whether the two trends are
directly related." (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
http://topics.nytimes.com Date: September 14, 2008)
Counselor accused of abusing teenager--September
13th, 2007--A mental-health
counselor is under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct
with a teenage inmate at the King County Juvenile Detention Center.
According to authorities, a then-17-year-old boy was serving time at
the detention center for assault when he was allegedly abused by the
female counselor, who reportedly gave the teen extra
privileges and gifts, such as additional phone time and snacks.
Seattle police said the allegations are being investigated by an
officer with the Special Assault Unit. The alleged misconduct
was discovered when jail officials intercepted communications
between the two, according to a spokesman for the King County
correctional facilities. The counselor, a contract
employee through the University of Washington, has been banned from
the detention center, said Maj. Willie Hayes of the King County
Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention. Hayes said the
allegation is also being investigated internally. "It's a big
deal any time somebody is alleged to have committed sexual
misconduct with a juvenile," Hayes said. "We're taking this very
seriously." The current investigation follows the prosecution
of four King County corrections officers who were charged with
sexual misconduct with inmates. For complete story,
click here.
Statesville Man Who Worked With Troubled
Children Faces Sex Charges--September 12th, 2007--STATESVILLE,
N.C. -- A man who worked with troubled children in Iredell
County faces sex assault charges. James Fredrick Frank, 38, of
Statesville faces three counts of first-degree rape, three counts of
first-degree sex offense and one count of indecent liberties.
Detectives said the charges stem from more than six years of rape of
a young female relative, but Det. Cheryl Hilderbrand said the
fact that Frank worked on a daily basis with children is alarming.
“If I had to give a rating on a scale one to 10, for the severity
and the length of time my victim has had to endure, it's going to be
a 10,” said Hilderbrand, who has worked in the Special Victims Unit
for 15 years. “It's the worst I've personally worked on.”
Frank had been helping students deal with their behavior in the
classroom at Barium Springs Home for Children for about three years.
The president of the home said authorities informed him of the
charges early Wednesday and Frank has been suspended without pay.
For complete story,
click here.
Texas Juvenile Detention Centers Cope With
Charges of Rape, Abuse--April 16th, 2007--"You
need to get both hands on the wheel," Genger Galloway urges her son,
as he steers her mini-van down a side road near Crockett, Texas.
She shakes her head from side
to side. "I need a Xanax is what I need."
At 19 years old, Joseph Galloway seems too old for driving lessons.
But Joseph's teenage years have been tumultuous ones.
Arrested at 15 for inappropriate sexual contact with a sibling, he
expected to spend nine months in one of the 13 secure facilities or
nine halfway houses run by the
Texas Youth Commission (TYC); instead, he remained
incarcerated for four years.
During that period, he claims that guards deliberately placed him in
a cell with a larger boy who raped him and encouraged gang members
to break his jaw. He also said he was molested by a female staff
member. As his mother protested
-- interviewing 150 parents of other TYC inmates and petitioning
legislators for changes in the system -- Joseph said he was singled
out. "If your parents complain,
you get your sentence extended," Genger insists.
The TYC's official spokesman tends to agree with her.
"We have no confidence that these extensions have been used
uniformly," said Jim Hurley, the agency's interim communications
director. "We have suspicions that some of these may have been done
to punish kids." Now, in the
wake of a scandal that has rocked the state of Texas, 1,100
extensions are being reviewed. On April 5, Joseph became one of 473
inmates released amid pressure from the Texas state legislature and
Gov. Rick Perry. During
his first week home, Joseph savored his new freedom, catching
catfish and perch at a nearby lake, even participating in an Easter
egg hunt. For complete story,
click here.
Romney Fires One Teen-Abuse
Linked Financier, Keeps Big One--September
6th, 2007--Radar has the news that
Mitt Romney
has kicked troubled-teen titan Robert Lichfield to the curb.
Lichfield's organization, the World Wide Association of Specialty
Schools and Programs (WWASPS, previously WWASP), is being sued in a
class action suit by over 100 plaintiffs, alleging serious sexual,
emotional and physical abuse. In the worst cases, teens were beaten,
kept in stress positions, sleep deprived, made to walk thousands of
laps on a hot desert track, forced to eat their own vomit and held
in dog cages. Mexican police shot footage of the dog cages and the
track, which was aired on Inside Edition. Another lawsuit
alleges educational fraud by one facility-- that facility was
already made to pay parents back over $1 million for falsely
claiming to provide legitimate New York state high school diplomas,
in one of the largest educational fraud judgments in New York
history. Lichfield was Romney's Utah co-chair for finance--
and he has been relieved of that position "until the lawsuit is
resolved in the positive, which we are confident will happen,"
WWASPS spokesperson Ken Kay told Radar. This is the same Ken Kay who
said under oath in another civil suit that he did not know whether
sex between staff and teens in WWASPS programs was necessarily
abusive. But Romney's national finance co-chair, Mel Sembler,
remains. While Sembler has not been linked with any abuse
personally, the organization he co-founded, Straight Inc., paid out
millions of dollars in similar suits during the 1980's and 1990's.
The abuse included kidnapping, false imprisonment, beatings, sexual
humiliation (boys were called "fags," girls, "whores"), punitive use
of isolation and restraint and bizarre incidents like teens being
gagged with Kotex and held on the floor for hours until they wet or
even soiled themselves. In every state where Straight had a
facility, regulators and/or lawsuits eventually documented serious
abuse. For complete story,
click here.
Why girl was sent to child-rape suspect
Adhahn--July 21st, 2007--A
Kansas woman said she let her daughter move to Pierce County with
child-rape suspect Terapon Adhahn six years ago because she thought
it was the best option for the then-rebellious 12-year-old girl.
The girl and her family met Adhahn when he moved to Texas in 2001
after he was laid off from Boeing's plant in Auburn. Adhahn and the
girl moved to Tacoma a short time later and lived at two different
Spanaway addresses. According to charges filed earlier this
week, Adhahn repeatedly raped the girl over the four years they
lived together, at least once at gunpoint. Charging papers say
the girl went to live with Adhahn with her mother's blessing,
because the woman was having difficulty with the girl's behavior.
The girl's mother said Adhahn, the cousin of a man she was dating at
the time, offered to take the child off her hands. "I never
thought he'd do anything to hurt my daughter," said the woman. "I
asked her all the time. She said nothing happened." On
Thursday, Pierce County prosecutors charged Adhahn, 42, with one
count of first-degree rape, three counts of second-degree rape and
three counts of child rape in connection with the repeated assaults
on the woman's daughter. He also faces several rape charges and a
kidnapping charge in connection with the abduction and sexual
assault of an 11-year-old Tacoma girl in 2000. Pierce County
prosecutors said they plan to charge Adhahn Monday with one count of
aggravated-first-degree murder in connection with the slaying of
12-year-old Zina Linnik, who was abducted from outside her Tacoma
home on July 4 and whose body was found July 12 in eastern Pierce
County. Prosecutors haven't said whether they intend to seek the
death penalty. (Webmaster Note: There is no excuse for
irresponsible parenting.) For complete story,
click here.
Controversy Surrounds Tranquility Bay:
Click
here
for article. Or,
click here.
Graduate of a school for troubled teens
describes therapy: Click
here
for audio clip. (Provided by
www.nospank.net )
Breaking:
Larry Craig quits Romney campaign as news
of lewd-conduct allegation spreads
27 Aug 2007 U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) pleaded
guilty to disorderly conduct this
month after his arrest in a Minneapolis airport men’s room by an
undercover officer who said Craig was sending signals that he wanted
to have sex. Craig agreed today to resign as the U.S. Senate
co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Craig served as
co-chair with Robert Bennett of Utah. For complete story,
click here.
3 Arrested In Connection With
Drugs-For-Cash Ring--August 27th, 2007--(CBS)
MURRIETA, Calif. Three more arrests were made in connection with
an alleged drug-prescription-for-cash ring that authorities say was
run by a Murrieta psychiatrist. James Dylan Hall, 21, Saege
Hall, 18, and Janine Hall, 45, all of Temecula, were taken into
custody Friday by deputies serving a search warrant in the 29700
block of Calle Pantano, said Murrieta Sgt. Tony Conrad.
Psychiatrist Joel Dreyer, arrested July 24 at his Murrieta home, was
charged with five counts of issuing a false prescription. He remains
behind bars on $50,000 bail, awaiting a preliminary
hearing...Dreyer, 69, worked with troubled teens in group homes, as
well as in private practice. None of the teens was suspected
of involvement in the alleged scheme, Vrooman said. (Unable to
locat story at time of archiving. Source:
http://cbs2.com Date: August 27,
2007)
Trial
for Royal Gorge Academy official begins Monday--August 25th,
2007--A week-long trial is scheduled to being Monday for
the Royal Gorge Academy co-founder who faces allegations that he
assaulted several teenagers who once attended the private boarding
school. Randall Hinton, 32, is set to defend himself against
seven counts of third-degree assault and two counts of false
imprisonment. All charges Hinton faces are misdemeanors that carry
potential jail time, if convicted. The trial is the culmination
of an investigation that began in January and was carried out by the Cañon City Police Department.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.canoncitydailyrecord.com Date: August 25, 2007)
Tough
Love and Free Speech--August 24th, 2007--...At some
point, Sue Scheff became aware of online bulletin boards where teens
who had been in WWASP programs were telling horrific stories of
sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Users also posted media
accounts detailing how nine WWASP-affiliated programs were closed
following police investigations, regulatory infractions and/or allegations
of child abuse. Scheff later wrote on her
website that
she had become uncomfortable with some of the
organization's methods. She removed her daughter from the program, and
began posting her own allegations against WWASP on online forums,
under several different names. She also set up her own consultant
business, called Parents Universal Resource Experts (PURE), and began
taking referral payments for placing teens, just as WWASP does.
While this sort of practice isn't illegal, it's widely considered
unethical. Conflicts of interest arise when consultants get higher
referral fees from some programs than they get from others. The
temptation arises to place kids in the
programs that pay more, even
though these may not be the programs best suited to a particular
child. Once you're being regularly paid by a program, it’s
hard to
be objective about its quality. This is why codes of ethics in
psychology and psychiatry typically
bar such "dual relationships." Under the Lanham
Act, which bans business competitors from making false and
inflammatory claims about rivals, WWASP sued Scheff over her critical
online posts. Because the court was able to substantiate Scheff’s
claims with vivid
testimony from victims, WWASP lost. Soon, however, the
online boards buzzed again with yet more reports of abuse at new
programs, and this time they included programs where Sue Scheff was
referring children. It was around this time that Scheff launched her
own lawsuit against Bock. Scheff had helped Bock remove her two sons
from a WWASP program, but Bock eventually become outraged by what she
considered to be Scheff’s unethical referrals. The $11 million
judgment resulted only after Bock didn't
show up in court to defend herself.
Meanwhile, child welfare
investigators substantiated charges of abuse in 2005 at the Whitmore
Academy in Utah, a program to which Scheff made referrals. Regulators shut
the program down. Just last month, another complaint was filed
against Scheff and another program where she places teens, the Focal
Point Academy in Nevada. In that filing, a Florida couple alleges that Scheff failed to disclose that she was being paid by Focal Point, nor
did she tell them that the business was licensed only as a foster
home, not for residential treatment. The complaint describes these
failures to disclose as “fraudulent
misrepresentations” and
“kickbacks.” For complete story,
click here.
Zyprexa
blamed for son's death, parents sue--August 22nd, 2007--Valedictorian
of his high school class and honor graduate from Rice University,
Scott Sexton's future promised greatness. However, sometime
between graduating from Rice with a masters in business administration
and working at the accounting firm Deloitte Touche, Sexton was
diagnosed with a mental disorder and prescribed Zyprexa. He died of
pancreatits on Dec. 7, 2006. Sexton's grieving parents, Charles
and Kaye, believe Zyprexa was at the root of their son's untimely
death and are suing the drug's maker, Eli Lilly & Company - filing suit on Aug. 20 with the Jefferson County District Court.
For complete story,
click here.
'Kid
Nation' Parents Gave Show Free Rein--August 23rd, 2007--LOS
ANGELES (Aug.
23) - Children who participated in “Kid Nation,” a CBS
reality show that has come under fire over questions of whether it violated
child safety and labor laws, were required to do whatever they were
told by the show’s producers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or risk
expulsion from the show, according to a copy of the contract signed by
the children
and their parents.
The
contract also specifies that while the children could be paid for
their participation,
those payments or
the agreement to be fully under the producers’
direction did not constitute employment under the producers’
interpretation and therefore was not subject to any
state or federal
labor laws.
The
agreement, which was provided to The New York Times by the New Mexico
attorney
general’s office under an open records act request, appears
to anticipate the arguments that were later made by New Mexico state
authorities that the show’s producers
might have violated state
labor laws and licensing requirements for child housing.
“Kid
Nation,” which is scheduled
to have its premiere on CBS on Sept. 19,
took 40 children, ages 8 to 15, and placed them in a New Mexico desert
“ghost town” near Santa Fe for 40 days, during which they had
little to no contact with their parents. The program has been
criticized by New Mexico state authorities who
have said that they
were not notified in advance of the conditions, which they said
appeared to violate state laws.
The parent of
at least one
participant has complained to New Mexico authorities that
the conditions were abusive and that several children were harmed
during the
production.
The 22-page
agreement leaves little room for parents to argue that they did not
know what their children might encounter. As is
standard in such
agreements, the parents and the children agreed not to hold the
producers and CBS responsible if their children died or were
injured,
if they received inadequate medical care, or if their housing was
unsafe and caused injury.
But while
such agreements might be
standard for adult participants in a reality
show, it also takes on a different tone when the minor and the parent
are being held solely responsible for any “emotional distress,
illness, sexually transmitted diseases, H.I.V. and pregnancy” that
might occur if the child “chooses to enter into an intimate
relationship of any nature with another participant or any other
person.” The
agreement also imposes extensive confidentiality requirements on the
parents and the children, including that any interviews they grant
must be approved by CBS. Those
confidentiality conditions extend for
three years beyond the end of the show, not the individual 13-episode
cycle in which a child participates
but the entire series, however
many cycles it includes. The producers of “Kid Nation” have
already begun interviewing children to take part in
the second
installment. Violating the confidentiality agreement carries a
$5 million penalty. CBS and the production companies, Good TV Inc.
and
Magic Molehill Productions, retained the rights to the children’s
life stories “in perpetuity and throughout the universe.” And that
right
includes the right to portray the children either accurately or
with fictionalization “to achieve a humorous or satirical
effect.” To ensure that
parents and the children abide by the
agreement, the payment of the $5,000 stipend promised to the children
who complete the series and the
$20,000 that some of them received for
being voted the best participant in each of the 13 episodes can be
withheld, according to the contract,
until after the broadcast of the
entire series. The contract also specifies that the children are
able to leave the production at any time, but that
in doing so they
will lose their right to receive payment and will still be bound by
confidentiality provisions. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
http://news.aol.com Date: August 23, 2007)
DHS
asks U.S. judge to dismiss abuse suit lawsuit--August 23rd, 2007--The
state Department of Human Services asked a federal judge this week to
throw out a lawsuit alleging eight girls were abused at Columbia
Training School in May. DHS Executive Director Don Taylor said
he could not comment on Monday's request to dismiss the case before
U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan. In court documents, officials
argue the girls, who allege they were shackled for 12 hours a day,
have no basis to ask for a financial payment. One girl also alleges
she was sexually abused. "It's so unfortunate that the
state's going to use its resources to defend the indefensible instead
of using its resources to resolve this matter in the best interest of
the children," said the girls' attorney, Sheila Bedi of the
Mississippi Protection and Advocacy System. Bedi states in court
documents the state should have provided mental health treatment to
the girls, some of whom were suicidal while in custody.
Assistant Attorney General Shawn Shurden argues in court documents
that legal mandates to provide mental health or rehabilitative
treatments applies only to the mentally ill, not teens. He does not
address whether the treatment would be mandatory for teens if they
were suicidal and might have been mentally ill. Since several of
the teens have been released or soon will be released from the campus,
their claims are moot, he states. The school houses teenage
girls who committed crimes, including drug possession and assault.
They typically stay six weeks to a few months, depending on the
sentence. After allegations surfaced that girls were shackled
for longer than a week, the investigation widened when state
representatives learned male guards asked one girl for sexual favors
and guards gave the teens cigarettes. Taylor said his agency's
investigation is ongoing. One employee has been fired and five have
been suspended with pay. In 2006, the state agreed to end a
lawsuit federal officials filed two years earlier over allegations of
abuse. A federal monitor visits both Columbia and Oakley Training
School for boys and recommends improvements. (Webmaster Note: It
is very common that the government agencies charged with child welfare
are complicit in the abuse of children. Often, abuses are
covered up by the very people who should be investigating and taking
action.) (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.clarionledger.com
Date: August 23, 2007)
How
Faith Based Initiatives help unlicensed reform schools thrive-2007--When
George W. Bush became president, he created the White House Office of
Faith-Based Initiatives (www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/mission.html).
Mr. Bush created Centers for Faith-Based Initiatives in seven cabinet
departments: the United States Agency for International Development,
and the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human
Services, Justice, Agriculture, Labor, and Education. The purpose of
the Centers was to eliminate regulatory and contracting obstacles for
faith-based and other community organizations. This act has made it
possible for religious boarding schools to avoid becoming licensed and
regulated leaving those inside no protection. It began when Mr.
Bush was Governor of Texas. Texas’ legislature passed the Faith
Based program there in 1997 allowing deregulation for faith based
boarding schools. The legislature then passed a bill allowing the
creation of alternative accreditation programs in which faith-based
child-care centers could forego state licensing and instead receive
accreditation from one of these newly created private agencies.
Deregulation was an essential component of the faith-based initiative
because it ensured that more faith-based providers would be eligible
for government funds (see Texas Freedom Education Fund at www.tfn.org/aboutus).
This plan created new licensing laws for religious facilities;
self-regulation that substantially reduced health and safety
requirements and oversight. The state of Texas approved the
Texas Association of Christian Child-Care Agencies (TACCCA). The board
of TACCCA was comprised of eight pastors, three of whom also operated
homes accredited by TACCCA. Upon TACCCA’s creation, the Texas
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (TDPRS) no longer
held jurisdiction over these programs. Therefore, TDPRS could not
investigate complaints of abuse. Also upon creation of TACCCA,
then-Governor Bush invited the Roloff Homes to return to Texas, even
thought the State of Texas closed down the Roloff Homes in 1985 after numerous allegations of abuse. The State’s position was that the Roloff Homes should either comply with licensing requirements or close
its doors. The Texas Supreme Court agreed and the United States
Supreme Court dismissed the appeal from this decision (State v. Corpus
Christi People’s Baptist Church, Inc., 683 S.W.2d 692 (1984) and
Corpus Christi People’s Baptist Church, Inc. v. Texas, 474 U.S. 801
(1985). TACCCA was supposed to uphold the same standards as TDPRS. TACCCA, however, never conducted a single legally required
surprise-inspection at any of its facilities (see letter from Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services to Rev. Davis Blaser,
Texas Association of Christian Child-Care Agencies (Mar. 8, 2001) (on
file with the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services).
In 1999, the state of Texas found evidence of physical abuse and
neglect at the Roloff Homes’ Rebekah Home for girls. Charges were
filed against Faye Cameron, the home’s supervisor (and wife of
Pastor Wiley Cameron). As a result of the charges, Faye Cameron was
convicted and banned from ever working with children in Texas again.
Nonetheless, TACCCA reaccredited the home. Pastor Cameron served on
the board of TACCCA at the time of reaccredidation. Sadly, this would
not be the first case of conflict of interest we would see with these
faith based self-appointed organizations. The rate of confirmed abuse
and neglect at alternatively accredited facilities was 25 times higher
than that of state-licensed facilities. This can be confirmed by the
Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. Because of the
problems incurred, the Texas legislature had to discontinue its
alternative accreditation program in 2001. Luckily someone was
watching and paying attention: because of past problems with these
facilities, the Texas Freedom Network was created by concerned
citizens. This is a watchdog group that was founded in 1995 and is a
nonpartisan, grassroots organization of more than 23,000 religious and
community leaders - www.tfn.org/aboutus
- it monitors far-right issues, organizations, money and leaders.
FACCCA – Florida is the new safe haven for unregulated religious
schools Although Texas was forced to abandon its alternative
accreditation program, those who wished to avoid state interference
were not left without options. The Florida Association of Christian
Child Caring Agencies (FACCCA) was created to do the same thing TACCCA
did in Texas. When Faye Cameron was banned forever from working with
children in Texas and TACCCA was discontinued, FACCCA and the State of
Florida welcomed the Camerons. FACCCA also welcomed the Palmers after
the State of California shut down their facility in Ramona,
California; the school I was in. There have been numerous
complaints of abuse against FACCCA facility employees. Rebecca
Ramirez’s sexual assault allegation against VCA’s Palmer (Secrets
in the Schoolhouse by reporter Mollye Barrows) is not an isolated
allegation. In 2003, a former student of FACCCA’s Camp Tracey filed
a lawsuit against the facility alleging that he was forced to perform
sex acts with two camp counselors (Paul Pinkam, Man Sues Church,
Alleges Abuse - Harvest Baptist’s Camp Tracey Cited, THE FLORIDA
TIMES-UNION, May 10, 2003, available at http://www.nospank.net/n-k92r.htm).
A grand jury investigated Camp Tracey in 1987 after years of physical
abuse allegations by children and parents. Allegations leading to the
investigation included excessive corporal punishment and the use of
ropes and handcuffs to restrain children. The grand jury criticized
the absence of procedures allowing residents of Camp Tracey to contact
authorities in the event of abuse (www.isaccorp.org/faccca/camptracey1.pdf
). In 2004, John Burt was convicted of molesting a
fifteen-year-old girl at another FACCCA-accredited facility, Our
Father’s House (Activist Gets 18 Years for Molesting Teen, AP, May
12, 2004, www.isaccorp.org/faccca/ourfathershouseconviction.pdf
). Shockingly, FACCCA allowed Burt to open the home, even
though he had served jail time in the eighties for his anti-abortion
activities. In May 1993, Burt was present at the fatal shooting of a
Pensacola Medical Services doctor (Associated Press, Troopers Nab
Anti-Abortion Figure Sought in Sex Case, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, June
11, 2003, www.isaccorp.org/faccca/johnburtarrested.pdf).
He led a demonstration on one side of the clinic, while his follower,
Michael Griffin, shot Dr. David Gunn on the other side of the clinic.
When Burt was arrested on the molestation charges, FACCCA President Ed
MacClellan said the charges were “out of character with his public
persona.” (Associated Press, Preaching Life While Preying on Their
Fears, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, June 12, 2003, www.isaccorp.org/faccca/ourfathershouse1.pdf
). In 2003, authorities shut down Teen Transformation
Ministries, another FACCCA-accredited school, after a former resident
made an abuse complaint against the facility (Associated Press,
Boys’ Home Closes after Abuse Reports, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, June
11, 2003, www.isaccorp.org/faccca/teentransformation.pdf
). The thirteen-year-old boy was denied medical attention for a broken
shoulder. He also alleged that he was thrown into a septic tank and
made to stay there for ten minutes. He further alleged that he was
forced to pull down his pants and sit on a fire-ant mound. Each
of these complaints show what program participants may be subjected to
in the absence of state regulation. There have been other allegations made against FACCCA’s facilities, but because FACCCA seems not to
require the facilities to allow participants access to victims’
services, it is impossible to provide statistical data about the
actual occurrence of abuse. The allegations that have been made,
however, indicate the absence of any real regulation by FACCCA.
Deregulation systems such as those in Texas and Florida are
unconstitutional. Deregulation violates the program participants’
Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection rights by placing them in a less
protected class than children in state-regulated programs.
Deregulation also violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause by
allowing special treatment for religious groups. In a state
regulated program, it would be rare to find staff members who are
child molesters or abusers because in order to work in a state run
facility, you must pass a criminal background check to work with
minors. Anyone with a questionable background would be immediately
disqualified. But at these unregulated FACCCA run schools, a staff
member’s background goes unchecked and they rarely have anything but
a high school diploma making them unsuitable candidates to work with
kids who have mental health issues. All they have to say is that they
are a “Christian” and they are deemed suitable to work in the
facility with your kids. This is horrifying at best. This paper
written and researched by Candice Aiston, and edited by Michele
Ulriksen. Contact Michele Ulriksen at: www.westhillscommunications.com
For complete story,
click here.
What
Works for Troubled Teens?--August 20th, 2007--The most
effective treatments for troubled teenagers have these things in
common: They use family-based therapies; they treat adolescents with
empathy, dignity, and respect; and, except for very short periods of
emergency stabilization, they keep teens at home. Research has
proven the effectiveness of a number of methods for treating youth
with behavioral and other problems—including functional family
therapy, cognitive-behavioral family therapy, and multisystemic family
therapy (the latter, ironically, is available almost exclusively to
kids in the juvenile justice system). All of them focus on improving
communication between children and parents, setting clear boundaries,
and ensuring that teenagers' developmental needs for increased
freedom, social connection, and responsibility are recognized and met
in safe and healthy ways. Inpatient treatment happens only on a
short-term basis when a child is a threat to himself or others.
For complete story,
click here.
In
the shadow of sexual abuse--August 20th, 2007--Vera has
learned to walk softly through the emotional minefield left behind by
the man who sexually abused her husband three to four times a week for
11 years. "He can flip back and forth so much and so
quickly," says Vera, who asked that we not reveal her last name.
She lives south of Seattle with her husband, Mark. "The toughest
thing is to constantly remind myself that there's something bigger
here than us." Vera represents an often-forgotten population —
the partners of childhood sexual-abuse victims. For
these couples, ordinary relationship struggles are often compounded by
the legacies of abuse. Adult survivors often experience
depression, anxiety, substance abuse, career problems,
inability to achieve physical or emotional intimacy and shame about
sexuality. Janice Palm, a therapist and executive director of
Shepherd's Counseling Services on Capitol Hill, recites the oft-quoted
stats — one in three girls will be molested by the time they're 18;
one in five boys. Unwanted sexual experience affects
different people differently. As Palm notes, not all such experiences
cause lifelong trauma. As in Mark's case, the effects were
significant. As he and other survivors of abuse mature and move
into adult relationships, they take with them all the baggage of their
abuse. (Webmaster Note: If your child is exhibiting
behavioral or emotional problems, they are likely dealing with a
trauma such as sexual abuse, humiliation, or other abuse. Even
if you've never abused your child, they may have been abused by
another trusted adult. If you find yourself too busy to actively
engage in a relationship with your child, you may be guilty of neglect
which is abusive and can result in behavioral and emotional
issues. Please take inventory on your own action/inaction and
areas for improvement prior to and/or instead of scapegoating or
blaming your child for your own errors.) For complete story,
click here.
Young
people say family, friends make them most happy--August 20th,
2007--NEW YORK — So you're between the ages of 13 and 24.
What makes you happy? A worried, weary parent might imagine the answer
to sound something like this: Sex, drugs, a little rock 'n'
roll. Maybe some cash, or at least the car keys. Turns out the
real answer is quite different. Spending time with family was the top
answer to that open-ended question, according to an extensive survey
— more than 100 questions asked of 1,280 people ages 13-24 —
conducted by The Associated Press and MTV on the nature of happiness
among America's young people. Next was spending time with
friends, followed by time with a significant other. And even better
for parents: Nearly three-quarters of young people say their
relationship with their parents makes them happy. "They're
my foundation," says Kristiana St. John, 17, a high-school student from Queens in New York. "My mom tells me that even if I
do something stupid, she's still going to love me no matter what. Just
knowing that makes me feel very happy and blessed." Other
results are more disconcerting. While most young people are happy
overall with the way their lives are going, there are racial
differences: The poll shows whites to be happier, across economic
categories, than blacks and Hispanics. A lot of young people feel
stress, particularly those from the middle class, and females more
than males. You might think money would be clearly tied to a
general sense of happiness. But almost no one said "money"
when asked what makes them happy, though people with the highest
family incomes are generally happier with life. Having highly educated
parents is a stronger predictor of happiness than income. (Webmaster
Note: Love, respect, and spend time with your children!) For
complete story,
click here.
The
Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry--August 20th,
2007--The idea that punishment can be therapeutic is not unique to
the Rotenberg Center. In fact, this notion is widespread among the
hundreds of "emotional growth boarding schools," wilderness
camps, and "tough love" antidrug programs that make up the
billion-dollar teen residential treatment industry. This harsh
approach to helping troubled teens has a long and disturbing history.
No fewer than 50 programs (though not the Rotenberg Center) can trace
their treatment philosophy, directly or indirectly, to an antidrug
cult called Synanon. Founded in 1958, Synanon sold itself as a cure
for hardcore heroin addicts who could help each other by
"breaking" new initiates with isolation, humiliation, hard
labor, and sleep deprivation. Today, troubled-teen programs use Synanon-like tactics, advertising themselves to parents as solutions
for everything from poor study habits to substance misuse. However,
there is little evidence that harsh behavior-modification techniques
can solve these problems. Studies found that Synanon's "encounter
groups" could produce lasting psychological harm and that only 10
to 15 percent of the addicts who participated in them recovered. And
as the classic 1971 Stanford prison experiment demonstrated, creating
situations in which the severe treatment of powerless people is
rewarded inevitably yields abuse. This is especially true when
punishment is viewed as a healing process. Synanon was discredited in
the late 1970s and 1980s as its violent record was exposed. (The group
is now remembered for an incident in which a member placed a live
rattlesnake—rattle removed—in the mailbox of a lawyer who'd
successfully sued it.) Yet by the time Synanon shut down in 1991, its
model had already been widely copied. In 1971, the federal
government gave a grant to a Florida organization called The Seed,
which applied Synanon's methods to teenagers, even those only
suspected of trying drugs. In 1974, Congress opened an investigation
into such behavior-modification programs, finding that The Seed had
used methods "similar to the highly refined brainwashing
techniques employed by the North Koreans." The bad
publicity led some supporters of The Seed to create a copycat
organization under a different name. Straight Inc. was cofounded by
Mel Sembler, a Bush family friend who would become the gop's
2000 finance chair and who heads Lewis "Scooter" Libby's
legal defense fund. By the mid-'80s, Straight was operating in seven
states. First lady Nancy Reagan declared it her favorite antidrug program. As with The Seed, abuse was omnipresent—including beatings
and kidnapping of adult participants. Facing seven-figure legal
judgments, it closed in 1993. But loopholes in state laws and a
lack of federal oversight allowed shuttered programs to simply change
their names and reopen, often with the same staff, in the same
state—even in the same building. Straight spin-offs like the Pathway
Family Center are still in business. Confrontation and humiliation are also used by religious programs such as Escuela Caribe
in the Dominican Republic and myriad "emotional growth boarding
schools" affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty
Programs (wwasp), such as
Tranquility Bay in Jamaica. wwasp's
president told me that the organization "took a little bit of
what Synanon [did]." Lobbying by well-connected supporters such
as wwasp founder Robert
Lichfield (who, like Sembler, is a fundraiser for Republican
presidential aspirant Mitt Romney) has kept state regulators at bay
and blocked federal regulation entirely. By the '90s, tough love
had spawned military-style boot camps and wilderness programs that
thrust kids into extreme survival scenarios. At least three dozen
teens have died in these programs, often because staff see medical
complaints as malingering. This May, a 15-year-old boy died from a staph infection at a Colorado wilderness program. His family claims
his pleas for help were ignored. In his final letter to his mother, he
wrote, "They found my weakness and I want to go home."
For complete story,
click here.
Local
Minister, Helper Charged With Assault--August 10th, 2007--SAN
ANTONIO -- A local minister and one of his assistants Friday were
charged with aggravated assault in connection with a Nueces County
dragging incident. The accuser is a 15-year-old girl who
attended their summer boot camp for troubled teens. KSAT's
Johanne Lochard reported that Rev. Charles Flowers is the minister at
San Antonio's Faith Outreach Center. On Friday, he had to answer to a
higher authority -- a magistrate judge. Flowers was charged with
aggravated assault along with Stephanie Bassitt, 20. "These
are the specific people she says caused her injuries," said
Nueces County Lt. Mike Lowrance. The injures that the victim's
mother had photos of were suffered while attending the boot camp,
police said, where Flowers served as the self-proclaimed
"commandant" and Bassett acted as training assistant.
The teen said Bassett held her down while Flowers tied her to the back
of a vehicle, Lochard said. She was dragged after being forced to run
behind a moving van. Bobbi Greer said she witnessed the
dragging. She worked as a cook at the Nueces County Ranch, where the
alleged assault happened in early June. "Every time she
would fall, they would drag her," Greer said. For complete
story,
click here.
Ex-TYC
guard indicted in sexual assault case--August 8th, 2007--ABILENE
— A former guard in the Texas youth prison system has been indicted
on charges of sexual assault and indecency with a child for allegedly
having sex with a female inmate younger than 17, officials said.
Jaime Segura, 30, of Brownwood, was suspended without pay Friday as
the Texas Youth Commission began the process of firing him, said Jim
Hurley, a commission spokesman. Segura had been on paid
suspension since Feb. 24 from his job at the Ron Jackson State
Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood, 120 miles southwest of
Fort Worth. Segura is the fifth former guard at the Brownwood
facility to face felony charges since Texas officials launched
investigations and sweeping reforms to the state-run youth prisons in
response to a sex scandal and a possible cover-up by agency
officials. A Brown County grand jury indicted Segura on felony
charges including one count of sexual assault, three counts of
indecency with a child and four counts of improper sexual activity
with a person in custody. He was also indicted on four
misdemeanor counts of official oppression. (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: August 8,
2007)
Judge
Removes Children From Troubled Youth Center--August 6th, 2007--MONTGOMERY
COUNTY, Tenn.- The Chad Youth Enhancement
Center is right in the
middle of a scandal. A family court judge is now ordering some of the
youngsters who live there to get out immediately. It's been
estimated about 60 percent of the troubled kids who stay at Chad Youth
Center are from Philadelphia. Just this weekend a judge in that
city ordered a
handful of kids to be pulled out in the wake of serious
allegations of abuse. Teenager Atlanta Redman and her parents
said these snapshots are evidence of
abuse. "When I raised
my head up, she slammed it back down and my mouth was pouring blood
and my eye was hurting and I just remember telling her,
Please stop.
And she kept on slamming me back down," said former center
resident Atlanta Redman. Her accusations and new claims from
parents and
kids once linked to Chad have placed the facility for
troubled teens squarely in the cross-hairs of investigators. Now, a
judge from Philadelphia, where many
"Chad" residents are
from, is ordering six kids from Philadelphia to be discharged, and
more releases could come. For complete story,
click here.
Skyrocketing
numbers of kids are prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs. Is it
safe? Nobody knows.: July 29th, 2007--More and
more, parents at wit's end are begging doctors to help them calm their
aggressive children or control their kids with ADHD. More and more,
doctors are prescribing powerful antipsychotic drugs. In the
past seven years, the number of Florida children prescribed such drugs
has increased some 250 percent. Last year, more than 18,000 state kids
on Medicaid were given prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs.
Even children as young as 3 years old. Last year, 1,100 Medicaid
children under 6 were prescribed antipsychotics, a practice so risky
that state regulators say it should be used only in extreme
cases. These numbers are just for children on fee-for-service
Medicaid, generally the poor and disabled. Thousands more kids on
private insurance are also on antipsychotics. Almost entirely driving this spiraling trend is the rise of a class of antipsychotic
drugs called atypicals. These drugs emerged in the 1990s and
replaced the older, "typical" antipsychotics like Haldol or
Thorazine, which are often associated with Parkinson-like
shakes. The atypicals were developed to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults. But once on the market, doctors are free
to prescribe them to children, and for uses not approved by the Food
and Drug Administration. There is almost no research on the
long-term effects of such powerful medications on the developing
brains of children. The more that researchers learn, the less
comfortable many are becoming with atypicals. Initially billed
as wonder drugs with few significant side effects, evidence is mounting that they can cause rapid weight gain, diabetes, even death.
(Webmaster Note: Please see www.ablechild.org
for alternatives and support for parents and kids dealing with
ADD/ADHD/ODD/etc. diagnosis. Thanks!) For complete story,
click here.
Friends
Talk About Teen Accused Of Capital Murder: July 23rd,
2007--News of 17-year-old Joshua Loften's alleged involvement as the
gunman in the murder of 40-year-old Dean Worden Sunday afternoon
spread quickly through the Argenta District of North Little
Rock. “That's my homeboy and everything. I can't believe he
did this,” said Lamar Tenner. “I never thought he'd commit a
crime like that or anything,” said Lashara Bryant. But police
believe Loften was capable of pulling the trigger outside the Wal-Mart
on East McCain, killing Worden in cold blood. They arrested the
teenager Monday around 3 a.m. which is something his neighbor, who
wishes to be known only as "Pamela," says
she couldn't
believe. “I was in shock, like I am now,” she said. “He
was a nice, respectable, caring young man.” But
"Pamela" says that kind, caring side of Loften wasn't always
so easy to see. “He was heading down the wrong path,” she
said. “He went to boot camp for a couple of months.” She
says he'd been back home for about two months, showing a considerably
different attitude. “He was more mature, more grown, more stable and not rowdy.”
She says that change in behavior makes news of his alleged involvement
as both purse snatcher and fatal gunman so
difficult to
understand. “I don't know. Something clicked,” she said.
“He's not that type of person, out to hurt anyone.” (Or, at least,
he wasn't,
until he survived a "troubled teen" boot camp.) For
complete story,
click here.
The
Police State Takeover Of Schools-Conditioning the kids for their
future on the global plantation: July 24th, 2007--Schools
have become hi-tech prisons. Children all across America and the UK
are being conditioned to accept that they are not free and that they
must submit to
draconian laws and measures for their own safety.
Soon enough children will not even know what it is like to act as a
private individual
within society. Don't believe this? Read on.
All over the United States and Britain children are increasingly being
subjected to measures that wouldn't look out of place in maximum
security prisons. Everyday we post reports from mainstream news
sources documenting this disturbing
trend. Today The
Philadelphia Inquirer reports that schools across America
are banning backpacks that are made of non see-through
materials
. If students walking between classes want to use a backpack, it
must be made of clear plastic or mesh so its contents can be seen
at a
glance. Cloth backpacks can be carried into the school in the morning
but must be stored in lockers. So the students should all now
feel
much safer due to the fact that they can all see each other's
personal items right? Wrong. The move has unleashed a torrent of
protest from
some Wissahickon students, who say high schools are
coming to resemble "prisons or police states," in the words
of one. Brandon Hemmen, a senior, said the clear bags will make it
easy for thieves who already rip off students every day. And
"bags will get mixed up; we'll have to use
name tags," he
added. "This is wrong. They can't take all our freedoms
away." A second item today comes from Security tech website
Security Park which reports that Slippery Rock University of
Pennsylvania is to deliver the convenience and security of contactless
payments by cell phone to students and the faculty. Beginning in July, Slippery Rock University's 8,500 students, faculty
and staff will receive a new
official campus ID card and a separate contactless token designed for use with their mobile phones.
Using either the card or the phone, they will be able to make payments
at on-campus locations as well as participating merchants in the
surrounding community...
. The new mobile
phone tokens incorporate the same
standards-based contactless technology (ISO 14443) used worldwide by
MasterCard, Visa and leading card issuers in the payment and identity
sectors. Good, prepare the kids first and then bring in the
cashless society nationwide, with an ID card of
course, which you will
need to be able to buy and sell. We have long warned of the dangers of
a cashless
society putting total control into the
hands of state regulated and
private corporations and the break down of basic freedoms that it
encompasses. Still don't feel there is anything
to worry about
in schools? Do a prisonplanet.
com google search on the word "school", you will be
confronted with literally hundreds and hundreds of news articles from
the past few years that detail the police state takeover of schools
all over the US and throughout the UK. For complete story,
click here.
Mississippi
Sued Over Alleged Abuse at Girls Detention Center:
July
12th, 2007--JACKSON,
Miss. — Girls at a Mississippi detention center were sometimes
shackled for 12 hours a day and subjected to "horrendous physical
and sexual abuse," a youth advocacy group claims in a federal
lawsuit. The Mississippi Youth Justice Project sued the state
Wednesday on behalf of six girls, ages 13 to 17, and called for the
shutdown of the troubled Columbia Training School. For complete
story,
click here.
|
Teen
ranch evades law: Case
shines light on child programs that go unlicensed in Utah:
Call it
the "problem child" of Utah's teen-help industry.
Majestic Ranch in Randolph - one of four Utah boarding schools
that cater to troubled teens - has, until recently, failed to
become licensed as required by law. It is the only school to
fall short of health and safety benchmarks imposed in October
2005. The hang-up: minor changes to an employee
handbook, say regulators, who permitted the school to operate
without a license for the past 18 months. Regulators say no
harm was done; because Majestic is in good standing, they
granted the school a probationary license on June 25.
But the school's slow road to compliance points to a larger
problem with Utah's oversight of adoption agencies, wilderness
camps, schools and other programs for vulnerable children: a
loophole in state law. Operating these businesses
without a license is a class A misdemeanor - but only if
someone is harmed, said Ken Stettler, Human Services licensing
director. "Usually if it's a new program just
coming on, then they simply don't begin operation until
they're licensed," said Stettler. "What was uncommon
in [Majestic's] case was that we had an existing program that
was already operating when the laws went into effect. In this
case we don't close them down." But at least one
new business venture - an adoption agency - slipped through
the loophole. Focus on Children, now defunct and facing
federal charges of running a baby smuggling operation in
Samoa, did business in Utah for 2 1/2 years without a license.
The agency's owners applied in March 2001, but did not submit
all the paperwork. After nudging from regulators, they were
licensed on August 1, 2003. No one, to Stettler's
knowledge, is lobbying to give regulators stronger powers to
insist on licensing. Utah's Republican-dominated
Legislature has traditionally opposed government meddling in
the private sector. "Therapeutic" boarding schools,
including 21-year-old Majestic Ranch, went unregulated until
2005. The law defines "therapeutic schools" as
serving students "who have a history of failing to
function at home or public school" and that offer room
and board. Majestic initially fought regulation through
its partner World Wide Association of Speciality Programs, a
Utah-based chain of get-tough treatment programs. Later,
after it came to light that Majestic had been investigated
three times for abuse, the boarding school became a proponent
of regulation. Only one probe ended in a criminal charge and
conviction when a staffer - who was eventually fired - pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor assault. Child welfare caseworkers
received another complaint of abuse in 2005, but dismissed it
as having no merit, said Carol Sisco, Human Services
spokeswoman. Tammy Johnson, Majestic Ranch director,
said the licensing process has helped foster better relations
with the state, but it hasn't changed the school's curricula
or practices. "The only thing that changed is we
have to file more paperwork; quite a bit more paperwork,"
said Johnson. Johnson blames some of the licensing
delays on regulators who took a year to review Majestic's
policies, but stressed, "they've been wonderful to work
with." Bad press, stemming from
"frivolous" complaints from disgruntled employees,
have hurt Majestic, said Johnson. Over the past two
years enrollment has dropped from about 60 students to 32,
Johnson said. The school caters to 7-to-14-year-olds; annual
tuition costs about $42,000. "We lose on average of
five kids a month to negative publicity on the Internet. It's
unfortunate," said Johnson. "I wouldn't be able to
come to work every day if I didn't feel I was making a
difference in these families' and students' lives. It's not an
easy job." (Unable
to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.sltrib.com Date: July
16, 2007) |
Whereabouts
of missing Eckerd camp boys still unknown: July 11th,
2007--Six days have past since three teens went missing from Eckerd
Youth Alternatives and authorities are no closer to finding the
boys. The search continued Tuesday for the teenagers who ran
away from the
camp last week. The Henderson County Sheriff's Office
search began Friday after the teens were discovered missing.
The camp at 1079 Sky
Valley Road is a private, nonprofit
organization serving at-risk and troubled youth in the county.
Interim Director David Boeke said it is designed to help the youths
get back on the right path. For complete story,
click here.
Boy
found dead at Draper group home: June 30th, 2007--SALT
LAKE CITY -- A southern California boy died at a group home in
Draper, apparently in his sleep. The 14-year-old boy awoke
early Thursday complaining of stomach and bowel problems, was placed
in a separate room from other kids and found dead the next morning,
said Carol Sisco, spokeswoman for Utah Department of Human Services.
"We are interviewing everyone involved who was in the unit at
the time," Draper police Sgt. Gerald Allred said. Allred
and other police officials were unavailable Friday to comment on
whether an autopsy had revealed a cause of death for the boy, who
entered the group home in February. His name was not released.
The boy died of a "medical condition," Trina Packard,
executive director of the Youth Care & Pine Ridge Academy, said
in a statement issued Friday. Packard didn't specify the medical
condition or say why she was certain he died of it, and she didn't
return a message left by The Associated Press. For
more on this story, visit:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6258780?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com,
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/227377/,
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,680195295,00.html,
and
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,695192977,00.html
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.heraldextra.com
Date: June 30, 2007)
Romney,
Torture, and Teens: June 27th, 2007--When Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he’d support doubling the
size of the
prison at Guantanamo Bay, he was trying to show voters
that he’d be tough on terror. Two of his top fundraisers, however,
have long supported using tactics that have been likened to torture
for troubled teenagers. As The Hill noted
last week, 133 plaintiffs filed a civil suit
against Romney’s
Utah finance co-chair, Robert Lichfield, and his various business
entities involved in residential treatment programs for adolescents.
The umbrella group for his organization is the World Wide
Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS, sometimes known as WWASP) and Lichfield is its founder and is on its board of
directors. The suit alleges that teens were locked in outdoor dog cages, exercised to exhaustion, deprived of food and sleep, exposed to
extreme temperatures without adequate clothing or water, severely
beaten,
emotionally brutalized, and sexually abused and humiliated.
Some were even made to eat their own vomit. But the link to teen abuse goes
far higher up in the Romney
campaign. Romney’s national finance co-chair is a man named Mel Sembler. A long time friend of the Bushes, Sembler was campaign
finance chair for the Republican party during the first election of
George W. Bush, and a major fundraiser for his father. Like Lichfield, Sembler also founded a nationwide network of treatment
programs for troubled youth. Known as Straight Inc., from 1976 to
1993, it variously operated nine programs in seven states. At all of Straight’s facilities, state investigators and/or civil lawsuits documented scores of abuses including teens being beaten, deprived
of food and sleep for days, restrained by fellow youth for hours,
bound, sexually humiliated, abused and spat upon. For complete
story,
click here.
Philadelphia
teen dies at Tennessee facility for troubled youth: June 24th,
2007--PHILADELPHIA - A teenager sent to a Tennessee
facility for troubled
youth by the city's social services agency
died after a confrontation with the center's staff, prompting
Philadelphia officials to consider relocating dozens of
teens who
were sent there. Omega Leach, described by city officials as a
17-year-old whose many troubles included racing a stolen car, was
sent last
month to the Chad Youth Enhancement Center outside
Nashville. The mental health facility for troubled teens was
approved by the Philadelphia Department
of Human Services. But
Leach got into a physical confrontation with the staff on June 3 and
died the next day at a Nashville hospital. He tried to choke one
counselor, and another staffer pushed Leach facedown to the floor
and pulled his arms behind his back, police said.
Investigators are trying to find out
whether Leach was restrained
improperly, preventing him from breathing. "There's no
doubt that the kid had an attitude and probably needed to be locked
up
somewhere," Sgt. Brian Prentice, of the Montgomery County,
Tenn., Sheriff's Office told The Philadelphia Inquirer for a story
Sunday. "It doesn't mean he has
to be dead."
(Webmaster Note: How many kids have to die before these
facilities are regulated or shut down?) For complete story,
click here.
Justice
Department: Abuse remains at Ohio youth prisons: June
20th, 2007--COLUMBUS, Ohio - A crisis atmosphere continues to exist
at a state
girls' prison where a dozen guards were indicted in 2005 on charges
of sexual assault and inmate abuse, and boys at a second prison
remain at risk of excessive force, abuse and trauma, a federal
investigation concluded. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source: www.ohio.com
Date: June 20, 2007)
Lawsuits
hit a Romney money man: June 20th, 2007--Former
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has collected hundreds of
thousands of
dollars through the fundraising efforts of a supporter
targeted by several lawsuits alleging child abuse. In a
lawsuit filed in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Utah,
133 plaintiffs have alleged that Robert Lichfield, co-chairman of
Romney’s Utah finance committee owned or operated residential
boarding schools for troubled teenagers where students were
“subjected to physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual
abuse.” (George W. Bush also received much of his financing
from Lichfield and other teen torture facility leaders. And
you wonder why these programs remain unregulated and
protected? Think about it.) For complete story,
click here.
MGH
psychiatrist's work stirs debate: June 17th, 2007--...Part
of the criticism of Biederman speaks to a deeper issue in
psychiatry: the extensive
financial ties between the drug industry
and researchers. Biederman has received research funding from 15
drug companies and serves as a paid speaker or
adviser to seven of
them, including Eli Lilly & Co. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals,
which make the multi billion-dollar antipsychotic drugs Zyprexa and
Risperdal, respectively. Though not much money was earmarked for
bipolar research, critics say the resources help him advance his
aggressive drug
treatment philosophy. Numerous psychiatrists
say Riley's overdose suggests that bipolar disorder is becoming a
psychiatric fad, leaving thousands of
children on risky medications
based on symptoms such as chronic irritability and aggressiveness
that could have other causes. Riley's father, for example,
had only
recently returned to the home after being accused of child abuse,
according to police. Since the girl's death, state officials have
stepped up a review
of the 8,343 children taking the latest
antipsychotic medications under the Medicaid program for conditions
including bipolar disorder, to be sure the
treatment is
appropriate. Psychiatrists too often prescribe these
medications, which carry side effects such as weight gain and heart
disease risk, without
addressing problems in the children's lives,
said Dr. Gordon Harper, director of child and adolescent services at
the state Department of Mental Health. He
likened the approach to
"tuning the piano while the subway is going by."... For
complete story,
click here.
Taking
Time to Save Our Teens: June 15th, 2007 (July, 2007
Issue)--...What is the cause of messed-up teens? We could point the
finger at many things: our failing school systems, the entertainment
industry, the music industry, drug pushers, pornography, violent
video games or any other
modern malady. But the stark truth is that
the main cause for troubled teens is troubled parents. Too
many parents are so self-absorbed and
caught up in their own
personal crises that they can’t focus on the right rearing of
teens. To save our teens, parents must take on their God-given
responsibility to nurture, love, lead, teach and discipline their
children. Let’s face it: We have become the generation that
has
abandoned our teens. Mr. Armstrong warned about the
damaging effects of parental neglect. He wrote over 20 years ago,
“Family life has
undergone a radical
revolution! Teens have sex games at home in bed while Dad and
Mom are at work. Children do not eat with parents.
They seldom go to
movies with parents. Parents have their lives, associates and
friends apart from the children. Parents never think of
teaching
children, being with children, maintaining a family
relationship! Parental responsibility is totally neglected.
In due time parents are
going to be brought to account for this
neglect of basic responsibility” (The
Missing Dimension in Sex). Admitting responsibility for teen
neglect
is difficult for any parent. Yet it is the only means to an
effective solution for our teen crisis... For complete story,
click here.
DCFS
pulls teens from school: June 12th, 2007--ROCKFORD,
Ill. -- The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is
pulling 22 teenagers out of a Rockford residential school called The
Mill as it investigates recent incidents there -- a move that may
threaten the nonprofit facility's future. Officials at the
treatment facility for emotionally and mentally troubled youth
recently reported an allegation by one female resident that another
female resident had been having sex with a male staff member. The
staff member also allegedly gave both girls marijuana.
"Less than 24 hours later, I got a call from DCFS saying they
were going to begin to remove all of their youth from The Mill,"
said Jim Spruyt, president of facility. "It shocked me. I was
stunned." Spruyt said the state's action would force the
center's closure, putting 110 staff members out of work. For
complete story,
click here.
FDA
grants priority to test antipsychotic drug for use by teens:
June 6th, 2007--Bristol-Myers Squibb yesterday announced its
application to market Abilify for schizophrenia to teenagers was
granted priority review by the Food and Drug Administration. If
approved, it would keep Bristol-Myers in step with its competitors and
expand the market for Abilify, whose sales last year surged 41 percent
to $1.3 billion. Eli Lilly announced last month it received conditional approval to market its schizophrenia drug, Zyprexa, to
adolescents. Johnson and Johnson's application has been pending since
December to sell Risperdal, its schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
therapy, to teens. While no drugs are currently approved in the
U.S. to treat schizophrenia in adolescents, all three medicines
awaiting FDA approval, known as atypical antipsychotics, are widely
prescribed off label for teenagers, despite concerns about side effects, including weight gain and involuntary movement
syndromes. Antipsychotics rang up $18.2 billion in sales last
year, with Risperdal accounting for $4.6 billion of the total,
according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information clearinghouse in
the United Kingdom. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source: www.nj.com
Date: June 6, 2007)
Cook
County chaos: June 6th, 2007--The Cook County Juvenile Temporary
Detention Center is out of control. Children languish there like
warehoused animals, while millions of dollars are wasted on do-nothing
jobs filled by unqualified workers and patronage stooges. ... Kids
live
in filthy surroundings, with little guidance, under the
supervision of workers whose behaviors cheat the residents even more
than they cheat
Cook County taxpayers. That's how this page
described Cook County's juvenile center in August 2005. Nothing has
changed since then. In the
last two years a slew of experts has
detailed that the
facility, which houses children ages 10 to 17 who are accused of
crimes, remains plagued by filth, professional incompetence and
dangerous conditions. Children at the center face "an
alarming risk of suicide and inadequate mental
health services"
and "a climate of fear and violence," say attorneys who
represent them. Kids are beaten by staff members and other kids.
Attorneys point to "a culture of chaos and incompetence" and
"a persistent failure to provide basic necessities.
" More than four years ago, the federal court mandated a
step-by-step plan to rescue the juvenile center. Cook County leaders
agreed to that plan, but they have utterly failed
to honor the
agreement. And now things have reached a perilous state. For
complete story,
click here.
Site
recruits summer-camp predators: June 6th, 2007--Now,
get ready for this mom and dad. Make sure you prepare Jane and Jimmy
with mace and a sawed off shotgun when they leave for summer camp.
Several months ago, I received an email from retired Lt.
Col. Dave Grossman, U.S. Army, one of the nation's leading law
enforcement trainers. Lt. Col. Grossman stumbled on a massive
cache of children and "teens" enslaved by the business of
prostitution we now dub Internet pornography. He then started looking
for the government justice agency that would clean out the vipers
nests and help these youngsters."The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children line doesn't seem to be
set up for anything but reporting a single URL," he said.
"The matter is a little more complex than that." He
discovered that one site links to another (feeder) site and another to
another until finally staring up at you, here in the USA, are
thousands of very young brutally violated girls – modern sexual
slavery. I checked out Grossman's "first-level
feeders" several times and landed at an "incest" site.
The pimping incest site, however, also advertised a list of bona fide
"teenage camps." How could that be? The incest feeder
site claims to have "3,056,886 listings" of pedophiles and
pederasts who enjoy sadosexual violence, degradation, child sexual
abuse and such activities. How many of those 3 million-plus
deviants will visit or apply for work in those "teen camps"?
On the "incest" site, predators can link to a teenage
science camp and then to a teenage wilderness camp. The
"incest" site links their "community" of sexual
deviants to a camp for "troubled children" and another for
"struggling teens." Professorial pedophiles might
apply to "academic camps" or become advisers and counselors
at "teen adventure" camps on the site. Some might try the
"boot camps" or "travel camps," etc.
Clerical predators could volunteer at the Christian teen camps that
are advertised. The link is there, phone numbers, all the information
any sexual psychopath needs. For complete story,
click here.
Teacher,
Aide Accused Of Sex With Troubled Teens:
June 4th, 2007--ORANGE COUNTY—A teacher and teacher’s
aide at a New York school for troubled children have been charged with
performing sexual acts on two 16-year-old boys during a Memorial Day
weekend of sex capades at a house in New Windsor.
Rebecca Becker (left), 28,of Walden and
teacher’s aide Maria E. Zurita (right), 28, of New
Windsor who worked at McQuade Children’s Services, are facing
charges of third degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.
They have been terminated by the school which serves children who have
been referred by family court, social service agencies and school
districts from Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, Ulster
and Sullivan Counties. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.northcountrygazette.org Date: June 4, 2007)
Question
troubled teens’ treatment: June 1st, 2007--...Dr. Derele Miller,
a leading child and adolescent psychiatrist at Northwestern
University, said: “The truth is that too many people are making
money and not enough concern about the effects on children. Many
parents have forgotten to be parents.” Everybody wants two
Volvos and a suburban home. The narcissism of the ’60s has led
America to abandon limits for their
children and disregard the concept
of self-sacrifice. Americans are now searching out experts for every
kind of thing, how to manage their
children. In 1989 research at
the University of Michigan found that as many as 75 percent of
adolescent psychiatric hospitalizations are
inappropriate during a
long-term stay in a hospital...In any case, there should be a lot of
investigating before a child is placed with the services of many of
the burgeoning clinics. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
http://news.galvestondailynews.com Date: June 1, 2007)
Fat
camp 'horribly damaging': May 20th, 2007--OBESE
teenagers taking part in a new weight-loss show could be left
psychologically scarred, health experts warn.
Channel
10's Teen Fit Camp will follow the journey of six obese
Australian teenagers at an American boot camp, where food is
controlled and exercise is unavoidable. The show was titled Teen
Fat Camp, but was changed to avoid controversy. Dieticians
and psychologists say the show is exploiting overweight youngsters for
the sake of entertainment. For complete story,
click here.
Psychiatrists,
Children and Drug Industry's Role: When Anya Bailey
developed an eating disorder after her 12th birthday, her mother took
her to a psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota who prescribed a
powerful antipsychotic drug called Risperdal. Created for
schizophrenia, Risperdal is not approved to treat eating disorders,
but increased appetite is a common side effect and doctors may
prescribe drugs as they see fit. Anya gained weight but within two
=years
developed a crippling knot in her back. She now receives regular
injections of Botox to unclench her back muscles. She often awakens crying in pain. Isabella Bailey, Anya's mother, said she had no
idea that children might be especially susceptible to Risperdal's side
effects. Nor did she know that Risperdal and similar medicines were
not approved at the time to treat children, or that medical trials
often cited to justify the use of such drugs had as few as eight
children taking the drug by the end. Just as surprising, Ms.
Bailey said, was learning that the university psychiatrist who
supervised Anya's care received more than $7,000 from 2003 to 2004
from Johnson & Johnson, Risperdal's maker, in return for lectures
about one of the company's drugs. Doctors, including Anya Bailey's
maintain that payments from drug companies do not influence what they
prescribe for patients. But the intersection of money and
medicine, and its effect on the well-being of patients, has become one
of the most contentious issues in health care. Nowhere is that more
true than in psychiatry, where increasing payments to doctors have
coincided with the growing use in children of a relatively new class
of drugs known as atypical antipsychotics. These best-selling
drugs, including Risperdal, Seroquel, Zyprexa, Abilify and Geodon, are
now being prescribed to more than half a million
children in the
United States to help parents deal with behavior problems despite
profound risks and almost no approved uses for minors. For
complete story,
click here.
Electroshock
Children:
The
estimated 1 in 155 children in the U.S. said to be autistic, represent
an untapped and apparantly growing market waiting to be exploited by
the electroshock (ECT) industry. And now a first move has been made.
At least two electroshock proponents are promoting the notion that ECT
may be an effective treatment for children diagnosed as autistic.
Psychiatrists D.M. Dhossche and
S. Stanfill (Deptartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University
of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson) have recommended that
"All child specialists -- psychiatrists, neurologists,
psychologists, and developmental pediatricians -- should independently
review the feasibility, potential, and risk of using ECT in
autism." To back their recommendation, the psychiatrists wrote,
"ECT is considered as a safe, effective, and life-saving
treatment in people of all ages who suffer from affective disorder,
acute psychosis, and, in particular, catatonia. There are recent
speculations that certain types of autism may be the earliest
expression of catatonia and that both disorders have identical risk
factors. Therefore, ECT may improve autism and, if started early
enough, may prevent further development of autistic symptoms in some
children. The use of ECT in autism has never been systematically
assessed. There have been two large ECT studies in children in the 1940s. Autism was not assessed in these studies because the autistic
syndrome was just then being recognized as a separate entity. Findings
from these studies add little to the hypothesis that ECT may be
effective in autistic children, but attest to the safety and
feasibility of ECT in children.... Unless anti-ECT prejudice can be
overcome, it is unlikely that any ECT trial in autism is forthcoming.
Research areas that may support the hypothesis that ECT is effective
in autism should be pursued." ("Could ECT Be Effective in
Autism?" Medical Hypotheses, 63(3):371-6., January 2004) Dhossche and Stanfill have falsified and omitted certain key facts
about ECT. Not only is electroshock unhelpful, it is also a
memory-destroying, intelligence-lowering brain-damaging, and
life-threatening procedure that has worsened the lives of millions of
people since its introduction almost 70 years ago. For complete
story,
click here.
PAC
donations from Utah raise doubts in Maine: May 6th, 2007--At
$250,000, it was the largest private contribution of the 2006 Maine
governor's race, helping to pay for TV commercials supporting
Republican Chandler Woodcock in his bid to unseat Democratic Gov. John
Baldacci. But the money didn't come from a donor in Portland,
Lewiston or Bangor. State records show that it came from a small city
near Zion National Park in southwestern Utah, from a contributor
listed as RECAF Inc. What is RECAF Inc.? And why did it donate
$250,000 to a political action committee established in Maine by the
national Republican Governors Association? There is no sign of
any such company at the firm's listed address. But the paper trail
links RECAF to a controversial network of treatment centers for
troubled teenagers affiliated with Robert B. Lichfield, a fundraiser
for Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Among Maine
political contributions, the RECAF payment stands out. It raises
questions about the effectiveness of both Maine's Clean Elections law,
which is designed to reduce the influence of money in politics, and of
disclosure requirements, which are meant to identify donors to the
public. And it illustrates how the stream of unregulated money
through the U.S. electoral system allows out-of-state donors with no
apparent stake to have the potential to shape the outcome of Maine
elections. (Webmaster Note: The "teen help"
industry is enmeshed in politics and works to undermine democracy at
every turn. From violating the civil and human rights of
families and children...And, using brainwashing techniques to convert
children and families to their political/social/religious beliefs...To
"buying" our representatives, using wealth to quash
regulatory laws, and shutting down any attempt to effectively regulate
their abusive, torturous, and deadly industry. Bush
Administration liaisons recently applauded the abusive and torturous
methods used at Provo Canyon School and other programs affiliated with NATSAP, a shill "accreditation" agency founded and regulated
by "teen help" industry leaders. Andrea Barthwell,
associate of George W. Bush, spoke at this event stating, "While
H.R. 1738 is a bill to ‘End Institutionalized Abuse Against
Children’ and intends to improve the quality of care in therapeutic
settings serving our young people, its most recent iteration could
have caused a collapse of the system of care that your clients depend
upon." As you can see, regulation of this industry will
cause its collapse because it is nothing more than an industry of
fraud, abuse, torture, and murder. Just say "NO" to
behavior modification!) For complete story,
click here.
HISD
claims charter 'falsified records':
APRIL
28th, 2007-- An HISD charter school for at-risk teenagers
inflated its attendance by more than 200 students last year and must
now repay the extra $358,000 in state funding that it pocketed for
those students, Houston school district officials said Friday.
ALTA Academy "falsified records either by intention, improperly
trained staff or by failure to perform its due diligence,"
according to a report by the HISD inspector general's office.
Allegations levied last year by a former ALTA employee led to the
investigation. Though leaders of the southeast Houston campus
admit to some recordkeeping mistakes, they said they plan to appeal
the $358,000 repayment figure to the school board. "I am
deeply troubled and embarrassed about the allegations and subsequent
findings," said Roberto Gonzalez, manager of Houston-based School
House Management, a for-profit company that runs the school.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: April
28, 2007)
How
Free is Free Speech?: ...Over the course of time, I
discovered (Sue) Scheff referred families to the World Wide
Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP) before becoming their
competitor. I learned Sue Scheff was also responsible for placing kids
into unregulated and risky programs. I discovered Sue Scheff does not
have the education or professional credentials that qualify her to
determine if a program is safe and meets the necessary requirements to
treat at-risk teens. When I learned of Sue Scheff’s
prior affiliation with WWASP and realized Scheff was doing the same
things she accused WWASP of doing, I shared that publicly on internet
bulletin boards, specifically www.fornits.com.
Sue Scheff sued me for defamation of character. She claims that the words I used to describe her business and business associates caused
her harm. What she shares with the public is the names and terms I
used when describing her and the industry as a whole. I used terms
such as “ed con”, “fraud” etc. What she doesn’t share with
the public is why I used these terms. And the why is what this case is
all about... (Webmaster Note: Anyone or any organization
that works with PURE or CAICA, or works under the guise of helping
families while fraudulently making money off the illegal
incarceration, false imprisonment, and torture of children is a shill
for the "troubled teen" industry and should not be
trusted by the survivor community or the public.) For
complete story,
click here.
SON
OF A BITCH: THE grandfather of Cho Seung-Hui said
yesterday: "Son of a bitch. It serves him right he died with his
victims." Kim Hyang-Sik, 82, said he had a doom-laden dream
of Cho's parents the night of his murderous rampage - and woke to hear
the news of the massacre and his grandson's death. He watched Cho's sick video of himself holding a gun to his head. His
sister Kim Yang-Sun, 85, who also saw it, told the Mirror that
afterwards her brother was so distraught he had "gone away for a
few days to calm himself down and avoid more questions".
She too repeatedly referred to the killer as "son of a
bitch" or "a***hole" and said his mother Kim Hyang-Yim
had problems with him from infancy. (Webmaster Note: See
how cruel, demeaning, and hateful families create disturbed
children. See how they take no responsibility for their hateful
and cruel ways and blame the innocent child. See how they send
him to involuntary behavior modification treatment. See how
cruel families and institutionalization creates a mass murderer.
Now, how many are responsible for the massacre?) For complete
story,
click here.
2
Juvenile Justice Employees Fired After Teen Is Choked, Thrown:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. --
Two Department of Juvenile Justice
employees will be fired after an ongoing investigation revealed the
use of inappropriate force that knocked an 18-year-old resident
unconscious at a Marianna facility, department Secretary Walt McNeil
said Friday. The investigation into the incident has made it
clear that the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys has widespread
deficiencies, McNeil said. The department has made management changes
and hired an independent consulting firm to oversee the facility,
which is a high-risk residence currently housing 162 boys from 14 to
21 years of age. "We recognize that there are systemic
operational problems at our Dozier facility that span the chain of
command from top to bottom," McNeil said. "It is clear that
we have to act decisively to change the culture of our Dozier
facility." On Feb. 11, resident Justin Caldwell was choked
and thrown to the floor by Alvin Speights, a residential officer at
the Dozier school, McNeil said. On the way down, Caldwell hit his head
on a table and was knocked unconscious. For complete story,
click here.
Child
Psychiatrist Accused of Molesting:
SAN MATEO, Calif. -- A child
psychiatrist who once headed the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry was
arrested amid allegations he had molested male patients dating back to
the 1960s. Dr. William Ayres, 75, was taken into custody
Thursday at his San Mateo home and
charged with 14 felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child
under 14. The charges involve multiple victims, but authorities
declined to say how many. The arrest
followed a four-year investigation. Ayres, a prominent
psychiatrist who retired last year, had been honored in 2002 by the
San Mateo board of supervisors with a lifetime
achievement award for "his tireless effort to improve the lives
of children and adolescents." He also served as president
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry from 1993 to 1995. "The real tragedy here is
that parents entrusted their children to this doctor for help, and
they were victimized while in his care," San
Mateo police Capt. Mike Callagy said. "That's so tragic."
(Webmaster Note: And, tragically, NOT uncommon) (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.chicagotribune.com
Date: April 6, 2007)
At
Some Youth 'Treatment' Facilities, 'Tough Love' Takes Brutal Forms:
If this was therapy, it sure didn't feel
like it. From September to January, Claire Kent spent
her days digging up tree stumps from a barren field, her mind and body
battered by the elements. The work was part of her
"treatment" for the drinking and sex that had
landed her at a boarding school for "troubled teens."
In the Montana woods, Kent and a couple dozen other adolescent girls
had been committed by their families to a
disciplinary program that included chopping wood, exercising to the
point of physical breakdown, and being regularly bullied and insulted
by "counselors" all in the name
of what the private treatment industry calls "emotional
growth." "It was just based on, 'How badly can I scare
you?'," said Kent, now in her late twenties and still suffering
from anxiety that she attributes to her experience. During her
two-year stay, she said, "they gave me the reality that life was
just completely unfair and was going to
keep being that way." The facility where Kent was held, the
Mission Mountain School, is still in business today. Though staff
declined repeated requests for comment, the
recent explosion of hundreds of other so-called "private residential treatment facilities" speaks to the growing
popularity of the "tough love" approach to
"reforming" youth.
Behavioral health experts estimate that the industry deals with
roughly 10,000 to 14,000 children and teens, charging typical tuition
rates of tens of thousands of dollars
per year. The patrons are anxious parents hoping for a solution to
issues ranging from attention deficit disorder to drug abuse. Worth
approximately $1 billion, emotional
growth programs thrive on the promise of turning "bad" kids
"good." ALSO see: Behavior
Modification Money Trail: Government connections
enable "teen
help" industry to thwart regulation...Growing alongside the teen
"help" industry is the political and legal backlas h against
tactics that some view as cruel and bizarre. In
recent years, several facilities have closed following abuse
investigations. Activists are also promoting the End Institutionalized
Abuse Against Children Act, which would
fund state and local monitoring of treatment facilities, along with
the Keeping Families Together Act, which would enhance access to
community-based behavioral healthcare.
Yet youth advocates and former program participants caution that
legislative action would merely dent the complex culture surrounding
institutions that aim to
"fix" youth...Advocates calling for tighter regulation of
residential facilities say that some programs bank on desperation and
lure parents with deceptive advertising. Critics
of the industry say consultants and recruiters market programs to
families by rapidly "diagnosing" serious emotional problems
in children and sometimes offering help
in securing a fast tuition loan. Meanwhile, parents are left unaware
that the program is not clinically licensed, or lacks an adequate
trained staff. Nicki Bush, a psychology
graduate student who interned at a rural residential treatment facility, said administrators convinced parents to sink their savings
into behavioral treatment that their
children supposedly needed. While many children did have serious
psychological disorders, she observed it was not uncommon for kids to
end up at the facility "because
they were having sex with some 20-year-old guy, and [the parents]
found a joint, or something like that." Cristine Gomez, one
of the plaintiffs in the WWASPS lawsuit,
said aggressive marketing persuaded her to send her son, who was
having trouble in school and suffering from attention deficit
disorder, first to Spring Creek Lodge
and eventually to Tranquility Bay. She told TNS, "I took
for granted that they were licensed and regulated. I assumed that
somebody was keeping track of basic indications
of the safety of the children." In the end, troubling
letters describing the conditions in the Jamaica facility compelled
her to bring her son home. Four years later, she
said he suffers from deep psychological trauma and refuses to speak
openly about the experience. Calling the decision to send her son away
"the biggest mistake I ever
made in my life," Gomez said, "It's just the opposite of
what our intent was, what we were sold."..Mental health advocacy
groups say that in order to prevent mistreatment,
the government must hold private treatment facilities to some
clinically based standard of care. As an initial step, they are
pushing the End Institutionalized Abuse
Against Children bill, which would provide seed money to develop
state-level regulations. While some service providers, including WWASPS, have publicly supported
moderate state-based regulation, the industry group National
Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs has contended that
bureaucratic monitoring could
hinder innovation, and that the government should defer to the
industry's own internally developed guidelines. But Robert
Friedman, chair of the Department of Child
and Family Studies at the University of South Florida, warned that
given the evidence of mistreatment, "there's a danger that if
left to self-regulate there may be the illusion
that there's adequate accountability. And that, in some cases, could
be worse than at least not having any illusion."...But enhancing
treatment options is only part of
the picture, according to Shelby Earnshaw, who underwent a behavior
modification program as a teen and now directs the advocacy
association International
Survivors Action Committee. What fuels
the private treatment industry, she argued, is a societal willingness
to stigmatize youth with behavioral problems. For complete
story,
click here.
Every
child to be screened for risk of turning criminal under Blair justice
plan:
A
new-style "11-plus" to assess the risk every child in
Britain runs of turning to crime
was among a battery of proposals unveiled in Tony Blair's crime plan
yesterday. The children of prisoners, problem drug users and
others at high risk of offending will
also face being "actively managed" by social services and
youth justice workers.* New technologies are to be used to boost
police detection rates while DNA samples
are to be taken from any crime suspect who comes into contact with the
police. The "early intervention" approach is part of a
package of proposals on security, crime
and justice produced by Downing Street which underline the scale of
criminal justice reform Mr Blair believes is still needed despite
passing 53 law and order bills since
he came to power in 1997. The shadow home secretary, David
Davis, focused his criticism on the extension of the DNA database to
any crime suspect and the early
intervention plans for children. He described the proposal to assess
every child for risk of offending as the "nanny state gone
mad" while he said the Conservatives would
have "great and grave concerns" about any extension of the
DNA database. For complete story,
click here.
The
great ADHD myth:
The
psychiatrist who identified attention deficit disorder - the condition
blamed for the bad behaviour of hundreds of thousands of children -
has admitted
that many may not really be ill. Dr Robert Spitzer said that up
to 30 per cent of youngsters classified as suffering from disruptive
and hyperactive conditions could have
been misdiagnosed. They may simply be showing perfectly normal signs
of being happy or sad, he said. 'Many of these conditions might
be normal reactions which are
not really disorders,' he continued. Dr Spitzer developed the
bible of mental disorder classification in the 1970s and 1980s, which
identified dozens of new conditions including
ADD and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Since then hundreds of
thousands of children have been diagnosed with ADD, a behavioural
disorder linked to poor attention
span, and ADHD, which adds an element of hyperactivity. The disorders describe disruptive and restless behaviour that results in children
having difficulty focusing their
attention on specific tasks. ADHD is most commonly noticed at the age
of five, and as many as one in 30 British children is said to have it.
It is often treated with drugs,
with Ritalin being the most commonly prescribed. Some scientists
say ADHD is a genetic disorder that does not disappear with adulthood.
But sceptics believe the diagnosis
is a 'biobabble' label, which has evolved from a soundbite culture
that is too prepared to medicalise anti-social human traits. Dr
Spitzer, professor of psychiatry at Columbia
University in New York, now says the classification led to many people
being diagnosed as medically disordered when their mood swings and behaviour were simply
normal feelings of happiness and sadness. For complete story,
click here.
TYC
Abuse Scandal Continues To Unravel: The Texas Youth
Commission abuse scandal could have been going on for years in
secrecy. Dr. Ben Raimer heads UTMB's program
to provide medical care to kids in the TYC and brought attention to
unusual fractures in TYC inmates three years ago. "We saw a trend
and were told corrective action
was being taken." The UTMB's findings have been published in a
medical journal and turned over to the Inspector General investigating
the case. The first top official to
be arrested is Jerome Parsee, Superintendent of the intake facility in
Marlin. He is accused of lying to a Texas Ranger about activity in his
facility. There are more than 1000
active investigations underway into abuses of TYC kids by prison
guards, including over 200 cases of sexual abuse. For
complete story,
click here.
Girl's
Overdose Death Raises Questions:
HULL, Mass.
(AP) - In the final months of Rebecca Riley's life, a school nurse
said the little girl was so weak she was like a
"floppy
doll." The preschool principal had to help Rebecca off the bus
because the 4-year-old was shaking so badly. And a pharmacist
complained that Rebecca's mother kept
coming up with excuses for why her daughter needed more and more
medication. None of their concerns was enough to save Rebecca.
Rebecca - who had been diagnosed
with attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorder, or what
used to be called manic depression - died Dec. 13 of an overdose of
prescribed drugs, and her parents
have been arrested on murder charges, accused of intentionally
overmedicating their daughter to keep her quiet and out of their hair.
(Webmaster Note: See www.ablechild.org
for alternatives and opposition to ADD/ADHD/ODD diagnoses and
medications.) For complete story,
click here.
ADHD
drug use for youth obesity raises ethical questions:
...Several pediatricians
contacted by CNN say they suspect other pediatricians are prescribing
ADHD medications
off label for weight loss. "No one admits it," says Dr. John
Lantos, professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago.
"It's morally and medically questionable, so
I don't think anyone's proud of doing this." The Food and
Drug Administration warns that some patients on ADHD drugs with
pre-existing heart problems have suffered sudden
death. The agency also warns that some on Adderall develop psychiatric
problems, such as hearing voices and becoming manic. Pediatricians
like Lantos say it's wrong
to prescribe Adderall for weight loss when risks are known and the
benefits are questionable. The drug has never been studied for weight
loss, so they suggest that Ziai's
success stories may be anecdotal. "Doctors who prescribe this could end up killing kids by giving them a medication that doesn't
work for the reason they're prescribing,"
Lantos says. (Webmaster Note: Parents and pediatricians
put kids on amphetamines as "treatment" for quack diseases
of ADD/ADHD (see
www.ablechild.org), yet, punish
their children for using amphetamines recreationally... Hmmmm...
Hypocrisy? Are parents and doctors creating lifelong
addictions through
pharmaceuticals as opposed to
environmental/social/psychological/nutritional solutions? Let's
stop introducing kids to addictive substances and creating confusion...
Okay?) For complete story,
click here.
Teen
terror? British society confronts its fear of the young:
...The government has its own lexicon
for dealing with troubled teens, from NEETS - young
people "not
in employment, education or training" - to ASBOs, or
"anti-social behavior orders," used to control the
wayward... With such an attitude, children's advocates say, it's
no
surprise
Britain placed last in a recent UNICEF survey of children's well-being
in 21 developed countries. A British think tank has a catchy
term for it: pedophobia. "There has
always been a culture in Britain that's a bit anti-children,"
said Julia Margo, one of the authors of a report on British youth for
the Institute for Public Policy Research, a center-left
think tank. "In the newspaper letters pages, you see constant
debates about noisy children on trains." "There are
(also) a great number of children on the streets without
anything to do," she said. "This is what's contributing to
pedophobia." The institute's research found that British
adults, more than those in other European countries, view
teenagers as a menace. Britons were much less likely to intervene than
those in other countries if they saw teens vandalizing a bus shelter -
34 percent said they would
try to stop it, compared with 65 percent of Germans and 52 percent of
Spaniards. Surprisingly, many kids share that view. It turns out
that they're afraid of each other.
The group of hoodie-wearing skateboarders honing their skills on the
concrete steps and sidewalks of London's financial district may appear
just the type to annoy their elders... The UNICEF report, released in February, said
Britain's young people were the unhappiest in the developed world.
While Britain sat in the middle of the table for
health and safety, it came second from bottom - just above the United
States - for child poverty, and last in "family and peer
relationships," which measured indicators such
as single-parent families and time spent with friends and family.
In the UNICEF study, only 40 percent of British respondents said they
found their peers "kind and helpful,"
compared with more than 80 percent in Switzerland. British youth
scored on top for risky behavior such as drinking, drug use and sex.
Almost a third of 11- to 15-year-olds
reported having been drunk twice or more, the highest level of any
country surveyed. The report claimed a country's wealth was not
a sufficient guarantee of happy
children, saying there is "no strong or consistent relationship
between per capita GDP and child well-being." Britain's
poor performance may be one of the downsides of
the country's embrace of American-style free-market competition - a
move that has unleashed enormous economic energy since the 1980s, but
widened inequalities and left
many without a safety net. The countries that scored highest -
the Netherlands and the Nordic countries of Sweden, Denmark and
Finland - displayed relatively low poverty
rates with supportive networks of family and friends and low levels of
risky behavior by teens. (Webmaster Note: So, basically, a
sick over-capitalistic society that puts
profit over people creates unhappy, unhealthy, and therefore
"troubled" children and families. Let's keep that in
mind and stop the "pedophobia" and scapegoating of society's
ills onto those most powerless to change things, our children.
See "Reclaiming Our Children" by Dr. Peter Breggin for
solutions.) (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.azcentral.com
Date: March 20, 2007)
Abuse
trial ends deadlocked:
A
Charlottesville jury deadlocked Monday on the question of whether a
former mental health specialist at Whisper Ridge
sexually abused
two
girls receiving treatment at the facility for troubled teens.
After three and a half hours of deliberation, the 10-woman, two-man
panel revealed it was hopelessly deadlocked
in the case of Bryan Antwann Vaughan, one of five former Whisper Ridge
employees charged with misconduct. Vaughan, 32, faces 10 years
in prison if he’s convicted
on two counts of custodial sex abuse in December 2005 and January
2006. Prosecutors will seek to try Vaughan again for the
charges, according to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Elizabeth
Killeen. Vaughan’s was the first of five cases stemming from
allegations of abuse at Whisper Ridge, a facility that had
previously changed
names but remains plagued by allegations of misconduct in recent
years. Formerly known as the Brown Schools, Whisper Ridge is a
60-bed facility on Arlington Boulevard
that provides psychiatric care for 13- to 17-year-olds suffering from
mental health or drug abuse problems. (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.dailyprogress.com
Date: March, 2007)
Ivy
Ridge students run away:
Police
went door to door, even buggy to buggy, looking for the missing boys.
"If you see them, let someone know," a trooper
said.
Early Monday
morning, four students ran free from the Academy at Ivy Ridge, a
school for troubled teens. Tom Nichols, Academy at Ivy Ridge
Spokesperson, said, "These individuals
forced their way out of the building and the dorm parents tried to
stop them and there were just a few individuals who managed to get
outside the building." (Webmaster
Note: Run boys run!) (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
http://news10now.com Date: March 19, 2007)
Ex-employees
question safety for troubled teens at rehab facility:
PHOENIX A lockdown rehabilitation
facility for troubled teens in north Chandler is
under fire from former
employees who claim the place is plagued by violence, poor management
and lax care. Several say they are in talks with child advocates
at the Arizona Center for Disability
Law and are seeking legal action against the facility. Also
named is the facility's operator, Austin, Texas-based Youth and Family
Centered Services. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: http://kvoa.com Date:
March 17, 2007)
Area
teen learns tough lesson through door-to-door sales:
Pope spent six months in an industry
under growing scrutiny for allegations that its young
sales people are
encouraged to spin stories to meet quotas and are either induced or
coerced to stay on the job by easy access to drugs, limited access to
their paychecks and mental and even
physical abuse from managers. Earlene Williams, whose
organization Parent Watch Inc. filed a racketeering lawsuit against
the door-to-door magazine sales industry in
1982, says she has been trying for 25 years to get Congress to end the
industry's exemption from labor practices laws. For complete
story,
click here.
High-powered
therapy targets troubled teens, families
: ...Unlike detention centers, boot camps or some other youth
programs, multi-systemic therapy
doesn't isolate the
teens. Rather, it deals with them in their own environment.
Therapists visit the juvenile's family, relatives, neighborhood and
school several
times a week, keeping the youths
away from undesirable peers and making sure they stay in school. The
therapists also help the parents set rules. It's a
tough job
that puts them on call 24 hours a day.
Sometimes they respond in the middle of the night, often in unsafe
neighborhoods. In about 60 percent of
cases, officials say, a
single parent is raising several children while
overburdened with two or three jobs, leaving little time or energy to
deal with a difficult
teen. "A lot of these children do not
have good relationships with their parents," said
Linda Baker, who supervises the four therapists in the Bergen County
programs... (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.northjersey.com
Date: March 14, 2007)
ACLU
lawsuits seek release of kids from immigrant detention center:
The American Civil Liberties Union said
today that it has filed lawsuits on behalf
of 10 immigrant children,
challenging their detention at the T. Don Hutto Family Residential
Facility, an immigrant detention center in Taylor. The lawsuits filed in federal district court in Austin
charge that the children are being held under inhumane and prison-like
conditions while their parents await immigration
decisions. They name
U.S. Department of Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and five officials with U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "There is simply no
justification for imprisoning innocent children
who pose no threat to anyone," Vanita Guptaan ACLU lawyer, said
at a press conference in Austin. "This is an affront to our core
values as a nation. We need practical,
realistic immigration policy, not draconian methods that are harming
vulnerable
kids." (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source www.statesman.com
Date: March 7, 2007)
Police
investigate claims of sexual abuse at 22 Texas youth prisons:
AUSTIN, Texas — Police were
sent to 22 Texas Youth Commission facilities and
the agency
headquarters Tuesday to investigate claims that young inmates were
sexually abused and that agency officials covered it up. Jay
Kimbrough, appointed by the governor to look
into the allegations at a West Texas youth prison, said the officers
would conduct interviews at the prisons and halfway houses, secure
equipment and collect documents
if necessary. He also issued a warning to agency employees.
"If you are part of this gig, you need to move on or we're going
to find you and prosecute you," Kimbrough
said. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.usatoday.com Date: March
6, 2007)
Claims
about 'orphans' key in shady adoptions:
...Federal authorities say the FOC scam
involved more than 80 children - eight to 10 of whom were placed in
Utah - and began
no later than March 2002 and operated until June 2005. The birth
parents believed the youngsters were being temporarily placed in U.S.
homes and would return when they
reached adulthood, according to the indictment. Instead, FOC placed
the children permanently with U.S. parents, the indictment says. Facing federal charges are Scott
and Karen Banks, of Wellsville; Dan Wakefield, of Utah; Tagaloa Ieti,
of Samoa; Julie Tuiletufuga, of Samoa; Coleen Bartlett of Evanston,
Wyo.; and Karalee Thornock, of Tooele...The defendants are charged with conspiracy, immigration
violations - including visa fraud - and money laundering. The maximum
prison terms for the offenses range
from five years to 20 years. Wakefield, who for years lived in Samoa,
will have an initial appearance Monday at 9:30 a.m. in U.S. Magistrate
Judge Sam Alba's courtroom.
FOC charged adoption fees of $13,000 for one child and $20,000 for
two. In addition, adoptive parents had to pay other expenses,
including the cost of traveling to
New Zealand to file immigration forms at the U.S. consulate there.
The agency reportedly persuaded Samoan parents to turn over their
children to FOC, offering money, food
and other "humanitarian assistance" and promises the
children would be educated abroad and later returned home. The
agency also allegedly claimed to be affiliated with
the U.S. government or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, the indictment said...At least one of those charged has ties
to another troubled venture. Wakefield
was a partner in New Hope Academy, a residential treatment facility
set up in Apia, Samoa, in mid-1998. It closed just months later,
stranding five teens. Wakefield
blamed the failure of New Hope Academy on a consultant it hired, Steve
Cartisano, who left Utah after a teen died in a wilderness therapy
program he founded. The
indictment alleges Wakefield lied to Samoans and adoptive parents
about the circumstances surrounding the adoptions, the conditions in
which the children lived and why
their birth parents would relinquish them. Allegedly, he and other
recruiters also actively solicited and pressured Samoan parents to
give their children up for adoption... (Unable to locate
complete story at time of archiving. Source:
www.sltrib.com Date: March 3,
2007)
O'Malley
criticizes juvenile officials: Gov.
Martin O'Malley sharply criticized juvenile authorities yesterday for
failing to respond to a school nurse's formal complaint last year
about mistreatment of youths at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School,
where a Baltimore teenager later died. "It's just
unacceptable that a health professional would notify
authorities there were problems and they didn't follow up,"
O'Malley said...The Sun reported yesterday that Bowling Brook's nurse
notified the state Department of Juvenile
Services in August that a youth had been badly bruised and scraped
while being restrained by staff members. Five months later,
17-year-old Isaiah Simmons of East
Baltimore died after being similarly restrained at the privately run
residential program for juvenile offenders. Bowling Brook
officials responded to the publication of nurse Janis
Miller's complaint by imposing a gag order on the school's employees,
threatening to fire any who speak to the press...Nancy Forster, the
state's chief public defender, urged
Bowling Brook employees to speak candidly to police and investigators,
even if workers choose to abide by the gag order. "Whether
or not employees of Bowling Brook
speak to the press is inconsequential,
" Forster said. "What is important is that those employees
feel free to ... cooperate fully with those investigating Isaiah's
death and
the reported mistreatment of other children there." For
complete story,
click here.
Three
Teens Arrested for Rape at School for Troubled Kids:
MOUNT
PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) -- Staffers at a school for the
emotionally disturbed conducted their own investigation of a
13-year-old girl's rape and even tried to collect evidence before
reporting the attack, a police chief said Tuesday. "I'm not
certain it's criminal but it's certainly not
advisable,'' said Mount Pleasant police Chief Louis Alagno. "They
should be calling, notifying the police and calling in the
professionals.'' He said the school delayed calling
police for nearly four hours after the Monday night attack at the
Hawthorne-Cedar Knolls School in Hawthorne, about 25 miles north of
New York City. Three teenage boys
were arrested and charged as adults. For complete story,
click here.
Committee
looks into sex abuse claims at youth prison:
AUSTIN — Allegations that troubled youths at a West Texas juvenile
prison were sexually preyed on by
staff members despite repeated warnings to supervisors are "the
tip of the iceberg" in a system where "wrongdoing is
becoming the norm," a state senator
said Monday. Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen,
said his office has received 90 allegations of Texas Youth Commission
staff members sexually assaulting juvenile offenders since 2000, with
only a few instances of disciplinary action taken. "This is
a problem all over the state," said Hinojosa, vice chairman
of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, which today will hear
testimony on the sex abuse allegations in the state-run facilities.
For complete story,
click here.
Chinese
clinic treats teen internet addicts with hypnosis, shock therapy:
According
to the Post, one clinic in the Beijing suburb of Daxing keeps some of
its 12
to 17-year-old patients locked in rooms with barred windows for most
of the day, treating them with a combination of counseling,
medication, and military-style
discipline. While some residents clearly have no need for such a
facility -- one young man who only surfed four to five hours a week
said he came
to Daxing to "get away from my parents" -- there do seem to
be more
hardcore
cases of lonely individuals spending all their free time online at
the expense
of their careers and social lives. At the Daxing clinic, these
troubled teens whose "souls are gone to the online world"
are housed together on the third
floor of the building, where they are subjected to hypnosis and even
mild shock therapy in an attempt to rid them of their love of surfing.
It's not really clear
from the article what the success rate is for veterans of the clinic,
but we imagine many of them find the conditions so distasteful that
they swear off technology
altogether simply for fear of being sent back. (Webmaster Note:
It's happening in the U.S. too! Manchurian Candidate, try
Manchurian World!) For complete story,
click here.
Davenport
boot camp scrutinized for resident treatment:
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) --
A boot camp for delinquent boys is under scrutiny after a state
investigation showed
its juveniles often went hungry, were subjected to corporal punishment
and were sometimes denied timely access to the bathroom.
SUMMIT's troubles come five years
after former director John Bolsinger was charged with molesting
teenage boys under his watch. He was convicted and is serving a prison
sentence scheduled to end in 2012.
The camp's latest problems were documented in a state
report based on interviews and an onsite inspection last month.
For complete story,
click here.
Troubled
indeed: In
his State of the State speech, Gov. Martin O'Malley reserved just two
words for Maryland's juvenile justice system - "deeply
troubled" - and the governor
isn't usually a man of few words. The juvenile offenders in state
custody deserve more than a mention, especially after the questionable
death Jan. 23 of a 17-year-old
boy at the private facility in which the state had placed him. The
state's juvenile services system isn't only deeply troubled, it's
dysfunctional, understaffed, overwhelmed,
inefficient, poorly funded, ill-equipped and, most alarming,
impervious to change. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.baltimoresun.com February 4, 2004)
Sex
Allegations Prompt Methodist Youth Home to Move Teens:
VERSAILLES, Ky. (AP) - Officials said a
central Kentucky church-affiliated home for troubled youth has
moved more than 30 teenagers to other facilities after accusations
that a worker had sex with a girl in the home's care. The Rev.
Alex Carmichel said the incident between
a male employee and the teenage girl led to the firing of that
employee as well as another employee who did not immediately report
"indicators" that something had happened. Carmichel is
the president of the Kentucky United Methodist Homes for Children
& Youth in Versailles. Janis Stewart, spokesman for the
state Cabinet for Health and
Family Services, confirmed that the state Inspector General is
investigating the home. For complete story,
click here.
Boot
camp ordered to pay Seymour men $900G:
A Mississippi military boot camp has
been ordered to pay $900,000 in a case involving a Seymour man who
said he was
tortured at the camp. Joseph Peter Paolillo and his son, Joseph
Gabriel Paolillo, 25, sued the Bethel Baptist Church boot camp of
Lucedale, Miss., in 2002 claiming the
younger Paolillo was tortured while at the boot camp in 1998.
The claim states Paolillo was denied medical treatment for two weeks
for a broken bone that was protruding
through his flesh. While injured, Paolillo was beaten, rolled
through the dirt and interrogated until he could not remember who he
was, the claim states. During Paolillo’s
time at Bethel, the claim states his Italian heritage and sexuality
were repeatedly insulted, and that school leaders encouraged the
abusive behavior. School leaders
owned a pit bull trained to attack students by biting them in their
crotch area, the claim states, if they could not outrun the dog. The
dog was also allowed to urinate and
defecate in the student barracks, the claim states. For complete
story,
click here.
Youth
restraint challenged: The
head of a Maryland association of juvenile programs said yesterday it
would be "indefensible" for staff to sit on a struggling
youth for three hours
to restrain him - something at least four youths have told their
lawyers happened last week in the death of a teenage boy at Bowling
Brook Preparatory School. But Jim
McComb, executive director of the Maryland Association of Resources
for Family and Youth, said it isn't clear that such behavior by staff
at Bowling Brook - a private residential
program for juvenile offenders - would have violated state law.
"We have regulations that prescribe what is doable and not doable
in every private and public school, and
in treatment centers for children with mental and emotional problems.
But we don't have anything comparable for children's residential
programs," McComb said. The death
of Isaiah Simmons, 17, after being restrained by staff at Bowling
Brook has raised questions about state law governing privately run
facilities, the training required of their
staff and the way the state monitors and regulates such programs. The
Carroll County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death.
For complete story,
click here.
Staff
Thought Teen Was Faking In Prep School Death:
WJZ/AP) KEYMAR, Md. Staff
at a private residential school for juvenile offenders where a
17-year-old Baltimore youth
lost consciousness and died after being restrained, initially believed
he was pretending to be asleep, according to the school's report to
the Maryland Department of Juvenile
Services. As WJZ's Mike Hellgren reports, Isaiah Simmons was
pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital Center last week after staff at
Bowling Brook Preparatory School,
about 40 miles northwest of Baltimore, placed him in prolonged
physical restraint confrontation with staff. The death is being
investigated by the Carroll County's sheriff's
department amid allegations from some witnesses that staff restrained
Simmons inappropriately. (Webmaster Note: Just one of
hundreds of deaths in this industry. When
will the excuse "we thought he was faking" be revealed for
what it is? A rationalization for murder.) (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
http://wjz.com Date: January 23, 2007)
The
REAL School?: Brian
was so doped up on something that he could not keep his head up. He
slumped over the desktop. The bottom line was that he had taken
too many
Valium before coming to the REAL School. "REAL" equals
"Regional Educational Alternative Learning" and the building
is located in South Windham, ME. That’s where
I tried to teach. The school’s director phoned Brian’s
mother at her work. That meant she had to take time off, drive to the
school, and somehow get her son to slosh himself
into her car for a ride home. Was this the first time she had been
called at her work about her son? No. Of course if Brian had
been in his clear head, I had no teaching
materials by which to see through another day at this alternative
learning school. It was alternative learning all right. It was so
alternative that it fell off the charts. As
teaching staff, we had a shared stapler, some chalk, erasers, no
textbooks, no teachers’ manuals, no supportive supplies, a meager
stash of lined paper, pencils and pens.
There were a few cast off computers that tried to work. No
wonder the Superintendent of Schools praised the director for being
the most outstanding alternative learning
head in the state. That was even printed in the local newspaper. After
all, he kept below budget. There was rarely a visit from anyone
close to the Superintendent’s office.
We basically were left to warehouse these troubled teens on our own.
If one of the bureaucrats came into the school, it was a swift in and
out. I would see the car drive
up to the building, a well-dressed individual disembark, and then
climb the stumps for stairs. (The school was a very old brick building
buried in a residential neighborhood).
Then that educator would click heels down the hallway, disappear into
the director’s office, and in short order reappear for exiting.
When I was hired at that school,
I actually felt that I could make a difference in teen lives. So I
gave it my all. It takes some time for naivete to strip away until
there is nothing left but bald, needling facts.
With that, I trudged on. Because there were no teaching
supplies, I went to the shopping mall where homeschoolers bought their
materials. I purchased the paperback
math, English and spelling texts. Then I duplicated the pages on the
school’s copy machine to use as handouts to pupils. That’s how I
managed to get through lessons.
When I presented the receipt for the purchases to the director’s
secretary, she looked up with a scowl to ask if I really needed to
spend that much. The amount was
less than fifteen dollars. The director was an Australian. He
sported quite the charming accent as well as packaged his own brand of
vulgarity. Somehow his potty mouth
did not seem to turn off the Superintendent’s office. With such
charisma, he managed to hoodwink the officialdom, slip far below
budget, and thereby hoist the teaching
burden sans materials onto frazzled teachers. When I asked him
one day how I could teach with nothing to teach with, director
responded by saying that that was what
made the alternative learning school so marvelously different from
other schools. We were left with our own unique creative skills, our
sparkly imaginations by which we could
manufacture our own curricula. So it was that teachers daily
bent their brain cells in attempts to create something from nothing.
Most of the time it did not work. That’s
why the police cruisers drove up to the school several times a week.
When desks flew across rooms, doors were punched through and teachers
were told to go to hell,
there were occasions when the cops had to be called in. Yet this
was the REAL School. There was no other school quite like it. We were
the example for other schools
to follow. The director reminded us that we were a model showcase.
That’s when I drove out to Pineland estates to investigate their
Collaborate School, another term
for alternative learning. The director took me on a tour. There I
noted rooms laden with supplies, teachers smiling as they went about
their daily routines, nary a sound from
the students, and well-lighted rooms, carpeted floors and a staff
kitchen. The student population was composed of the same troubled
sorts as those enrolled at the REAL
School. We had a kitchen at the REAL School. The problem was
that its sink was crudded over with mold. Dirty trays lined the
counter tops. Pots and pans were left
to clean themselves. Fill in the blanks. After three-plus years
on the job, I appealed to the teachers’ union. I was told that my
union representative would go to bat for me.
In short, she did nothing of the sort. Nothing but stall. I provided
her with copious detail as to what was actually going on at the
school. She rarely responded to my appeals.
Keeping hope alive, I believed that when it came down to the final
push, she would be there to hold me up. Not. As finally the
message was coming through loudly and
clearly that I was standing alone in the middle of a dark warehouse
for messed up adolescents, I prepared my voluminous copy for the
governor’s desk. Then I mailed it to
his office, telling no one. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.theconservativevoice.com Date: January, 2007)
Pregnant
Girls Attack Group Home Director, Escape:
Three pregnant teens living in a group
home in Utah
whacked the director in the head with a frying pan, tied her up and
fled in a minivan, police said. According to a report by CBS
affiliate KUTV-TV in Salt
Lake City, the girls, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, are from
California, Texas and
Illinois. Police believe they left the state after restraining the
director with power cords Tuesday and tying up another pregnant teen.
The director "was able to break free and
then she went up and untied the 17-year-old female and then they
contacted the police," American
Fork police Sgt. Shauna Greening said. New Hope, a
privately owned
maternity home in Utah
County, is a place for struggling pregnant teens, 30 miles south
of Salt Lake City. Girls attend school in the area and are
taught prenatal care,
child birth, adoption and parenting skills. A call to a phone number
listed for New Hope went unanswered Thursday. But the owner,
Spencer Moody, tearfully told a Salt
Lake City TV station that he would close the rural home. He said about
two dozen girls had given birth after living at New Hope.
(Webmaster Note: Rumor has it that the
directors of New Hope are affiliated with WWASP. WWASP is
notorious for torturing children. No wonder these girls felt
desperate to escape.) (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.topix.net Date: January 19th, 2007)
Troubled
times at youth facility: The
Berkshire Farm residential center for troubled teens is under
investigation by the attorney general's office as former staffers and
at least
one former resident claim the institution continues to be plagued by
sporadic violence and, some say, poor supervision of the residents
there. Among the problems: One
youngster's parents went days before they were told he had tried to
commit suicide. In another
instance, a grandmother didn't learn for months that her grandson
had run
away from the facility. "I was worried sick. I thought
maybe he was dead," said Elaine Fiske. Located in rural
Canaan, Columbia County, Berkshire Farm has long been known
as a progressive facility for young men aged 12 to 17 who have been
sent there by family courts across the state. The farm includes
residential and educational programs.
Some of the clients are juvenile
delinquents; some suffer emotional disturbances or were chronically
truant. Others may come from unstable families. Approximately
150 youngsters live there, although there have been as many as 250.
The farm made headlines in 2005 when the board of directors said it
had hired a former federal
prosecutor, Zachary Carter, to investigate allegations of drug dealing
and sexual abuse at the center. (Unable to locate story at time
of archiving. Source:
http://timesunion.com Date: January 21, 2007)
|
Straight
to Pathway--Teen
drug program has troubled roots: VALPARAISO
| Rose Gagen said she was appealing to the court of last resort
when she had her daughter arrested on drug charges so she could
get court-ordered therapy for the troubled teen. Nine
months and a lawsuit later, Gagen said she and her daughter,
Nicky Lanpher, now 19, both suffer post-traumatic stress
symptoms from their experiences in the Pathway Family Center
teen drug treatment program in Indianapolis... "We were
horrified to hear Pathway is perpetuating its terror tactics on
teens in Valparaiso," Maia Szalavitz said, when she heard
about the momentum for a Valparaiso Pathway Family Center.
For complete story,
click here.
|
Randall
Hinton Arrested: Randall
Hinton, who has long history of working with troubled youth, was
arrested last night. In a telephone interview with Jeff Worley,
an Investigator with the Canon City Police Department in Canon City,
CO, ... learned a search was done on the premises of Royal Gorge
Academy, formerly
Royal Peak Academy. According to Officer Worley, a vast majority of
the students were interviewed. Officer Worley also stated that,
“Hinton was arrested
on charges of false imprisonment, which is a felony because it was
accomplished with the use of force. He was also arrested on multiple
counts of third-degree assault and for reckless endangerment. In
Colorado, that means he placed another person, in this case, at risk
of serious bodily injury.” There is
an ongoing investigation. This is not the first time we have
heard about Randall Hinton abusing children. In a June 22, 2006, Rough
Love article written by Joanne
Greene of the Miami New Times, Hinton was quoted as saying, “I think
I can remember Layne being pepper-sprayed more than once a day. I
know he
was pepper-sprayed more than two times a day. I don’t think it would
have been more than three times ... and from somebody on the outside
looking in, I
would say it would be abusive.” Hinton was formerly employed
by Teen Help, Tranquility Bay, Carolina Springs Academy, and Academy
of Dundee Ranch (which
was closed due to allegations of child abuse and neglect). All of
these programs were associated with the World Wide Association of
Specialty Programs
and Schools (WWASP aka WWASPS). (For more on this story, visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/abuse-history-no-bar-to-f_b_38435.html
and
http://www.krdotv.com/story.cfm?nav=news&storyID=1985)
For complete story,
click here.
Police
ponder arrests of teens:
..."That's why it's important for parents to listen to their
children. Be involved with them. Watch them. Watch their
friends. Be
respected as a parent. Give then a deadline, and make them stick to
it." About 21 percent of the more than 2 million juvenile
arrests in 2003 were for burglary
or larceny-theft, according to the 2006 National Report of Juvenile
Offenders and Victims, published by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The study defines
juveniles as ages 10 through 17. Smith said troubled teens could
benefit from parental attention... (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.myrtlebeachonline.com
Date: January 8th, 2007)
The
Trouble with Troubled Teen Programs--How
the "boot camp" industry tortures and kills kids:
...Every time a child dies in a tough love program, politicians
say—as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush initially did on hearing of
Anderson’s death—that it is “one tragic incident” that should
not be used to justify shutting
such programs down. But there have now been nearly three dozen such
deaths and thousands of reports of severe abuse in programs that
use corporal
punishment, brutal emotional attacks, isolation, and physical
restraint in an attempt to reform troubled teenagers. Tough love
has become a billion-dollar
industry. Several hundred programs, both public and private, use the
approach. Somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 teenagers are currently
held in treatment programs based on the belief that adolescents must
be broken (mentally, and often physically as well) before they can be
fixed. Exact
numbers are impossible to determine, because no one keeps track of the
kids in these programs, most of which are privately run. The typical
way to end
up in a government-run program, such as the camp where Martin Lee
Anderson was killed, is for a court to give you the option of going
there instead of prison.
The typical way to end up in a private program is to be sent there by
your parents, though judges and public schools have been known to send
kids to
private boot camps as well. Since they offer “treatment,” some of
the private centers are covered by health insurance. For
complete story,
click here.
Woman
kidnapped teenager by seducing him, prosecutor says:
NASHUA, New Hampshire: A woman who ran off to Florida with her teenage
lover entrapped the
16-year-old with sex, a prosecutor said as her trial on kidnapping
charges opened Tuesday. A national search for the couple ended
in June when a worker
at a bus depot saw them "making out." "This case
is about a 32-year-old woman enticing, befriending and seducing a
16-year-old boy," Assistant Hillsborough
County Attorney Justin Shepherd said. Jennifer Malone is charged
with kidnapping Christopher Cole, whom she met while working as
a teacher's
assistant at a residential school for troubled teens. For
complete story,
click here.
Emancipation
request splits family:
OREM - "Kaye" has no shortage of family members looking
after her. There are her mother and stepfather, who, in
the wee
hours of the morning on Nov. 1, paid a company to forcibly transport
her to Turn-About Ranch, a Utah boarding school and residential
treatment center for
troubled teens. And there are her two maternal aunts who,
seeking to free their niece, secretly arranged to have her sign legal
papers in the restroom of a
Baptist church that Turn-About students attend on Sundays. Those
papers triggered an emancipation hearing Friday before 4th District
Juvenile Judge Sterling
Sainsbury, who will evaluate whether Kaye, 16, is capable of deciding
for herself what's best. Utah's new emancipation law wasn't
created to give
adolescents an avenue to fight confinement at therapeutic schools and
wilderness programs. Proponents pitched it as benefiting homeless,
runaway and
other "throwaway" youth. But child advocates are
pleased to see the new statute so cleverly applied. (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.sltrib.com Date: December
16, 2006)
Camp
censured for Seymour teen's torture:
SEYMOUR — A town man sentenced to 20 years in a psychiatric hospital
for trying to kill his parents by burning down
their house has won a $900,000 judgment against a Southern Christian
military boot camp where he said he was tortured. Joseph Gabriel
Paolillo and his
father, Joseph Peter Paolillo, won the judgment in Mississippi federal
court Monday against the Bethel Boys Academy of Lucedale, Miss.
The elder Paolillo
was awarded $59,709 in damages. Routine beatings and mental
abuse from a drill instructor with a pit bull trained to bite in the
crotch were alleged by the younger Paolillo, who was 17 when he went
to Bethel in 1998. "They beat him viscously," his
father said. "I feel relieved that some satisfaction was given
to my
son, so he can seek professional treatment and counseling."
The judgment against Bethel and William Knotts, a drill instructor
there, was issued by Louis Guirola, a Republican judge appointed by President Bush."The
judge called the abuse something reminiscent of 'medieval torture,'
" said George Yoder,
a Jackson, Miss., attorney for the Paolillos. Yoder added that
collecting the settlement will be difficult because Bethel has closed,
although the facility has
reopened under a new name. (It's now called "Eagle Point
Christian Academy"--webmaster note) (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
www.connpost.com Date: December 18th, 2006)
Second
suit hits juvenile facility:
As one major lawsuit against the Sacramento County juvenile hall nears
an end, with millions of dollars promised to teens who
were strip-searched, another suit is gaining momentum that claims a
culture of abuse and neglect prevails at the hall. Together, the
suits highlight a history
of problems at the crowded, understaffed and aging facility on Kiefer
Boulevard, say the civil rights lawyers who filed the complaints.
So far, nearly one-third
of the 8,000 juveniles who were strip-searched have applied for
payments under a $6.28 million court settlement, a response rate that
Sacramento attorney
Mark Merin, who filed the suit, said is unusually high. The
deadline for applying is Jan. 8. Search practices have been changed,
but Merin said serious
problems persist at juvenile hall. "They're overwhelmed,
and they don't have a good, productive method of dealing with the kids
who are incarcerated,
" Merin said. "Instead they're just sort of warehousing
them, and it doesn't lead to positive results." (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.sacbee.com Date:
Uncertain--Likely Late 2006)
Mother
sues school, says son was assaulted:
PROVO — A mother of a former student
of a boarding school for troubled youth is suing the school,
claiming her
son was sexually assaulted by other students. The mother, from
Aliso Viejo, Calif., seeks at least $200,000 in damages against the
Discovery Academy, 105
N. 500 West, in Provo, and the parents of students identified as John
and Jane Does 1-10, according to the suit filed Aug. 14 in 4th
District Court. For complete story,
click here.
Ivy
Ridge Academy accreditation rejected:
The Academy at Ivy Ridge will not be allowed to resume issuing high
school diplomas. The State Education Department
has rejected the Academy's application, according to stories Friday in
St. Lawrence County newspapers and The Watertown Times. A
letter from the
State Education Department to Ivy Ridge quoted in the Watertown
Times says, "The Department's review revealed that AIR is
principally a behavior modification
program and not a school..." For complete story,
click here.
Eight
Charged With Manslaughter In Florida Boot Camp Death:
PANAMA CITY, FLA---Seven former guards at a now closed Bay County
juvenile boot camp and
a nurse have been charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of
Martin Lee Anderson, the teenager who died in January while in
custody at the
camp. For complete story,
click here.
Guidance
counselor charged with molesting teen:
A guidance counselor who, investigators say, molested a 16-year-old
girl at a Hollywood center for troubled
teens is now facing jail time. Felman Reddick, 41, abused the
girl at the Starting Point, the non-profit agency where he worked at
the time, said Capt.
Tony Rode, a Hollywood police spokesman. The center provides
rehabilitation and counseling services for local youth. Reddick is
charged with six counts
of unlawful sexual acts with a minor, Rode said. (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.miami.com Date: 2006)
Just
Listen: ..."You
know," Elaine Roberts told Denton, "as parents we’re so
used to staying positive. Instead stop and say, ‘What do you mean by
that?’ How does
that make you feel?’ They might not answer you because teens are
very private. But just maybe they will." In the flash of
that remark, I saw my own shortcomings. I realized how guilty I have
been at times of not really listening to people – my children
in particular – but instead of simply jumping in with proposed
solutions to their problems, or stock reassurances. In this, I
know, I am not alone: Roberts is right – parents want to stay
positive and want to fix things.
But there’s a lot to be said for simply listening, asking gently
probing questions, and listening some more. Unfortunately,
many of us are not very good
at it. And as a rule, we seem to be getting worse with each passing
year. I’m not just talking about listening to troubled teens
or depressed friends. I’m
talking about our capacity to listen in all spheres of life...
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.portfolioweekly.com
Date: November, 2006)
Sexual
exploitation trial begins for ex-youth worker:
A lawyer defending a former Batshaw youth worker charged with abusing
his authority by having sex with
troubled teens tried Wednesday to stop the media from publishing
details of the trial, including her client's name. But Quebec
Court Judge Gilles Cadieux
rejected the request, saying the argument that publication could
damage Evon Smith's future career prospects could apply to anyone
accused of a crime.
Smith faces charges of sexual exploitation, sexual interference and
invitation to sexual touching involving two teens from a Batshaw group
home. For complete story,
click here.
Officials
step up search for dead teenager's friend:
... Ramsey and her mother appeared on a Dr.
Phil show about runaways. It aired Oct. 16. According to
the search
agency,
"The Dr. Phil Show put Kimberlee in their Aspen Achievement
Academy for Wilderness Therapy, which apparently didn't work."
A news release from the Aspen Education
Group's Web site talks about Ramsey's appearance on the nationally
syndicated talk show. "As much as you're seen as the
rebellious teen who's angry and bucking
the system, and bucking controls, the truth is, you're really in a lot
of pain," Dr. Phil McGraw said to Ramsey, according to the
release Gibson said Ramsey and Vanegas
had run away together in the past. She did not know whether there was
any criminal connection, and the Galveston County sheriff's deputy in
charge of the case couldn't
be reached for comment Tuesday. "We're based in Dickinson,
so it's on our home turf," Gibson said. "If they have
a killer on the loose (volunteers) just want to make
sure their kids are accounted for." "Obviously
Kimberlee is easy prey. She's a runaway. She doesn't have any money.
She doesn't have a car. She doesn't have a cell
phone," Gibson said. Ramsey was wearing blue jeans, a
blue football jersey and black house shoes. Ramsey has brown
hair with blonde highlights. She has green eyes,
is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 155 pounds. Anyone with
information about the case is urged to call Texas EquuSearch at
281-309-9500. Vanegas will be buried
today. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.chron.com Date:
November, 2006)
Foster
parent pleads guilty to sex assault:
Kenneth Charles "Ken!" Puhler,
a Durango resident who trained adults who worked with troubled teens
and took in at least 130 foster
children, has pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child in a
position of trust. Puhler, 50, formerly sheriff of Dolores County,
pleaded guilty to one of 10 counts and was sentenced
Nov. 1 to 10 years to life in prison, according to court documents. If
he is released, he will be placed on parole for 20 years to life. As
part of the plea agreement, District
Attorney Craig Westberg dropped the other nine counts, which alleged
abuse of children younger than 15 as far back as 1993. In return,
Puhler stipulated that he sexually
abused a 14-year-old boy who was in his care as a foster child in
February 2004, and that "there were various times, both previous
and subsequent to this event, when
the defendant had sexual contact" with the boy. (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
http://durangoherald.com
Date: November 7, 2006)
Teen
Accused In Counselor's Death Finishes Testing:
SALT LAKE CITY A teen accused in
the rape and slaying of a youth counselor has completed his
psychological
testing. However, 17-year-old Robert Cameron Houston's lawyer
says he needs two more weeks to work out a trial schedule with
prosecutors. Houston is charged
with capital murder in connection with the February killing of
22-year-old Raechale Elton. She worked for an agency that housed and
counseled troubled teens. The teen
also faces rape and aggravated sexual assault. His next court
appearance is set for November 14th. (Unable to locate story
at time of archiving. Source:
www.kutv.com Date: November, 2006)
Teen
referred to ex-officer as his girlfriend:
The former Elkhorn boot camp officer
accused of having a relationship with a teenage cadet had a reputation
for being
intimate
with cadets at the juvenile facility, the boy told police in reports
issued Tuesday. Adriana Rivera pleaded no contest in August to a
felony charge of accessory after the
fact and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing police. She was sentenced
to three years of probation and four months in a work-furlough
program. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.fresnobee.com Date:
November 1, 2006)
School
operators seek millions in damages: SANDPOINT
-- The operators of a boarding school who were accused of pummeling a
runaway student are seeking up to
$8
million in damages against Bonner County and the sheriff's office for
negligence and wrongful prosecution. The operators of Turning
Winds, a school for troubled teens which
used to be located in Cocolalla, filed the tort claim on Oct. 25.
The filing of the claim comes about 10 months after misdemeanor child
endangerment charges were dismissed
against John William Baisden Sr., John William Baisden Jr. and Carl
Spencer Baisden. The criminal charges stemmed from a March 17,
2005, incident. Police reports
said the 16-year-old from Walla Walla, Wash., fled school grounds by
forcing his way through a fence. The teen made it to U.S. Highway 95
and began hitchhiking as
school staff canvassed the area. A passing motorist reportedly
agreed to give the teen a lift. Unbeknownst to the teen, though, was
that the motorist was actually John Baisden
Sr., who joined the search for the errant student after learning of
the escape, police reports said. The elder Baisden kept the ruse
up until they stopped at the Westmond
Store, ostensibly for fuel. Baisden's sons then arrived at the filling
station and a struggle erupted. The teen told a sheriff's deputy
he was attacked by the trio, dragged
from the vehicle and held against the pavement while being handcuffed.
The teen alleged he was then dragged by the cuffs to a grassy area
near the convenience store
and beaten. For complete story,
click here.
Parents
of child-sex suspect ran youth home:
TORONTO
-- Michael Stratton knew how to identify with troubled kids -- he'd
spent a lot of time around them. The Globe and
Mail has learned that the man now facing almost 300 charges in
connection with alleged sexual abuse of children spent several months
living in a home for troubled children
in Richmond Hill. Mr. Stratton, in his early 20s at the time, wasn't
there because he was sent by an aid agency or because he was employed
there, but because his parents
ran the home and he needed a place to stay. Police now fear the
39-year-old may have learned how to build trust with troubled children
from his time at the home in the
1980s. His mother and stepfather, who ran the Richmond Hill home for
14 years until 2000, were described by those who knew them as
exemplary foster parents to children
over the years. And those who met Mr. Stratton during his time at the
home had no suspicions he may have been involved in anything criminal.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.theglobeandmail.com Date:
October 26, 2006)
New
claims of abuse at boys camp:
GREENVILLE - Three separate state
agencies are investigating whether caretakers used banned, excessive
and harmful restraints at
a camp for delinquent boys, some of whom are mentally retarded or have
other special needs. At least one youth might have suffered a
broken collarbone at the Greenville Hills
Academy in Greenville just last week, according to records obtained by
The Miami Herald. One 16-year-old claimed he was ``choked.'' And
in another episode, guards also
reported using a technique called a wrist lock that was banned two
years ago by Anthony Schembri, secretary of the state Department of
Juvenile Justice, an agency still
reeling from the death of a 14year-old at another Panhandle facility
earlier this year. For complete story,
click here.
School
Says Police, Social Services Will Snatch Kids Of Late Parents Indiana
junior high threatens prison custody if child not picked up on time
from
mandatory
homework class: A
junior high school in Indiana threatens parents with police and child
protective service involvement if they fail to pick up their
child on time after
mandatory Friday classes for missed homework. Outraged parents
forwarded us a letter from the Tell City Junior High School in Indiana
in which they were given a days
notice that their child had to attend a Friday class to catch up on
missed homework. The letter stated in bold that if a parent
didn't arrive at the agreed time to pick up their
child, "arrangements have been made with the Tell City Police
Department to have them housed at the police station." The
letter then states that intervention by the police
will also necessitate involvement of the Perry County Office of Family
and Children. For complete story,
click here.
Supporters
rally for teen who killed grandparents:
A woman who says Christopher Pittman
changed her life held a vigil on the steps of the South Carolina
Supreme Court
on Wednesday night, the eve of the teen’s appeal of his murder
conviction for killing his grandparents when he was 12 years old.
“We’re going to show support to Chris,
and his family and the attorneys,” said Janet Sisk, director of the
North Carolina-based Juvenile Justice Foundation. “It’s kinda like
it’s coming full circle.” Pittman was
convicted last year of murder in the 2001 shooting deaths of his
grandparents in their Chester County home and sentenced to 30 years in
prison. Defense attorneys argued
that Pittman, who was 12 at the time of the slayings, was
involuntarily intoxicated by the antidepressant Zoloft and did not
know right from wrong. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source: www.thestate.com
Date: April 9, 2007)
State
Supreme Court says no right of jury trial for juveniles:
The Tennessee Supreme Court has
overturned a 36-year-old ruling by a state appellate court that
said juveniles
can appeal their convictions to an adult court system and have the
case decided by a jury. The appellate court first issued
the ruling in 1970. A year later, however, the
U.S. Supreme Court opined that the U.S. Constitution did not guarantee
a jury trial for appealing juveniles. Despite that decision,
Tennessee's courts continued to uphold a
juvenile's right to a jury trial. (Unable to locate complete
story at time of archiving. Source:
www.tennessean.com
Date: September 28, 2006)
Finding
The "Straight Edge" In Fiji:
The
$14 million psychological thriller "Straight Edge" starts
shooting October 2nd in Fiji with Peter Stormare, Mila Kunis and
Gregory Smith
headlining reports
Variety.
Story's about a group of troubled teens sent to a rehabilitation
program housed in a remote camp on the island of Fiji. What
their parents believe
is a state-of-the-art deluxe institution in a beautiful natural
environment turns out to be a prison-like boot camp where they are
abused and brainwashed. (Webmaster
Note: Art imitates life.) For complete story,
click here.
Report:
Girls Are Abused in Jail: A
new report says girls at New York's two detention facilities for
juvenile females are sexually and physically abused by staff members. They
are also denied mental health, educational and other rehabilitative
services. Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union
released the report. The inmates,
ages 13 to 17, are in for offenses ranging from shoplifting to
assault. For complete story,
click here.
Teens
Killed By Train Identified As Azleway Runaways:
Officials confirm
two teens, killed by a train in Hawkins, were runaways from Azleway
Boys' Ranch, a facility for
troubled boys in Chapel Hill. Officials say they were
Harry Rutledge, 15, of Bestrop and Chris Hill, 17, of
Dallas. Officials say the teens had been living at Azleway
for the
past few weeks, but ran away last Saturday, hiding out behind Hawkins
High School in a pine thicket. For complete story,
click here.
Governor
planning a frugal campaign:
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr...Since the last disclosure deadline, the special
projects fund reported raising $40,000 from Utah's dietary supplement
industry, $10,000 from Robert Lichfield, founder of a controversial
chain of schools for troubled teens, and $25,000 each from Ian
Cumming's Leucadia National Corporation and venture capitalist James
Swartz. Huntsman used the money to cover much
of his out-of-state travel, the cost of holiday receptions at the
Governor's Mansion,
a state dinner for outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox and for
china plates and coasters emblazoned with the Utah State seal for
Asian ambassadors. After paying
more than $8,000 in accounting fees, another $6,100 for a business
summit at the Davis Convention Center and $15,300 to Huntsman for
Governor, the special initiatives
fund has $101,000 in cash on hand. (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.sltrib.com Date: September, 2006)
Guard
accused of sex with juvenile girl is fired State Police will conduct
criminal investigation of case at former Girls School:
A state prison guard was fired Wednesday after he was accused of
having sexual contact with a girl at the Indianapolis Juvenile
Correctional Facility on the city's Far Westside. Octavious Tyler,
25, was terminated after an internal affairs investigation at the
state-run facility, formerly called the Indiana Girls School. The case
has been handed over
to the Indiana State Police for a criminal investigation, as well as
Child Protective Services. The Department of Correction did not
disclose when the contact
occurred, whether it happened more than once or any details about the
girl involved, including her age. (Unable to locate story
at time of archiving. Source:
www.indystar.com Date: September 22, 2006)
Congress
Considering Strip Searching Students
--Congress to vote on HR 5295 Tuesday or Wednesday 18 Sep
2006 (drugpolicy.org) The Student Teacher Safety
Act of 2006 (HR 5295) is a sloppily written bill that would require
any school receiving federal funding (essentially every public school)
to adopt policies
allowing teachers and school officials to conduct random, warrantless
searches of every student, at any time, for essentially any reason
they want. These
searches could be pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches depending
on how far school administrators wanted to go. For complete
story,
click here.
The
Franklin Scandal Tried in Civil Court:
U.S. government mind
control programs, like MK-Ultra and Monarch, directed against helpless
victims--human guinea
pigs--have been virtually ignored by the Big Media Cartel. On Feb. 27,
1999, however, U.S. District Court Judge Warren Urbom found former
Franklin S&L
manager Lawrence E. King guilty of numerous crimes committed against
mind control victim Paul A. Bonacci. King, serving a 15-year
sentence for his role
in the theft of $40 million from Franklin, an Omaha, Neb., credit
union, was ordered by Judge Urbom to pay Bonacci $800,000 in
compensatory damages and
an additional $200,000 in punitive damages. This
legal judgement against a notorious perpetrator of satanic-ritual
child abuse is unprecedented. In the Memorandum of Decision,
Judge Urbom wrote, "King continually subjected the plaintiff [Bonacci]
to repeated sexual assaults, false imprisonment, infliction of
extreme emotional distress, organized and directed satanic rituals,
forced the plaintiff to 'scavenge' for children to be a part of the
defendant King's sexual abuse and pornography ring, forced the
plaintiff to engage in numerous sexual contacts with the defendant
King and others and participate in deviate sexual games
and masochistic orgies with other minor children. "He [Bonacci]
has suffered burns, broken fingers, beatings of the head and face and
other indignities
by the wrongful actions of the defendant King," the judge
declared. "In addition to the misery of going through the
experiences just related over a period
of eight years [1980-1988], the plaintiff has suffered the lingering
results to the present time. "He [Bonacci] is a victim of
multiple personality disorder, involving
as many as 14 distinct personalities aside from his primary
personality," wrote the judge. "He has given up a
desired military career and received threats
on his life. He suffers from sleeplessness, has bad dreams, has
difficulty holding a job, is fearful that others are following him,
fears getting killed, has depressing
flashbacks, and is verbally violent on occasion, all in connection
with the multiple personality disorder and caused by the wrongful
activities of the defendant King." Franklin Cover-up--Bonacci's
lawyer, John DeCamp, has waged a long, lonely and expensive legal
campaign in exposing crimes involving an
international pedophile-pornography ring. In
1991, DeCamp filed a 12-count suit in federal court, charging 16
prominent individuals and institutions, including
Lawrence E. King, Omaha World Herald Publisher Harold Andersen and the
Omaha Police Department with conspiracy to deprive Paul Bonacci
of his
civil rights. DeCamp's suit detailed slander, false imprisonment,
child abuse, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress
suffered by Bonacci. The
complex case also involved high-level politicians, business leaders,
judges and police officials with connections to the drug
distribution/money laundering operations
known as "Iran"-Contra which goes back to then
Vice-President George Bush. DeCamp, a former Nebraska State Senator,
even wrote a groundbreaking
book about the sordid history of the case called The Franklin
Cover-Up: Child Abuse, Satanism and Murder in Nebraska.
Monarch
Project--The
horrendous Monarch Project "refers to young people in America who
were victims of mind control experiments run either by U.S. government
agencies such
as the Central Intelligence Agency or military intelligence
agencies," writes DeCamp. "The story told by Monarch
victims--one of whom was Paul Bonacci--is
that they were tortured for the purpose of creating 'multiple
personalities' within them," DeCamp continues from his book.
"These multiple personalities
could then be programmed--as spies, 'drug mules,' prostitutes or
assassins." An article by Anton Chaitkin, quoted in the
book, states that "professionals
probing the child victims of 'Monarch' say there are clearly two
responsible elements at work: the government/military, and
cooperating satanic
cults. These
are multi-generation groups, whose parents donate their own
children--who are proudly called 'bloodline' or simply 'blood'
cultists--to be
smashed with drugs and electric shock and shaped. Other
children are kidnapped and sold into this hell, or are brought in
gradually through day care situations. For complete story,
click here.
Behavior
Modification Money Trail: The
controversial world of youth behavior-modification facilities
intersects with a web of intricate political connections. And
where the treatment industry sees cooperation with government
entities, activists warn, these links could cloud the prospects for
public oversight of the "teen-help" market. The
influence of the behavior-modification industry is felt on Capitol
Hill. Four members of the House of Representatives and one senator
serve as honorary board members of Kids Helping Kids, a company with
corporate links to a now-defunct behavior-modification program for
teen drug
users known as Straight Incorporated. The various franchises of that
program dissolved in the early 1990s following allegations of child
abuse, as well as
criticism for using cruel, prisoner-of-war-style brainwashing
techniques on adolescents. For complete story,
click here.
Troubling
Times for Troubled Teens: A
jury will likely decide whether a counselor at the Ella J. Baker House
raped a 17-year-old in one of the center’s bathrooms,
as she alleges. But do we really need any more evidence to prove the
Rev. Eugene Rivers has lost control of the ex-cons working at the
Baker House
under his supervision and serving as “role models” for troubled
kids who come to the center for help? (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
http://news.bostonherald.com
Date: August or September, 2006)
Rights
group sues youth hall-Suit claims abuse and neglect, asks for reforms:
A lawsuit filed Monday by a prisoners rights group claims that
Sacramento County
juvenile hall is filthy and overcrowded and that its staff members
routinely douse teens with pepper spray and grind their faces into the
floor. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.sacbee.com
Date: August 30, 2006)
Foster
Boy's Death Ruled Homicide: Foster
Boy's Death Ruled Homicide The Wayne County Medical Examiner has ruled
the death of a 2-year-old boy at a Detroit
foster home was a homicide, Local 4 reported. Isaac Lethbridge
suffered bruises to his face and burn marks to his chest, according to
police. Police said
there was also evidence that he was sexually assaulted. The child was
dead on arrival at Children's Hospital Wednesday, according to
police. Emergency
crews said the toddler stopped breathing. he child was living at
the foster home for more than a month along with his 4-year-old
sister, according
to police. Child Protective Services removed the sister and several
other children from the home, Local 4 reported. No arrests have
been made in connection with the boy's death. For complete
story,
click here.
For
parents and kids: Summary: How
does a parent deal with a child who has behavior, alcohol or drug
problems? Boot camp-style programs have tried to deal
with these issues through participant isolation, hard labor,
restraints, name-calling, humiliation, sleep and food deprivation and
hiking into the wilderness
or desert. These programs often hire kids off the street to be
counselors working for minimum wage. Some workers, she
discovered, had criminal
records or little training, education and experience with troubled
children. She says it was rare if there was even a psychologist
on the grounds. Among
the programs she tackles are Synanon, Tough Love, The Seed, Straight
Incorporated, the Challenger Camp, Elan School, KIDS and World
Wide Association
of Specialty Programs (WWASP). Public officials including Nancy
Reagan promoted these programs in the 1980s as the solution to drug
abuse. Talk
shows used them to teach ungrateful rich kids how to behave, and other
media outlets publicized boot camps as a miraculous cure. Some
children were
sent because they admitted to being gay. Parents thought the camps
could "straighten their children out" and make them
heterosexual. Szalavitz examines
these programs through the eyes of the children who endured them.
She also speaks to parents of children who died horrific deaths in
these programs.
There were about 30 kids who died, many of them because counselors had
little training to deal with desert conditions and lack of water. Szalavitz
investigates the lack of education provided to these kids during camp.
She also looks at the way panic-stricken parents are manipulated
into sending
their children. For complete story,
click here.
Teen
Boot Camp Cadet Dies During Orientation in Florida:
NORTH MIAMI, Florida — A 13-year-old cadet at a private
military academy died during an orientation
camping trip, the school's principal said. Authorities rushed
the child from
Oleta
State Park to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday,
North Miami police said. The cause of death was undetermined,
pending a medical examiner's report, police said. No additional
information was
released. The boy was one of 33 cadets attending the
Back
to Basics . For complete story,
click here.
Christian Military Academy's Training and Leadership
Corps campout. The students, who are around ages 9 to 15, had been
camping since Wednesday, Lynda Browne, the school's principal and
owner, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for Sunday's
edition. The boy got out of bed in the middle of the night to
tell a drill sergeant he didn't feel well, Browne said. He boy
collapsed on the way to the
restroom. For complete story,
click
here.
WWASPS
Back in Court: SYRACUSE, NY (July
28, 2006) Attorney Christopher Todd of Hancock & Estabrook, LLP,
confirmed their firm filed a class-action lawsuit
Tuesday on behalf of 25 plaintiffs and against Academy of Ivy Ridge,
WWASPS, Robert Lichfield, Lifeline Family Services, Premier
Educational Systems,
Jason Finlinson, among others (see link to Complaint below.)
Plaintiffs alleged in their Complaint that defendants fraudulently
advertised Academy
of Ivy Ridge (AIR) as an accredited boarding school licensed to issue
credits and diplomas to its students. AIR allegedly falsely and
fraudulently certified
to educational lending institutions, including Sallie Mae and Key
Bank, that they were a licensed and accredited private boarding high
school authorized
by the State of New York to issue diplomas in order that parents could
qualify for restricted educational loans to pay their monthly tuition
of about
$2,800 to $4,000. Jason Finlinson, Alyn Mitchell, and Joseph
Mitchell, allegedly failed to operate under the laws of the State of
NY. Robert Lichfield
allegedly
purchased the property for AIR and used his personal connections with
Ivy Ridge’s accreditation agency, Northwest Assoc. of Schools, to
blindly allow
WWASP to claim accreditation though they did not meet Northwest’s
own standards. For complete story,
click here.
Police
search for missing teens, 14 and 19:
NEWPORT, N.H. --Newport Police are looking for a 14-year-old boy and
19-year-old woman believed to have left the
state together. Chief David Hoyt said police are seeking leads
on the whereabouts of Randy Gentner of Salem, who ran away from a
group home in Newport
on Wednesday. Hoyt believes Gentner met up last week with
Jennifer Newcomb of Croydon, a teacher's aide at his middle school.
Police have issued
an arrest warrant for Newcomb on a charge of interference of parental
custody, taking a minor over state lines without permission.
Newcomb's car was
found on Saturday night in Lime Rock, Conn. The two are believed to
have traveled through New York City and on their way to Florida or
Mexico, said Rodney
Forey of New Hampshire Juvenile Justice Services. Police in Ocala,
Fla., were asked to check the bus and train stations for the pair.
Gentner's parents
said they're worried about their son. The teenager had been receiving
court-ordered drug and depression counseling at the Orion House in
Newport, WMUR-TV reported. Letters written by Gentner were found
in Newcomb's bedroom, but authorities aren't sure what the nature of
their relationship is. "There's
nothing we've uncovered that says they're involved in an intimate
relationship," Hoyt said. "In fact, we have just the
opposite -- that it's more a mother-son-type relationship."
For complete story,
click here.
Rep.
Matheson holds big money edge:
...Christensen received $12,000 from the Lichfield family of southern
Utah, owners of several treatment facilities for troubled
teens. The Campaign for America's Future donated $5,000 to his
campaign. And the two-term state legislator collected donations from
several of his GOP
legislative colleagues, including Draper Rep. Greg Hughes, Spanish
Fork Rep. Mike Morley, St. George Rep. Brad Last and Kanab Rep. Mike
Noel. (Webmaster
Note: With the GOP in the back pocket of child torturers, it's
no wonder why more isn't done to stop this evil industry.)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.sltrib.com Date: July
15, 2006)
Controversy
surrounds Tranquility Bay: Since
2002 the Cayman Islands Government has quietly been sending troubled
youth to a high security privately run educational institution in
Jamaica called Tranquility Bay. The facility treats special
cases as an alternative to juvenile detention on Grand Cayman.
The first young
Caymanian was sent at the family’s request in 2001. The Cayman
Islands Government has since sent five young people; three boys and
two girls over the
past five years. The last government–funded student left in
July 2005. Health and Family Services Minister Anthony Eden has
confirmed that despite the fact
that no students are currently at the facility, the Ministry has no
intention of eliminating the just–in–case Tranquility Bay funding
of $30,000 allocated in this
year’s budget...Billed to have a positive effect on troubled young
people aged 13 to 18 going through problems associated with the
difficult teen years, the
Tranquility Bay website states it is a “specialty boarding school
and therapeutic behavioural modification facility, with an excellent
academic program and
therapy for kids who have been very defiant and hard to manage . .
.” The site describes how its program opens up new ways to
help young people build
character in order to achieve family peace and harmony. The
facility opened in 1997 and is in a remote area of Treasure Beach near
St. Elizabeth, west
of Kingston, on the premises of a former oceanfront hotel. It is
owned and operated by the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs
and Schools, a
19–year old organization that holds about 2,400 children and youth
ranging from seven to 18 in facilities in the United States, Jamaica
and Mexico. The benign
name masks a different reality: In the past four years, five WWASP
facilities, Casa by the Sea, Sunrise Beach and High Impact, all in
Mexico, Dundee Ranch
in Costa Rica, Morava in Czech Republic, and Paradise Cove in Western
Samoa, have all been shut down for child abuse and neglect. The
High Impact
Mexico operation was shut down when investigators discovered children
being held in dog cages in the desert, reported John Gorenfeld of
AlterNet. Chris
Goodwin of San Francisco said his son was forced to stay outside in
his underpants for three nights at the Mexico facility, lying on his
stomach with his chin
on the ground. If he moved to try to brush off fire ants that roamed
over him, he was threatened with a cattle prod, said Goodwin. The
punishment left scars
on his son’s chin, he said in a news story in the Rocky Mountain
(Colorado) News in January 2002. For complete story,
click here.
Man
defied order, saw Youth Ranch girl:
A 20-year-old Nashville man accused of having sex with a female minor
at the Youth Ranch in Lebanon had been ordered
to stay away from her, court records show. Christopher Carver is
mentioned by name as the person barred from any contact with the
15-year-old girl during
her stay at the privately run facility for troubled teens, according
to court documents. Carver was arrested Thursday on a charge of
statutory rape, Lebanon
Police Chief Scott Bowen said. Two other adults wanted in the case
are: Amy Morrison-King, 40, a former Youth Ranch worker accused of
bringing men
to the workplace to have sex with teens; and Geary Jackson, 24,
accused of having sex with a juvenile at the ranch.
"Apparently, there was some kind of
involvement between the two before," Bowen said referring to
Carver and one of the girls. Youth Ranch is a nonprofit program
that the state Department of
Children's Services has used for several years to work with and house
children and teens who were neglected or convicted of minor crimes.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.fairvewobserver.com
Date: July 14, 2006)
Comment:
Bad discipline hits too many students:
Texas may be known for its oil and gas pipelines, but the newest Texas
pipeline funnels children from schools
to prison, by way of alternative education programs and juvenile
detention centers. While students who present a danger to
classmates must be segregated,
too many students are falling into this pipeline. The Legislature must
stem the tide of schoolchildren who are being unnecessarily written up
and written
off. For complete story,
click here.
Update:
Highfields Reopens Doors:
Four months after closing its doors, Highfields is open for business.
The residential treatment center finally re-opened. In February,
claims of abuse forced Highfields to temporarily shut the facility
down. The first new tenants are arriving. (Webmaster Note:
This is the main problem.
Even when programs are proven to be abusive, after a slap on the
wrist, they get to re-open and continue harming kids. This
has to stop. Real criminal
and civil penalties should be imposed on these greedy child abusers.)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.wlns.com Date: July 11,
2006)
WWASP
Slammed by Federal Court: SALT
LAKE CITY, Utah (July 9, 2006) – The World Wide Association of
Specialty Programs (WWASP), a highly controversial
and monster-size corporation, with a reputation for crushing everyday
moms and dads, lost yet again--this time in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Jeff
Berryman, a Pennsylvania advocate for children, was vindicated in his
efforts to blow the whistle on WWASP for child abuse, neglect, and
fraud. Robert
Browning Lichfield, the founder and self-described consultant to WWASP,
met those claims of abuse by dragging Mr. Berryman into Utah with
a lawsuit
designed to silence him once and for all. Mr. Berryman, however,
prevailed. The Federal Court of Appeals gave examples of
news media description
of child abuse and neglect at World Wide schools: “[T]he news
magazine 48 Hours reported a child’s allegation that he had been
handcuffed for two
consecutive days and had his mouth covered in duct tape. The Miami
Herald ran an article describing a mother’s report that her teenager
came home from
a World Wide school with ringworm scars and chemical burns. Forbes
Magazine reported that children were punched, kicked, thrown, and
forced to sit on
cement floors for twelve hours at a time. The teenager quoted in the
article also claimed that students who tried to flee from such
punishment were locked
in a small cell for days.” For complete story,
click here.
Youth
facility faked records-Detention center workers missed required
training, monitor reports:
Officials at a state-run juvenile detention center in Prince George's
County falsified records for more than a year to make it look as if
workers were getting training, required by law, on how to deal with
the troubled youths
housed there, an independent monitor has found. In response to
the findings by the state Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, a
spokesman for the Maryland
Department of Juvenile Services said the training coordinator at the
Cheltenham Youth Facility was dismissed last week and officials are
reviewing training
practices elsewhere to see whether similar problems exist at other
juvenile jails and youth treatment centers. (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
www.baltimoresun.com
Date: June 29, 2006)
State
wards denied parole rights given to adult inmates, suit alleges:
SACRAMENTO (AP) - About 4,000 juvenile offenders are routinely denied
the parole rights
granted to adult convicts accused of violating their parole, lawyers
said in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal district
court in Sacramento.
An earlier court settlement requires the state Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation and parole board to supply adult
parolees with legal
representation and probable cause hearings. The settlement also
requires officials to consider alternatives to sending adult parolees
back to prison if they
are found to have violated conditions of their parole. But young
parole violators can be sent back to youth prisons without those
protections, the suit alleges.
Nearly half of all young parolees are reincarcerated within two years,
the inmate rights attorneys said. "Youth can be warehoused
at one of the terrible
juvenile detention facilities for months before they receive any
hearing, even for technical violations of parole such as drinking
alcohol," Michael Bien,
one of the attorneys, said in announcing the suit. (Unable to
locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.fresnobee.com Date: June
22, 2006)
Rough
Love: Shannon Levy-Rowley is 21
years old and five feet seven inches tall. She weighs 108 pounds.
During the past five and a half years, she has endured
three major surgeries and diets ranging from fourteen weeks of
consuming only liquids to sipping blended meals through a straw.
But the brunet's meager
weight has nothing to do with a tummy tuck or an eating disorder.
In December 2000, Shannon's parents, Jayne Levy and James Rowley of
Coral Springs,
enrolled their only child in Tranquility Bay (TB), a boarding school
in Jamaica for troubled teens. "I was smoking pot, I was popping
pills, drinking, doing
acid, just experimenting with everything 'cause I was just really
unhappy with my life," Shannon says. Tuition would cost
almost $40,000 annually, but after
attending a support meeting in South Miami and speaking with families
who claimed the school had done a lot for their children, Jayne signed
an enrollment
agreement granting TB custodial rights. "It got very good
reviews, and Shannon needed to go somewhere," Jayne laments.
"I was fearing for her life."
On a mild winter day about two weeks after the Rowleys signed up,
three people Shannon had never met arrived at the family's home.
"A lady and two
big men came into my house and sat me down on the sofa," Shannon
recalls. "They handcuffed me and said I could cooperate or they
were gonna throw
me over their shoulder." The group drove to the airport and
boarded a plane. The journey ended in Treasure Beach, a remote hamlet
on Jamaica's southern
coast, where Shannon spent the next thirteen months. She describes it
as an unforgettable nightmare and recalls being severely depressed,
crying constantly, and within one week of arrival, trying to throw
herself off a second-story balcony. Shortly after her failed
suicide attempt in early 2001, Shannon alleges
staff aggressively restrained her when she took a swing at one of
them. "One staff held my arms behind my back when I was standing
up so I couldn't grab
onto anything," she says. "Another staff ripped my feet out
from underneath me so I fell with all my weight right onto my chin. I
immediately started gushing
blood everywhere, but that didn't stop them. They still continued
restraining me." Jayne Levy contends she wasn't told of the
severity of Shannon's problems
until school officials telephoned on Christmas eve 2001 to say,
"You have to come and pick up your daughter; she can't open her
mouth to eat. " Shannon
could barely open her mouth wide enough to insert a toothbrush, mother
and daughter agree. They claim the injuries were largely untreated and
consequently Shannon's condition deteriorated. (She has lost about 40
pounds since sustaining the injury.) (Webmaster Note: WWASP
tortures children and should
be closed down immediately!) (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.miaminewtimes.com
Date: June 22, 2006)
Juvenile
center restrictions draw fire:
CHICAGO (AP) - When the school day ends at Cook County's temporary
juvenile detention center, hundreds of students must
leave essential education tools behind: their textbooks.
Such centers commonly prohibit the unsupervised use of hardcover books
and basic school supplies
like pencils out of concern the youths could use the items for
violence. Child welfare advocates, however, say the rules
can create a prison-like atmosphere
that discourages rehabilitation. "Any facility ought to be safe
and secure enough for kids to have books," said Betsy Clarke,
president of the Juvenile
Justice Initiative. This month, a judge appointed a former state
corrections official to oversee changes at the detention center,
stemming from a 2002
settlement of a lawsuit that claimed the facility was mismanaged.
Juvenile advocates say some of the problems cited in the lawsuit
extended into the center's
classrooms. "Teachers consistently said they do not assign
homework because staff do not allow the youths to bring books or even
pages to come back
up the unit," the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
concluded after reviewing practices at the facility in December.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.fresnobee.com
Date: June 21, 2006)
N.Y.
report denounces shock use at school; Says students are living in fear:
New York education officials issued a scathing report yesterday
on a Massachusetts
school that punishes troubled and disabled students with electric
shocks, finding that they can be shocked for simply nagging the
teacher and that
some are forced to wear shock devices in the bathtub or shower, posing
an electrocution hazard. The report, based in part on an
inspection last month of
the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, portrayed a school
in which most staff lack training to handle the students and seem more
focused on punishing bad behavior than encouraging good acts.
The investigators said some forms of discipline, such as a device that
delivers shocks at timed intervals, appear to violate federal safety
regulations, and students live in an atmosphere of "pervasive
fears and anxieties." For complete story,
click here.
Woman
distraught: denied visit with sister at Ivy Ridge Academy:
A Michigan woman drove nine hours to Ogdensburg to visit her 18 year
old sister at Ivy Ridge Academy.
But Rachel Stachowicz says she was turned away at the door and told to
leave the grounds. "She was out of bounds,"
said Ivy Ridge Executive Jason Finlinson.
The Academy At Ivy Ridge calls itself "a boarding school
for the future." Its website says "We are a passageway
to assist in the forgiveness, healing and reconciliation
of families." Parents pay $30,000 per year to enroll their
teenagers in the program, according to the Watertown Daily Times
in a 2003 story. Stachowicz said she
wanted to visit her sister Lindsey for Lindsey's 18th birthday and
thought that as an adult, Lindsey would be free to receive any visitor
she wanted, especially a sister. She
also wanted to ask her sister whether she wanted to leave the
facility. "I'm her sister," she said, her voice
trembling. "Why couldn't I see my
sister? She's 18; she has
the right to choose to see me or not and they're saying she
can't." (Webmaster Note: Apparently, you can take Ivy
Ridge out of WWASPS, but you can't take
WWASPS out of Ivy Ridge.) For complete story,
click here.
Prozac
Found In System Of CYA Teen Found Dead:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- An autopsy report on two teens who committed
suicide in a California Youth Authority facility
showed something that came as a big surprise to one of teen's
parents. Deon Whitfield, 18, and former Stockton resident
Durrell Feaster, 17, were found hanged inside
a Preston youth facility dorm room in mid-January.
Officials believe the acts were suicides. The autopsy report
shows that at the time Feaster died, he had significant
amounts of Prozac in his system. Feaster's mother, Gloria
Feaster, said neither she nor her husband ever gave the
California Youth Authority permission to administer
such a drug. California Youth Authority officials did not
comment specifically about the case Thursday, but they did explain
their psychotropic drug policy for minors.
The CYA says it always sends out a consent form to parents. If
the parents don't respond within 21 days, a parole agent visits
their home to try and gain consent. If
that proves unsuccessful, the CYA can and does ask a judge to
grant permission to administer drugs --like Prozac -- without the
parents ever being notified. For complete story,
click here.
Do
you know your teen?:
Navigating the teenage years isn't easy for parents or their children.
Adolescence brings major physical and emotional changes. Today's
world has
grown more connected, competitive and complex in the past generation,
only adding to the challenges. But two counselors at Quincy
Junior High School say that's all part
of growing up. Janice Pillay and Jackie Martin conducted independent
research and came up with a snapshot of what life is like for a Quincy
teen. Inspired by an article in
the Aug. 8, 2005, issue of Time magazine, the two counselors surveyed
1,344 students at QJHS, then compared the results with those from the
magazine's online survey of
501 13-year-olds. They asked about home life, school, dating and
whether they think their life is tougher than their parents' was.
The exercise was aimed at improving communication between the
generations by asking parents: How well do you know your teen?
(Webmaster Note: How dare any parent think of institutionalizing
their child instead
of communicating with him/her. If you are so far removed from
reality that you no longer see your child as an individual human
being, you are the one who needs help. Learn
basic communications skills and take a parenting class!) (Unable
to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.whig.com Date: May or
June, 2006)
Families:
Boot camp medical examiner covered up other deaths:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Some Florida families are accusing a medical
examiner of botched work and cover-ups. Doctor Charles Siebert
is currently at the center of controversy for ruling that a teenager
kicked and struck by boot camp guards died of a blood disorder.
A second
autopsy concluded the teen died of suffocation from having ammonia
pills forced up his nose while his mouth was covered. Another
family accuses Siebert of covering
up the 1977 death of a suspect allegedly beaten by police. At a news
conference in Tallahassee, the families called for Siebert's license
to be revoked. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.kxan.com Date:
May or June, 2006)
Hope
Youth Ranch Responds To Allegations of Negligence:
"Our entire staff is heart broken
and full of grief." Those are the words from the ministry
administrator at the Hope Youth Ranch in Webster Parish.
Eight former and current ranch employees were indicted Monday on
charges surrounding the death a thirteen year old boy their care.
The death is reminding people of recent national tragedy's
involving young children sent to youth camps. In this case, the
charge does not imply intent. In other words the
accused did not intend to kill the boy, but they did nothing to stop
it. The charge against the eight accused is negligent homicide.
The allegation is denying a young boy a drink of water after making
him run for bad behavior. For complete story,
click here.
More
Revealed About Teen Suspect Shot by Las Vegas Police:
Metro is investigating the connection between a body found in
the desert over the weekend and the deadly
officer involved shooting that claimed the life of a teenager. (
Webmaster Note: Swuave Lopez was handcuffed and not a threat to
police at the time of his death by police
gunshots. Lopez was a survivor of Summit View, a
"program" for troubled teens. How many kids have to
suffer before something is done to stop this torture industry?)
For complete story,
click here.
Commentary:
Behavior Modification Facilities Are Not Safe:
The nation was recently shocked by the beating death of
14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson in a Florida boot
camp. Sadly, this is not the first case of a death occurring in a
“behavior modification” facility; in fact, there have been three
deaths in such facilities throughout the country
since December 2005. Although the camp that Anderson attended has
recently been shut down, many similar ones are still in operation
throughout the country. You’ve
probably seen people from these programs on daytime TV. They’re the
“drill sergeants” that yell at kids until they break down (at
least that’s all they do on live TV). They
say that their version of “tough love” is completely safe, and
effectively treats problems such as defiance and drug use. The
evidence shows otherwise. One hundred
and
nineteen deaths have been reported due to treatment received in these
facilities. Many are caused by asphyxiation due to the use of
restraints. These are not typical handcuff
restraints, as you may be thinking. Some of these cases have involved
arms being twisted behind the back to the point of breaking and staff
members lying or sitting
on top of the child for upwards of 30 minutes. Restraints are commonly
used to punish such horrendous offenses as talking out of turn and
making eye contact with another
student. It should be noted that restraints have caused at least 30 of
the 119 deaths. First-hand accounts from students and former
staff members of these facilities are
equally disturbing. Their statements and experiences make these
facilities seem less like boot camps and more like Abu Ghraib. Stress
positions, beatings, hog-tying, humiliation (including making students
soil themselves), and sexual abuse are among the charges. Fox
News ran a three-part expose last year on one of the main groups of
facilities that operates under the name of WWASPS, or World Wide
Association of Specialty Programs and Schools. The former president of
WWASPS admitted under oath,
in WWASPS v. PURE, that abuse “probably” happens. In the same
court case the current president of WWASPS, Ken Kay, stated that most
allegations of abuse are not
investigated. He further explained that because these children are not
the typical “college prep type,” sexual relations between staff
members and students may not constitute
abuse. For those who doubt this, the court transcripts are available
at www.isaccorp.org. Much of the other information given above can
also be verified at that site. (Webmaster
Notes: You can also learn more at
www.heal-online.org/childtortureusa.htm.)
For complete story,
click here.
Tough
love: Juvenile offenders say some discipline goes too far:
...Unlike most government-regulated industries, Michigan has no
clear outline of what is and is not accepted
when restraining out-of-control kids in youth institutions. A
state administrative rule simply prohibits "cruel and severe
discipline" and "excessive chemical, mechanical
or physical restraint." Nowhere does it detail what that
entails. "It leaves too much open for interpretation, and
when you have a lack of policy, there is more room
for error," said Fred Woelmer, director of the Genesee Valley
Regional Center and vice president of the Michigan Juvenile Detention
Association. "It makes a difficult job
even more difficult." But for the first time in more than
30 years, that rule is up for review this summer by state officials.
Those in the juvenile justice field hope to see
significant
changes made. Adding weight to their plea are recent problems at
the beleaguered Camp Highfields in rural Ingham County where the three
above scenarios played
out earlier this year. Counselors' reactions in two of those
cases and another led to the suspension of the residential program in
February and uncertainty about whether
the program will continue. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source: www.lsj.com
Date: May 7, 2006)
Lives
Lost:
Brittani Head was set to graduate from Crossroads Christian
Academy in May. Shortly before Brittani died, her mom just finished
paying for her senior trip to Cancun,
where Brittani planned to go with some local friends, and some friends
from Florida. She loved
sports: soccer, softball and cheerleading, and was a big LSU
tiger fan,
said her dad, Glynn Head. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.theadvertiser.com Date: May 7, 2006)
License
To Harm:
To
be a manicurist in the state of Washington, you must take 600 hours of
training and pass both a written exam and a skills demonstration. To cut hair,
you need 1,000 hours of training and the two tests.
But to be a registered counselor, someone who will help guide
troubled clients through some of their most difficult life
challenges, you need take only a four-hour AIDS-awareness class.
That's it — that and a $40 registration fee. You don't even need a
high-school diploma. That
sounds like
an invitation for trouble — and it is.
In the past decade, the state has
sanctioned
104 registered counselors for sexual misconduct. That's more than
for any other health
profession, and more than the cases involving doctors, dentists and
registered nurses combined. It's just a fraction of the actual
incidents of abuse, since, experts say,
most go unreported. "It's
kind of scary," said David Kaplan, chief professional officer of
the American Counseling Association, based in Virginia. "If
someone who has an
eighth-grade education can walk in and be a counselor, how in the
world is Washington protecting the public?" For
complete story,
click here.
Child
Abuse for Profit is Occurring in America:
“No one shall
be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.”-- Article 5, U.N. Declaration
of Universal Human Rights… “You
wouldn’t believe the terrible things that were done to me,” says
Alexia Parks’ niece in An American Gulag.
[1]
But she continues:
“I know now it was for my own good.” Thus ends Parks’ account of
her struggle to help her niece after she was enrolled in several
behavior modification schools. The
similarity to the end of 1984 is striking: a previously
headstrong individual returns from months of torture as merely a shell
of their former self, having learned to love their tormentors. The
difference is that Parks’ story is true.
Usual definitions of torture include the use of practices such
as solitary confinement, non-medical application of psychiatric
drugs, unprovoked beatings, starvation, and verbal abuse as means to
change a person’s behavior. Many Americans are reluctant to support
the use these techniques
even on criminals, much less teenagers with behavioral problems.
Unfortunately, this is exactly what is being done on a large-scale
basis as “tough-love” programs
have become a booming industry. These programs come in several
varieties, including boot camps, “therapeutic” boarding schools or
academies, and wilderness programs.
At the cost of several thousand dollars per month (up to
$40,000/year), these schools supposedly provide a climate where
troubled teens can continue their regular
education while receiving treatments designed to improve their
behavior. In the
philosophy of these schools, reform involves two goals: to break kids
down through strict
discipline and routine, then to build them back up through
self-examination and therapy of various sorts. Usually, only the
former is accomplished. So successful is the breaking
down process that former inmates of these institutions often suffer
symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, even years after being
freed. Ex-students call themselves,
with good cause, “survivors”.
For complete story,
click here.
Students
in governor's office protest boot camp death:
TALLAHASSEE,
Fla. A group of protesters is demanding arrests in the boot camp death
of a 14-year-old -- and the
protesters want to take that demand straight to Florida Governor Jeb
Bush. About 30 college
students took over the foyer of the governor's office in Tallahassee
today. Students
from Florida State University, Florida A-and-M University and
Tallahassee Community College also want Bush to apologize to the boy's
family. (For more
on growing
protests, visit:
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/14399173.htm
and
http://www.wftv.com/news/8887440/detail.html)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.wlns.com Date: April,
2006)
Military-style
camps get boot after teen's death in Florida: TALLAHASSEE,
Fla. (AP) -- Putting juvenile delinquents into a military-style boot
camp would seem to be a logical
means of transforming rough-and-tumble kids into young ladies and
gentlemen. Many camps
were opened in the early and mid-1990s when corrections officials were
convinced it was the best method to help troubled teens mature and
stay away from further problems. But that idea has fallen out of favor
nationwide in the wake of research by
criminologists that indicates the programs simply don't work any
better than normal juvenile detention facilities. The programs faced increased criticism after
14-year-old Martin
Lee Anderson died in January after he was kicked and hit by guards at
a Florida Panhandle camp -- an altercation that was videotaped by camp
surveillance cameras and
broadcast nationally. That
camp, run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office, was closed last month,
but Florida still has four open, housing about 130 teens -- down from
a peak
of nine camps and 364 inmates about eight years ago. At the concept's
peak in the mid-1990s, about 4,500 teens were housed nationally in
juvenile boot camps. Some
expect that downward trend to continue.
"As we know boot camps today, they're not going to
exist," said Florida state Rep. Gus Barreiro, chairman of the
House Criminal
Justice Appropriations Committee. "Intimidation-based programming
ultimately has very short-term results, and what we want is long-term
results." But the
boot camps
still have powerful supporters who say the programs work, including
Gov. Jeb Bush, who said he has no intention of closing any more camps
or changing their methods.
(Webmaster Note: If you expect the Bush family to do anything to protect human
rights or children's welfare, you are an idiot! They are in partnerships and social relationships with the
most notorious child torturers in the US.
They will never side with justice.
They must be impeached and removed from office now!)
For complete story,
click here.
Students
cited for truancy at immigrant-rights rally: Sabado, 04-15-2006 :
Truancy
citations were handed out Friday to 28 Chaparral High students who
were at an immigrant-rights rally along Rancho California Road during
school hours . "We are setting the tone that in Temecula the Police
Department is not going to tolerate planned truancy,"
Capt. Mitch Alm said. School
resource officers heard Thursday about the possibility of a march and
notified the school district, he said.
For complete story,
click here.
Man
who ran program for teens in Michigan charged in Minnesota:
MINNEAPOLIS The former executive director of a Minneapolis
agency that works with children and families who ran a program for troubled teens in Michigan has
been charged with sexually assaulting a teenager.
Police say the abuse began in 2002 and the teenager was known to Richard Pahl Junior -- but NOT through his work with
the Minneapolis human services organization Freeport West. Pahl has
been fired. Forty-four-year-old
Pahl was
a director of the Link Crisis Intervention Center in Saint Joseph
(Michigan) before he moved to Minnesota in December.
A criminal complaint says a search of Pahl's Eden
Prairie (Minnesota) house yielded 18 binders with pictures of naked
boys from ages five to 16. Many of them were engaged in sexual
activity with other children. (Webmaster
Note: Facilities for
troubled teens are not regulated by any third party or gov't agencies.
This is what happens when free enterprise runs amok.
We must regulate
these facilities. Tell
your representatives to support HR 1738, the "End Institutionalized
Abuse of Children Act" now!) (Unable to locate story
at time of archiving. Source:
www.wlns.com Date: April, 2006)
2
youth camp counselors sued in abuse case: Two
counselors who shoved broomsticks, a cane, a flashlight and a mop
handle into the rectums of 18 boys at a youth camp
were sued this week in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Two victims accuse Clifton Bennett, 18, and Kyle Wheeler, 19,
of committing physical and sexual assaults on
boys who were attending a leadership camp in Prescott. Bennett's
father, state Senate President Ken Bennett, is also named in the suit. Bennett and Wheeler were initially
charged with 36 counts of kidnapping and assault. But the Yavapai
County Attorney's Office last week offered Bennett and Wheeler a plea
deal that could result in probation
and conviction on misdemeanor charges.
(Webmaster Note: This is
unfortunately what happens when uneducated, unqualified, and
unsupervised people are allowed
charge over children. Parents
beware.)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.azcentral.com Date: April
12, 2006)
Update:
First Death by Suicide = Anthony Soltero, 14 Year-Old Son Terrorized
by Vice-Principal: 04-09-2006:
14 year old Chicano who killed
himself after his principle
told him he was going to send him to jail for 3 years for organizing
immigrant rights walkouts at his school, didn't let him take part in
graduation activities, and told him
he was going to fine his mother.
(Webmaster Note: Public
Schools are supposed to protect Constitutional Freedoms of students,
not act as a police state using threats
and abuse to insure conformity. Our
hearts break for Anthony and his surviving family. What a sorrowful state of affairs. Ideas for actions on this?
Let us know!)
For complete story,
click here.
Police
Searching For Missing Girl, 16:
BOSTON -- Police are searching for a Pembroke, Mass.,
girl who left a school for troubled teens nearly a week ago and
hasn't been
seen since. Family
members said Brenda Santos, 16, doesn't have her medication with her,
so they're desperate to find her.
NewsCenter 5's Mary Saladna reported that
Santos' family is distraught. "We
love her and we miss her and you know, she needs to know that if she
has control of this situation, you know, we're not mad. We just want
her home," her mother Amy said, breaking into tears.
Amy and Bob Santos have not seen their daughter for six days.
The couple adopted Brenda at age 5 to rescue the
girl from a childhood of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The
teen attends Pelham Academy in Lexington, a school and residential
treatment program where she receives
medication, counseling and support for her special emotional needs.
But last Friday morning, Brenda, who is supposed to be closely
supervised, was allowed to walk
out of the school with another student.
"They have acknowledged the fact that the staff were not
trained appropriately," Amy said.
(Webmaster Note: If you know anything
about Pelham Academy,
please
report to us so we can add them to
the
list. Thanks.) For complete story,
click here.
Teen
gets 30 years in fatal shooting:
A
teenage boy was sentenced to 30 years in prison this morning for
fatally shooting a 34-year-old man last year.
The first dozen years
of 16-year-old Kevin A. Roy’s sentence are minimum mandatory,
meaning he will not receive time off for good behavior during those
years. After his release,
Superior Court
Judge Charles H. Toliver IV ordered that Roy spend a year in a halfway
house, followed by 18 months probation.
“I think it was an appropriate sentence,” prosecutor Cari
Ann Van Dyke said, adding that Roy had been given opportunities in the
past, such as boot camp, to straighten himself up, but didn’t.
(Webmaster Note: How anyone can
call "boot camps" or "residential treatment
programs" an opportunity to straighten up, is beyond me.
These programs are not effective, do more harm than good,
create anger
and post traumatic stress, and likely directly contributed to this
tragedy. That's the
reality of it!)
(Unable to locate full story at time of archiving. Source:
www.delawareonline.com
Date: April 5, 2006)
Too
much boot:
Florida
boot camps have long needed a thorough evaluation of their
effectiveness in rehabilitating juvenile offenders. It's too bad it
took the death of a Bay County
teen to put the boot camp concept under the microscope.
That is, however, the catalyst for a review by law enforcement
and legislative officials into whether boot camps
do more harm than good in motivating juveniles to turn around their
lives before becoming hardened criminals. The videotape of Martin Lee
Anderson's manhandling by
burly guards before being pronounced dead hours after being admitted
to the Panama City boot camp was a shocking example of the boot camp
philosophy run amok. Boot
camps were a product of a 1980s juvenile crime wave that threatened
the state's tourism industry. After a series of violent attacks on
tourists by young hoodlums that made
sensational headlines, a boot camp program for adults was adapted to
include younger offenders. It combined the "scared straight"
approach of exposing delinquent youths
to real jail conditions with the "tough love" approach then
seen as an effective form of drug rehabilitation. It was thought that
the harsh conditions of military-style boot camps
would instill discipline and respect in youths to whom such principles
were foreign. Angry, in-your-face confrontations with trained drill
instructors, especially in the intake
phase, were intended to break down the rebellious attitudes that got
teens in trouble with the law and to establish a foundation for
positive change. But many
juvenile advocates dispute the effectiveness of the angry
confrontations. Young brains still developing don't always connect
consequences with actions, they say. And while the harsh discipline
may bring about compliance after a time, it also builds anger - anger
which the youths may suppress while there but which erupts when they
are released. (Unable to locate full story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.bradenton.com Date: April, 2006)
Sex
tourism thriving in Bible Belt:
ATLANTA
(Reuters)--In a sleazy hotel room, "Brittany", then aged 16
and drugged into oblivion, waited for the men to arrive. Her pimps sent
as many as 17 clients an evening through the door.
A "john" could even pre-book the pretty young blonde
for $1,000 a night, sometimes flying in and out from a nearby airport.
None of this happened in Bangkok or Costa Rica, places that
have become synonymous with sex tourism and underage sex.
It took place in Atlanta, the buckle of the
U.S. Bible Belt, where the world's busiest passenger airport provides
a cheaper, more convenient, and safer underage sex destination for men
seeking girls as young as 10.
"Men
fly in, are met by pimps, have sex with a 14-year-old for lunch, and
get home in time for dinner with the family," said Sanford Jones,
the chief juvenile judge of Fulton
County, Georgia. A new
federal law passed in 2003 ensures that American sex tourists landing
on foreign soil and hiring prostitutes under the age of 18 can get
30 years
in prison. But in
Georgia, punishment for pimping or soliciting sex with a girl under 18
is only five to 20 years, according to Deborah Espy, the Deputy
District Attorney
of Fulton County. "Men
are coming to Atlanta to have sex with a child," said LaKendra
Baker, project manager for the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation
(CEASE). Half of the
street-level prostitutes in Atlanta are believed to be under 18,
according to experts.
For complete story,
click here.
Gunned
down: the teenager who dared to walk across his neighbor's prized lawn:
"I
just killed a kid," Charles Martin told the emergency services
operator. "I shot him
with a goddamn 410 shotgun twice."
He had gunned down Larry Mugrage, his neighbors' 15-year-old
son. The teenager's crime: walking across Mr. Martin's lawn on
his way
home. Mr. Martin opened fire from his house and then, according to the
police, walked up to the wounded boy and pulled the trigger again at
close range, killing him. Even
in a country with a long history of gun violence, the killing of Larry
Mugrage in a quiet Cincinnati suburb on Monday stands out as
particularly senseless. Mr. Martin seems
to have been liked well enough in the neat bungalow-lined streets of
Union Township, but he appears to have been obsessed with the
territorial integrity of his patchy lawn.
Neighbors said he would work himself into a rage if they mowed
a foot over the
invisible dividing line separating
their gardens. "He was really warped on that
stuff," one
local resident said. Even
after killing a young boy, who was apparently running home to fetch a
video game, Mr. Martin, 66, seemed indignant. "I've been being
harassed by
him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up," he
told the operator. "Kid's just been giving me a bunch of shit,
making the other kids harass me and my place, tearing
things up."
For complete story,
click here.
We
Are A Torture Nation:
Simply
put under the "leadership" of the Bush family the United
States has become a torture nation. We have allowed ourselves to be
reduced to reactionary
violence blindly lashing out in disregard of all that makes us good
people. The evidence of this is overwhelming ... going light years
beyond a reasonable doubt into
the galaxy of absolute proof. During
Attorney General Gonzales Senate confirmation hearing Senator Leahy
asked "Do you think that other world leaders would have authority
to authorize the torture of U.S. citizens if they deemed it necessary
for their national security?" And Gonzales reply? "Senator,
I don't know what laws other world leaders
would be bound by. And I think it would -- I'm not in a position to
answer that question." (Text:
Gonzales Nomination Hearing, Washington Post)
Bush administration legal adviser John Yoo on 12/01/05 was
asked in a debate "If the president deems that he's got to
torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's
child, there
is no law that can stop him?" To which Yoo replied "No
treaty." This was immediately followed by the this
question/answer exchange: Doug Cassel: "Also no law by Congress
-- that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo..." John
Yoo: "I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs
to do that." (full
audio available here)
In a
previous posting on this web site I asked "Have you ever
wondered what it takes to get someone to masturbate in the dark dank
halls of one of Iraq's most notorious prisons,
Abu Ghraib, while guards took photos?" As shown in that
article the answer is simple: the Bush doctrine of torture. (We
are a torture state, 10/21/05) In Iraq the Bush
led military has taken over not only Saddam Hussein's prisons and
torture chambers, but under the Bush doctrine we've also assumed
responsibility for carrying on the treatment we've so long associated
with despicable tyrants: "In the windowless, jet-black
garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts,
yelled and spit in their
faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a
game of jailer paintball." (Before
and After Abu Ghraib, a U.S. Unit Abused Detainees, New York Times,
03/19/06) Down
in brother Jeb Bush's Florida this doctrine is given domestic
illustration. "A teen who died after guards punched and kicked
him at a boot
camp likely was suffocated during the confrontation and was brain dead
when he was brought to a hospital, a pathologist told lawmakers
Friday." (Update
4: Doctor: Boot Camp Teen Likely Suffocated, AP, 03/17/06)
Governor Bush passed on the torture apologists' line the death was
result of illness, and in
response called it "one tragic incident". (Parents
want charges in boot camp death, MSNBC, 02/18/06) A fellow
human being murdered by a deliberate Bush
family doctrine of torture and beatings for those deemed unworthy.
For complete story,
click here.
More
Miami-Dade students face detention for misdemeanors:
Tonia
Green's sobs pierced the tiny courtroom, causing everyone to stare at
her 13-year-old son who stood with cuffs gripping his wrists
and ankles. ''Judge,
please . . . the school didn't even notify me!'' Green wailed. ``They
just carted my son away like some criminal.''
The charge -- kicking another student during a school fight.
Miami-Dade
Juvenile Court Judge Lester Langer glanced at the boy's paperwork, set
a trial date and ordered the teen released into the mother's custody.
''Oh Lord Jesus, thank you,'' Green sighed. Minutes later the
scene replayed itself, this time with an anguished Hailaine Jerome
rocking in joy after Lester agreed to release her teenage son, who
also got into a fight. Langer
says his and other courtrooms in the Juvenile
Detention Center are packed with more and more cases of kids arrested
for minor offenses, as school officials strictly enforce a
zero-tolerance policy in an effort to deter violent crimes on campus. "'The
juvenile judges are seeing a lot of school-related cases that could
have been handled at the school, such as schoolyard fights and kids
acting out in class,'' said Langer, who has been on the bench since
1992 and in juvenile court since 1997.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.miami.com Date: March,
2006)
'Sky
is falling' headlines a disservice to teens:
Regarding
"More teenagers engaging in risky behaviors" (Republic,
Sunday): Nowhere in the article is a single fact that clearly
supports the headline. It doesn't inform, but merely alarms already
jittery parents. I know: I'm the mother of a teen.
In reality, our kids are doing better than ever. U.S.
government statistics show: *Murders of teens are down 47 percent
since their peak in 1995. *Violent
crime in schools dropped 50 percent between 1992 and 2002.
*Teen drug
use, drunken-driving deaths among 16- and 17-year-olds, teen
pregnancy, the number of teens with more than four sexual partners,
and teen abortion rates - all have dropped
in recent years, in percentages ranging from 23 percent to 60 percent. Fueled by misinformation, the fears of parents, and urging
"pre-emptive action" against kids, a
billion-dollar-a-year "troubled-teen" industry has grown in
the United States. Let's
get the straight facts about how (and what) teenagers are doing so we
can respond in loving
and effective ways to our kids' real problems: physical, mental or
spiritual. Let's skip the "sky is falling" headlines and
marvel at how well our kids (and we parents) are
doing in a complicated world - and then resolve to do even better. -
Cynthia Clark Harvey, Phoenix (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.azcentral.com Date: March 18, 2006)
State
agency has cited youth camp, Highfields board members say:
The state Department of Human
Services has cited Highfields, Inc., for a number of violations, according
to board members of the Youth Opportunity Camp for troubled teens. The
sanctions are contained in an investigative report sent Friday to the
Onondaga-based social
services agency. "I understand there are citations issued pertaining to
incidents here," said Highfields board member Brian Cavanaugh of
the residential treatment program
for youth. "And it's our sincere desire to do whatever we have to
in order to satisfy the state."
The citations, which the members declined to detail, give
Highfields a set
amount of time to remedy, said Highfields Board Chairman Charles
Corley.
For complete story,
click here.
|
More
Kids Are Getting Anti-Psychotic Drugs:
CHICAGO
(AP) - Soaring numbers of American children are being prescribed
anti-psychotic drugs - in many cases, for attention deficit
disorder or other behavioral problems for which these
medications have not been proven to work, a study found.
The annual number of children prescribed anti-psychotic
drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5
million, the study said. That is an increase from 8.6 out of
every 1,000 children in the mid-1990s to nearly 40 out of 1,000.
But more than half of the prescriptions were for
attention deficit and other non-psychotic conditions, the
researchers said. The
findings are worrisome "because it looks like these
medications are being used for large numbers of children in a
setting where we don't know if they work," said lead author
Dr. William Cooper, a pediatrician at Vanderbilt Children's
Hospital. (Webmaster Note: Many physicians and psychiatrists believe in drugs over
dietary and environmental improvements and psychotherapy. Many parents don't care about their child's welfare and are
glad when drugs work to sedate their children. If you do not wish to sedate your child, but, wish to have
a healthy family, please do not place your child on drugs.
Thank you.)
For complete story,
click here.
|
Comedian
urges adults to help troubled teens: SPRINGFIELD,
Mass. Comedian Bill Cosby urges adults to give their time as mentors
for children who lack guidance at home.
Cosby spoke last night to a packed crowd at the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. He told the gathering
that children who leave school and end
up on the streets selling drugs and causing trouble need help.
He
asked adults to take an interest in troubled kids.
He put it this way: "Go to their houses, pick them up
and take them someplace. Ask to see their homework. Stay on them. Make
them grumble." He
also advised parents to take their children off fast food that packs
on useless
calories. (Webmaster
Note: Yes…
Adults must take an interest in building community and bonding
relationships with their children.
This includes mentoring, supporting
your child's goals (even when they differ from your ideas of success,
i.e. focusing on art/music/drama), and providing proper guidance and
nutrition. Please
see the
documentary "Super Size Me" to learn about how much diet
effects your mood and health. It's
not hard to make good choices. And
it is absolutely rewarding to have loving
and supportive relationships with our children.
You and your family are worth it!)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.eyewitnessnewstv.com
Date: March, 2006)
Boot
Camp Death Leads to Questions in the Use of Force:
Orlando,
Florida (PRWEB) March 16, 2006 –- The second autopsy of Martin Lee
Anderson, the teen who died
at a Bay County Sheriff’s Office boot camp, indicates his death was
caused by a beating and not a sickle cell trait. A videotape of the
incident shows officers kicking and
striking Anderson, after he stopped his exercises.
For complete story,
click here.
Former
juvenile prison guard convicted of assaulting inmate:
DELAWARE,
Ohio (AP) — A former guard at Ohio's only youth prison for girls,
who was one of 12 corrections
officers accused of a range of crimes including assault and sexual
battery, has been convicted of assaulting an inmate.
Stanley Gates, 38, of Columbus, could face
up to a year in jail when he is sentenced in April in Delaware County
Common Pleas Court. He entered an Alford plea Wednesday to charges of
assault and falsification, which
means he denied guilt but acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence
to convict him. Gates was fired from his job at the Scioto Juvenile
Correctional Facility, located
about 15 miles north of Columbus, in May 2004 and was indicted in
December of that year. Assistant
Prosecutor Paul Scarsella said Gates struck an inmate, puncturing
her eardrum, in December 2003 and then gave false information to State
Highway Patrol investigators questioning him.
For complete story,
click here.
From
Foster Homes to the White House:
It
wasn’t until Mickey Ibarra moved with his younger brother from Utah
to California at age 15 that he routinely heard his name pronounced
correctly…“It was tough,” Ibarra said, yet he would grow up and
out of those humble and difficult beginnings to work in the West Wing
of the White House and to open
a boutique lobbying shop specializing in Hispanic outreach…Ibarra
had settled into a comfortable life in Utah, where he was a member of
the freshman football team and
was reluctant to leave. Still, Sacramento proved a good move and
Ibarra now considers it a crossroads, especially for his brother, who
grew up to be a successful businessman…At his foster parents’
request, he returned to Utah to enroll at Brigham Young University.
But out of money after one year, Ibarra joined the military, like
his father
before him, for the benefits of the GI bill, a risky move in the midst
of the Vietnam War. Initial
orders to go to Saigon were changed at the last minute, and he
spent two
years in Frankfurt, Germany, before returning to Utah to graduate, cum
laude, from BYU with a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Ibarra then spent five years teaching,
including at an alternative school for troubled teens in Spanish Fork,
Utah. He went back to school at the University of Utah for a
master’s degree in behavioral disorders.
“Both degrees have served me well in our nation’s
capital,” he jokes. While
a teacher, Ibarra volunteered with the local branch of Utah Education
Association, an outgrowth
of the powerhouse political lobby, the National Education Association.
From there he made a jump in 1984 to a permanent spot in
Washington as a “political education
specialist.” He helped organize local chapters of NEA.
(Webmaster Note: Most (likely all) alternative programs in Utah are abusive.
BYU is the leader in brainwashing
and using "trauma-based" behavior modification. Anyone with a degree such as this and experience working for
an abusive teen facility deserves to be jailed, not
celebrated and promoted to powerful positions in the US.)
For complete story,
click here.
Youths
can use hot lines to report prison problems:
The
Indiana Department of Correction has installed hot lines at its seven
juvenile prisons so offenders can confidentially report abuse and
other problems
by staff or other offenders. The
hot lines will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and all
"serious allegations" will be checked out by the DOC's
internal affairs investigators, the agency said
in a news release Monday. Among
the incidents the hot lines are intended for are physical, verbal or
sexual abuse by other offenders or staff or major breaches of
security, the department said. The
announcement followed a settlement last month with the U.S.
Justice Department in which the state agency agreed to correct
civil-rights violations at state juvenile facilities dating to 2003.
The violations covered
by the settlement included physical abuse by guards and physical and
sexual abuse by other inmates. (Webmaster Note:
If phones are not readily available to call these hotlines and
a youth must ask
permission to use the phone and the person that must grant permission
is the person they wish to report, how likely is it that these
so-called hotlines will do a damn bit of good?
Not bloody likely!)
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.indystar.com Date: March
14, 2006)
Australia
Does Expose' On WWASPS: To
find out more, visit:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv-reviews/the-cutting-edge-tranquility-bay/2006/03/13/1142098386255.html More
on this story:
The
Cutting Edge: Tranquility Bay Sydney
Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia...
Here's a disturbing look at the murky world of the World
Wide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP), America's
leading provider of so-called behaviour...
For complete story,
click here.
Florida
empties boot camp where teen was beaten by guards:
Dallas
Morning News (subscription) - TX,USA
TALLAHASSEE,
Fla. – All juvenile offenders have been removed
from a Panama City boot camp where a 14-year-old boy was
hit and kicked by guards before he died... (Webmaster Note: They
mean the boy that was murdered
by guards at the boot camp, not physically tortured until he died of
"natural causes", right?)
More on this story…:
Prosecutors
confirm boot camp teen
didn't die of natural causes.
Bradenton Herald - FL, United
States TAMPA, Fla.
- The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was beaten and kicked in a
Panama City juvenile
boot camp said Tuesday she wants justice now that a
second ...
Allegations
Of Cover-up In Teen's Boot Camp Death All
Headline News - USA Tampa, FL (AHN)–A
forensic pathologist observes a second autopsy on the teen who
died at a juvenile boot camp and says results seem to
show his death was ...
Teen
in youth camp did not
die of natural causes, 2nd autopsy ...
Myrtle Beach Sun News - Myrtle
Beach,SC,USA... The teen entered the Bay County
Sheriff's Office Boot Camp Jan. 5 after being
convicted of going joyriding in his grandmother's jeep. ...
For complete story,
click here.
Teens
removed from troubled drug rehab center:
Deputy Chief
Probation Officer Michael Stauffer declined to comment on exactly why,
on Feb. 2, he pulled the four probationers from Daytop Village Inc.,
the 43-bed residential rehab center with properties in Belmont and
Redwood City. Four youth placed in rehab through the Human Services
Agency remain at Daytop, HSA Director of Substance Abuse and Shelter
Services Director Stephen Kaplan said…“It could be that we’re
going to stop using Daytop,
it could be that Daytop will have to reform some things … there will
be an examination as to whether Daytop is providing appropriate
services for us at the moment,” Gordon
said. “This is absolutely the right course of action for the county
to take.”
(Unable to locate full story at time of archiving. Source:
www.examiner.com Date: March,
2006)
Judge
to let DNA tests on youths start Federal database won't get access
pending a final ruling:
FRANKFORT,
Ky. -- Kentucky can begin taking DNA samples from juveniles who have
committed felony
sex offenses or burglary under a temporary court ruling yesterday.But
the state cannot share the results with federal authorities -- as it
does with DNA from adult offenders -- until the judge rules on whether
state law permits expanding DNA testing to juveniles.
The data, which could go into a state databank, would be
removed if the judge rules against the DNA collection. The state wants
to collect the DNA
samples to help solve crimes. State
Juvenile Justice Commissioner Bridget Skaggs Brown said her department
would start drawing blood from youths for the DNA samples within a few
days. "We intend
to take steps to protect the public, and we intend to start
testing," she said after the ruling.
But public defenders representing juveniles, who filed suit
last month to block the procedure, said they will press
to bar the Juvenile Justice Department permanently from testing.
The plans have created a lot of concern, said Gail Robinson, a
lawyer representing the youths. "The kids are scared, and their parents
are calling," she said. State
officials contend a 2002 change in the law gives them the right to
carry out the DNA testing but it was never enforced.
Lawyers for the youths say the change does not allow
the Juvenile Justice Department to collect DNA from anybody.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.courier-journal.com
Date: March 2, 2006)
Highfields:
Change must come at youth home:
Upon allegations of
abuse of children in the public charge, there is a natural revulsion -
a desire to sever ties with those who
would betray such a sensitive responsibility.
But when it comes to the scandal at Highfields Inc., severing
ties is at best a short-term strategy. What Ingham County and
the state need is a properly managed, safe Highfields to continue its
work with troubled teens. When
abuse reports surfaced at Highfields, Ingham County judges pulled
18 boys they had sent there. Ingham County commissioners halted
payments on a $2 million contract with Highfields, and the state
withdrew 15 teens under its supervision.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.lsj.com Date: February
27, 2006)
Tough-love
industry too rough on rebellious teens:
When teenagers defy authority, as most do, their
behavior might be seen as admirable, a stage in their path to adulthood.
But admirable defiant behavior, like physical beauty, is located in
the eye of the beholder. As a result, defiant behavior might be
labeled as pathological by parents,
schoolteachers, clergy, police officers and other authority figures.
At that point, discipline behind a time-out or grounding might kick
in. The forms of
discipline constitute
what journalist Maia Szalavitz has labeled the "troubled-teen
industry." It might involve a boarding school far away from home.
It might involve a 12-step program to deal
with the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, or with sexual promiscuity,
or with gambling. It might involve a psychiatric ward. It might
involve a juvenile detention center if the
police become involved. Or
it might involve the specific sector of the troubled-teen industry
that most troubles Szalavitz, a tough-love approach that often
includes expensive
fees that pay for teens to experience physical hardship in
life-threatening wilderness areas such as mountains, forests or
deserts. Szalavitz
focuses on four specific
tough-love programs that she considers especially greedy financially,
often ineffective despite advertising claims and sometimes physically
dangerous — so dangerous
that parents enrolling their teenagers need to worry about sudden
death. They go by the names of Straight Incorporated, North Star, KIDS
and World Wide Association
of Specialty Programs.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.desmoinesregister.com
Date: February 26, 2006)
Superintendent
fired over state juvenile prison problems:
The Indiana
Department of Correction responded to a spate of problems including
excessive force at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility
by firing the prison's superintendent and replacing her for up to six
months with a team of senior agency officials. Correction Commissioner
J. David Donahue fired Superintendent Jane Burns from the agency
for what he termed "unacceptable practices" and
"missteps of management at the facility," including not
following department policies. Three
guards currently face criminal charges over their actions at
the juvenile center about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
The actions Thursday follow a settlement with the U.S. Justice
Department this month in which the state agreed to correct civil
rights violations at
three state juvenile facilities dating to 2003.
The violations included physical abuse by guards, physical and
sexual abuse by other inmates, and mental health and special education
problems. The department
no longer operates one of the cited facilities as a juvenile prison.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.indystar.com Date:
February 24, 2006)
Father
seeks answers for Kern River crash:
BAKERSFIELD - A
14-year-old teen on the run from Camp Owens died Sunday when he
crashed a stolen truck into the wall of
the Kern River Canyon. The boy’s father wants answers in his death.
According to California Highway Patrol, Curtis Eugene Vaughan
escaped from Camp Owen, a minimum-security facility that serves as a
boot camp for troubled teens, around 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
The
boy was on the run from the camp when he crashed the truck he
was driving into the canyon’s wall.
His grieving father, Curtis Vaughan Senior, is questioning if
more could have been done to keep his kid safe.
He explains, “I was there an
hour before and he was fine.” ”They
said he'd be safe up there, and he's not safe he's dead,” said
Vaughan Senior. “If
he'd had been with me, he'd be safe,” he adds. Now
Vaughan Senior says,” I’m not ever going to be able to see or hold
my boy again.”
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.kget.com Date: February 21st,
2006)
Mother
Of Teen At Boot Camp Says Guards Routinely Abused Juveniles:
TALLAHASSEE,
FL (AP) -- The mother of a teenager who was at the same bootcamp
where a
14-year-old boy died after an encounter with guards says the guards
routinely abused juveniles at the boot camp.
Shauna Manning also accuses the Bay County camp's nurse
of dismissing juveniles' medical issues because she believed the boys
were faking to try to get out of the program. Martin Anderson died hours after a confrontation with
camp guards. A medical examiner says an autopsy shows the teenager
died as a result of complication with sickle cell anemia, a usually
nonfatal disorder of the blood. Medical
experts are casting doubt on that conclusion. For complete
story,
click here.
Teen
crime, adult time: Laws converge to put teens away forever:
A
teenager serves life in prison because authorities found his
fingerprints at the scene of a murder. But
jurors doubted he killed the victim, and police failed to fully
investigate other key suspects. "I'm
just a ghost now," writes Sam Mandez, who was 14 at the time of
the crime
in 1992 and had no previous violent offenses. "I'm the living
dead." Another teen
faces life behind bars for killing his mother. Jurors didn't hear his
story of parental abuse
because his attorney never investigated.
Testimony in the trial of 16-year-old Nathan Ybanez lasted only
a day. A third teen with
a history of alcohol problems is serving
a life sentence for a fatal hit-and-run incident after a day of heavy
drinking. Prosecutors cast the circumstances as a gang killing - a
theory even the victim's mother discounted.
At 17, Dietrick Mitchell became a "throwaway" into
the prison system.
For complete story,
click here.
Teen
arrested in rape, slaying-Victim
was employee at home for troubled youths:
CLEARFIELD — Police arrested a
17-year-old boy accused of raping and stabbing a
woman to death late Wednesday in a group home for troubled teens.
Police were called at 10:45 p.m. to 286 Marilyn Drive where
officers found a car that had crashed into the
side of a small red-brick home. A pair of tire tracks extended from
the street through the fresh snow, over the curb and through some
bushes to where they abruptly stopped
outside Doug Mahlstede's home. "I
heard a loud pop like someone dropped something huge and heavy, and
the house shook like it was an earthquake," Mahlstede said.
Outside he found a Honda Accord against his house. A young man
was in the driver's side of the car, barefoot but wearing a bloody
shirt and jeans. Mahlstede reported
the young man said he had committed a crime, "he was a bad
person, and he should die," Mahlstede said. "He tried to
kill himself by driving into the side of my house."
(Webmaster Note: Whether
it's rape, homicide, or suicide…the cause is the same.
When children are abandoned in every way by their parents and
sold down the river
to be enslaved, brainwashed, and tortured instead of receiving actual
help through patience, understanding, compassion, and love, things
like this are bound to occur. The
adults are to blame. The
adults who refuse to take responsibility for the welfare of children
in our care. Apathy and
resentment are the two main characteristics of parents
who end up subjecting their children to institutionalization.
Our advice, help your kids get emancipated if you find the
transition from child to adult too inconvenient for
you. It's much more
effective and loving than paying to have them enslaved and tortured by
Mormons/Utahans. Thank
you.) For complete story,
click here.
Juvenile center study notes staff violence: Cook County's study of its Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, delivered Friday to commissioners,
finds a pattern of violence by staff members toward the teenagers in their care. The report, compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, cites
"multiple instances of battery or assault by staff on residents." One staff member shoved a youth and threw him to the floor, the report recounts.
Others used chokeholds. The 40-page study mirrors episodes previously reported in the Tribune and cited by the American Civil Liberties Union in its
court action against the county. (Unable to locate complete story for archiving. Source: www.chicagotribune.com Date: February 11th, 2006)
Two
South Florida lawmakers who saw a video of a teen's final hours say he
was abused at a juvenile boot camp. The boy died later that day.:
A 14-year-old
boy was ''brutally'' beaten by guards
and ''flung around like a rag doll'' at a boot camp for juvenile
delinquents in Panama City hours before he died at a Panhandle
hospital, according to two lawmakers who on Wednesday saw a videotape
of the incident. The
video, which recorded the last 20 to 30 minutes of the teen's stay at
the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp, shows officers at times
kicking, punching and choking Martin Lee
Anderson after he refused, or was unable, to comply with officers'
orders to run or do other exercises, the legislators said. To view video footage of the attack visit:
http://news.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBN7T3WSJE.html
and/or
http://www.wpbfnews.com/news/7158290/detail.html.
For complete story,
click here.
Aspen Education Group's Teen Therapy Program Featured on 'Dr. Phil': CERRITOS, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspen Education Group's
Copper Canyon Academy, an Arizona-based residential boarding school for girls, was featured February 7 on the nationally syndicated "Dr. Phil"
show. Dr. Phil referred to Copper Canyon Academy as "one of the nation's top therapeutic boarding schools for girls" when he recommended it as
part of a comprehensive therapeutic solution for a troubled, runaway teen. Aspen Education Group is the nation's leading provider of education
programs that improve the quality of life for underachieving children, young adults and their families. (Webmaster Note: Dr. Phil is an S.O.B.
who profits off of the suffering of others. He has openly praised Aspen Education Group programs (HEAL has multiple reports of
abuse and fraud from both parents of and survivors injured by Aspen Education Group.) Not to mention that Provo Canyon School, a more than
proven torturous facility for teens in need of closing, has also been featured on his show. Give us a break you lying sacks of shit.) For complete
story, click here
|
Boy,
6, hit with sex harass rap:
An
irate Brockton mother is refusing to let her 6-year-old son
return to school after he was suspended for alleged sexual
harassment, a term deemed “preposterous” for a first-grader
by a leading sexual harassment expert.
For complete story,
click here.
|
Devils
in the Outfield:…
Huffman’s side story is another
tale, with a Utah link. His girlfriend had him kidnapped and sent to
the Provo Canyon School to try to get him cleaned
up. “I looked out my window at the mountains and thought, ‘how the
hell do I get out of here?'” he remembers. “The Mormons seemed so
fascistic. I had a friend who
tried running away in winter and got hypothermia from hiding in a
snowbank.”
For complete story,
click here.
Teen
Opens Fire In Gay Bar:
"He
was shooting at everyone," said the bartender, who asked to be
identified only by his first name, Phillip, because he was
concerned about
his safety. Police found
the hatchet and a machete in the bar, he said.
Robida graduated in 2001 from the city's Junior Police Academy,
a "boot camp" that teaches
discipline to 12- to 14-year-olds, Acting Police Chief David
Provencher said. A family
friend who answered at his home Thursday said his mother, Stephanie
Oliver,
had
no comment.
For complete story,
click here.
'Benign
neglect' leaves youth inmates in squalor, review finds:
SACRAMENTO
(AP) - California's youngest inmates are living in squalid conditions
that endanger guards and youths, while managers
operate in daily crisis because of a lack of funding, according to
reports obtained by The Associated Press.
Shower doors at some youth prisons are so rusty that wards can
break off pieces of
metal to use as weapons. Two-way radios and personal alarms worn by
employees only work intermittently. And there are holes in dorm walls
and perimeter fences. "Benign neglect ... appears to permeate"
the Division of Juvenile Justice, a special security team found after
touring four of the state's eight youth facilities last summer.
For complete story,
click here.
The
Trouble With Tough Love:
… Many anguished
parents put their faith in strict residential rehab programs. At first
glance, these programs, which are commonly based
on a philosophy of "tough love," seem to offer a safe
respite from the streets -- promising reform through confrontational
therapy in an isolated environment where kids
cannot escape the need to change their behavior. At the same time,
during the '90s, it became increasingly common for courts to sentence
young delinquents to military-style
boot camps as an alternative to incarceration.
But lack of government oversight and regulation makes it
impossible for parents to thoroughly investigate services
provided by such "behavior modification centers,"
"wilderness programs" and "emotional growth boarding
schools." Moreover, the very notion of making kids who are
already suffering go through more suffering is psychologically
backwards. And there is little data to support these institutions'
claims of success. Nonetheless,
a
billion-dollar
industry now promotes such tough-love treatment. There are several
hundred public and private facilities -- both in the United States and
outside the country -- but
serving almost exclusively American citizens. Although no one
officially keeps track, my research suggests that some 10,000 to
20,000 teenagers are enrolled each year.
A patchwork of lax and ineffective state regulations -- no federal
rules apply -- is all that protects these young people from
institutions that are regulated like ordinary boarding
schools but that sometimes use more severe methods of restraint and
isolation than psychiatric centers. There are no special
qualifications required of the people who
oversee such facilities. Nor is any diagnosis required before
enrollment. If a parent thinks a child needs help and can pay the
$3,000- to $5,000-a-month fees, any teenager
can be held in a private program, with infrequent contact with the
outside world, until he or she turns 18. For complete
story,
click here.
Saving
Troubled Teens Through 'Safe Schools':
At Arizona's Department
of Juvenile Corrections, there are pat downs, cell doors and razor
wire. The arrivals come
in handcuffs,
are photographed and go through a 21-day evaluation to determine their
issues — like anger, sex crimes, mental health or substance abuse.
But the 300 boys at
the Adobe Mountain School, and the 80 girls across the yard at the
Black Canyon School, aren't exactly in prison.
Arizona's juvenile corrections system calls these facilities
"safe schools" — they are part prison, part school.
For complete story,
click here.
Charter
school lead fades in H.S.:
Charter school students
outperform conventional school students at the elementary level but
not in high school, according to a state report
released Monday. The
report, based on state achievement tests, shows differences of only a
few points between charters and conventional schools in reading, writing
and elementary school math. But
the gap is dramatic for high school math, with 10th graders in
conventional schools scoring more than 12 points above charter school
youngsters. The gap is more than eight points for ninth graders.
The results come as no surprise, said Jim Griffin, the director
of the Colorado League of Charter Schools.
Many of the high school level charters are targeted at troubled teens
who do not succeed in conventional schools. "Almost
half of them are designed that way,"
Griffin
said.
For complete story,
click here.
No
More Nightmares at Tranquility Bay?:
…As
a teen at Tranquility Bay, you can't call home and are escorted
between rooms by Jamaican "chaperones." Talk out of turn
and your punishment might be that a trio of guards wrestles you to the
ground. "They start twisting and pulling your limbs, grinding
your ankles," a student told the British
newspaper The Guardian. Not knowing when you'll go home, you
might take cold showers and watch "emotional growth" videos.
The promise is that you will return a
respectful, happy teen. But many WWASPS alumni who've banded together
at online survivor websites like
Tranquility
Bay Fight and
Fornits say
their lives haven't been saved,
they've been devastated. Several
WWASPS schools have been shut down after abuse claims. Tranquility
Bay's counterpart, High Impact, a WWASP affiliate in Mexico,
closed in 2002 after dark stories emerged. Teens said they were kept
in dog cages. Two parents, Chris Goodwin and Stephanie Hecker, told
the Rocky
Mountain News their children were made to lie in their
underwear for three nights with fire ants roaming over them and were
threatened with a cattle prod if they
scratched.
For complete story,
click here.
Son's
fatal overdose consumes ex-pitcher:
…They
pulled Shane out of Palm Beach Gardens High before his senior year and
sent him to the Academy at Swift River, a private treatment center and
boarding school in western Massachusetts, near Jeff's hometown of
Dalton. Swift River bills itself as a "therapeutic boarding
school," specializing in college
prep for "troubled teens struggling with behavior, emotional
issues or academics."… Shane was arrested and released on bond
for marijuana possession in North Palm
Beach in August 2003. But on Feb. 21, 2004, the Reardons' worst fear
came without warning. Shane
was found dead in his Winter Park apartment.
He was 20 years
old. Police found alcohol
and several kinds of drugs in the apartment. An autopsy confirmed
Shane died after taking a lethal dose of methadone, a synthetic narcotic
used to treat patients with heroin addiction. The medical examiner
also found trace amounts of other drugs in Shane's system: Oxycodone,
a painkiller, and Alprazolam,
commonly called Xanax, used to treat depression.
On the day Shane died, his roommate came home and found Shane
disoriented and nauseated. Shane eventually
passed out. The roommate thought he was drunk, according to the police
report, and did not call 911 until Shane started turning blue.
Shane was pronounced dead
at the scene. Jay Reardon, who at the time was nearby in Orlando, was
called to identify his brother's body.
For complete story,
click here.
Contraband
communications:
Children at Spring Creek
Lodge Academy near Thompson Falls live highly supervised lives.
They’re sent to the secluded backwoods boarding
school from all over the country for “behavior modification,”
isolated from the opposite sex and warned not to exchange phone
numbers or e-mail addresses. Possession
of a friend’s contact info is considered a major infraction;
punishable by extra months tacked on to the time it takes to graduate
the program. “You come
here alone,
you leave here alone. That’s what they always told us,” recalls
Scott Stewart, a 2001 graduate of Spring Creek. “They think if you
meet up with these people outside of
the program your ‘non-working’ lifestyles start coming back.”
Stewart says students used coded Bible passages and tiny notes
stuffed into the tubes of Bic pens to exchange
contraband information at Spring Creek.
Now it’s getting much easier for those same students to get
in touch on the outside, thanks to the increasing popularity of
Internet blog sites and forums. Online
communities like MySpace.com and Fornits Home for Wayward Web Fora (www.fornits.com/wwf)
now give former students of Spring
Creek and other programs in the World Wide Association of Specialty
Programs and Schools (WWASPS) a place to meet and share their thoughts
and past experiences.
For complete story,
click here.
Govt
open to teen work camp idea for vandals:
South Australia
Premier Mike Rann says he sees merit in a plan by state Independent MP
Bob Such to force vandals into
work camps. Dr Such says
vandals should be made to attend camps where they would fix damaged
bus shelters or train stations, or carry out environmental work and
attend seminars.
For complete story,
click here.
SWAT
Team Shoots Teen Carrying Pellet Gun:
LONGWOOD, Fla. - It
was in an instant, with a SWAT team surrounding him, that Christopher
David Penley slipped into
an alcove in a school bathroom and raised what officers believed was a
black 9 mm Beretta handgun, authorities said. Moments later, a deputy
shot him.
For
complete story,
click here.
Attachment
Therapy on Trial: The Torture and Death of Candace Newmaker:
Candace, endured painful
physical stimulation, was dangerously restrained, and eventually
suffocated to death. In the name of “curing her” with Attachment
Therapy, Candace’s therapists ignored her begging, screaming, and
gasping; eventually they were
convicted in criminal court. The extent to which some therapists
embrace such unvalidated fringe treatments is one of the greatest
scandals in today’s mental health system.
This damning indictment should stir a badly needed national debate
about these practices, and aid in the fight against them.
For complete story,
click here.
Teen
Collapses, Dies At Boot Camp:
PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- The family of a teen who
collapsed during his admission to a boot camp is suing the Bay County
Sheriff's Office
and the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The mother of Martin Lee Anderson says the 14-year-old was in
good physical shape. She says he had a broken nose,
a cut lip and other bruises on his face when she saw his body. She was
told her son "bled from the inside," but she says she
doesn't know exactly how he died. For
more on this visit:
http://www.workers.org/2006/us/boot-camp-0518
or
click here.
Details
About Corrections Officer and Inmate:
January
9, 2006 - Newly released
court documents are revealing more about the alleged relationship
between a former Fresno
County corrections officer and an underage inmate.
Adriana Rivera worked at the Elkhorn Boot Camp for troubled
teens. That's where prosecutors say she met the then
17-year-old inmate. For complete story,
click here.
Dateline's
Disgrace: Soft on Tough-Love Teen's Manslaughter:
Dateline NBC devoted an hour
last
Sunday to the appalling death of a 14-year-old boy in
an Arizona boot
camp for troubled youth and the recent trial and conviction of the man
who ran the camp in that killing.
Anthony Haynes died in the American Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactor’s
Association boot camp in July 2001 after being made to stand in
115-degree heat for hours and denied water and medical attention. Last
year, the founder and operator
of the camp, Charles Long, was convicted of reckless manslaughter in
Haynes’ death and of aggravated assault for menacing another
teenager in the camp with a knife.
But Dateline — like 48 Hours, which covered the case in a
2003 segment — failed to mention that there is absolutely no
evidence that “tough love” programs like
boot
camps help kids. The
Justice Department lists boot camps for youth under “What Doesn’t
Work,” – and a
meta-analysis
of the research on youth boot camps that conducted
for Congress in 1998 found that it was no more effective than juvenile
prison.
(Unable to locate complete story for archive. Source:
www.stats.org Date: January
6th, 2006)
Teen
dies after admission to Panama City juvenile offenders camp:
PENSACOLA,
Fla. - A
14-year-old boy died Friday after officials said he had to be
restrained by
guards when he became uncooperative during the admission process at
a boot camp for juvenile offenders.
Florida's director of Juvenile Justice said the state
will investigate
procedures at Florida's six juvenile boot camps because of the death
of Martin Lee Anderson of Bay County.
(Unable to locate complete story for archive. Source:
www.bradenton.com Date:
January 6th, 2006)
Academy at Ivy Ridge Withdraws From World Wide Association of Specialty Programs & Schools: OGDENSBERG, N.Y., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/
-- The Academy at Ivy Ridge (AIR), a boarding school in upstate New York, today announced that it had concluded its relationship with the World
Wide Association of Specialty Programs & Schools (WWASPS). "On November 29th we received word from WWASPS that it had accepted our letter
of withdrawal," said Jason Finlinson, director of AIR, "therefore we are officially no longer a member of the organization." While WWASPS has faced
significant scrutiny over the years, Finlinson cited his primary reason for leaving the organization as being one of "not needing" the affiliation any
longer. "The Academy is now capable of providing educational programs and seminars with its own staff or by contract," said Finlinson.
(Webmaster Note: It is speculated and in cases confirmed that WWASPS is slowly dismantling in order to continue business through franchises
that are independently owned and operated to avoid legal difficulties and prosecution.) For complete story, click here.
Bad
Kids Inc.: What’s to be done about out-of-control teenagers? The man who gave
us Citi Habitats has a plan to turn a parental self-help group into
a company
as popular and profitable as Weight Watchers.:
According
to the doctor, the symptoms are everywhere. The school shootings and
the self-mutilation. The vulgar
soaps in prime time. The designer drugs and the oral-sex orgies,
which, the doctor is confident, are not a myth propagated to sell
newsmagazines. “Twelve-year-old girls,
in my office, I have them,” he says. “They line up and give
blow-job parties. No, it’s for real. I did an MTV show about
this.” Ron Zodkevitch,
a 47-year-old psychiatrist from
Forest Hills who some twenty years ago migrated to Beverly Hills, is
making these pronouncements in his office on Wilshire Boulevard.
Seated in the sort of high-backed
leather chair that gives one the look of being on a throne, he props
up his feet on a grand wooden desk. He is wearing cowboy boots.
Beat-up, knocked-around black
leather cowboy boots that let you know he is not your typical child
psychiatrist. For this reason, he prefers being called “Dr. Zod,”
although the talent agents who are grooming
him for his as-yet-unconfirmed appearances on Oprah have
informed him that Dr. Zod sounds a bit too out-there, kooky in an
unmarketable sort of way. And so Dr.
Zod was recently rebranded as Dr. Ron, which everyone is hoping is a
more authoritatively casual persona to introduce to America.
Dr. Ron is what you might call a psychological Renaissance man.
His current professional duties can be described as follows: a
therapist for the troubled children of entertainment executives; a
paid confidant
of pro athletes with confidence issues; a defender of insurance
companies against workers’-comp hucksters; an associate clinical
professor at UCLA; and a hand-holder
to the diaspora of child actors who have grown up to be drug abusers,
depressives, and serial divorcés. It is a living made in a shadow
world of tormented egos and stunted
maturity, though all of that, if Dr. Ron’s plans come to pass, is
about to change. A good deal of effort is currently being spent to
turn Dr. Ron into the Dr. Spock of the
teen pandemonium years. For complete story,
click here.
Teen
Mother Ruled a Sex Offender:
SALT
LAKE CITY The Utah Court of Appeals is upholding a judge's refusal to
dismiss a sexual abuse allegation against a 13-year-old
Ogden girl who became pregnant by her 12-year-old boyfriend. The
appeals court on Friday ruled that the law's ``rigorous protections''
for younger minors include
protecting them from each other. The decision leaves the teens in the
position of each being both a victim and a perpetrator in the same
offense.
(At time of archiving, story was no longer available online.
Source:
www.kutv.com Date: December 31, 2005)
Lawmaker
seeks probe of teen boot camps to root out possible fraud, abuse:
WASHINGTON
- California Rep. George Miller is asking for a congressional investigation
of teen boot camps, citing alleged child abuse and fraud at the
facilities in the United States and abroad.
Miller sent a letter Wednesday to the Government Accountability
Office, the investigative arm of Congress, asking for a report on the
how the boot camps and boarding schools are regulated and financed, as
well as a review
at allegations of abuse and fraud.
For complete story,
click here.
Troubled
teen escapee injured in shooting:
An early
morning shooting in New London leaves a teenager in intensive care.
Police say the victim is a 14-year-old and had
escaped from a facility for troubled teens…
Police say the 14-year-old victim is not cooperating and is not
providing police with information. They say he was shot either
in the back or side and remains in the intensive care unit at Lawrence
and Memorial Hospital… Police
say several days before the shooting the teenager had escaped
from Mount Saint John 25-miles away here in Deep River.
(At time of archiving we were unable to locate full story.
Source: www.wtnh.com Date:
December, 2005)
Boy
Claims He Was Sexually Assaulted At Valpo Shelter:
A 13-year-old boy claims in a lawsuit to have been sexually
assaulted in May by a fellow resident of the Hanson
House, an emergency shelter for troubled teens. For complete
story,
click here.
Science
tries to find secrets of teen brains:
New
brain research is shattering assumptions held for generations about
the adolescent mind, fueling a battle over teen mental
health, the rights of parents and the effectiveness of treatment.
(scary…We've recently read articles on surgical behavior
modification aka lobotomies. Watch closely..)
For complete story,
click here.
Autopsy
shows boy, 12, at Kerr center suffocated:
Autopsy
findings released Wednesday attribute the weekend death of a Kerrville
boy to suffocation while being restrained
at Star Ranch, a residential treatment center in Ingram.
For complete story,
click here.
Salisbury
Mayor Calls For Thorough Investigation Into Alleged Child Abuse At
DRILL Academy:
Salisbury's mayor calls for a
more thorough investigation into alleged
child abuse at the former Lower Shore DRILL Academy. In a letter to
the state police superintendent, Mayor Barrie Tilghman says evidence
presented by state investigators
to the Child Advocacy Center Advisory Board is cause for concern.
Salisbury Police Chief Alan Webster is a member of the Advocacy
Center. Tilghman says he
told her he's seen video of "physical contact" and
"demeaning incidents" taking place at the boot-camp-style
center for troubled teens.
(Source: www.wmdt.com Date:
December, 2005. Headline above. Unable to locate
complete story at time of archiving.)
Center
for troubled U.S. teens shut down by Mexican officials:
A
center for troubled adolescents operating outside Ensenada has been
shut down, and 13 American teenagers
enrolled there have been returned to the United States, Mexican
authorities announced yesterday.
The U-Turn For Christ Youth Ranch, a behavioral
modification center
supported by the Perris-based Calvary Chapel, was closed Friday after
Mexican inspectors said they found a range of violations. Four
American adults at the center were
expelled and have been banned from Mexico for at least five years.
For complete story,
click here.
Del.
illegally jails child suspects:
They
show up in pairs in the middle of the night, a cop and a kid.
Some of the kids are silent, unsure about what's happening to
them. Most appear
indifferent, trying to maintain
a semblance of cool in a situation they can't control.
Some were hanging out on street corners late at night. A few
got into shoving matches with family members. Some said the wrong
thing in anger. All
of them wound up in one of Delaware's two juvenile detention centers.
None of them should have.
For complete story,
click here.
SageWalk
(ABC's "Brat Camp) acquired by Aspen Education Group:
Aspen
Education Group, a provider of therapeutic education to underachieving
or struggling young people,
has bought SageWalk.
For complete story,
click here.
Mother,
son found dead in apparent murder-suicide:
OCALA
- A woman whose 12-year-old son died in 2000 after being pinned down
by a youth camp counselor was found
dead in her garage with her 7-year-old son in an apparent
murder-suicide, authorities said.
Linda Ibarra, 36, was found late Tuesday lying outside the
driver's side door of
a sport utility vehicle. Her son Lorenzo was found dead in the
passenger seat, Marion County Sheriff's investigators said.
For complete story,
click here.
Behavior
Modification Money Trail:
The controversial world
of youth behavior-modification facilities intersects with a web of
intricate political connections. And where the treatment
industry sees cooperation with government entities, activists warn,
these links could cloud the prospects for public oversight of the
"teen-help" market. The influence
of the behavior-modification industry is felt on Capitol Hill. Four
members of the House of Representatives and one senator serve as
honorary board members of Kids
Helping Kids, a company with corporate links to a now-defunct
behavior-modification program for teen drug users known as Straight
Incorporated. The various franchises of
that program dissolved in the early 1990s following allegations of
child abuse, as well as criticism for using cruel,
prisoner-of-war-style brainwashing techniques on adolescents.
For complete story,
click here.
At
Some Youth ‘Treatment’ Facilities, ‘Tough Love’ Takes Brutal
Forms:
If
this was therapy, it sure didn’t feel like it. From September to
January, Claire Kent spent her
days digging up tree stumps from a barren field, her mind and body
battered by the elements. The work was part of her
"treatment" for the drinking and sex that had landed
her at a boarding school for "troubled teens."
In the Montana woods, Kent and a couple dozen other adolescent
girls had been committed by their families to a disciplinary
program that included chopping wood, exercising to the point of
physical breakdown, and being regularly bullied and insulted by
"counselors" – all in the name of what
the private treatment industry calls "emotional growth."
"It was just based on, ‘How badly can I scare
you?’," said Kent, now in her late twenties and still suffering
from anxiety
that she attributes to her experience. During her two-year stay, she
said, "they gave me the reality that life was just completely
unfair and was going to keep being that
way." For complete story,
click here.
Psychiatric
Hospital CEO Target of Probe:
Indiana authorities are
investigating whether the top administrator of a troubled psychiatric
program in Allegheny County violated
state regulations in that state.
An Indianapolis woman contends Southwood Psychiatric Hospital
CEO Lisa Machado practiced counseling without a license at Resolute
Treatment Facility in Indiana. The Indiana Attorney General's Office
is investigating. Machado joined Southwood as CEO in September. Earlier
this month, Pennsylvania
welfare officials downgraded operating licenses for three Southwood
facilities to provisional status. The Allegheny County Department of
Children, Youth and Families
responded by removing seven children who had been placed there for
treatment.
For complete story,
click here.
Kids
As Young As 12 Are Being Put On The Kansas Sex Offender Website:
Just
playing doctor could put your child on the Kansas sex offender
website. The sex offender
website is filled with information about people who have committed
horrible crimes against children. But KAKE News has learned kids not
even old enough to drive are
being called sex offenders.
For complete story,
click here.
Youth
prison officials have much to explain:
Workers
at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility reported abuse of inmates
and other problems to a legislative committee.
HEARINGS before a state House-Senate committee have verified
continuing abuse at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, despite
efforts by the Lingle administration to deal
with guards' mistreatment of inmates. Blaming the problems on the
bureaucratic process will not satisfy complaints in lawsuits brought
against the state or bring the facility
into compliance with federal standards.
For complete story,
click here.
A
Gay American Teen’s ‘Blog’ Reveals the Hell Some Can be Put
Through by Parents and Others:
Excerpts
from the story… "And
perhaps describing his current mood
as “worried” is a bit of an understatement. “My parents
lied to me. …[they said] that they didn't know what the rules were
exactly. … I see now why they “didn’t know what
the rules were”. It’s
horrible.. they’ posted below.. and I [am] so worried.
It’s like boot camp, but worse. I obviously was not supposed
to see this, seeing the bottom say
“Parental Rules (not to be given to client)”,” he writes…The
next posting is
June
3:
“It’s been a week of torture – anger, and crying."
For complete story,
click here.
Teen's
Death At State Boot Camp Ruled Homicide:
CLEVELAND,
Ga. -- The death of a 13-year-old who was physically restrained by
camp counselors has been ruled a homicide, a prosecutor said. ...
For complete story,
click here.
Boot
Camp Director Sentenced in Teen's Death:
(CBS 5
NEWS) – Fifty-nine-year-old Chuck Long was sentenced on two counts
of reckless manslaughter stemming from
the death of 14-year-old Anthony Haynes at boot camp for kids in 2001.
He received six years for the manslaughter charge and five
years for aggravated assault of another
boy at the summer survival camp.
The director of the America's Buffalo Soldiers Re-enactors
Association boot camp could have been sentenced to up to 27 years
in prison,
but Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Ronald Reinstein sentenced
him to six years…Prosecutors accused Long of abusing his power.
Long was tried for second-degree
murder in Haynes' death, but the jury instead convicted him of the
lesser charge of reckless manslaughter. He
was also convicted in January of aggravated assault
for threatening another youth with a knife. For
complete story,
click here.
Part
of Magnolia Academy Shuts Down:
The
detention center for troubled teens has been under the microscope for
months. Within the next month it will close…Magnolia
Academy is a detention center for troubled teens in Maury county. The
Wilderness Center is the treatment center there.
The move affects 30 teenagers who will now
be placed elsewhere. Magnolia
Academy has been under the microscope amidst charges of abuse and
inappropriate conduct. The
Department of Children’s Services
recommended that the Wilderness Center be closed. Magnolia Academy
agreed with that recommendation. (Story is no longer
available online at time of archiving. Source:
http://www.newschannel5.com/
June, 2005)
An
uncomfortably close look at nine troubled teens:
There
is something creepy and unfair about ''Brat Camp," which
premieres with a two-hour episode tonight at 8 on Channel
5. It reminds me of a despicable A&E series called
''Intervention," in which addicts of all kinds are fooled into an
intervention and scooted off to rehab, all on camera. Not
only have the addicts been filmed for our entertainment at their
lowest of lows, but they're clearly in no condition to have given away
their permission to be filmed in the first
place. ''Brat Camp"
similarly captures its confused kids undergoing extremely personal
psychological breakdowns on TV. And really, what 14-year-olds -- on
the edge or
not -- are able to judge whether they want to cry, yell, and reveal
their darkest secrets in prime time? Do they realize this isn't ''The
Real World"? Are they truly equipped to
decide that they want to spend their lives as TV's Lexie, ''Hostile
Outcast," or TV's Jada, ''Compulsive Liar"? I think
not…But the show about SageWalk makes me uncomfortable,
not least of all because the title itself reduces some pretty
deep-seated problems to mere brattiness. It may be hard to turn away
while seeing footage of these
kids smoking pot and drinking, or of their parents sobbing with
despair. But Jada, the 15-year-old from Boston who has trouble being
honest, deserves privacy when she
falls apart hours into the camp experience. Words like ''crying"
understate what she goes through on-screen, rocking madly and ranting.
For complete story,
click here.
Six
teens escape Outward Bound school:
Six teenagers who
allegedly burglarized an office, then escaped from the DeSoto Outward
Bound Center in south county early Monday
morning were apprehended by sheriff's deputies.
For complete story,
click here.
Doctor sounds alarm over medicated juvenile inmates--January
9th, 2005--
Soon after taking over as chief psychiatrist
at San Diego County's Juvenile Hall in 2000, Dr. Marjorie Shuer said
she discovered many of the children were being given such heavy
doses of psychotropic drugs that they couldn't function in school
and didn't want to leave their cells. Shuer reported the problem to
her superiors at the County Department of Health and Human Services.
A few months later she was fired. In a wrongful termination lawsuit
she filed in 2002, Shuer said she lost her job because she blew the
whistle on staff psychiatrists she believed were endangering
children in Juvenile Hall. For complete story,
click here.
These
kids face harsh reality:
Regarding "Brat Camp"…It
was exactly what Andrea Watson had feared. Since the show launched,
the founder of the local advocacy group Parents
for Residential Reform has been railing at ABC for returning kids to
their communities with continued troubles and newfound public
profiles. She has helped to circulate
a letter calling for a boycott of the show's sponsors, and asked local
ABC affiliate WCVB (Channel 5) to pull the show. And in part, she
blamed SageWalk -- whose officials
did not return calls seeking comment -- for agreeing to take part.
''The more I look, the sicker I am," Watson said. ''Any
responsible provider would never allow this to
be."Shay Bilchik, president and CEO of the Child Welfare League
of America, said he fears the show sends desperate parents a dangerous
message: that all outdoor programs
are effective and safe. Bilchik said he is penning a letter to
Congress asking for a General Accounting Office inquiry into
residential treatment programs. For complete story,
click here.
New
York Times Underplays Boot Camp Abuse, Lack of Success:
The Times played down abuse
allegations (and confirmed cases) which have long plagued the industry,
quoting unnamed “officials at several companies” who blamed the
incidents on “a handful of less reputable programs.” That
“handful,” however, is made up of some of
the biggest organizations in the industry. For complete
story,
click here.
Academy
at Ivy Ridge Settles Over Diploma Issues:
The
Academy at Ivy Ridge has agreed to pay a $250,000 fine and offer
restitution to some parents of its students as part
of a negotiated settlement with the New York State Attorney
General’s Office over its accreditation and granting diplomas…The
Attorney General had accused the school of
issuing diplomas illegally because the association did not have a
license to do business in New York State and misleading parents into
thinking the school could issue diplomas
that would be recognized by colleges.
For complete story,
click here.
Doctor
had revealed secret role as mentor:
For
years, Dr. Bill Schnall was to many the perfect pediatrician: a
hardworking man who rose to the top of his field while going
out of his way to help teens in trouble…On Tuesday, the state
medical disciplinary board suspended Schnall's medical license, saying
that relationship and others with
male patients crossed ethical boundaries, endangering the public.
For complete story,
click here.
Abuse
of power: Recent coach,
teacher misconduct no surprise to experts:
Just two weeks before Giordano's
Aug. 18 arrest, the director of a youth emergency response
training program was charged with videotaping and having sexual
relations with three teen-aged girls in separate incidents. He now
faces up to 12 years in prison. In
a third case, a highly-involved soccer coach and substitute teacher
was convicted of giving alcohol to four 18-year-old women members of
his private soccer club team. For complete story,
click here.
Teens
in Custody Following Riot at Care Center::
A place for troubled teens is the focus of an investigation
tonight, following a riot that broke out there over the weekend.
Six
teens are now in police custody and there is a lot of damage to the
facility. The officers
who were at the Cottonwood Youth Academy first at 11pm Saturday say it
was a
riot, and the situation was chaotic. South Salt Lake called for help
from other police departments. We wanted to know if there was any
indication of problems at the facility before
this weekend, here's what we found out. For complete story,
click here.
Newly
released documents reveal pattern of sexual abuse at Washington state
boys home for troubled youth:
SPOKANE, Wash. –
Newly released documents reveal
multiple allegations of sexual abuse stretching back more than 25
years at a home for troubled boys and indicate problems have continued
in recent years. State Department
of Social and Health Services records obtained by The Spokesman-Review
newspaper for a story published Sunday include five allegations of
sexually inappropriate
interactions between boys and adults associated with the Morning Star
Boys' Ranch in the past decade.
For complete story,
click here.
Battaglia
Firm Strengthens Influence In Pinellas Courts:
That
influence just got a whole lot stronger and a lot more visible with
Gov. Jeb Bush's recent appointment of firm
principal Edwin B. Jagger to a judgeship in the Sixth Judicial Circuit
Court of Pinellas and Pasco Counties---the same court system where the
Battaglia firm has joined with
Judge Crockett Farnell to bring contempt charges against Adams and to
file complaints against him with the Florida Bar which could result in
Adams' disbarment. Adams
openly admits that he has filed complaints with the Florida's
Department of Law Enforcement and federal law enforcement agencies
against the Battaglia firm and several
judges regarding improper influence and alleged judicial corruption in
the Tampa Bay area, supported by documentary evidence...
Battaglia has also represented Straight
Inc., now known as the Drug Free America Foundation Inc.. Straight was
founded in 1976 by Betty and Mel Sembler, appointed U.S. Ambassador to
Italy by President
Bush. Battaglia successfully represented Straight when the
organization sued the state of Florida giving parents the right to
force their children into drug rehabilitation
without a court order. For complete story,
click here.
Panel
to begin work regulating youth homes:
Is solitary
confinement in an isolated “hobbit hole” appropriate
behavior-changing therapy for a troubled, defiant teenager? Are
leg restraints appropriate when bringing such teens to Montana against
their will (but at their parents' insistence) to live in a private
boarding school? Who
is responsible when
an untrained youth “counselor” seduces teenagers half his age
while they're in his care at a church-based residential facility?
These are some of the questions facing - but
unlikely to be quickly answered - by the state's newly formed Board of
Private Alternative Adolescent Residential or Outdoor Programs.
(Webmaster note: Sounds promising
but for the fact that WWASPS facilitator is head of the Board set to
regulate facilities…What a slap in the face to all of us who desire
real regulation. It's not a battle
that will be easily won. But,
it must and will be won. Keep
on working!) For
complete story,
click here.
9
Ways to Keep Tabs on Troubled Teens:
November
1, 2005 -- One well-used specialty of Spy-Moms.com, two Moms Private
Eyes, is taming out-of-control teens. Like them,
you can find out exactly what is going on and where it is happening
with the combination of these techno gadgets and Mom or Pop’s
intuition. We know that these methods
can be distasteful and may seem over to top to some parents but
desperate situations sometimes require extreme methods to secure the
safety of our children. (Webmaster's
note: Yes, instead of
investing time, love, compassion, and earnestly listening to your
children you can now be an ultra-spying police force to watch
every move
your child makes helping them get used to the police state we are
slowly entering… Great!)
For complete story,
click here.
Pfizer
Health Solutions Challenges Industry Leaders to Put Prevention and
Wellness Models Into Practice at 2005 DMAA Leadership Forum:
NEW
YORK, Nov.
2 /PRNewswire/ -- Pfizer Health Solutions Inc (PHS) today announced it
is donating $10,000 in scholarship money to Healthy Living Academies (HLA),
a division of Aspen
Education Group, which operates the first therapeutic residential
boarding school for overweight children and young adults.
(Webmaster's Note: This
isn't the first time
the drug companies have openly funded abusive behavior modification
programs. Just more
evidence that they do.) For complete story,
click here.
Ambassador
de Sade:
(Bush's US Ambassador to Italy--2000-2004, Mel Sembler)
But where Melvin Sembler,
74, demands attention is as an object lesson in how cruelty can
be redeemed by the transformative power of political donations. For 16
years, Sembler, with his wife Betty, directed the leading juvenile
rehab business in America, STRAIGHT,
Inc., before seeing it dismantled by a breathtaking array of
institutional abuse claims by mid-1993. Just one of many survivors is
Samantha Monroe, now a travel agent
in Pennsylvania, who told The Montel Williams show this year
about overcoming beatings, rape by a counselor, forced hunger, and the
confinement to a janitor's closet in
"humble pants" -- which contained weeks of her own urine,
feces and menstrual blood. During this "timeout," she gnawed
her cheek and spat blood at her overseers. "I refused
to let them take my mind," she says of the program. The abuse
took years to overcome.
For complete story,
click here.
Senator:
Videotaped CYA Beating Warrants Charges--April 1st, 2004--SACRAMENTO,
Calif. -- A videotape released Thursday that shows the beating
of wards by California Youth Authority guards has prompted one
senator to call for local prosecutors to reconsider filing charges
in the case. The videotape, taken Jan. 20, 2004, shows a
correctional officer punching one CYA ward 28 times even after the
teen was already lying face down on the ground. The videotape, shot
inside Stockton's N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, also
shows a second correctional officer punching and kicking a second
ward. The Stockton District Attorney's Office has
declined to file criminal charges against the youth counselors
involved in the beatings. The matter is currently under review by
the California Attorney General's Office. For complete story,
click here.
Teens Claim
Abuse at Prison--July 2nd, 1998--Eight boys formerly
jailed at a privately run juvenile prison are claiming that
employees assaulted them when they were hogtied. The boys
claim in separate lawsuits that prison employees squeezed their
crotches when the boys' hands and feet were bound behind their
backs. The teenagers claim Corrections Corporation of America
employees often choked and hogtied boys at the prison off Farrow
Road near Interstate 20. The boys also allege workers improperly
used pepper spray on them. "CCA's conduct in authorizing and
condoning the practices... is extreme and outrageous and exceeds all
possible bounds of decency in a civilized society," Gaston Fairey,
the boys' attorney, wrote in the lawsuits. The lawsuits, filed
in federal court in Columbia, don't identify the boys because they
are juveniles. They are similar to one that another boy filed in
February. James Cooper, a lawyer who represents CCA, said he
couldn't discuss the lawsuits because he hasn't seen them. The firm
denied any wrongdoing in response to the lawsuit that was filed in
February. Five of the eight teenagers are home. Two are at
state mental hospitals. One remains in prison. The youths and
their parents declined to comment, Fairey said. After
allegations of misconduct, Gov. David Beasley ended the state's
contract with CCA. On July 1, 1997, the Department of Juvenile
Justice started running the prison, now called the Northeast Center.
Treatment has improved at the prison since the Juvenile Justice
Department started running it, Fairey said. "I'm still
struggling with the Juvenile Justice Department about programming
and other issues," Fairey said. "But the agency doesn't authorize
the techniques CCA taught its employees to control juveniles. It
fires employees who are abusive." Several reports sent to
Beasley showed CCA employees too frequently resorted to physical
force to control juveniles. For complete story,
click here.
Bashing Youth--March/April--1994--"Unplanned
pregnancies. HIV infection and AIDS, other sexually transmitted
diseases. Cigarettes, alcohol and drug abuse. Eating disorders.
Violence. Suicide. Car crashes." The 21-word lead-in to a
Washington Post (12/22/92) report
sums up today's media image of the teenager: 30 million 12- through
19-year-olds toward whom any sort of moralizing and punishment can
be safely directed, by liberals and conservatives alike. Today's
media portrayals of teens employ the same stereotypes once openly
applied to unpopular racial and ethnic groups: violent, reckless,
hypersexed, welfare-draining, obnoxious, ignorant.
And like traditional stereotypes, the modern media teenager is a
distorted image, derived from the dire fictions promoted by official
agencies and interest groups.
During the 1980s and 1990s, various public and private entrepreneurs
realized that the news media will circulate practically anything
negativeabout teens, no matter how spurious. A few examples among
many: * In 1985, the National Association of Private
Psychiatric Hospitals,defending the profitable mass commitment of
teenagers to psychiatric treatment on vague diagnoses, invented the
"fact" that a teenager commits suicide "every 90 minutes"--or 5,000
to 6,000 times every year. Countless media reports of all types,
from the Associated Press (4/4/91)
to Psychology Today (5/92),
continue to report this phony figure, nearly three times the true
teen suicide toll, which averaged 2,050 per year during the
1980s(Vital Statistics of the United States). * In a 1991
campaign to promote school-based clinics, the American Medical
Association (AMA) and the National Association of State Boards of
Education published a report that inflated the 280,000 annual births
to unmarried teenaged mothers into "half a million," and claimed a
"30-fold" increase in adolescent crime since 1950. In fact, 1950
youth crime statistics are too incomplete to compare, and later,
more comprehensive national reports show no increase in juvenile
crime rates in at least two decades. (Contrast, for example, the FBI
Uniform Crime Reports for 1970 and 1992.) The facts notwithstanding,
the national media (e.g., AP,
6/8/90) dutifully publicized the organizations' exaggerations.
* In the early '80s, officials hyping the "war on drugs"
orchestrated media hysteria about "skyrocketing" teenage drug abuse
at a time when, in fact, teenage drug death rates were plummeting
(down 70 percent from 1970 to1982). In the late '80s, the same media
outlets parroted official claims of a drug-war "success" when, in
reality, youth drug death rates were skyrocketing (up 85 percent
from 1983 to 1991--see In These Times,5/20/92).
Today, official and media distortions are one and the same. Who's to
blame for poverty? Teenage mothers, declares Health and Human
Services Secretary Donna Shalala in uncritical news stories (see
Los Angeles Times, 12/12/93) that
fail to note that teenage mothers on welfare were poor before they
became pregnant. Who's causing violence? "Kids and guns,"
asserts President Clinton, favorably quoted by reporters (AP,
11/14/93) who neglect to mention that six out of seven murders are
committed by adults. Who's dying from drugs, spreading AIDS,
committing suicide? Teenagers, teenagers, teenagers, the media
proclaim at the behest of official sources, even though health
reports show adults much more at risk from all of these perils than
are adolescents. For complete story,
click here.
TOP
Prison News Archive
Ex-guard attests to alleged inmate
abuse at Westmoreland County Prison--July
4th, 2009--A Westmoreland County Prison inmate was taken out of
his cell, punched, choked, kicked and threatened with death as
punishment for talking back to a guard, according to a statement
given by a corrections officer who said he witnessed the
incident. For complete story,
click here.
Innocents Lost--June
21st, 2009--A MAJORITY OF the Supreme Court ruled last week
that prisoners do not have a constitutional right to
post-conviction DNA testing. The decision was based in large
part on the assertion that federal judicial intervention was
unnecessary because the great majority of state legislatures
already had passed laws to give prisoners adequate access to the
revolutionary technology. The majority's argument has merit, but
the decision in District Attorney's Office v. Osborne was
nonetheless wrong.
The decision sprang from the case of
William G. Osborne, who was convicted of
the brutal 1993 kidnapping, rape and
assault of an Alaska woman. A
rudimentary DNA test performed on semen
found at the crime scene excluded two
suspects but not Mr. Osborne. Mr.
Osborne's trial lawyer declined a more
advanced DNA test for fear that the
results could definitively implicate her
client.
On appeal, Alaskan courts denied Mr.
Osborne's request for further DNA
testing, concluding that eyewitness
accounts and other evidence against him
were so strong that DNA tests would
likely not be dispositive. A federal
appeals court ultimately ruled that Mr.
Osborne was entitled to further testing;
the Supreme Court by a 5 to 4 majority
overturned this decision last week.
For complete story,
click here.
Keystone Cops at the Police Lab--June
18th, 2009--When CSI became the most popular drama on
television earlier this decade, forensic scientists
employed by police departments emerged from anonymity.
Discerning viewers seemed to understand that real- life police
laboratory personnel (filling a job description officially
known as "criminalist") do not solve murders and rapes
within an hour. Still, the glamorization generated by television
drama had begun, increasing exponentially with the spinoff shows
CSI: Miami and CSI: New York.
Many criminalists indeed serve justice well, conscientiously
analyzing evidence found at crime scenes, including blood,
fingerprints, scrapings from beneath fingernails, hair, dirt,
shoe impressions, tire tracks, hard copy documents,
computer messages and more. The good ones keep up with new
forensic techniques, write objective reports, consult
openly with defense attorneys as well as prosecutors,
testify truthfully in court and never lose sight of the
ultimate goal — convicting the guilty while excluding the
innocent from the pool of suspects.
But as it becomes increasingly evident that wrongful convictions
constitute a cancer within the criminal justice system, it
becomes simultaneously obvious that numerous criminalists
are part of the problem. One incompetent or dishonest
criminalist can infect hundreds of cases in a crime
laboratory, with some of those cases mutating
into wrongful convictions. For complete story,
click here.
Elusive Justice Overdue In the Case
of Political Prisoner Paul Minor--June
18th, 2009--It is time for the Obama Justice Department
to reverse one of the most egregiously political persecutions of
the Bush era - Paul Minor's bogus conviction on trumped up
charges of public corruption "bribery" despite a total lack of
evidence that his role as the top
funder of Democratic candidates in Mississippi netted him
anything other than misery and a harsh prison sentence.
Attorney General Eric Holder stated recently that "elections
have consequences." That premise should apply not just to
President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court and appointment of
new U.S. Attorneys, as Holder mentioned. It should compel a
swift review of the unjust prosecutions of prominent Democrats
targeted by the Bush Justice Department.
Paul Minor's case is Exhibit A.
Paul Minor's attorneys recently filed a straightforward,
compelling brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
outlining the multiple errors the prosecution made in convicting
Minor for bribery despite the government not being required to
prove a quid pro quo. In such cases, crystal clear case law
requires the presiding judge to instruct the jury that they can
only convict a campaign fundraiser of bribing public officials
if clear "this for that" evidence exists of a quid pro quo
agreement leading to a specific official act by the recipient in
exchange for the campaign contributions. For complete
story,
click here.
ACLU suit to challenge isolation
prisons--June
18th, 2009--Civil rights activists plan to file a lawsuit
today contesting the transfer of a Tunisian American prisoner to
a federal prison facility that some inmates have dubbed "Little
Guantanamo." The suit by the American Civil Liberties
Union on behalf of Sabri Benkahla could be the first of many
challenging the secretive units, which drastically restrict
outside contact. For complete story,
click here.
In Light Of New Report, ACLU Calls
On Congress To Restore Courts As Check On Prisoner Abuse-June
17th, 2009--WASHINGTON – In light of a new report showing
that a law intended to reduce so-called “frivolous lawsuits” by
prisoners has resulted in barring serious prison abuse cases
from reaching the courts, the American Civil Liberties Union
today called on Congress to amend parts of the Prison Litigation
Reform Act of 1996 (PLRA). The law
requires prisoners to exhaust the internal grievance process of
their facilities and allege a physical injury due to
mistreatment in order to seek redress in the courts. The
troubling consequences of the PLRA are made clear in a
Human Rights Watch report released today which finds that the
exhaustion and physical injury requirements of the law have been
particularly problematic for juveniles who are at higher risk of
sexual assault and other violence. The American Civil Liberties
Union has long fought to amend parts of the PLRA known as the
exhaustion provision,
the physical injury provision and the Act’s application to
juveniles. For complete story,
click here.
Grumbling behind bars: Prisons cut
back meals to save, critics say hungry inmates turn violent--June
5th, 2009--
ATLANTA (AP) — The recession
is hitting home for inmates,
too: Some cash-strapped
states are taking aim at
prison menus.
Georgia prisoners already
didn't get lunch on the
weekends, and the Department
of Corrections recently
eliminated the midday meal
on Fridays, too. Ohio may
drop weekend breakfasts and
offer brunch instead. Other
states are cutting back on
milk and fresh fruit.
Officials say prisoners are
still getting enough calories,
but family members and critics
say the changes could make
prisoners irritable and food a
valuable commodity, increasing
the possibility of violence.
For complete story,
click
here.
Prosecutors, judge accused of
misconduct--June
2nd, 2009--Attorneys
with the Louisville public defender's office are accusing two
prosecutors of withholding crucial information and then lying in
court about making a deal with a jailhouse informant in a
capital murder case. For
complete story,
click here.
Arizona: Halt to a Detention
Practice--May
30th, 2009--The director of Arizona state prisons
suspended the use of unshaded outdoor holding cells after an
inmate’s death. The inmate, Marcia Powell, 48, was left in an
unshaded enclosure for nearly four hours on May 19 as
temperatures topped 100. The corrections director, Charles L.
Ryan, said Ms. Powell, serving a sentence for prostitution,
should not have been left in the cell for so long. Mr. Ryan
placed three officers on administrative leave pending a criminal
investigation. The outdoor cells hold inmates when they are
being transferred from one area in a prison to another.
For complete story,
click here.
Guard charged in hospital beating in
Lancaster--May
28th, 2009--A Lancaster County Prison guard last August
severely beat a prison inmate who had been shackled to a
hospital bed, according to criminal
and civil complaints. Silvestre Villarreal, a longtime
prison guard who weighs about 200 pounds, climbed on a bed at
Lancaster General Hospital and straddled the inmate, according
to the complaint of a civil lawsuit filed a
week ago. The correctional officer repeatedly hit the
inmate, Vance Laughman, until nurses intervened. He struck him
so hard that he broke his own hand, according to the complaint.
For complete story,
click here.
Wyandotte County jail inmates barred
from sending personal letters in envelopes--May
27th, 2009--
The Wyandotte County jail is following Johnson
County’s example and preventing inmates from
sending personal letters in envelopes.
The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office
announced Wednesday that inmates would have to
limit all of their personal correspondence to
postcards no larger than 5 by 7 inches. The new
policy does not apply to “official”
correspondence — privileged or governmental
mail.
A release from the office said the move was
made to reduce the workload of the jail’s
mail-handling services and to reduce contraband.
For complete story,
click here.
A Standard for Fair Trials--May
17th, 2009--When dismissing the charges against former
Alaska senator Ted Stevens recently, the trial judge noted that
the prosecutorial failures to turn over exculpatory evidence in
that case were symptomatic of a larger problem within the
Justice Department. Indeed, such failures are happening across
our criminal justice system. Three weeks ago, the Supreme Court
reversed the death sentence of a Vietnam veteran because a
Tennessee prosecutor withheld witness statements that directly
contradicted the state's version of the case. For complete
story,
click here.
Cell phone nets TDCJ inmate 60 more
years--May
14th, 2009--A Coffield Unit inmate was sentenced to 60
years in prison Tuesday after an Anderson County jury found him
guilty of possessing a cell phone in a correctional facility.
A seven woman, five man jury found Derrick Ross, 38, of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Coffield Unit guilty of
having a prohibited item in a correctional facility. For
complete story,
click here.
Plugging Holes in the Science of
Forensics--May
12th, 2009--
A report in February by a committee of the
National Academy of Sciences found
“serious problems” with much of the work
performed by crime laboratories in the
United States. Recent incidents of faulty
evidence analysis — including the case of an
Oregon lawyer who was arrested by the
F.B.I. after the 2004 Madrid terrorist
bombings based on fingerprint identification
that turned out to be wrong — were just
high-profile examples of wider deficiencies,
the committee said. Crime labs were
overworked, there were few certification
programs for investigators and technicians,
and the entire field suffered from a lack of
oversight.
But perhaps the most damning conclusion
was that many forensic disciplines —
including analysis of fingerprints, bite
marks and the striations and indentations
left by a pry bar or a gun’s firing
mechanism — were not grounded in the kind of
rigorous, peer-reviewed research that is the
hallmark of classic science. DNA analysis
was an exception, the report noted, in that
it had been studied extensively. But many
other investigative tests, the report said,
“have never been exposed to stringent
scientific scrutiny.” For complete
story,
click here.
Florida expanding faith-based
prisons--May
11th, 2009--
PALM BEACH, Fla., May 11 (UPI) -- Advocates for
the separation of church and state say they're
closely watching Florida's expansion of
non-denominational faith-based prisons.
While 21 other states have faith-based
dormitories, Florida is the only one with entire
prisons focused on faith and character, the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Monday.
Glade Correctional in Palm Beach County this
week becomes the fifth faith-based prison in
Florida under a program begun in 2003, said
Kathy Connor, a state corrections spokeswoman.
Constitutional issues arise, however, when
prisons start linking where inmates live to
religious programs, said Alex Luchenitser, a
lawyer with Americans United for Separation of
Church and State. For complete story,
click here.
Ritter gets bill requiring DNA tests on
arrest--May
7th, 2009--A bill that supporters say will save "our
daughters' and our wives' " lives is on the way to Gov. Bill
Ritter's desk after lawmakers approved taking DNA samples upon
arrest.
Senate Bill 241 has been dubbed "Katie's Law" and is named for
the New Mexico college student whose murder spurred her parents
to push for DNA testing upon arrest.
The bill was amended to allow police to take DNA tests upon
arrest but for the sample not to be processed unless a person is
charged. The sample will be destroyed if no charges are filed.
For complete story,
click here.
Lawsuit filed over Florida prisons'
pen pal ban--May
6th, 2009--The Fort Lauderdale owner of a Christian pen
pal service filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday charging the Florida
Department of Corrections with violating the First Amendment by
blocking her from putting churches in touch with Florida
inmates.
Joy Perry runs Prison Pen Pals and the Freedom Through Christ
Ministry, which gives prisoners' contact information to churches
that want to send them Bibles and other religious materials. She
filed suit in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville along with
Adam Lovell of Edgewater, president of
WriteAPrisoner.Com.
For complete story,
click here.
Judge OKs inmate suit over routine strip
searches--March
31st, 2009--PHILADELPHIA—Prisons
cannot routinely strip search drunk drivers and other non-drug,
non-violent arrestees without reason to think they are hiding
contraband, a federal judge ruled in a potential class-action
suit.
The ruling in Pennsylvania follows those in nine other federal
circuits, although the 11th U.S. Circuit recently disagreed in a
case involving a prison in Fulton County, Ga.
Senior U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois, though, rejected that
court's reasoning and said in a 49-page opinion that plaintiffs
strip searched at the Delaware County Prison can proceed with their
suit against the Geo Group.
The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company, which operates dozens of
prisons around the country, ran the nearly 1,900-bed Delaware County
Prison until ending the contract last year. For complete
story,
click here.
Former Alabama judge indicted on
inmate sex charges--March
31st, 2009--CNN) -- A former south Alabama
judge is accused of checking male inmates out of jail and
forcing them to engage in sexual activity including paddling,
according to officials and court documents.Former
Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas was arrested Friday after
a grand jury returned the indictments against him. He was released
on $287,500 bond later Friday.
The indictments total 57 counts, and the charges range from
ethics violations to kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and sodomy. If
convicted on the most serious charge -- kidnapping, a Class A felony
-- Thomas faces a prison sentence of 10 to 99 years in prison,
Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said Monday.
For complete story,
click here.
Inmate Dies After Being Placed In Same
Cell As Man He Testified Against--March
15th, 2009--Miami,
FL (AHN) - An inmate in the Oklahoma State penitentiary was
sound beaten to death after being put in a cell with the man he
had testified against in a murder trial.
Prison officials said the two should not have been placed in the
same cell together, and there will be an investigation.
Corrections officers found 23-year-old Paul Duran unresponsive in
the cell Wednesday night, the McAlester News-Capital reported.
This was less than an hour after he was placed in the cell that
was already housing 32-year-old Jesse James Dalton, who is serving a
sentence of life in prison without parole, in part because of
testimony given by Duran about a 2003 murder. For complete
story,
click here.
Lawsuit claims abuse in La. jail;
attorney likens prison to Abu Ghraib--March
6th, 2009--ST. TAMMANY, La. — A contractor and
former law enforcement officer has filed a federal lawsuit
accusing St. Tammany Parish deputies of holding him in jail for
four months in conditions his attorney likened to Abu Ghraib,
the notorious prison in Iraq.Norman J. Manton Jr.
of Covington was arrested in January 2008 during an investigation
into the disappearance of Albert Bloch, 61, of Jefferson Parish.
Charges against Manton, a former Covington police officer and
deputy, were later dropped.
Bloch has not been found.
Manton's suit, which seeks $3.25 million in compensatory and
punitive damages, alleges that deputies coerced a witness into
connecting Manton to the case. In jail, he was denied medical
treatment, held in isolation and beaten by other inmates, according
to the suit. For complete story,
click here.
Dukakis: Texas model in prison rehab--Michael
Dukakis knows the deadly spiral of addiction well.
His wife, Kitty, beat a highly publicized,
years-long addiction to diet pills and
anti-depressants.
As governor of
Massachusetts in the 1980s, Dukakis
championed cutting-edge treatment programs
for imprisoned drunk drivers in his state,
which were among the first in the nation. He
launched programs to curb teenage drinking
and drug abuse.
As the Democratic nominee for president
in 1988, he challenged Americans to kick
their habit of drink and drugs.
On Tuesday, Dukakis, 75, brought his
rehab message to Austin, in meetings with
state leaders to urge them to grow Texas’
treatment programs — even expand some to
cover Medicaid recipients.
And he brought congratulations: Texas is
a national model, by greatly expanding its
prison treatment and rehabilitation programs
two years ago in a move that was criticized.
(Please see the other articles on our site
exposing the Texas model as torture.
For complete story,
click here. For more
info,
click here.)
Cost of locking up Americans too
high: Pew study--March
2nd, 2009--
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in every 31 U.S. adults is in
the corrections system, which includes jail, prison,
probation and supervision, more than double the rate of
a quarter century ago, according to a report released on
Monday by the Pew Center on the States.
The study,
which said the current rate compares to one in 77 in
1982, concluded that with declining resources, more
emphasis should be put on community supervision, not
jail or prison.
"Violent and career criminals need to be locked up,
and for a long time. But our research shows that prisons
are housing too many people who can be managed safely
and held accountable in the community at far lower
cost," said Adam Gelb, director of the Center's Public
Safety Performance Project, which produced the report.
For complete story,
click here.
Orange County sheriff lets jail
gangs control bail bond referrals, claim alleges--February
28th, 2009--Three veteran bail bond agents have
filed a legal claim against Orange County alleging that the
Sheriff's Department allows gangs inside the jails to steer
inmates to certain bail companies in exchange for kickbacks to
the gangs.
In their claim, typically a
first step to a lawsuit, the
agents estimate that their
businesses are losing $100
million a year because of
the scheme, which is known
in law enforcement circles
as "capping."
"It's impacting my business and
there's illegal activities going
on inside the jails . . . to the
detriment to the people who are
playing by the rules," Bob
Drake, one of the bondsmen who
filed the claim, said Friday.
"We suspect several companies. I
don't know the exact number.
That's not as important as the
Sheriff's Department not going
after and stopping the activity
from occurring in the jails."
According to the bondsmen's
attorney, Richard P. Herman,
former Sheriff Michael S. Carona
allowed his top lieutenant,
former Assistant Sheriff George
Jaramillo, to initiate the
scheme, and current Sheriff
Sandra Hutchens has allowed it
to continue. For complete
story,
click
here.
Texas: Ex-Sheriff and Jailers
Indicted--February
27th, 2009--Seventeen people, including a former sheriff,
are accused in a 106-count indictment of sex and drug crimes at
a jail in Montague County. The former sheriff, Bill Keating, was
charged with official oppression and having sex with inmates.
Mr. Keating was defeated in a primary election last spring, and
has pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights violation in an
unrelated case involving the sexual assault of a woman. In the
new case, several female jailers were charged with having sex
with inmates and bringing them drugs, cellphones and cigarettes,
while several male jailers were charged with drug possession and
bringing inmates banned items. Several inmates were also charged
with drug possession. The jail, northwest of Fort Worth, has
been closed. For complete story,
click here.
A LOOK INSIDE ILLINOIS' ONLY
SUPER-MAX PRISON--February
27th, 2009--TAMMS, Ill. — Every once in a while, Joseph
Dole stands in a back corner of the walled-in outdoor recreation
area at Tamms Correctional Center straining to catch a ray of
sunlight.
"About 4 square feet gets sun," said Dole, a rail-thin convicted
murderer who is serving a life sentence. "You can stand there.
... You feel refreshed. But you can only get it if they call
yard between 11 and 1."
Another murderer, Adolfo Rosario, said he hasn't shaken anyone's
hand since he was transferred to Tamms 11 years ago. "There is
no contact at all, none," he said.
Tyrone Dorn, serving time for carjacking, hasn't had a visitor
or made a phone call in five years at Tamms. "The hardest part
is the isolation," he said. "It's like being buried alive."
For complete story,
click here.
America's Outsourced Immigration Prisons a
Booming Business--February
25th, 2009--Imprisoned immigrants in the large
prison complex outside the small West Texas town of Pecos have
rioted twice over the past few months complaining about
inadequate medical care. Their complaints, sparked by the death
of a sick inmate in solitary confinement, echo a chorus of
similar complaints around the country about medical care in
immigrant prisons.
Medical care, like most aspects of imprisonment in
America, is outsourced at the Reeves County Detention
Center. As a result, imprisoned immigrants don't know
who exactly is imprisoning them, who is responsible for
their medical care, and who they should petition when
they have grievances. For complete story,
click here.
Wrongfully convicted--February
24th, 2009--"I always believed in the system but the
system failed me," Steve
Barnes told a panel of New York State Bar Association members.
For nineteen years he sat in New York prisons for a rape and
murder that he did not commit. Barnes' case is one of dozens of
defendants in New York who were convicted and later exonerated.
On Tuesday, the New York State Bar Association held a hearing to
explore wrongful convictions, what causes them and what can be
done to prevent them. For complete story,
click here.
Santa Clara County public defender to
launch massive search for the wrongfully convicted--February
24th, 2009--As part of a criminal justice review unprecedented
in county history, the Santa Clara County public defender's has
launched a massive project to revisit 1,500 or more sexual
assault convictions dating back two decades to determine whether
innocent people may have been put behind bars. A Mercury
News report disclosed late last year that members of Valley
Medical Center's Sexual Assault Response Team have been
videotaping examinations of patients since 1991, but prosecutors
failed to inform defense attorneys in cases involving those
patients that such critical evidence existed. Under pressure to
answer for the failure, District Attorney Dolores Carr has since
revealed there are 3,300 such tapes in existence, and this week
she vowed to inform defense attorneys of each case involving a
medical-exam videotape where a defendant was convicted.
(Unable to locate at time of archiving. Source: Mercury
News.
www.mercurynews.com )
Your Valentine, Made in Prison--February
12th, 2009--With Valentine's Day approaching,
perhaps you're planning a trip to Victoria's Secret. If you're a
conscientious shopper, chances are you want to know about the
origins of the clothes you buy: whether they're sweatshop free
or fairly traded or made in the USA. One label you won't find
attached to your lingerie, however, is "Made in the USA: By
Prisoners." For complete story,
click here.
Inmate raped by cellmates can sue
prison guards--February
11th, 2009--The state Supreme Court allowed a
transgender former prison inmate on Wednesday to proceed with a
lawsuit accusing prison guards of failing to protect her from
being raped and beaten by her cellmates.
In her suit, Alexis Giraldo said she was
being held at Folsom State Prison for
shoplifting and a parole violation in
January 2006 when a cellmate began
assaulting and raping her on a daily
basis. She said prison staff ignored her
complaints until March 2006, when she
was transferred to segregated housing
after a second cellmate attacked her
with a box-cutter. She was paroled in
July 2007.
Prison officials denied failing to
protect Giraldo, who was housed at the
all-male prison because she had not
undergone surgery. A San Francisco jury
rejected her emotional-distress claim
against six prison employees in August
2007 after the trial judge dismissed her
claim of negligence, ruling that guards
have no legal duty to protect inmates
from harm.
The First District Court of
Appeal in San Francisco overturned the
judge's ruling last November, saying a
jailer who takes a prisoner into custody
must take reasonable steps to protect
that prisoner from foreseeable injuries.
California's high court denied review of
the state's appeal Wednesday, allowing
Giraldo to pursue her claim that
negligence by prison employees was a
cause of the assaults. For
complete story,
click here.
Crime lab deficiencies noted by
audit--February
7th, 2009--Baltimore's crime lab suffers from inadequate
funding, spotty recordkeeping and broken equipment, according to
an independent audit of the embattled facility released by the
Police Department yesterday.
The report, which the Police Department initially refused to
release to the public, found that the lab was inadequately
staffed, equipment to analyze narcotics had long been out of
order, faulty paperwork sometimes made it difficult to establish
a chain of custody for evidence, and evidence was stored in
rooms that were too warm, which could cause it to degrade.
In an interview, the lab's new director, Francis Chiafari, said
the audit is guiding a host of reforms and upgrades, including
repairs to equipment and a door that wouldn't close. He said he
made a request yesterday for 12 more employees to collect
evidence at crime scenes.
Patrick Kent, chief of the public defender's forensics unit,
said the audit exposes serious deficiencies in the lab's
resources and procedures. For complete story,
click here.
PRISONERS' RIGHTS, RELIGION & BELIEF--February
6th, 2009--Warden Cain, the head of Louisiana State
Penitentiary, more commonly known as
Angola, is famous for promoting what he calls "moral
rehabilitation."
Although the ACLU strongly supports anyone's efforts
to encourage prisoners to look forward toward
changing their lives for the better, we also expect
those efforts to be done in a way that will not
endorse one religion over another, or religion over
nonreligion.
Unfortunately, that is not happening at Angola.
Just under two years ago we had to file a lawsuit
on behalf of a Norman Sanders, a Mormon prisoner who
simply wanted access to publications from sellers of
Mormon materials, including the bookstore at Brigham
Young University. Unfortunately Warden Cain
repeatedly denied Norman's requests, so we had to
file a lawsuit. We eventually
settled, allowing Norman access to simple
religious materials.
Today we filed lawsuits on behalf of a Catholic
and a Muslim prisoner, each being denied the right
to practice his religion freely. As Yogi Berra would
say, it's déjà vu all over again.
Donald Leger is a practicing Catholic on
Louisiana's death row. He's devout, often praying
the novenas. Starting in April 2007, the prison
began locking the televisions on death row to a
particular station on Sunday mornings. The
televisions, located directly outside death row
prisoners' cells, are locked to predominately
Baptist programming on Sunday mornings. The images
of the religious programming pour into the
prisoners' cells and can't be escaped. In some
tiers, the televisions blare.
From April 2007 until December 31, 2007 and from
mid-2008 until December 31, 2008, Donald didn't have
the opportunity to watch a single Catholic Mass,
although scores of Baptist services were shown.
Donald and the other death row prisoners are told
that they will be written up and tossed in lockdown
if they try to have anyone change the television
station.
Donald has no problem with religion, it's just
that he is a Catholic, and he simply wants the
ability to turn from the mandated Baptist
programming to a Catholic Mass that also airs on
Sunday morning. Donald's written the Warden for
almost two years now, and has filed complaint forms
with the prison. His requests have gone unanswered.
Worse yet, he's suffered retaliation because he's
complained, and he fears for his safety. For
complete story,
click here.
Science Found Wanting in Nation’s
Crime Labs--February
4th, 2009--Forensic evidence that has helped convict
thousands of defendants for nearly a century is often the
product of shoddy scientific practices that should be upgraded
and standardized, according to accounts of a draft report by the
nation’s pre-eminent scientific research group.
The report by the
National Academy of Sciences is to be released this month.
People who have seen it say it is a sweeping critique of many
forensic methods that the police and prosecutors rely on,
including fingerprinting, firearms identification and analysis
of bite marks, blood spatter, hair and handwriting.
The report says such analyses are often handled by poorly
trained technicians who then exaggerate the accuracy of their
methods in court. It concludes that Congress should create a
federal agency to guarantee the independence of the field, which
has been dominated by law enforcement agencies, say forensic
professionals, scholars and scientists who have seen review
copies of the study. Early reviewers said the report was still
subject to change. For complete story,
click here.
Those cleared by DNA tests struggle to
be free--January
27th, 2009--ST. LOUIS — Johnny Briscoe
thought his nightmare was over in the summer of 2006 when, after
23 years of proclaiming his innocence, he finally walked out of
a Missouri prison.DNA evidence
lifted from a cigarette butt should have stripped away any doubt
that another man — not Briscoe — had raped and robbed a woman in her
suburban St. Louis apartment on Oct. 21, 1982. Yet Briscoe's
exoneration, featured by national news organizations, did notfully
free him from the persistent doubts of acquaintances and family
members about his innocence, or from the emotional scars seared by
more than two decades in prison.
"Rape," says Briscoe, 54. "Now, that's a
provocative word. When I try to explain it, it's a bitter pill."
Nearly 90% of the 227 people cleared by DNA
evidence since 1989 were convicted of some of the most heinous sex
crimes, according to the Innocence Project, which helps inmates
prove their innocence through DNA testing. DNA — present in blood,
semen and body cells — can be particularly useful in solving sex
crimes and often is the most definitive way of determining
innocence.
Yet not even DNA washes away the lasting
stigma that shadows once-convicted sex offenders who are cleared by
genetic testing, and the criminal justice system that wrongly jailed
them offers little help. Briscoe's plight is part of a silent
struggle for a rising number of exonerees. After high-profile
releases from prison, they often fend for themselves. For
complete story,
click here.
Torture at a Louisiana Prison--January
27th, 2009--The
torture of prisoners in US custody is not only found in military
prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. If President Obama
is serious about ending US support for torture, he can start
here in Louisiana.
The
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is already notorious for a
range of offenses, including keeping former Black Panthers Herman
Wallace and Albert Woodfox, in solitary for over 36 years. Now a
death penalty trial in St. Francisville, Louisiana has exposed
widespread and systemic abuse at the prison. Even in the context of
eight years of the Bush administration, the behavior documented at
the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola stands out both for its
brutality and for the significant evidence that it was condoned and
encouraged from the very top of the chain of command.
In a
remarkable hearing that explored torture practices at Angola,
twenty-five inmates testified last summer to facing overwhelming
violence in the aftermath of an escape attempt at the prison nearly
a decade ago. These twenty-five inmates - who were not involved in
the escape attempt - testified to being kicked, punched, beaten with
batons and with fists, stepped on, left naked in a freezing cell,
and threatened that they would be killed. They were threatened by
guards that they would be sexually assaulted with batons. They were
forced to urinate and defecate on themselves. They were bloodied,
had teeth knocked out, were beaten until they lost control of bodily
functions, and beaten until they signed statements or confessions
presented to them by prison officials. One inmate had a broken jaw,
and another was placed in solitary confinement for eight years.
While prison officials deny the policy of abuse, the range of
prisoners who gave statements, in addition to medical records and
other evidence introduced at the trial, present a powerful argument
that abuse is a standard policy at the prison. Several of the
prisoners received $7,000 when the state agreed to settle, without
admitting liability, two civil rights lawsuits filed by 13 inmates.
The inmates will have to spend that money behind bars –more than 90%
of Angola's prisoners are expected to die behind its walls.
For complete story,
click here.
Prison guard guilty of pouring
scalding water on inmate--January
21st, 2009--A Jacksonville jury found a former Florida
State Prison guard guilty of pouring scalding water on an inmate
to discipline him for feigning an injury.
Paul Tillis of Lake Butler faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a
$250,000 fine for violating the inmate’s civil rights in August 2005.
Prosecutors said he also failed to arrange medical treatment for the inmate, who
suffered second-degree burns on his chest.
A sentencing date hasn’t been scheduled.
For complete story,
click here.
Report: Calif. keeps inmates isolated too
long--January
15th, 2009--SACRAMENTO—The
inspector general of the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation says the department could save nearly $11
million annually if it followed its own rules.
Inspector General David Shaw said in a report released Thursday the
department keeps some inmates in disciplinary segregation units
longer than required under prison policies. He estimates the lengthy
stays, on average, cost taxpayers an extra $14,600 annually for each
inmate kept in segregation instead of the general prison population.
That's mostly because extra guards are needed.
The state can be sued if it violates the inmate's rights or keeps
the inmate isolated too long. For complete story,
click here.
Mistakes in fingerprint analysis
trigger review of nearly 1,000 LAPD cases--January
15th, 2009--Los Angeles Police Department fingerprint
examiners who falsely implicated at least two people in crimes
have been linked to nearly 1,000 other criminal cases that
authorities say must now be reviewed to ensure that similar
errors weren't made.
Nearly two dozen of those cases are awaiting trial in the Los
Angeles court system, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for
Dist. Atty Steve Cooley. For complete story,
click here.
Double Victory for Criminal
Defendants at the Supreme Court--January
14th, 2009--The Supreme Court issued two opinions
Tuesday morning, both of them striking down lower court opinions
that had favored prosecutors. Over at the
Sentencing Law and Policy blog, professor Doug Berman is
already proclaiming that the decisions offer further proof that
the Court is the "most pro-defendant appellate court in the
nation on sentencing issues."
In
Chambers v. United States, with Justice Stephen
Breyer writing for a unanimous Court, the justices agreed that a conviction on
the charge of "failure to report" to prison is not the kind of prior "violent
felony" conviction that triggers a 15-year mandatory prison sentence for someone
found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm.
"Conceptually speaking, the crime amounts to a form of
inaction, a far cry from the purposeful, violent and
aggressive conduct" associated with violent crimes under the
Armed Career Criminal Act, Breyer wrote. The Justice
Department had argued that "failure to report" should be
treated the same way a prison escape would be.
Justice Samuel Alito Jr., joined by Justice Clarence
Thomas, wrote a concurrence urging Congress to reduce
confusion about the law by amending it with addition of a
list of specific crimes that trigger an enhanced sentence.
The other decision,
Jimenez v. Quarterman, is a Texas case authored
by Justice Thomas for a unanimous Court. Thomas ruled that
because Texas allows defendants to file untimely appeals of
state convictions, the clock for the one-year deadline for
filing a federal habeas appeal under the Antiterrorism and
Effective Death Penalty Act should not start ticking until
after that out-of-time appeal is completed. For
complete story,
click here.
Gassing mentally ill inmates is out--January
14th, 2009--Two mentally ill inmates suffered
unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment at the hands of
Florida State Prison officials who disciplined them with pepper
spray, tear gas and other chemical agents, a judge has ruled.
But the same punishment was appropriate for four other prisoners who
sued the Department of Corrections on similar grounds, U.S. District Judge
Timothy Corrigan of Jacksonville wrote in a lengthy order finalized Monday after
a five-day bench trial in September.
Corrigan made the distinction based on the mental
condition of the individual inmates at the time they
were disciplined. The order means the department can
no longer use chemical agents on prisoners who lack
the capacity to follow orders or control their
behavior, said Jacksonville attorney Buddy Schulz,
who represented the inmates.
"It's significant because it's the first time a
federal judge has found this type of use of force
unconstitutional as it relates to seriously mentally
ill inmates who are incapable of conforming to the
rules of the prisons," Schulz said. For
complete story,
click here.
Va. cases shed light on false
convictions--January
12, 2009---- No one ever
claimed the criminal-justice system was perfect. But until 20
years ago, it was difficult to prove otherwise.
Since then,
225 innocent people -- 10 in Virginia --
have been exonerated of crimes by DNA
testing. However, DNA is not a factor in
most cases, and the rate of wrongful
convictions remains unclear.
That could change, in part, because of a
large, groundbreaking and sometimes hotly
contested review of old cases under way in
Virginia.
The U.S. Justice Department recently
awarded $300,000 to the Urban Institute to
use the results of the Virginia effort and a
smaller one in Arizona to try to determine
the rate of error in convictions for such
crimes as murder, rape and robbery. The
Urban Institute plans to report its results
in the summer of 2010.
The ultimate goal is to minimize the
future risk of convicting innocent people.
"It's certainly time for this study to
happen," said John Roman, a senior
researcher for the Urban Institute, a
40-year-old organization that studies social
and economic issues to promote sound public
policy and effective government.
"We [may] be able to answer the question:
[In] what percentage of cases from 1973
through 1988 were people wrongfully
convicted?" he said.
The hope then is to answer another
question: "What is it about cases that made
them more likely to have somebody wrongfully
convicted?"
However, Brandon L. Garrett, an expert on
DNA exoneration who teaches at the
University of Virginia law school, is
cautious.
"Careful researchers always have to be
very cautious about generalizing beyond the
sample that they are studying," he said.
The criminal-justice system keeps spotty
case data, loses or destroys data, and
selects and treats cases differently. "And
those are general challenges --
wrongful-conviction cases are harder to
study, much less generalize about," he said.
For complete story,
click here.
As His Inmates Grew Thinner, a
Sheriff’s Wallet Grew Fatter--January
8th, 2008--DECATUR, Ala. — The prisoners in the Morgan
County jail here were always hungry. The sheriff, meanwhile, was
getting a little richer.
Alabama law allowed it: the chief lawman could go light on
prisoners’ meals and pocket the leftover change.
And that is just what the sheriff, Greg Bartlett, did, to the tune of
$212,000 over the last three years, despite a state food allowance of only $1.75
per prisoner per day.
In the view of a federal judge, who heard testimony from the
hungry inmates, the sheriff was in “blatant” violation of past
agreements that his prisoners be properly cared for.
“There was undisputed evidence that most of the inmates had
lost significant weight,” the judge, U. W. Clemon of Federal
District Court in Birmingham, said Thursday in an interview. “I
could not ignore them.”
So this week, Judge Clemon ordered Sheriff Bartlett himself
jailed until he came up with a plan to adequately feed prisoners
more, anyway, than a few spoonfuls of grits, part of an egg and
a piece of toast at breakfast, and bits of undercooked, bloody
chicken at supper. For complete story,
click here.
Probe: Sex assaults by staff on
inmates 'a problem' at federal prisons--December
28, 2008--A female inmate's brutal experience of sexual
assaults by guards at the Federal Detention Center in Miami
isn't uncommon in U.S. prisons.
Justice Department investigators concluded in a 2005 report that staff
sexual assaults on inmates is a ''significant problem'' in federal prisons.
The department's Office of the Inspector
General said it investigated hundreds of
allegations of inmate sexual abuse by U.S.
Bureau of Prison personnel nationwide.
Such cases make up about 12 percent of
the inspector general's total investigations
every year.
From 2000 to 2004, the office opened
investigations of 351 correctional officers
and other staff accused of sexually abusing
inmates -- with slightly more than half
resulting in administrative punishment or
criminal prosecutions.
The report -- stressing that ''staff
sexual relations with inmates is always
illegal'' -- recommended that Congress
toughen the punishment for offenders, from a
misdemeanor with a maximum one-year prison
term to a felony carrying up to five years'
imprisonment.
Last year, lawmakers made the change to a
felony, imposing a maximum penalty of 15
years. For complete story,
click here.
Ill. prosecutor discounts DNA
evidence--December 15, 2008--WAUKEGAN,
Ill., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- An Illinois state prosecutor isn't
letting exculpatory
DNA evidence stop him from trying suspects in certain murder
and rape cases, observers say.
Lake County, Ill., prosecutor Michael Mermel is pressing ahead
with three cases involving the slayings of three girls and the
rape and battery of a 68-year-old woman despite DNA evidence in
each case ruling out the suspects, the Chicago Tribune reported
Monday. For complete story,
click here.
Whitmire: Substance Abuse Program Is
Doing Fine--December 12th, 2008--
"Sadism is not a must in therapy." – Kerry Wolf, Hackberry Unit,
2001-2002
In September, Austin attorney Derek Howard received
another batch of narratives written by female inmates alleging they
were severely and shamelessly mistreated while incarcerated at one
of several of the state's Substance Abuse Felony Punishment
Facilities (aka "SAFPF"), which are charged with the statutory
responsibility of rehabilitating drug and alcohol offenders. Writing
from the Hackberry Unit in Gatesville, one inmate had posed a
question: What would state senators do about SAFPF if they found out
what it was really like?
During Nov. 13 interim charge hearings conducted by the Senate
Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by Houston Sen. John
Whitmire, the inmate's question was answered – but not as she
might have hoped. Despite a growing pile of inmate reports
accumulating over the last year – personal narratives that
graphically recount "mind-crushing" torment, even torture, suffered
by SAFPF inmates – the committee blithely looked the other way,
praising SAFPF personnel and exchanging drunk jokes with them during
the hearing. Whitmire declared of SAFPF, "We'd be in a hell of a
mess without it."
That many inmates describe SAFPF as a state-funded hell on earth
was of little consequence to the committee. As reported in the
Chronicle ("Rehabilitation
or Torture?" May 23), inmates claim that staff members force
them to sit in chairs for long hours and days, for weeks and months
on end, in a global punishment known as "tighthouse"; compel SAFPF
"sisters" to verbally berate each other during "family" time;
routinely call inmates "whores," "bitches," and bad mothers; and
mockingly dispense "miracle water" rather than medicine for serious
conditions. Numerous inmates contend that SAFPF is worse than
prison and a far cry from healthy rehabilitation.
Earlier this year, following the initial reports of inmate
charges, Whitmire's committee announced that this interim hearing
would focus on SAFPF procedures. But by August, specific mention of
SAFPF had dropped off the hearing agenda. Asked why, a committee
aide said: "There's not enough evidence. ... We're not going to hold
hearings based on your article" – or based on the growing pile of
inmate testimonials, apparently.
At last month's Senate hearings to review, among other things,
the state's privately run prisons and related programs, Whitmire was
caught off guard by the testimony of Kerry Wolf, former inmate of
the Hackberry "special needs" SAFPF unit in Gatesville. "Obviously,
you've come to support SAFPF," the senator began. "Did it work?"
Wolf answered, "I was appalled by the human rights abuses and
torture that went on in the name of treatment." She'd sat through
tighthouse herself. "I saw inmates who were already mentally fragile
losing their minds, running around, tearing out their hair, falling
out of chairs onto the floor, having seizures, fainting, or
hallucinating," Wolf said. As for "peer-driven" therapy, she told
the committee, it was "Lord of the Flies run amok." For
complete story,
click here. For more
info,
click here
and
here.
Women Behind Bars Are Deprived of Their
Basic Rights--December 10th, 2008--
Three years ago, I journeyed back to Santa Fe to return
to a city where I had once lived -- and that always
seemed to call me back.
I headed out from Seattle with
a snowboard for the freshly blanketed mountains, as well
as an insatiable appetite for the food I could not find
in the Pacific Northwest. But most of all, I traveled
back because the New Mexico Women’s Correctional
Facility had agreed to let me come and spend a day in
the state’s only women’s prison in Grants.
I was eager for the experience, not just because much
of my work in journalism had centered on criminal
justice and prisons, but also because my editor at the
Santa Fe Reporter, Julia Goldberg, had given me
the kind of assignment that investigative reporters like
myself treasure the most: Just go out there and see what
you find.
Owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of
America (CCA), now the nation’s biggest private prison
company, New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility
(NMWCF) opened its doors in 1989 as the first privatized
female prison in the country. From the beginning, the
facility locked up women from all classification levels
-- from drug possession to murder and everything in
between -- and from all parts of the state, no matter
how distant.
Even back in 1989, the strategy of locking up women
far from their communities of origin -- to an isolated
rural town inaccessible by public transit -- should have
been seen as a problem. NMWCF’s original population
consisted of 149 women. Today, roughly 650 female
prisoners at Grants are estimated to have 1,800
dependent children, many of whom don’t see their mothers
for years on end and who sometimes end up in foster
care.
It also should have been recognized, without too much
intellectual effort, that a 28-year-old homeless heroin
addict serving time for street prostitution would have
very different psychological, medical and counseling
needs than a 56-year-old woman who shot her chronic
alcoholic husband -- a man who took to using his fists
once he got drunk enough.
But this was almost 20 years ago, and
"gender-responsive incarceration" wasn’t yet the
burgeoning buzzword it is today. Back then, inmates were
unlikely to receive anything akin to effective drug
treatment in a women’s prison, much less a diagnosis of
post-traumatic stress disorder or counseling for major
depression. (Both are common among women in prison.)
As for the trauma of being so far removed from one’s
community and family, back then, the attitude toward
"criminals" wasn’t much different from what it is now:
If someone in authority has put you behind bars, well,
then, you deserve the sentence you got, you deserve to
go to the place you’re sent and you even deserve the
unpleasant things that might happen to you while you’re
there.
So it goes with women and men in prisons across the
U.S., and so it went during my tour of New Mexico’s
women’s prison. Nonetheless, there were surprises.
To be clear, there were several tremendously
compassionate and engaged employees with whom I
interacted at NMWCF, as was usually the case when I
visited other detention facilities across the U.S.
conducting interviews and research for my book,
Women Behind Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S.
Prison System.
But at NMWCF, as elsewhere, I encountered numerous
correctional officers whose disdain for the incarcerated
women was palpable, and whose preferred method of
communication seemed to revolve around commands and
directives barked at high volume. (By contrast, the
regular reliance on physical brutality I witnessed in
California, in the world’s largest women’s prison
complex, didn’t seem to be as endemic to NMWCF’s
environment.)
I met prisoners who had seized on every opportunity
possible to access the facility’s limited education
programs, vocational training and drug addiction
recovery. I had hushed conversations with women who made
it abundantly clear drugs weren’t hard to find in
prison, including heroin, which women would inject with
homemade "needles" made of pens and other supplies. The
rate of hepatitis C infection in New Mexico’s state
prisons is indicative of how prevalent injection drug
use is both before and during a prisoner’s
incarceration: Nearly 30 percent of prisoners are
believed to be infected, and most are untreated.
In the crowded receiving/evaluation unit, a few women
pulled me to the side to show me huge, oozing wounds --
what appeared to be the common lesions associated with
the often deadly, antibiotic-resistant form of staph
infection known as MRSA. These women told me they had
been told they had nothing more than a "bug bite." I sat
with one group of Native women during lunch who were
initially embarrassed to be seen eating the "food" on
their plates, which consisted of some kind of
unidentifiable beige mash and the palest, limpest slice
of tomato I had ever seen in my life. Once they
explained that they didn’t have a choice about the kind
of food they were eating, they marveled at the fact that
there was a "fresh" vegetable on the plate because they
hadn’t seen one in months. For complete story,
click here.
Beaten, Tortured and Sentenced 25-to-Life
for Minor Drug Offense--November 22nd, 2008--
"Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights,
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my
people"
- Isaiah 10:1
Often, during days that never seem to end,
Anthony Williams will repair to a corner of his
dark, dank, cell in the Eastern Correctional
Facility in upstate New York. This is where he
ponders, meditates, and prays. And prays and prays,
using his faith to rekindle fading dreams that
someday, soon, his nightmare will come to a merciful
end. Then he rises to write yet another pro se
motion, casting it like bread upon the waters of
justice, hoping this will be the one that will not
be denied by yet another faceless judge.
We of the outside world, even in our wildest
imaginations, might never fully comprehend the life
of Anthony Williams. Among the many cases chronicled
by this office over a dozen years -- and we
sometimes imagine that have seen it all -- none
causes more loss of sleep than knowledge of the
dreadful plight of Anthony Williams.
Williams is serving a 25-year-to-life sentence
for a "mickey mouse" drug offense that occurred in
Albany County back in 1991. Anthony has already
served more than 17 years of that sentence, dragged
in chains from one maximum-security prison to the
next. Though he is among the least of small
offenders, he is serving the longest of times. He
just can't find his way home from perpetual exile
behind thick walls trimmed with razor wire.
Yet, somehow, he remains optimistic and fights
on. As does his cancer-stricken mother, Pastor
Nazimova, a leader of the Mothers of the New York
Disappeared.
From the onset, Williams' criminal justice
journey has been a horror show. Prior to even being
charged, he was sequestered for eight hours in a
motel room, where his arrest took place. During this
ordeal, he was tortured and beaten senseless by
rogue elements of the Albany Police Department's
"Special Investigation Unit." Long before the
degrading excesses of Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo,
these police "interrogators" tried to forcibly
extract "information" that Williams could not
provide. Ultimately, he had to be rushed by
ambulance from the motel to the county hospital for
emergency care.
Fearful of having their brutal tactics exposed,
the police then fabricated their alleged "big case
"against Williams. After a painful recovery from
extensive and severe wounds, his broken body and
tattered soul were transported to the county
courthouse, where the African-American youth was
quickly convicted by an all-white jury and then
punted to the state's dangerous prison system by the
late, notorious "hanging judge," Thomas Keegan.
Williams' woeful tale reads like an Americanized
version of a Russian novel -- a tome written in four
full boxes of records concerning his arrest,
interrogation, trial, incarceration and appeals.
Anthony Williams' best hope for relief came, and
went, a few years ago, in 2004 and 2005, when minor
"reforms" to New York's notorious "Rockefeller Drug
Laws" provided him with zero relief.
Ironically, he was too small a fish in the ocean
of the illicit drug trade to benefit from what have
since proven to be anemic legislative charades. Most
of the drug offenders who were re-sentenced and
released under those incremental "reforms" had
convictions for the possession or the sale of large
quantities of illegal narcotics. But treacherous,
counterintuitive twists in the "reform legislation"
actually made it impossible for many low-level
offenders to get retroactive relief. As a result,
new provisions of the law did not apply in their
particular cases -- which is why only a handful of
offenders had their sentences reduced. For
complete story,
click here.
Lawyers: Inmate of 27 years not
guilty--November 20th, 2008--EVANSTON,
Ill., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Lawyers at Northwestern University say
they have evidence the wrong man was convicted in 1981 of
killing a security guard at a Chicago-area Masonic Temple.
Anthony McKinney was sentenced to life in prison with no parole
for the robbery and murder of Donald Lundahl outside the temple in
Harvey, a small community south of Chicago. Lundahl's body was found
in his car on the night of the Muhammad Ali-Leon Spinks title match
in 1978.
Karin Daniel and Steven Drizin of the Northwestern Law School's
Center for Wrongful Convictions say Harvey police beat a confession
out of the 18-year-old McKinney and statements implicating him in
the killing out of two witnesses, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
"Anthony's plight is about the most tragic I've ever seen," said
David Protess of the Innocence Project at the Medill School of
Journalism. "He not only has been locked up for almost two-thirds of
his life for a crime he did not commit, but the actual perpetrators
were known right from the start."
One of the witnesses told a grand jury he left his house after
the 10th round of the Ali-Spinks fight. If that was true, he could
not have been at the scene when Lundahl was killed or seen McKinney
commit the crime, the Northwestern investigators found. For
complete story,
click here.
Investigative series: A pattern of
prison abuse?--November 17th, 2008--
Handcuffed and
hassled, Jon
Eichelman
answered an
"intake
questionnaire"
when he arrived
at Lancaster
County Prison in
June 2005. One
question asked
how he felt.
"Want to lay
down," Eichelman
responded, "and
die."
Over the next
four days,
according to a
legal complaint,
correctional
officers and
inmates, aware
that Eichelman
was charged with
shooting a
2-year-old boy,
did nothing to
discourage his
despondency.
A guard allowed
inmates to rush
into Eichelman's
cell and beat
him. Other
prisoners
taunted him.
Medical
personnel did
little to ease
his pain,
according to the
legal complaint.
But then police
announced that
Eichelman was
not the shooter
after all. He
was released
from prison and
spent four days
in a local
hospital being
treated for
physical
injuries and
psychological
trauma.
His experience
as an innocent
man in a hostile
prison,
Eichelman now
says, ruined his
life. For
complete story,
click here.
Incarceration Nation: The Rise of a
Prison-Industrial Complex--November 8th,
2008--
In a nation originally founded on personal liberty,
almost two and a half million Americans are behind
bars. No doubt, violent criminals should be in jail,
but most Americans are not aware that well over half
of the inmates are jailed for non-violent offenses,
many of which are extremely petty: possession of
marijuana, public intoxication, street hustling,
prostitution, loitering, bouncing checks, failure to
produce identification, and even writing graffiti.
Consider this fact: The United States has less than
4 percent of the world’s population but almost 25
percent of the world’s prisoners. Amazingly, the US
has a higher incarceration rate than China, Russia,
Iran, Zimbabwe and Burma. Out of 1,000 people, more
Americans are behind bars than anywhere in the world
except in Kim Jong-Il’s Neo-Stalinist North Korea,
which is basically one giant Gulag.
Why is this happening? Inmates have become the
raw material for a prison-industrial complex,
shoring up perpetual profits for McJails. Corporate
prisons are paid on a per-prisoner/per-day basis,
and thus they lobby hard for longer mandatory
sentences. Inmates also provide cheap labor, and
they are about to become, once again, guinea pigs
for pharmaceutical trials. All of this signals the
conversion of people into valuable “bio-mass.”
Incarceration makes sense, politically. Prisons
provide jobs to rural and small town Americans who
would otherwise be unemployed. These workers and
their families represent votes, especially in the
South, where electoral majorities are White and
electoral minorities are Black. The drug war is, in
large part, a race war by other means.
Study after study documents the following:
African Americans are disproportionately stopped and
searched; African Americans are disproportionately
arrested; African Americans are disproportionately
charged; and African Americans are
disproportionately convicted. And all felons are
disenfranchised, never to vote again.
Texas is the most enthusiastic jailer in the
nation. The Lone Star State has become the Lock-Down
State. It has the highest incarceration rate in the
nation (which in turn has the highest rate in the
world). Texas insists upon locking up people like
Rodney Hulin, a 16 year old African American who was
convicted of setting a dumpster on fire. His
sentence was 8 years in an adult prison. Despite
pleading to be removed to another section, prison
officials refused to extract him from the general
population. Hulin was repeatedly raped and infected
with HIV, and he ended the nightmare by hanging
himself in his cell. But what is a 16-year-old doing
in an adult prison? It is not that uncommon:
The United States has 2,225 adolescent
offenders incarcerated and serving life without
the possibility of parole. The United States is
the only country in the world that continues to
sentence children to life without the
possibility of parole….
Florida has 713 child inmates who have
received adult sentences of 10 years or more for
crimes committed before their 17th birthdays.
Even “progressive” states like California are
pushing mass incarceration, locking up the hapless
and the marginal. Billy Ochoa, for example, is
serving 326 years in a “Supermax” (super maximum
security) prison for welfare fraud. Billy is an
addict, an inept burglar, and not-very-good
trafficker of food stamps. Under California’s “Three
Strikes and You Are Out” law he is locked up in a
tiny cell for 23 hours a day.
In Arizona, among other places, incarceration
fits into a Blood-and-Soil subculture:
anti-immigrant, anti-minority and neo-fascist.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, for example,
delights in humiliating inmates, making them wear
pink and sleep in tents in 100 degree weather.
Arpaio even reduced inmate food intake to sub-human
levels:
Arpaio makes inmates pay for their meals,
which some say are worse than those for the
guard dogs. Canines eat $1.10 worth of food a
day, the inmate 90 cents, the sheriff says. “I’m
very proud of that too.”
Arpaio, as America’s Uber-Jailer, even puts women
in chain gangs and then boasts about obtaining “free
labor” for the State. Stalin would have been proud.
Instead of being jailed for human rights abuses,
Arpaio enjoys high approval rates in the Phoenix
area.
So the prison-industrial complex gets fatter and
the prisoners get thinner. Both private and public
prisons are cutting corners on guard training,
libraries, education centers and even food. From
Florida:
Mushy bland broccoli stems accompanied by a
greasy mystery meat endowed with undercooked
rice is as good as it gets for inmates behind
bars…
The Senate has proposed slicing $6 million
from the current prison food budget, while the
House wants to cut $11 million.
Basically, Florida wants to lower the quality of
prisoner food from this already-miserable level:
‘The quality of the food is substandard,’
said a relative of an inmate at Marion
Correctional Institution in Lowell, who asked
not to be named because she feared retaliation
against the prisoner. ‘The preparation is
haphazard. They’re supposed to wear hairnets and
gloves. You find hair in your food and you find
a Band-Aid in your food. Things are so
overcooked it’s mush, or it’s not cooked at
all.’
Texas, Florida, California and Arizona have vast
quantities of prisoners. Of course, we’ll never know
how many prisoners are even guilty. They’ve been
locked up through mass “plea bargaining” agreements.
Here’s the deal: Plead guilty to a lesser crime (to
something you might not have done) and go to jail
for 3 years or risk a trial and the chance of doing
10 years. It’s a no-brainer.
Plea bargaining runs against the grain of the
Fifth Amendment’s right to a fair trial. It
specifically contradicts the US Constitution,
Article III, Section 2: “The trial of all crimes,
except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury.”
That seems pretty clear. Theoretically, an
individual can choose to forfeit his or her own
civil liberties, but the Constitution is degraded
when plea bargaining becomes standard operating
procedure, when it becomes a conveyor belt for mass
incarceration, feeding inmates to hungry corporate
prisons.
At this pace, the US is in danger of witnessing
the development of a Gulag to jail the entire
lumpenproletariat, the flotsam of society, a
large and growing segment of the population,
under-educated and under-employed. (But don’t fret
too much, since news about jails seldom makes the
mainstream press.) Women are now the fastest growing
population of inmates, and many of them are young
mothers with babies. Sarah B. From, with the Women’s
Prison Association, explains:
Nearly two-thirds of women in state prisons
are there for nonviolent offenses; most are
mothers. Their children face the emotional and
developmental effects of separation, and the
public incurs additional costs related to the
child welfare system.
Most women in prison report histories of
substance abuse, mental health issues and past
trauma — factors that contribute to the crimes
they commit. Prison does little to address these
issues or to decrease the likelihood of
recidivism.
Immigrant women and their children are beginning
to experience long-term detention. This too has been
privatized, as Steve Watson and Paul Watson report:
The federal government is accepting bids on
the contracts from county governments or private
companies to build and run the “family detention
centers…
The T. Don Hutto detention center, which is
privately run by a company called Corrections
Corp. of America, currently interns political
asylum seekers who came to the U.S. on legal
visas. Most of them are families including
pregnant women and children who have never been
accused of any wrongdoing but are forced to
endure squalid conditions inside literal
internment camps…
Every major human rights group condemns family
detention centers as sites of “collective
punishment” (which might be classified as
“concentration camps” under international law). Of
course, the federal government promotes a sanitized
image of detention centers in order to hide the fact
that the Hutto center, for example, is a
retro-fitted prison.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is
selling the concept of detention centers as
miniature cities, models of healthy living. As Anna
Gorman reports for the Los Angeles Times:
The agency calls for minimum-security
residential facilities that would provide a
“least restrictive, nonsecure setting” and
provide schooling for children, recreational
activities and access to religious services.
This ICE propaganda is reminiscent of the Nazis,
literally. Several years before the Nazis began
their extermination campaign, they invited film
crews onto concentration camps to show how happy the
residents were with their schools and facilities…
Work Shall Set You Free
In the 1970s, a Supreme Court Justice, Warren
Burger, proselytized for more leeway as to what
kinds of “projects” prisoners could work on. Before
too long, Congress amended the laws. In a Great Leap
Backward, the US Congress has repealed two federal
laws (the Hawes Cooper Act and the Ashurst-Sumner
Act) that virtually outlawed prison labor, making it
a felony to move prison-made goods across state
boundaries. Stamping state license plates for cars
was generally acceptable, but these Acts tried to
end the leasing out of prisoners to private
companies; they tried to eliminate
prison-plantations and “factories with fences.”
By 1990 it was permissible for prisoners to
produce products entering the stream of interstate
commerce. Many of the largest corporations in
America have exploited prison labor in what might be
called “Operation Sweatshop.” Starbucks, Microsoft,
Boeing, Victoria’s Secret and other companies have
participated in prison labor programs.
Now, the federal government is taking the entire
concept of prison labor to a new level: The Federal
Inmate Labor Program. Details of the program can be
found on the Pentagon’s own website. Documents
released as far back as 2005 establish “Procedures
for establishing a civilian inmate prison camp on
Army installations.” Sample text from the Federal
Inmate Labor Program:
b. The Army is not interested in, nor can
afford, any relationship with a corrections
facility if that relationship stipulates payment
for civilian inmate labor…
(3) No photograph, film, nor video may be
taken or made of any inmate labor detail or
member for any reason without prior written
permission from both (name of the Army
organization) PAO and (name of local federal
corrections facility) officials.
In other words, the federal government is seeking
unpaid laborers from among the pool of prisoners who
would not be incarcerated long-term in other nations
— non-violent and petty offenders who do not need
constant guard. Just as in the Third Reich, federal
authorities wish to convey their good intentions; in
this case, they seek to enrich the life of
prisoners:
“(2) Providing meaningful work for inmates…”
So it is not surprising that inmates are becoming
guinea pigs for medical experiments and drug
testing. Big Pharma faces a shortage of experimental
subjects. Ian Urbina, in the New York Times,
explains how the pharmaceutical lobby is on the
verge of changing — or reversing — federal law:
An influential federal panel of medical
advisers has recommended that the government
loosen regulations that severely limit the
testing of pharmaceuticals on prison inmates, a
practice that was all but stopped three decades
ago after revelations of abuse…
The discussion comes as the biomedical
industry is facing a shortage of testing
subjects…
In fact, it is precisely because of
pharmaceutical experiments that federal law began to
protect prisoners in the late 1970s. Technically,
under a Department of Health and Human Services
regulation (45 CFR 46), prisoners are supposed to
receive the same “protection of human subjects” as
children and pregnant women. As the law currently
stands, the only research that may be conducted with
prisoners has to be material to their lives.
Prisoners may not be used, under current law, as a
“population of convenience.” But all this may soon
be rolled back.
The profit motive worms its way into all aspects
of prison life. The executives of these for-profit
prisons sponsor “tough-on-crime” legislation and
even line the pockets of politicians who back
“mandatory sentencing” laws. It’s all profitable. On
correctionscorp.com there is a separate
section for investors.
Corrections Corporation of America is the
nation’s largest owner and operator of
privatized correctional and detention facilities
and one of the largest prison operators in the
United States, behind only the federal
government and three states.
A recent analysis of the prison industry by
Leslie Berestein is telling:
The industry leaders’ stock prices have
rebounded. Since 2001, CCA shares have split
twice and multiplied tenfold, closing recently
at $26.17. The GEO Group, which changed its name
from Wackenhut Corrections in 2003, has also
completed two stock splits and seen its stock
value jump from roughly $2.50 a share in early
January 2001 to $26.76 recently.
Meanwhile, the industry has broadened its
political influence, spending more to lobby
agencies such as the Department of Homeland
Security and the Bureau of Prisons.
A nation that once represented personal liberty,
the United States, has become the world’s most
ardent incarcerator, turning the hapless and
marginalized into inmates, cheap laborers, and
guinea pigs for pharmaceutical trials.
Call your broker… For complete story,
click here.
Get serious about restoring ex-felons'
rights--Sept. 4th, 2008--Gov.
Charlie Crist announced this summer that 115,000 ex-felons who
had completed their sentences regained their civil rights since
certain clemency rules were changed last year and could register
to vote. Upon closer scrutiny, 90,000 dated back to the 1970s
and 25,000 were pending final action by the governor and Cabinet
sitting as the Clemency Board.
However, only 9,000 have registered
to vote. A governor's spokesperson said that
the state should not be blamed for
ex-offenders' failure to exercise their
civil rights. But the state failed to notify
many because records were out of date. Many
didn't know they could register.
Some said they should have attempted to
register anyway. But in the past, the state
failed to restore the rights of many
eligible ex-offenders and issued
voter-registration cards to some in error.
When authorities determined that the
Clemency Board hadn't restored their civil
rights, some were prosecuted for voter
fraud.
Aside from a modest public outreach
campaign funded by the 2007 Legislature, the
state has done little to get the word out.
The Department of Corrections identified
more than 300,000 cases that were ineligible
under new rules. Accordingly, more than
300,000 ex-offenders who completed their
sentences are conceivably living in Florida
without civil rights. An independent study
indicates that the number is much higher.
The Parole Commission, which investigates
cases for the Clemency Board, reported a
backlog of another 60,000 rights-restoration
cases, but Crist declined to include the
commission's request for 42 additional staff
members to handle the caseload in his budget
recommendation to the 2008 Legislature. Its
overall budget was cut by 20 percent.
Beyond the backlog, the Corrections
Department routinely transmits the names of
almost 4,000 ex-offenders to the commission
every month for rights-restoration review
upon release or termination from probation.
Crist's official notes from the April '07
Clemency Board meeting state: ``What would
give this body the right to add five more
years, five more weeks, or five more minutes
to someone's sentence handed down by a judge
and jury?''
But Crist has, in effect, allowed exactly
that to happen by failing to ensure the
process meets expectations shaped by his own
rhetoric. (Unable to locate story at
time of archiving. Source:
www.miamiherald.com Date: September 4,
2008)
Abuse charged in New Jersey prison--Sept.
3rd, 2008--A group of seven
prisoners at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton have filed a
class action lawsuit charging abusive and inhuman conditions at
the facility.
The complaint, filed this month in New Jersey Superior Court,
Mercer County, could affect as many as 1,800 inmates at the
prison, which was built more than 170 years ago and is located
not far from the downtown area of Trenton, the state capital.
Defendants in the lawsuit include Democratic Governor Jon
Corzine, Department of Corrections Commissioner George Hayman,
and prison administrator Michelle Ricci.
The first section of the prison was built in 1835.
The prisoners charge that conditions there are
Dickensian, an accusation that is all the more vivid and
historically significant considering that the great
English novelist and social reformer visited the
facility himself in 1842, on the first of his two trips
to North America, and denounced conditions there.
A press release issued in connection with the suit
points out that many prisoners are trapped in their
cells for up to 23 hours a day because of recent
reductions in educational and religious programs, along
with cuts in indoor and outdoor recreation.
The prisoners charge that, except for electricity,
conditions in the prison are either the same or even
worse than they were 170 years ago. Small cells measure
5 by 7 feet, with 7-foot ceilings and less than 15
square feet of free floor space. Beds, sinks and toilets
take up over half of the floor space. Some inmates have
space “limited to an aisle no wider than the length of a
shoe running from the doorway, which is itself partially
obstructed by the bedstand, to the sink and toilet in
the back of the cell.”
The cells have no hot water and no internal
ventilation. They have no mirrors for shaving and no
desks or chairs for sitting or writing. Exposed light
bulbs hang from the low ceilings and sometimes break
from contact with head or hands.
The prison also contains unsafe levels of heavy
metals, as well as airborne asbestos, radon, PCBs and
other carcinogens.
Meals average only 1,200 calories a day, according to
the complaint, and are prepared by an untrained
workforce under conditions of rodent and insect
infestation.
Perhaps the biggest complaint of the prisoners has
been the reduction in prison programs, leading to
conditions of solitary confinement which have been
compared to the system that existed at the same prison
nearly 150 years ago, but were changed in the face of
severe psychological breakdowns among the inmates.
For complete story,
click here.
Torture in Cook County Jail--August
30th, 2008--After a 17-month investigation concerning the
conditions in the Cook County Jail, U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald issued a scathing report calling for change and
reforms.
The 98-page report on the nation's largest county jail was
released July 17 and sent to County Board President Todd Stroger
and Sheriff Thomas Dart with its findings and recommendations.
It cited many cases of gross "medical negligence, mismanagement
and abusive behavior by guards," which led to "unnecessary
deaths, amputation and
routine inmate beatings."
The outside world would be shocked to hear stories such as that
of an inmate left untreated for a gunshot wound, who developed
sepsis and died; a female inmate who suffered from HIV and died
after a preventable infection went untreated; and an inmate
beaten so bad by guards that his dentures were kicked out and he
was sent to the
hospital on a respirator.
The report pointed out that there is just one dentist for the
entire 9,800-inmate population--and he only deals in
extractions, with 25 percent of those resulting in infection.
* * *
I SPENT time in the jail's maximum security unit between 1984
and 1987, and personally witnessed and experienced the kind of
atrocities cited in the report. I cannot count the number of
times I've seen a guard or guards punch, kick, slap or beat down
an inmate without provocation. For complete story,
click here.
Appeals court rules against SF strip
search policy--August 23rd, 2008--SAN
FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court has ruled that San
Francisco illegally strip-searched thousands of jail inmates.
The court says the city violated the constitutional rights of
jail inmates when it subjected them to visual body cavity
searches without having any reason to believe they were carrying
weapons or contraband.
The 2-1 decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco applies to a city policy that was in effect from
April 2002 to January 2004.
City officials had argued that the strip searches were necessary
to keep inmates from smuggling guns and drugs into jail.
San Francisco changed the policy in January 2004 after a
lower-court judge ruled that it was unconstitutional.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.sacbee.com Date:
August 23, 2008)
'It's obviously an embarrassment and we would rather not be in
this position.'
Police reopen 7,000 cases after DNA
error 07 Aug 2008 Australian police will
re-examine 7,000 crimes solved through DNA evidence after a
mistake forced detectives to free a suspect wrongly accused of
murder. Police in the southern city of Melbourne withdrew
charges against Russell John Gesah, accused in July of the 1984
murders of a 35-year-old mother and her nine-year-old daughter.
For complete story,
click here.
Slammed: Welcome to the Age of
Incarceration--July 26th, 2008--The number first
appeared in headlines earlier this year: Nearly one in four of
all prisoners worldwide is incarcerated in America. It was just the
latest such statistic. Today, one in nine African American men
between the ages of 20 and 34 is locked up. In 1970, our prisons
held fewer than 200,000 people; now that number exceeds 1.5 million,
and when you add in local jails, it’s 2.3 million-1 in 100 American
adults. Since the 1980s, we’ve sat by as the numbers inched higher
and our prison system ballooned, swallowing up an ever-larger
portion of the citizenry. But do statistics like these, no matter
how disturbing, really mean anything anymore? What does it take to
get us to sit up and notice?
Apparently, it takes a looming financial crisis. For there is
another round of bad news, the logical extension of the first: The
more money a state spends on building and running prisons, the less
there is for everything else, from roads and bridges to health care
and public schools. At the pace our inmate population has been
expanding, America’s prison system is becoming, quite simply, too
expensive to sustain. That is why Kansas, Texas, and at least 11
other states have been trying out new strategies to curb the
cost-reevaluating their parole policies, for instance, so that not
every parolee who runs afoul of an administrative rule is
shipped straight back to prison. And yet our infatuation with
incarceration continues.
There have been numerous academic studies and policy reports and
journalistic accounts analyzing our prison boom, but this phenomenon
cannot be fully measured in numbers. That much became apparent to me
when, beginning in 2000, I spent nearly four years shadowing a woman
who’d just been released from prison. She’d been locked up for 16
years for a first-time drug crime, and her absence had all but
destroyed her family. Her mother had taken in her four young
children after her arrest, only to die prematurely of kidney
failure. One daughter was deeply depressed, the other was
seething with rage, and her youngest son had followed her
lead, diving into the neighborhood drug culture and then
winding up in prison himself.
The criminal justice system had punished not only her but her entire
family. How do you measure the years of wasted hours-riding on a bus
to a faraway prison, lining up to be scanned and searched and
questioned, sitting in a bleak visiting room waiting for a loved one
to walk in? How do you account for all the dollars spent on collect
calls from prison-calls that can cost at least three times as much
as on the outside because the prison system is taking a cut?
How do you begin to calculate the lessons absorbed by children
about deprivation and punishment and vengeance? How do you end
the legacy of incarceration?
This is not to say that nobody deserves to go to prison or that we
should release everyone who is now locked up. There are many people
behind bars who you would not want as your neighbor, but in our
hunger for justice we have lost perspective. We treat 10-year
sentences like they’re nothing, like that’s a soft penalty, when in
much of the rest of the world a decade behind bars would be
considered extraordinarily severe. This is what separates us from
other industrialized countries: It’s not just that we send so many
people to prison, but that we keep them there for so long and send
them back so often. Eight years ago, we surpassed Russia to claim
the dubious distinction of having the world’s highest rate of
incarceration; today we’re still No. 1. For complete story,
click here.
NEWS: Shackled births, prisoner
experiments, and rampant TB? Just another day on the ward.--July/August
2008--48 states allow the shackling of female inmates while they
are giving birth. The American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists says the practice puts "the health and lives of
the women and unborn children at risk."
Less than 1% of prisons distribute condoms.
2/3 of gay, bisexual, and transgender inmates in California report
being sexually assaulted.
Disease rates in US prisons compared to general population:
HIV: 490% higher
AIDS: 500% higher
TUBERCULOSIS: 400% higher
HEPATITIS C: 2,000% higher
US prisons and jails house 3 times as many people with serious
mental illness as US mental hospitals do. In June 2006, the
Institute of Medicine recommended an increase in the use of
prisoners as biomedical test subjects after laboratory
scientists complained of a shortage of rhesus monkeys. The
South Carolina Senate has considered legislation that would take
up to 180 days off prisoners' sentences if they donated an organ.
In their first two weeks out of lockup, ex-cons are 13 times more
likely to die than the average person, according to a recent study
in the New England Journal of Medicine. Leading cause: drug
overdose. For complete story,
click here.
Will 'SAFE-P' and TDCJ Be Held Accountable?--July
18th, 2008--A SAFPF day of reckoning may be at hand.
In response to a May 23 Chronicle
report – "Rehabilitation
or Torture?" – that recounted inmate stories of abusive
treatment in a substance-abuse program operated by the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice, a legislative committee is
planning hearings to review the program. According to Larance
Coleman, speaking on behalf of Sen. John Whitmire, Criminal
Justice Committee chair, the CJC will hold hearings on the
Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facilities (also known as
SAFPF or "Safe-P"), operated by the Chicago-based Gateway
Foundation under a contract worth, according to TDCJ, $38
million over five years. "We will concentrate on Safe-P
programming," Coleman said of the hearings, tentatively scheduled
for September, to evaluate the $234 million the Legislature
appropriated last session for TDCJ rehabilitation programs. The
state proposes to increase SAFPF funding by $63.1 million during
2008-09, although Gateway may not be the only vendor considered. The
exact dates of the hearings will be announced two to three weeks in
advance on
www.senate.state.tx.us.
In January, then-inmate Jodi Stodder-Caldwell
persuaded others at the TDJC's Ellen Halbert Unit in Burnet County
to record their SAFPF experiences in letters submitted to Austin
lawyer
Derek Howard, who's considering legal action. According to
numerous inmate narratives from Halbert and other units, the SAFPF
program – in theory a substance-abuse treatment alternative to hard
prison time – instead relies heavily on dubious forms of
psychological and physical abuse. Several inmates describe a group
punishment known as "tighthouse," during which inmates are forced to
sit upright in plastic chairs, unmoving and silent, for as long as
16 hours a day and for weeks to months on end – a "mind-crushing"
form of cruelty that has resulted in mental breakdowns and suicide
attempts. The accounts also report that SAFPF inmates must routinely
attack each other psychologically during an abusive form of "group
therapy," while staff bellow that they are worthless.
Moreover, inmates charge that their real
medical needs are subject to denial or dismissal; Gateway's response
is that medical care is the responsibility of the TDCJ, not the
contractor. Staff are said to dismiss untreated medical conditions,
some as severe as epilepsy or cancer, with taunts or advice to
"drink more water." [Former] inmate Tracey Atherton, in a narrative
dated May 23, describes the callous manner in which "the guards talk
about inmates who are sick. ... I heard one of the guards say: 'That
fucking bitch is having a seizure.' Everything that Jodi Stodder
stated is true."
There are dissenting voices, however.
Shirley Otto, a SAFPF inmate in 1995 and currently a Gateway
counselor working at the Hackberry Unit in Gatesville, wrote that
after living on the streets, she learned "to live again" through
SAFPF. She described tighthouse as "a timeout for grown-ups," with
breaks for "chow" and therapy, and she accused complaining inmates
of not wanting recovery. "They are looking for an easier, softer
way," Otto wrote. "Somehow, some way, they missed the blessing of
SAFP."
Judging from official responses thus far,
the inmates may indeed find it difficult to convince the Legislature
that the abuses they have chronicled are real. When the Office of
Inspector General sent investigators to Halbert to interview
inmates, Stodder-Caldwell told the Chronicle, investigators
seemed receptive at first but turned increasingly "rude."
Officially, the OIG investigation remains open, but asked in May
about the results of his review, Inspector General John Moriarty
said that the alleged abuses had in fact not occurred. Gateway
President and CEO Michael Darcy
called the inmates' descriptions of tighthouse "bizarre" and untrue,
and declined to respond to the Chronicle story.
According to more recent inmate accounts,
Halbert staff are aware of the public controversy but unafraid of
retribution. "We were told if the lawsuit happens, what or who would
give 'dope fiends like us' help?" wrote Brenda Carroll on June 5.
Carroll says that she'd been forced to wet herself because an
"expeditor" (a ranking inmate in the SAFPF "therapy" program) had
denied her request to go to the restroom. "I was also forced to sit
in the box [a solitary chair] ... for not being aware of my 'need.'"
(I.G. Moriarty expressly rejected allegations that inmates are
deprived of bathroom breaks.)
The SAFPF "therapy" model is based upon a
practice known as "therapeutic communities," which had its origins
in a Sixties-era California drug-abuse program called Synanon.
Critics and proponents alike date the peer-based TC methods to the
"attack therapy" popularized by Charles Dederich in the Santa
Monica-based Synanon, which eventually degenerated into a brutal and
murderous cult, as reported in a 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé
in the Point Reyes Light by then-publisher Dave Mitchell.
"It's unfortunate that Synanon became the model for therapeutic
communities; basically a large portion of drug treatment is based on
a cult," Mitchell said in an interview. Synanon was eventually shut
down by the authorities, in part because in addition to abuse of
patients, staff were assaulting defectors from the program and
threatening detractors with death.
Available for committee testimony should be
survivors of other disgraced programs that operate on the
therapeutic communities model. Some said they would testify just how
closely the SAFPF accounts resonate with their own victimization in
TCs incubated at Synanon. "The women [in SAFPF] have charged they
must often sit silently, rigidly, face-forward, in plastic chairs
for long hours or days, occasionally through periods of weeks on
end. This was true of Straight, Inc. as well," wrote Shelby Earnshaw,
director of a survivor support group, the International Survivors
Action Committee (www.isaccorp.org)
in an e-mail. Tony Connelly [HEAL-KY
Coordinator], now in his 30s, told the
Chronicle
that he still hears in his mind the sound of kids being abused at
another Synanon-style TC facility, Kids Helping Kids, where he was a
patient/inmate from the age of 14 to 16. Connelly says children were
required to sit for hours on donated church pews – sometimes held
down by "peers" and their noses pinched so they couldn't breathe.
Connelly recalled, "The sitting, the rigid posture, the staring at
the wall, the limited showers and restroom breaks are all familiar
to me. The forced confessions, the demeaning attacks ... requiring
inmates to report infractions of other inmates or face punishment
are all too vivid to me." Connelly added that the authorities count
on the public dismissing such complaints because they come from
[alleged and unverified] addicts or former addicts. [Tony Connelly
was never an addict, nor are/were the thousands of other children
spirited away to torture camps such as Kids Helping Kids
historically and presently.] For complete story,
click here.
Ex-Black Panther's murder conviction
overturned--July 9th, 2008--BATON ROUGE,
Louisiana (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday overturned the
conviction of a former Black Panther in the 1972 stabbing death of a
Louisiana prison guard. Albert Woodfox, who was held in
solitary confinement for over 30 years, is one of three former
Panthers known as the "Angola Three." He and two other black
prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola were
convicted in the killing of guard Brent Miller on April 17, 1972.
U.S. District Judge James Brady issued a ruling late Tuesday
approving a federal magistrate's June recommendation that Woodfox's
conviction be overturned because one of his former lawyers failed to
object to a prosecutor's testimony about a witness' credibility.
Brady also found that Woodfox's trial lawyer failed to object to
testimony from a witness who had died after the trial.
Woodfox's decades in solitary confinement attracted worldwide
attention from activists who called him a political prisoner.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
http://edition.cnn.com
Date: July 9, 2008)
New Criminal Record: 7.2 Million--June
12th, 2008--The number of people under supervision in the
nation's criminal justice system rose to 7.2 million in 2006,
the highest ever, costing states tens of billions of dollars to
house and monitor offenders as they go in and out of jails and
prisons. According to a recently released report released by
the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 2 million
offenders were either in jail or prison in 2006, the most recent
year studied in an annual survey. Another 4.2 million were on
probation, and nearly 800,000 were on parole. The cost to
taxpayers, about $45 billion, is causing states such as California
to reconsider harsh criminal penalties. In an attempt to relieve
overcrowding, California is now exporting some of its 170,000
inmates to privately run corrections facilities as far away as
Tennessee. For complete story,
click here.
Rehabilitation or Torture?--May
23rd, 2008--Men would riot here. – SAFPF inmate
What's worse than prison?
According to some former and current inmates, the state's Substance
Abuse Felony Punishment Facilities. Funded by the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice and staffed by Texas Department of
Corrections officers and personnel employed by nonprofit operator
Gateway Foundation of Chicago, the SAFPFs (referred to colloquially
as "Safe-
Ps") in theory provide rehabilitation to nonviolent offenders
incarcerated for felony drug and alcohol convictions. Persons
charged with violating the terms of their probation or parole can be
sent to SAFPFs for treatment of their drug or alcohol addictions
within the TDCJ system, as a means of avoiding harsher punishment.
On the Gateway website, the foundation trumpets the low recidivism
rates of inmates who complete its corrections-based program
and summarizes its services: "Gateway operates nearly 25
corrections-based programs and provides treatment to over
15,000 men, women, adolescents and dually diagnosed substance
abusers every year. Gateway treatment sites
utilize Therapeutic Community paradigms, and are supplemented by
Cognitive Self-Change methods." But judging from more than a
dozen narratives written by female SAFPF inmates and recently
provided to Austin attorney Derek Howard, such facilities –
which in Texas currently house 900 female inmates – in reality
may be employing unconstitutionally cruel and unusual
punishment. Some women incarcerated and assigned to SAFPF programs
say they have been routinely deprived, humiliated, and degraded.
Among other allegations, the women have charged they must often sit
silently, rigidly, face-forward, in plastic chairs for long hours or
days, occasionally through periods of weeks on end, sometimes as an
individual punishment, at other times in collective punishment they
fear and loathe as "the dreaded tighthouse." To Howard's
knowledge, no official Gateway/TDCJ therapeutic or
disciplinary protocol recommends or allows a treatment so extreme as
a "tighthouse." To the contrary, a Gateway official described
tighthouse as a limited and carefully monitored therapeutic
practice, but the inmates' descriptions of tighthouse (or "the
chairs"), as a form of arbitrary and often harsh punishment,
are starkly different from the official description. Women
write, "It just is," and is "a big secret." Considering
the women's accounts, Howard is concerned the state of Texas
may be funding, wittingly or unwittingly, what amounts to torture.
"Torture is defined as 'the infliction of intense pain.'
Forcing someone to sit in a hard chair for 16 hours a day
constitutes torture, by anyone's standards," Howard argues.
"We are now considering suing Gateway for violating the Eighth
Amendment, which
prohibits cruel and unusual punishment." The inmate complaints
have prompted an ongoing investigation by the
state Office of Inspector General, whose investigators have been
interviewing inmates on-site since January in the Halbert Unit in
Burnet County and perhaps at other sites. According to Inspector
General John Moriarty, the agency plans to conclude its inquiry
soon; in late April he provided his "courtesy preliminary
conclusion" to the Chronicle: that not one of the inmate allegations
of abuse has been confirmed. (TDCJ officials, citing the open
inspector general
investigation, have declined to answer questions about SAFPFs.)
Moriarty added that investigators found such "a preponderance of
evidence" refuting the allegations that polygraphs (presumably of
inmates only) were deemed unnecessary. Howard, interpreting
Moriarty's suggestion as tantamount to an accusation of inmate
collusion, countered, "It's ridiculously unlikely that the women got
together and fabricated the allegations." Howard promised that
whatever the inspector general's response, his own investigation
would proceed. For complete story,
click here.
It's being called 'America's New Slavery'--March
31st, 2008--(Special to the NNPA from the Final Cal)-A new
American slave trade is booming, warn prison activists, following
the release of a report that again outlines outrageous numbers of
young Black men in prison and increasing numbers of adults
undergoing incarceration. That slave trade is connected to money
states spend to keep people locked up, profits made through cheap
prison labor and for-profit prisons, excessive charges inmates and
families may pay for everything from tube socks to phone calls, and
lucrative cross country shipping of inmates to relieve overcrowding
and rent cells in faraway states and counties. Advocates note
that the constitution's 13th amendment, ratified in 1865,
abolished slavery in the United States, but provided an exception-in
cases where persons have been "duly convicted" in the United States
and territory it controls, slavery or involuntary servitude can be
re-imposed as a punishment, they add. The majority of prisoners are
Black and Latino, though they are minorities in terms of their
numbers in the population. According to "One in 100: Behind
Bars in America 2008," published by the Pew Center on the States,
one in nine Black men between the ages of 20-34 are incarcerated
compared to one in 30 other men of the same age. Like the overall
adult ratio, one in 100 Black women in their mid-to-late 30s is
imprisoned. "Everyone is feeding off of our down-trodden
condition to feed their capitalism, greed and lust for money. They
are buying prison stock on the market and this is why they want to
silence the restorative voice of Minister Louis Farrakhan, because
he is repairing those who fill and would support the prison system
as slaves," said Student Minister Abdullah Muhammad of the Nation of
Islam Prison Ministry. (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source:
www.louisianaweekly.com Date: March 31, 2008)
Federal probe of Harris County jail inmate
deaths and questionable sanitary conditions is justified.--March
11th, 2008--For more than two years, news stories by Chronicle
reporters have raised troubling questions concerning the mortality
rate among prisoners held at the Harris County Jail. At least 138
deaths occurred between 2001 and the end of 2007. In January, three
more county jail inmates died. Now that the Department of
Justice's civil rights division has opened an investigation, perhaps
Houstonians will get some much-needed answers. Although a government
spokesman did not explain the reason for opening the probe, it is
likely that the prisoner deaths and numerous complaints of jail
overcrowding, staff shortages and unsanitary conditions sparked it.
The aim of the probe is to determine whether jail conditions
systemically violate inmates' constitutional rights. (Unable
to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: march
11, 2008)
Bad meat at CCC recalled--March
4th, 2008--The
largest recall of beef products in U.S. History has touched the
California Correctional Center in Susanville. According to a
press release from CCC, the California Prison Industry Authority
received a recall notification letter from the Westland/Hallmark
Meat Packing Company in Chino, Calif. According to the recall
letter, the United States Department of Agriculture classified raw
and frozen meat from the company as a Class II product recall. The
recall covered all the beef products processed by the company since
Feb. 1, 2006. A Class II product recall is defined as being,
“A health hazard situation where there is a remote probability of
adverse health consequences from the use of this product.”
According to the release from CCC, the institution “complied to the
recall and returned 3,866 pounds of breakfast links, soy/beef
patties, soy/beef bulk, and Salisbury patties.”
Correctional Lt. Scott Porter, an administrative assistant at CCC,
said the institution investigated its food inventories once the
recall letter was received, and the food was removed from the
prison. “When we discovered we had food on the recall list, we
immediately sent it back,” Porter said. According to a Feb. 18,
story in the New York Times, Westland/Hallmark recalled 143 million
pounds of beef products, including some that were used in school
lunch programs. The investigation into the plant’s
food-processing practices began when an undercover video surfaced on
Jan. 30, showing workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to
force them to walk. For complete story,
click here.
Fla. deputy seen dumping paralyzed man onto
jail floor turns herself in--February 16th, 2008--A
deputy who was videotaped dumping a paralyzed man out of his
wheelchair onto a Tampa jailhouse floor turned herself in.
Jail records show Charlette Marshall-Jones was booked into the
Orient Road Jail early this morning. It is the same jail where
Marshall-Jones worked. She is accused of tipping 32-year-old Brian
Sterner out of his wheelchair. A videotape of the incident has been
widely circulated. The Hillsborough County deputy was charged
with one count of felony abuse of a disabled person and released
after posting $3,500 bail. An attorney for Marshall-Jones listed in
jail records did not immediately return a phone message.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.latimes.com Date:
February 16, 2008)
Ex-guard found in Texas faces jail-sex
charge--February 9th, 2008--A former prison guard
accused of having sex with an inmate was brought back to Rankin
County last week after allegedly dodging police in San Antonio for
more than a year. A U.S. Marshals Service task force arrested
Jennifer Danielle Readus, 22, last month in San Antonio.
"Acting on a tip, we were able to provide U.S. marshals in Texas
with an address, which helped develop our investigation," said
supervisory Deputy Marshal Richard Griffin. The indictment
alleges Readus, then an officer at the Central Mississippi
Correctional Facility in Pearl, had sex in May 2006 with 28-year-old
inmate Zachariah Combs. On Nov. 9, 2006, a warrant was issued
for Readus' arrest after she failed to appear in Rankin County
Circuit Court to answer the indictment. Before U.S. marshals
took the case last month, the Mississippi Department of Corrections
was investigating. "We got the case on Jan. 18 and picked her
up on Jan. 25," he said. Multiple phone calls to the MDOC were not
returned Friday. Griffin was unable to provide details of
Readus' arrest. A San Antonio Express-News Web site reported Readus
had been living on San Antonio's west side, working as a
telemarketer. She was arrested at her office without incident.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.clarionledger.com
Date: February 9, 2008)
Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'--January
13th, 2008--Ministers are
planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of
thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic
tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.
Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and
prison overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the
use of satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals.
But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle,
the tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of
offenders in the community, to help enforce home curfews. The radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice,
are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals,
including their identities, address and offending record.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
http://news.independent.co.uk Date: January 13, 2008)
Georgia: Attorney claims massive prisoner
torture--Class action filed against Valdosta State Prison officials
-- cites routine torture of restrained inmates and conspiratorial
cover-up--January 8th, 2008--Atlanta attorney
McNeil Stokes today filed a class action suit against guards and
officials from Valdosta State Prison and the Georgia Department of
Corrections. The suit names twenty-five prison guards, officers,
supervisors, wardens, medical personnel and corrections officials in
the routine beatings and torture of restrained inmates and
subsequent cover-up of the abuse. The complaint details
gruesome attacks in which prisoners are bound and restrained while
guards and members of the special Correctional Emergency Response
Team (CERT) kick them with hard-toe combat boots, beat them with
gloves especially designed for assaults known as "beating gloves,"
and choke them with night sticks. Two young men have been beaten to
death since these series of cases were initially filed. Abuses
in other Georgia prison systems include guards inflicting torture
methods known as the "Georgia Motorcycle" whereby an inmate is
stripped of clothing and strapped in four or five point restraints
to an iron bed or chair for as much as 48 hours without food, water
or bathroom facilities; and a method known as the "Georgia G-string"
whereby inmates are stripped and a chain is cinched around their
testicles for hours at a time, leaving them in excruciating pain.
A former guard from Rogers State Prison has described these beatings
as a "sport" throughout the correctional system. Inmates listed as
Level IV mental health prisoners are often targeted because of the
behavior caused by their mental disabilities. Medical treatment is
either denied to the victims or, if administered, is not reported to
prevent an official record of the abuse. Stokes, who recently
won a case against Rogers State Prison in Georgia, thereby ending
inmate abuse at that facility, is determined to protect prisoners'
rights throughout the state. "These beatings are a blood-sport among
the correctional officers involved," explains Stokes. "The victims
(men and women) are shackled with their hands behind their backs or
otherwise restrained while the CERT officers inflict the most
horrendous torture. The Georgia correctional system, including
Internal Affairs and the Attorney General, think they can continue
covering this up, but it is going to stop. It must stop. It's that
simple." For complete story,
click here.
Supreme Court case exposes cruelty and illogic of
three-drug lethal injection.--January 7th, 2008--The
Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a case that raises constitutional issues
and basic questions of humanity. At least the latter problem requires not a
Supreme Court judge, but common sense. Both the U.S. Constitution and the
rules of civilization prohibit unneeded cruelty during punishment. Kentucky's
protocol fails both standards, yet a simple alternative meets them — and should
go into use right away. The justices are weighing two Kentucky cases
contending that the state's three-drug execution "cocktail" is unconstitutional:
performed too often by unskilled workers and wrongly risking excruciating pain
from errors. Central to the arguments was a question that had the judges
struggling for reference points: How should trial courts assess legal challenges
to states' lethal injection techniques? The other question (which the
judges might not address) was narrower: whether Kentucky's three-drug death
"cocktail" unacceptably violates the court's standard on cruel and unusual
punishment and thus violates the Eighth Amendment. The answer to this is
clearly yes, based on evidence from physicians and ethicists, frequent reports
of bungled executions and the history of how the three-drug cocktail came to be.
Like Texas, Kentucky uses one drug to make the condemned prisoner lose
consciousness, another to paralyze him and a third to cause fatal heart failure.
Thirty-five of 36 states that execute use this procedure. If the drug mix
is not correctly administered and monitored, evidence shows the inmate will feel
excruciating pain. A sense of suffocation and awareness that one is paralyzed
are other reported sensations when the cocktail goes wrong. Nor are these
injections performed at top competence by skilled, trained professionals. This
inadequate standard means the state runs an unacceptably high risk of a bungled
execution causing extreme pain. Indeed, many states have this problem,
evidenced by grotesque mistakes: an inmate's head bursting into flames,
execution teams carving at prisoner's arms in futile search of usable veins.
But the strongest argument that the triple-drug cocktail is unconstitutionally
cruel is that it is simply unnecessary. The protocol was devised in 1977, in
Oklahoma, one year after the death penalty was revived nationally, according to
The New York Times. It was billed as an alternative to the even more
unreliable and violent electric chair. But even then, there was a safer, more
certain technique: a single barbiturate overdose, used for years to humanely
euthanize pets. But in Texas, as elsewhere, the medical director of the
state corrections department rejected this simpler, saner alternative. "He said
it was a great idea," a veterinarian recalled, "except that people would think
we are treating people the same way that we're treating animals." For no
rational reason, Kentucky, Texas and the other executing states to this day kill
inmates instead with the complex, fallible potentially torturous three-drug mix.
In Kentucky it is actually illegal to kill an animal this way. Somehow,
across the United States, the decision to punish has for years now fused with
willingness to take unusually high risks of inflicting extreme physical pain.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.chron.com Date: January 7, 2008)
Prisoners of panic--January 6th, 2008--How
much more folly, absurdity, fiscal irresponsibility and human tragedy will we
endure before we stop tolerating the political pandering that has dictated our
criminal justice law and policy over the last two decades? The pattern has
become all too clear. Our politicians, fearful of being labeled "soft on crime,"
react to sensationalistic coverage of a crime with knee-jerk, quick-fix answers.
Only years later do the mistakes, false assumptions and unexpected consequences
begin to emerge, and then the criminal justice system is forced to deal with the
mess created by the bad lawmaking. For example, remember the great crack
scare of the 1980s? When basketball superstar Len Bias, who'd been drafted by
the Boston Celtics as a franchise player, died of a crack overdose, the media
went wild in covering it. Alarmed by the sudden increase in crack use and
fearful that the drug was highly addictive and disposed users to commit
violence, Congress mandated tough minimum sentences for crack-related crimes. A
defendant convicted of possessing a small amount of crack could receive the same
sentence as one possessing 100 times that amount of powder cocaine. Because
crack users were disproportionately African American (and powder cocaine users
were disproportionately white), 85% of those receiving dealer-like sentences for
possession or sale of small amounts of crack were black -- an outcome that
helped to fuel widespread perceptions among blacks that there was a double
standard of justice in the U.S. In December, the overly harsh and
misguided sentencing policy concocted during the "war on drugs" in the 1980s was
finally modified. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that judges were no longer bound
by the strict sentencing guidelines, freeing the jurists to craft punishment
that best fits the crime and the background of the defendant. The 1990s
produced its own racially tinged crime panics. Led by John J. Dilulio Jr., a
political scientist at Princeton University, and William J. Bennett, a former
secretary of Education in the Reagan Cabinet, law-and-order proponents declared
that the U.S. was being overrun by a new generation of remorseless
"super-predators" spawned by crack-head mothers in violence-infested ghettos.
Stories of kids committing heinous crimes were common in the media. One of the
most sensational occurred in Chicago in October 1994. Two boys, one 10 years
old, the other 11, dropped 5-year-old Eric Morse from the 14th floor of a
housing project, killing him, because he refused to steal candy for them.
In response to such crimes, politicians across the country passed
anti-super-predator laws. In many states, including California, the age kids
could be tried as adults was lowered to 14, and in 48 states, the decision to
try juveniles as adults was taken away from judges and given to prosecutors. As
a result, the number of people under 18 tried as adults rose dramatically
through the 1990s, and a small percentage of them were even sentenced to prison.
Ironically,
the predicted crime explosion caused by
super-predators never materialized. Juvenile arrests declined by more than 45%
from 1994 to 2004, according to FBI statistics. But the ultimate example
of media hype meeting irresponsible politicians to produce bad public policy is
California's three-strikes law. It was chiefly written by Fresno photographer
Mike Reynolds after the murder of his daughter, Kimber, in 1992.
Introduced in the Legislature, the bill languished until the rape and murder of
12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993. A network of right-wing talk-radio hosts
reacted to the killing by fiercely promoting Reynolds' measure, which had
provisions like no other three-strikes bill in that virtually any crime, no
matter how petty, could be prosecuted as a third strike. In 1994, the
Legislature unanimously put the measure on the November ballot, and Proposition
184 passed easily. The law would eventually send thousands of Californians to
prison for 25 years to life, some for such third-strike crimes as attempting to
steal a bottle of vitamins from a drug store, buying a macadamia nut disguised
as a $5 rock of cocaine from an undercover cop and shoplifting $2.69 worth of AA
batteries. Today, Californians are still paying the price for that
folly and other like-minded laws, not just in the ruined and wasted lives of
people sentenced under these laws, but in other ways. There are now tens of
thousands of inmates in California convicted of nonviolent crimes and serving
out long second- and third-strike sentences, as well as thousands more behind
bars because minor crimes were turned into felonies with mandatory minimum
sentences. All these laws have contributed to severe overcrowding in the
state's prisons -- as high as 200% of capacity -- that has produced conditions
of such "extreme peril" for prisoners and guards that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
was forced to declare a systemwide state of emergency in 2006. Since 2003, the
inmate population has grown 8%, to about 173,000. But the budget of the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has skyrocketed 79%, to $8.5
billion, becoming the fastest-growing category in the state budget and a factor
in opening up a $14-billion budget deficit. The get-tough-on-
crime laws also have helped create a crisis in California's prison healthcare
system, where spending has risen to $1.9 billion a year, up 263% since 2000. A
large part of the problem is that the prison population is aging because inmates
are serving the longer sentences approved by lawmakers, and with aging comes
more medical problems. The system became so understaffed and dysfunctional that
a federal judge ruled that it was causing at least one avoidable death a week
through sheer neglect and ineptitude. He has seized the entire prison medical
system and placed it under his direct supervision. Faced with the huge
budget deficit and judicial threats to cap the state's prison population,
Schwarzenegger' s office has been floating the idea of early release for about
22,000 inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes. That 13% cut in prisoners,
however, would require legislative approval, something that is by no means
certain. The story of crime and punishment in California -- and the country --
since the 1980s, after all, has been quick-fix answers fueled by media hype.
Let's hope that such proposals as releasing nonviolent inmates receive serious
attention rather than panicky headlines that lead to bad criminal justice laws.
For complete story,
click here.
In Mexican prison, kids serve time with
Mommy--Mexican law dictates that children born in prison must stay
with their mothers until they turn 6, rather than being turned over
to relatives or placed in foster care.--January
5th, 2008--Beyond the high concrete walls and menacing guard towers
of the Santa Martha Acatitla Prison, past the barbed wire, past the
iron gates, past the armed guards in black commando garb, sits a
nursery school with brightly painted walls, piles of toys and a
jungle gym. Fifty-three children under the age of 6 live
inside the prison with their mothers, who are serving sentences for
crimes from drug dealing to kidnapping to homicide. Mothers dressed
in prison blue, many with tattoos, carry babies on their hips around
the exercise yard. Others lead toddlers and kindergartners by the
hand, play with them in the dust or bounce them on their knees on
prison benches. Karina Rendon, a 23-year-old serving time for
drug dealing, said her 2-year-old daughter considered the
144-square-foot cell she shared with two other mothers and their
children as home. "She doesn't know it is a prison," she said.
"She thinks it's her house." While a prison may seem an
unhealthy place for a child, in the early 1990s, the Mexico City
government decided it was better for children born in prison to stay
with their mothers until they were 6 rather than to be turned over
to relatives or foster parents. The children are allowed to leave on
weekends and holidays to visit relatives. A debate continues
among Mexican academics over whether spending one's early years in a
jail causes mental problems later in life, but for the moment the
law says babies must stay with their mothers. So the prison has a
school with three teachers. The warden, Margarita Malo, said
the children had a calming effect on the rest of the inmates. The
presence of children also inspires the mothers to learn skills or,
in many cases, to kick the drug habits that landed them in trouble
in the first place. And even though the prison is full of
women capable of violence, the children walk safely among them, as
if protected by an invisible shield. It is as though they tap the
collective maternal instinct of the 1,680 women locked up here.
"The minors are highly respected by the population," Malo said. "The
fact we have children here creates a mind-set of solidarity. I have
never seen aggression on the part of the inmates toward the
children. Everyone acts as if they could be their children, and they
don't want anything to happen to them." For complete
story,
click here.
Inmate says complaint led to more prison
guard abuse--January 5th, 2008--A state inmate
whose pending lawsuit claims a prison guard beat him four years ago
in retaliation for filing a complaint told a judge yesterday he was
assaulted again as part of a pattern of harassment by officers for
pursuing the case. Inmate Michael Kounelis, whose lawsuit had
been set for trial next week, testified in U.S. District Court that
Senior Corrections Officer Luther Thompson struck him in the face
Dec. 18 during a inspection of cells at Northern State Prison in
Newark. "He grabbed me very firmly and he told me to follow
him," Kounelis told Judge Dickinson Debevoise. "He shut the door
behind us while he was still holding my arm. As the door closed, he
pushed me to the wall and he started hitting me with his right arm
to the face and I fell to the ground." Kounelis, who is
serving 20 years for robbery, suffered bruises to the face, back,
legs and arm. He was treated and then transferred to New Jersey's
maximum-security prison in Trenton. Following the altercation,
Kounelis testified, he requested and passed a lie detector test over
whether "he put his hands on" on the officer. In addition, two
fellow inmates corroborated his version of events during testimony.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.nj.com Date: January 5,
2008)
Almost $800,000 Collected from State
Prisoners--December 31st, 2007--The State of
Missouri is making money back from some of its prison inmates, the
2007 total coming in at just under $800,000. (Webmaster Note:
Slavery has always been a road to wealth.) (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
www.topix.net Date:
December 31, 2007)
Prison inmate in 1960s recounts 'guinea
pig' tests--December 2nd, 2007--...Tests
ranged from relatively innocuous (perfume, eye wash, hair dye, baby
shampoo) to nightmarish (dioxin, hallucinogens, chemical warfare
agents, radioactive isotopes). Kligman, 91, emeritus professor
of dermatology at Penn, "is retired and no longer gives interviews,"
the university said. He has staunchly defended his experiments at
Holmesburg and maintained that they should not have been halted.
Penn bioethics professor Art Caplan disagrees. "What took
place in Holmesburg would not take place today," he said. "We've all
come a long way from saying we should experiment on marginal people
with or without their consent." But research entities like
universities and the military are loath to acknowledge wrongdoing
for many reasons, including fear of lawsuits, a desire to not
revisit a shameful past and a "circle-the-
wagons culture" among doctors, he said. "Should we all
apologize for the abuses? Yes, we should," he said. But Caplan
said more would be accomplished by expanding bioethics programs in
medical schools. New York dermatologist A. Bernard Ackerman
conducted tests in 1966 and 1967 under Kligman at Holmesburg as a
second-year dermatology resident. Virtually alone in the medical
community for his outspoken criticism of Kligman and Penn, Ackerman
said incomplete and missing documentation makes it impossible to
ascertain today what was tested on whom. "You ask, 'How could
this happen?' The answer is money," he said in an interview.
"The experiments made Kligman and Penn millions and millions from
cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies," he said. "It became a
business. No regulations can prevent that from happening again."
Anthony, who was in and out of prison from 1964 to 1983 for
drug-related crimes, said the Institute of Medicine report's
suggestions of external review boards and other safeguards are
well-intentioned but won't work behind prison walls. (Unable
to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.centredaily.com
Date: December 2, 2007)
CO: DOC expands program of using prisoners to pick
farmers crops--November 30th,
2007--A pilot program to use inmates from the Department of Corrections as farm
workers opened a new chapter Thursday when DOC officials said they would expand
the program to assist five additional farms in Pueblo County. At a meeting
organized by state Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, state prison officials called
last summer's pilot program a great success and agreed to provide work crews to
five additional farmers who attended the meeting. Steve Smith, the acting
director of DOC's Correctional Industries, said the additional farm crews would
be male inmates, but the department would organize new crews to help the farmers
who attended Thursday's meeting at the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce.
"Frankly, we were concerned there would be an even bigger turnout with even
larger number of farms wanting work crews," Smith said. He said the
program would benefit from slower expansion. "It takes us 13 or 14 hours of work
to provide you a work crew for an eight-hour day," Smith said. Even so,
Karl Spiecker, DOC's chief financial officer, said the department considered
last summer's program to be a huge success for the state, as well as for
farmers. At the peak of the season, the DOC provided five work crews of 15
female inmates to work on Pueblo County farms. The women inmates were needed to
harvest watermelons, squash, onions, pumpkins and other crops. The farmers
who came to Thursday's meeting said they would need crews starting in April and
running through next January. The reason is that few migrant workers came to the
region this summer as result of stricter immigration controls, leaving farmers,
in some cases, wondering how to harvest their crops. Butcher said state
lawmakers would help the DOC expand the program as much as possible. (Webmaster
Note: A current legally-protected practice of slavery exists in the
US, in our
prisons. Stop this abuse!) (Unable to locate story at time of
archiving. Source: www.chieftain.com
Date: November 30, 2008)
DU takes case of Supermax inmate held in
'solitary" for 24 years--November 28th,
2007--DENVER — A lawsuit filed Wednesday challenges the status of a
prisoner housed at Supermax, alleging that a "no human
contact" order that placed him in solitary confinement for 24 years
amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Thomas Edward
Silverstein, 55, has been segregated from others since Oct. 22,
1983, after his conviction in the slaying of prison guard Merle
Clutts, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
Silverstein also has been convicted in the slayings of three
inmates, but one of those convictions was overturned and he wasn't
retried. Silverstein was housed at U.S. Bureau of Prisons
facilities in Marion, Ill., Atlanta, and Leavenworth, Kan., before
being transferred in 2005 to the Administrative Maximum facility in
Florence, Colo., also known as Supermax. He is due to be released in
2095. Supermax holds some of the nation's most violent and
disruptive inmates. Figures on how many other inmates are under "no
human contact" orders were not immediately available Wednesday
evening. Warden Ron Wiley, who is named as a defendant in the
lawsuit, did not immediately respond to an e-mail. A prison
spokeswoman declined comment. The lawsuit states: "deliberate
indifference has resulted in Plaintiff suffering deprivations that
cause mental harm that goes beyond the boundaries of what most human
beings can psychologically tolerate." (Unable to locate
story at time of archiving. Source:
http://ap.dodgeglobe.com
Date: November 28, 2007)
Justice Department report blasts King
County jail conditions--Medical bungling by the
health-care staff at the King County jail likely contributed to the
recent death of an inmate, the U.S. Department of Justice says in a
strongly worded report that maintains the downtown Seattle jail
falls short of legal standards for medical treatment, suicide
prevention and safeguards against physical and sexual abuse of
prisoners by jailers. For complete story,
click here.
Use of gas on mentally ill prisoners must end--November
18th, 2007--Last week, Florida Chief Justice Fred Lewis brought
forward the report by a court committee addressing the very
substantial issues of mental illness and the criminal justice
system. This impressive report made by Judge Steven Leifman
reminded us that the use of jails and prisons to deal with mentally
ill citizens is not only morally wrong, it is fiscally stupid.
Lewis observed, "The increasing numbers of people with mental
illness appearing in criminal courts, and the frequency with which
these people cycle through our prisons and jails have become a
crisis in Florida." The committee report recommended that
Florida's prisons cease serving as expensive warehouses for
Florida's mentally ill residents. While state officials deal
with the overall system problem, Corrections Secretary Jim McDonough
needs to look closely at the way mentally ill prisoners are being
treated. The Florida Department of Corrections currently
houses over 90,000 inmates, yet has only about 500 beds specifically
designed to provide treatment to mentally ill inmates. The
Department of Corrections recognizes in its budget submission that
there is "a shortage of mental health inpatient beds, expected to be
exacerbated by projected inmate growth over the next few years."
Ideally, Florida would house its mentally ill prisoners separate
from the rest of the prisoner population, so that they can receive
treatment. Until that is done, these inmates will be kept in
general population prisons without the mental health treatment they
need. A major problem created by housing mentally ill inmates
in prisons not designed for them relates to discipline of prisoners.
Mentally ill inmates often do not behave appropriately - they yell
and bang on their cell doors, they sing loudly and repeat words and
phrases over and over. The guards' response often has been to gas
unruly prisoners with chemical agents simply for these
manifestations of their illnesses, even though the prisoners are
alone in 9-by-7 cells and can not hurt anyone. The guards open
a food flap or use a crack in the door. Every year, the
Department of Corrections permits the gassing of hundreds of
mentally ill inmates as a means to "control" inmates. When they are
housed in prisons designed to hold mentally ill prisoners staffed
with competent personnel, inmates receive counseling and other
treatment for the same physical manifestations. Numerous
mentally ill inmates have been gassed more than 20 times in
Florida's prisons, transferred in and out of inpatient care to
address the mental health destabilization that occurs each time they
are gassed. The Department of Corrections knows about this problem,
and refers to these inmates as "frequent fliers," yet it has not
provided the mental health counseling nor adopted regulations to
provide alternatives to the brutal gassing of sick prisoners.
For complete story,
click here.
Red Cross monitors barred from Guantánamo--November
15th, 2007--A confidential 2003 manual for operating the Guantánamo
detention center shows that military officials had a policy of
denying detainees access to independent monitors from the
International Committee of the Red Cross. The manual said one
goal was to "exploit the disorientation and disorganization felt by
a newly arrived detainee," by denying access to the Koran and by
preventing visits with Red Cross representatives, who have a long
history of monitoring the conditions under which prisoners in
international conflicts are held. The document said that even after
their initial weeks at Guantánamo, some detainees would not be
permitted to see representatives of the International Red Cross,
known as the ICRC. It was permissible, the document said, for
some long-term detainees to have "No access. No contact of any kind
with the ICRC." Some legal experts and advocates for detainees
said Thursday that the policy might have violated international law,
which provides for such monitoring to assure humanitarian treatment
and to limit the ability of governments to hold detainees secretly.
For complete story,
click here.
Private Prisons and the Thirteenth
Amendment--February 11th, 2007--For
every action, there is an opposite and greater reaction. This law
applies to white supremacy's response to the liberation struggle.
This was seen in Jena, LA., as sixty thousand persons marched in
Jena on September 20 to protest the railroading of six Black youths
in adult court for an alleged attack on a white youth, Justin Barkin,
in December 2006. In June 2006, an all-white jury in adult
court convicted Mychal Bell of aggravated assault and battery and
conspiracy to commit a battery. Before the march, an appeals court
threw out the remaining conviction for lack of jurisdiction. Jena
officials have chosen to try Bell again in juvenile court.
After the march, Bell's probation was wrongfully violated on another
charge. He was given 18 months in prison and is awaiting trial on
the December 2006 charge despite double jeopardy. His parents were
ordered to pay for his current confinement. Those who fail to
learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them.
Among other things, in the past, Blacks secured the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Open Housing Act of
1968. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Loving v. Virginia
and Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. While we were pumping our
fists and beating our chests, the forces of evil were at work.
Because we failed to respect or support watchdogs, we never knew
what hit us in 1968. In the meantime, white lawyers were reviewing
the Thirteenth Amendment. To them, there is a loophole. This is our
future. Congress has the authority to prohibit private racial
discrimination as a badge of slavery. This is the rule in the
Thirteenth Amendment and it was made clear in Jones v. Alfred H.
Mayer Co. Thus, Congress has the authority to ban private prisons.
Penology is also a public function. Between 1970 and today,
there has been more than a 700% increase in the prison population.
This occurred not because of an increase in crime but because of the
enactment of harsher sentencing laws. Without watchdogs, voting has
allowed Blacks to endorse their own oppression. In 1970, the
state and federal prison population was under 190,000. Today,
the same population is more than two million without counting
persons on parole and probation. The total count is more than seven
million persons in the criminal justice system alone. The
United States takes the gold for incarcerating people. China takes
the silver, but you must consider its population. The United States
also takes the gold for incarceration rates and Russia replaces
China for the silver. This country is still a penal colony.
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.amsterdamnews.com
Date: February 11, 2007)
Too young to drive, but old enough for life
in prison--Oct. 19th 2007--WASHINGTON
(AFP) — More than 70 inmates in US prisons were 13 or 14 years old
when they committed their crimes -- too young to drive or watch a
scary movie but old enough to spend the rest of their lives in jail,
according to a report. This situation does not exist anywhere
else in the world, according to the report by the Alabama-based
Equal Justice Initiative. Over the course of a year lawyers
with the group, which specializes on defending the poorest citizens,
pored over legal files across the country to uncover the number of
young teens tried and convicted as adults. At least 2,225
juveniles aged 17 or younger have been sentenced to life
imprisonment with no possibility of parole, a punishment forbidden
by the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, which the United
States has not ratified. Among those juveniles, 73 were under
the age of 15 when they committed the crime. And half of them are
African-American, hardly representative of a society where 12
percent of the population is black. The teens have all been
incarcerated with adults, where they face the same risk of beatings,
rape and abuse as their elders. Some have attempted suicide.
"This is an unintended and disastrous consequence of prosecuting
children as adults: children too young to drive, or even see a scary
movie by themselves, are being sentenced to die in adult prisons,"
said EJI director Bryan Stevenson. For complete story,
click here.
Oregon prison guards get Tasers--Civil
rights activists object, fearing abuses--SALEM, Ore. --
High-tech Tasers equipped with digital cameras are being distributed
to prison guards to help control an inmate population that has
reached about 13,500. But inmates and civil rights activists
say they are concerned the Tasers could be used to punish inmates,
including mentally ill prisoners. Nearly 100 corrections
officers across the state are being trained on how and when to use
the shock-inducing weapons, intended to help prevent injuries to
both guards and inmates. "The officers are able to quickly subdue
the (inmate) versus wrestling with him for some time," said Paula
Allen, Department of Corrections chief of security. Under
proposed department rules, approval for Taser use would have to come
from a supervising officer in charge, along with the prison
superintendent. Trained officers and commanders will make judgment
calls on when to employ the weapons, Allen said. More than 70
people, including inmates, civil rights activists and other
concerned citizens, recently filed written objections in response to
the proposed rule changes that govern prison use of Tasers.
"Prisons already have plenty of means to control inmates, and this
is an unnecessary, deadly and expensive weapon," wrote Lauren Regan,
executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center in Eugene.
Taser shocks, if administered to mentally ill convicts, would amount
to cruel and unusual punishment, Regan added. For complete
story,
click here.
Officers Strangled Man Who Died In Cell,
Suit Claims--September
17th, 2007--A man who died in police custody last year was strangled
by police, a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court Monday
claims. Jaime Galvan was arrested about 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9,
2006. About two hours after his arrest, Galvan was taken from the
Austin Police District to a holding cell at Harrison Area
headquarters at 3340 W. Fillmore St., according to the suit.
At approximately 11:59 p.m., Galvan was found "unresponsive and
deceased in his holding cell, with his body handcuffed to the
prisoner rail," the suit says. According to the suit, "autopsy
reports reveal that Jaime Galvan's body contained injuries and marks
consistent with having been strangled." The suit claims
"sometime between the hours of 6:30 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 9,
2006, unknown city of Chicago police officers strangled and/or
exerted excessive physical force upon Jaime Galvan, while in police
custody, without proper cause or justification.
" Additionally, the suit claims officers did not intervene during
the assault. The suit , filed by Yadira Galvan, whose relation
to Jaime Galvan is not specified, says whatever force used on Jaime
Galvan was excessive, since he was "restrained by handcuffs [and]
presented no threat of imminent harm to defendants or others."
(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source:
www.topix.net Date: September 17,
2007)
Inmate shocked by cattle prod wins appeal
of case against guard--September 12th, 2007--AUSTIN
— A federal appeals court has reinstated a former inmate's lawsuit
against a southeast Texas corrections officer over abuse he claims
was racially motivated. Dale Payne, who was paroled six months
ago, says he was shocked with a cattle prod and threatened with a
knife while doing time for robbery at the Estelle Unit in
Huntsville. "I was tired of the racism," Payne said. "It went
on for months and months." In a decision issued Friday, the
5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has reinstated
Payne's lawsuit against the corrections officer, Jimmy Parnell.
Payne served as his own attorney. "I just had enough, so I
studied books and took my time," said Payne, who filed his lawsuit
four years ago, handwritten on notebook paper. "They don't
like people filing suits, but I decided I had to do it for me and
everybody else who is being beaten and tortured and called racist
names." (Unable to locate story at time of archiving.
Source: www.chron.com Date:
September 12, 2007)
D.C.
mugger turns out to be a hugger--July 13th, 2007--WASHINGTON — A
grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and
a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill
home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open
gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old
girl. "Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he
demanded, according to Washington, D.C., police and witness accounts.
The five other guests, including the girl's parents, froze — and
then one spoke. "We were just finishing dinner,"
Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, blurted out. "Why don't
you have a glass of wine with us?" The intruder took a sip
of their Château Malescot St.-Exupéry and said, "Damn, that's
good wine." The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who
described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder to
take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the bottle. The would-be
robber, his hood now down, took another sip and had a bite of
Camembert cheese that was on the table. Then he tucked the gun
into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants. "I think I may
have come to the wrong house," he said, looking around the patio.
"I'm sorry," he told the group. "Can I get a hug?"
Rowan, who lives in Falls Church, Va., and works part time at her
children's school, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Then it
was Rabdau's turn. Then his wife's. The other two guests complied.
"That's really good wine," the man said, taking another sip.
He had a final request: "Can we have a group hug?" The
five adults surrounded him, arms out. With that, the man walked
out with a crystal wine glass in hand, filled with Château Malescot.
No one was hurt, and nothing was stolen. For complete story,
click here.
2
New York prisoners sue to get their banned religious books back--August
22nd, 2007--NEW YORK: Two New York inmates challenging a ban
on some
religious books in chapel libraries at U.S. prisons are trying to take
the fight nationwide, asking that their lawsuit be given class
action
status so it can benefit thousands of others behind bars. Moshe
Milstein, an Orthodox Jew, and John J. Okon, a Protestant, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. They withdrew a similar
lawsuit two months ago after a judge said they needed to register
complaints with the prison system first. The men accused the
government of the "indiscriminate dismantling of religious
libraries" at federal
prisons nationwide. Prison libraries
limited the number of books for each religion to between 100 and 150
under new rules created after a
2004 U.S. Department of Justice review
of how prisons choose Muslim religious services providers, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Brian Feldman said. Feldman said the study was
done out of a concern that prisons "had been radicalized by
inmates who were practicing or espousing various
extreme forms of
religion, specifically Islam, which exposed security risks to the
prisons and beyond the prisons to the public at large." The
lawsuit says hundreds and perhaps thousands of religious books and
media used by inmates have been banned and removed from prisons
across
the United States since February without any effort to learn if they
are inflammatory or extremist. "This purge is an
unnecessary,
unconstitutional and unlawful restriction of the ability
of federal inmates nationwide to practice and learn about their
religion and has
substantially burdened their ability to exercise
their religion," the lawsuit says. For complete story,
click here.
California's
Parole System Abuses Battered Women: August 1st, 2007: WOMENSENEWS)
--Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California is
scheduled to make
another decision on the parole of Flozelle Woodmore Aug. 10.
Let's all encourage him to do the right thing. California has
been groundbreaking in its defense of battered women. It is one of the
few states where an abused woman on trial for killing a domestic
partner is allowed to present expert testimony about battery and its
effects during the trial. More importantly, it is the only state
that has a
"habeas project," which allows an incarcerated
battered woman who was not allowed to present testimony on the effects
of battery in her
initial trial (it only became allowable under law in
1992) to petition for a retrial and bring in the evidence that was
banned. In the five years
since the California Habeas Project was
created, 19 incarcerated battered women have been released from
prison. But sadly, the state
remains in the Stone Age when it
comes to paroling the survivors of domestic violence. Numerous
battered women have served the term of
their original sentences, have
been found suitable for parole (often more than once) yet remain
imprisoned at the whim of the governor. In
California, when
someone convicted of first-degree or second-degree murder is
recommended for parole, the governor has the opportunity to
reverse
the decision of the parole board. Woodmore's plight shows why this can
be such a bad system. Over 20 years ago, then 18-year-old Woodmore killed her long-time abusive boyfriend Clifton Morrow.
For the five years they were together, Woodmore stated he beat her in public, in private and even when she was pregnant.
For complete story,
click here.
Pa.
inmate sues county prison, saying she was forced to have baby alone in
her cell: July 27th, 2007--
Pennsylvania inmate Shakira Staten says she was left alone screaming
in her cell for four hours while she went into labor and gave birth to
her daughter. Despite her constant
pleas, Staten said it wasn't
until she gave birth, the baby fell on the cell floor and she held her
child up to the cell bars that she finally got the
attention of a
guard, who cut the umbilical cord with her fingernails. Staten,
22, filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday claiming she and her
newborn
baby were subjected to cruel and unusual punishment when the staff at
the Lackawanna County Prison left her alone in her cell
without
providing medical care or transporting her to a hospital. The suit
names Lackawanna County, Lackawanna County Prison, Warden
Janine
Donate, three unnamed guards, and an unnamed nurse. Dr. Edward Zaloga
and Correction Care Inc., which provide the medical care at the jail,
were also named. Late on July 9, Staten began to feel pain and
told correctional officers she thought she was going into labor,
according to the suit. She was taken to the medical ward of the
prison, where she was examined for an hour by nurses who said her
contractions weren't "consistent enough." Staten was
then placed in a cell with a camera early July 10 so guards could
monitor her. That's
when Staten said the pain became
excruciating. She pleaded to be taken to the hospital, she
claims, but her cries weren't answered. When
the guards would
not come to her cell, Staten wadded up toilet paper and threw it on
the camera lens, according to the suit. For complete story,
click here.
California
Investigates a Mother-and-Child Prison Center: July 6th,
2007--LOS ANGELES, July 5 — The authorities in California
are investigating accusations that poor health care at a center where
mothers serve prison terms with their young children led to the
stillbirth of a 7-month-old
fetus and endangered the lives of several
children. Staff logs, statements by prisoners and interviews
with investigators, staff members and
prisoners’ families depict a
facility where inmates and their children were denied hospital visits
and medications, and where no one kept
adequate records of accidents
involving injuries that included a skull fracture and a broken
collarbone. The California Department of Alcohol
and Drug
Programs, one of several agencies investigating, is expected to decide
this month whether to continue licensing the center, which
houses
nonviolent offenders, most convicted of drug crimes. The
problems at the center coincide with continuing intense scrutiny of
health
care delivery in California’s prisons. A court-appointed
receiver was handed control of prison medical services more than a
year ago after a
federal court found widespread neglect and
malpractice. The 40-bed facility, located in San Diego and
offered as an alternative to serving
time in the customary
penitentiary setting, has dormitory-style rooms for inmate and child
adjoining shared living areas. It is run under the
banner of the
Family Foundations Program by a nonprofit contractor, Center Point
Inc., which did not return calls seeking comment. For complete
story,
click here.
Prisoners
had to lick toilets: May 9th, 2007--TALLAHASSEE --
Prosecutors issued arrest warrants Tuesday for eight former prison
employees
accused of abusing inmates, including forcing some to clean
toilets with their tongues. The eight were among 13 prison
employees who had
already been fired
from the 605-inmate medium and minimum security at the Hendry
Correctional Institution in the Everglades. The previous
warden
and an assistant warden resigned, and three others were reassigned
after an inmate was beaten and choked by guards in March.
State
prisons chief Jim McDonough said the warrants include charges of
battery and failing to report inmate abuse against former guards
William Thiessen, Phillip Barger, Randy Hazen, Gabriel Cotilla, Kevin
Filipowicz, Ruben Ibarra and Stephen Whitney. Fired guard James Brown was charged with grand theft. ''These former employees
were involved in a series of dehumanizing and degrading behaviors,''
McDonough said, noting that some inmates were given choices of eating
their food off the floor or providing sexual favors to guards.
For complete story,
click here.
Corrections
Officer Charged With Rape: May 2nd, 2007--LOUISVILLE,
Ky. -- A Louisville Metro
Corrections officer found himself on the other side of the bars,
Tuesday, to await trial on a rape charge. Sgt. Richard Johnson,
39, was indicted by a grand jury and is charged with one count of
second-degree rape and one count of second-degree sodomy.
According to court records, there were two different victims.
Johnson has been an employee at Metro Corrections for 16 years and was
promoted to sergeant about seven years ago. For complete story,
click here.
Inmates
vs. Animals: U.S. Fails the Test of Civilization:
Legend has it that in the fifth century the Asian monk Telemachus ran
into a Roman arena to stop the brutality of the gladitorial
games. For his interruption, the indignant crowd stoned him to
death, but his actions impressed Emperor Honorius enough to put an end
to the fights. The past millenium and a half has arguably
witnessed a general improvement in the cultural level of society, in
particular many
countries having preserved and extended their intolerance of sports
that brutally exploit the
disadvantaged. Today even cock fighting and
pitting canines against each other are illegal in most industrialized
nations. Remnants of
gladitorial combat nevertheless persist,
notably at two prison rodeos in Angola, La., and McAlester, Okla.,
where Americans buy tickets to watch inmates wrestle bulls and
participate in crowd favorites like "Convict Poker." Also
called "Mexican Sweat," the poker game consists of
four
prisoners who sit expectantly around a red card table. A 1,500-pound
bull is unleashed, and the last convict
to remain sitting wins.
Especially thrilling for the audience is the
chaotic finale "Money the Hard Way" in which more than a
dozen inmates scramble to snatch a
poker chip dangling from the horns
of another raging bull. Unlike prisoners of ancient Rome,
convicts at the annual Angola and Oklahoma
State rodeos aren't
physically forced to compete in the games, or even executed after
their performance. Instead, they're paid handsomely --
upwards of $200
for winning "Convict Poker," or $100 for successfully
grabbing the chip in "Money the Hard Way." A tour guide
clarifies the
basic economics: "Since $100 is worth about four
months' pay to these hardened criminals, be ready for one hell of a
scrap for that c-note." For complete story,
click here.
Inmate
freed from jail without a ride perished in the cold:
To the workers at the concrete plant who found his body, the frail man
looked as though he had gone
to sleep among the stacks of lumber. Snow cloaked everything but his
lower legs and feet. "That's all you could really see, were
his socks and his ankles,"
Bill Einhorn said. His ankles were so skinny, the men weren't
sure they were looking at a person. Einhorn and his co-workers
would say later that the
discovery was unexpectedly serene, as though the man simply decided to
take a nap in their desolate company yard. The family of
63-year-old James R.
Smith Jr. would like to think he died napping. Not cold, disoriented,
frightened. Not wandering aimlessly until he sat down and his heart
stopped. The evidence
makes the latter scenario far more likely. Smith was found dead
on the South Side on Jan. 23, five days after he was let out of
Franklin County's Jackson
Pike jail. Records show that he was freed at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18,
a Thursday. His body was found about 2 miles north of the jail at ALD
Concrete &
Grading
Co., 1600 Haul Rd. Relatives said Smith was released without a
call to them and despite a request by his case manager to hold him
until she could pick
him up the next morning. For complete story,
click here.
Jailbait:
Prison companies profit as Raymondville'
s public debt grows: ” How else could
Simon Salinas, Willacy County judge for 12 years, react to the promise
that his county’s meager and battered budget could more than triple
to $15 million within a couple of years? His employees don’t have
health insurance,
government buildings are falling apart, unemployment is over 10
percent, the county has run through four auditors in as many years,
and there’s not
even enough money to hire a dogcatcher for this sparse agricultural
area in South Texas tucked between the giant Anglo ranches to the
north and the booming
border region. “I’ve turned over rocks to get industry here,”
Salinas says. “Once they see the place, they say, we’ll go to the
[Rio Grande].” With industry
taking a pass on Willacy County, one of the poorest in the nation,
local officials have turned to more outlandish, or bold, if you
prefer, economic gambits.
One long-standing idea is to build a spaceport to launch commercial
rockets from an offshore barge. Another ill-advised venture involves
using eminent
domain to seize 1,500 acres on Padre Island owned by the Nature
Conservancy with the goal of ferrying tourists to the island on a
rickety, 40-year-old
amphibious vehicle. Both proposals have stalled, but in the past
decade Willacy County has found itself courted by one industry that
has practically
knocked down doors to come into the area. “We’re at the
point where we’ll grab anything,” says Salinas, an amiable former farmworker with a full
head of white hair. “If it’s Prisonville, fine.” Prisonville is
what the residents of Raymondville, seat of Willacy County, have taken
to calling their community.
Their town is home to a privately run, 1,000-bed state prison; a
county-run, 96-bed jail with space for federal inmates; a private,
500-bed federal jail;
and a recently opened private, 2,000-bed detention center for
undocumented immigrants that is a crown jewel in the Bush
administration’
s border-enforcement
policy. The four facilities are clustered on reclaimed grazing land, a
bustling village of razor wire and guard towers across the highway
from downtown
Raymondville. The 3,600 prisoners—one-
third of Raymondville’
s population—who reside in this penal colony represent the heart of
the area’s economy.
Aside from employing hundreds of locals to guard the prisoners, the
jails are supposed to stimulate economic development and provide
revenue for
the county. But Prisonville seems to have benefited a small group of
private, for-profit prison businessmen far more than the town on whose
humble
aspirations they preyed. For complete story,
click here.
Are
Pharmaceutical Tests on Prison Population Another Form of Modern-Day
Slavery?: Around Alabama,
South Carolina, and even in New York City, you’ll find
statues of J. Marion Sims. What you won’t find are statues or,
for that matter, many mentions of Anarcha. Back in the
mid-to-late 1800s, Sims, a surgeon, performed at least 30 experiments
on Anarcha, a slave woman, in a quest for a way to treat a 19th
century childbirth complication that caused many women to
leak urine from their vaginas after developing connections between it
and their bladder. Eventually, he was successful -- and has been
lauded as the father
of modern gynecology ever since. But even though Sims developed
a treatment for an embarrassing and painful ailment that still
afflicts many Third World
women today, there’s no ignoring the fact that he built his legacy
off of the pain of slaves like Anarcha. Women like her endured the
experiments with no
anesthesia. They also endured it amid times in which people like Sims
believed that black people’s pain and anonymity were merely part of
the landscape of
privilege to which whites believed they were entitled. I got to
thinking about Anarcha’s story after reading about how another
captive, disproportionately-
black
population could wind up being reduced to guinea pig status. Recently,
a federal panel of medical advisers recommended that the government
lighten up
on regulations that restrict prison inmates from being used as
subjects in pharmaceutical tests. According to The New York
Times, such testing all but ended
more than three decades ago, after some prisoners were exposed to
dangerous substances such as dioxin. Leodus Jones, a former inmate
at Philadelphia’
s Holmesburg prison in the 1960s, told the Times that lotion tests
caused him to develop rashes, and his skin to change color. (We
were unable to locate the original story to save it. However,
this story is far too important to just delete for lack of archive.
The original story was written by Tonya Weathersbee. We've
found the story in full and have copied it with the source. No
date is available that we can find.
Click here for more.)
Inside
Jobs - Convict Rehab or Corporate Slavery?:
If you think prison inmates
only make license plates, you're behind the times. As a child
Ayana Cole dreamed
of becoming a world class fashion designer. Today she is among
hundreds of inmates crowded in an Oregon prison factory cranking out
designer jeans.
For her labor she is paid 45 cents an hour. At a chic Beverly Hills
boutique some of the beaded creations carry a $350 price tag. In fact
the jeans labeled
"Prison Blues" - proved so popular last year that prison
factories couldn't keep up with demand. At a San Diego
private-run prison factory Donovan Thomas
earns 21 cents an hour manufacturing office equipment used in some of
LA's plushest office towers. In Chino Gary's prison sewn T-shirts are
a fashion hit.
Hundreds of prison generated products end up attached to trendy and
nationally known labels like No Fear, Lee Jeans, Trinidad Tees, and
other well known
US companies. After deductions, many prisoners like Cole and Thomas
earn about $60 for an entire month of nine-hour days. In short, hiring
out prisoners
has become big business. And it's booming. For complete story,
click here.
16-Year-Old
Girl Faces 40 Years in Texas Prison for Drug Offense:
The county attorney in El Paso,
Texas, is seeking a harsh prison term for a 16-year-old girl caught
smuggling cocaine into the U.S. from Mexico, the El
Paso Times reported Sept. 24. County
Attorney Jose Rodriguez asked for and received grand-jury clearance
for the girl, whose name was withheld, to be prosecuted under Texas'
Determinate Sentencing Statute, which allows minors to be
punished beyond
their 21st birthday and would expose the girl to up to 40 years in
juvenile detention and Texas prisons. The girl was caught allegedly
trying to smuggle
about 50 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. For complete story,
click here.
Torture
Tactics Refined In US Prisons, ACLU Says:
(CNSNews.com) - The director of the American Civil Liberties Union's
National Prisoner Project Wednesday
accused U.S. governments past and present of honing torture tactics in
American prisons before they were allegedly implemented in
terrorist detention
centers in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "If
you look at the iconic pictures from Abu Ghraib," Elizabeth
Alexander told reporters at
the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, "you can match up these photos with
the same abuses at American prisons, each one of them."
Alexander said the infamous torture
tactics uncovered at Abu Ghraib were first used in American prisons,
but without cameras. "The photo from Abu Ghraib showing a mock
execution matches
events in Sacramento, California, in which guards staged mock
executions of prisoners," she said. The images of dogs
being used to intimidate prisoners
portray similar events that occurred in a Texas jail, according to
Alexander, who added that the sexual humiliation that occurred in Abu
Ghraib is similar
to sexual abuse in women's prisons in the United States. For
complete story,
click here.
Three
disciplined in suicide of 18-year-old at youth prison:
SACRAMENTO - Three employees at a youth prison in Stockton were
disciplined after the suicide last
year of an 18-year-old ward who was isolated in his room for two
months, the corrections department said Friday in a preliminary
response to a public records
request from The Associated Press. In a report that was
previously released, the prison system's inspector general blamed poor
oversight for Joseph Daniel
Maldonado's Aug. 31 suicide at the N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional
Facility. For complete story,
click here.
Inmates
tortured, ACLU says: Prisoners at
the Garfield County Jail are being tortured with PepperBall guns,
Tasers and electroshock belts, the American Civil Liberties Union
charged in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court.
For complete story,
click here.
Sentencing:
US Conference of Mayors Comes Out Against Mandatory Minimum Drug
Sentences:
The US Conference of Mayors, meeting at its annual convention
in Las Vegas this week, passed a resolution opposing mandatory minimum
sentences for drug crimes http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/resolutions/74th_conference/resolutions_adopted_2006.pdf
and called for "fair and effective" sentencing
policies. The group represents the 1,183 mayors of cities in the US
with populations over 300,000 and is a key voice in setting the urban
policy agenda. For complete story,
click here.
Judge
Steps In for Poor Inmates Without Justice Since Hurricane:
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Katrina took his house, his courtroom
and, Judge Arthur L. Hunter
Jr. says, his faith in the way his city treats poor people facing
criminal charges. Nine months after the storm, more than a
thousand jailed defendants have
had no access to lawyers, the judge says, because the public defender
system is desperately short of money and staffing, without a computer
system or files
or even a list of clients. And so Judge Hunter, 46, a former New
Orleans police officer, is moving to let some of the defendants
without lawyers out of jail.
He has suspended prosecutions in most cases involving public
defenders. And, alone among a dozen criminal court judges, he
has granted a petition to free
a prisoner facing serious charges without counsel, and is considering
others. For complete story,
click here.
U.S.
report: 2.2 million now in prisons, jails:
WASHINGTON - Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates
each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people,
or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.
The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same
time in 2004, the government
reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005
translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates. Of particular
note was the gain
of 33,539 inmates in jails, the largest increase since 1997,
researcher Allen J. Beck said. That was a 4.7 percent growth rate,
compared with a 1.6 percent increase in people held in state and
federal prisons. Prisons accounted for about two-thirds of all
inmates, or 1.4 million, while the other third, nearly 750,000,
were in local jails, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Beck, the bureau’s chief of corrections statistics, said the
increase in the number of people
in the 3,365 local jails is due partly to their changing role. Jails
often hold inmates for state or federal systems, as well as people who
have yet to begin
serving a sentence. “The jail population is increasingly
unconvicted,” Beck said. “Judges are perhaps more reluctant to
release people pretrial.” The report
by the Justice Department agency found that 62 percent of people in
jails have not been convicted, meaning many of them are awaiting
trial. For complete story,
click here.
Inmates
face hazards for pennies an hour:
While much of the "e-waste" discarded across the
country is "recycled" by brokers who send the old computers,
monitors
and televisions to "developing" nations without laws
regulating the health or safety implications of their processing and
disposal, some marginalized communities in the United States also face
hazards from dismantling the toxic products. Prison recycling
programs at a number of federal penitentiaries have violated health
and safety standards, according to whistleblowers and environmental
groups. Prisoners at the federal maximum-security Atwater prison
in California
used hammers to break computer terminals down for recycling, which
caused the release of heavy-metal particles. The problem was
only addressed
after Leroy Smith, the safety manager at Atwater, filed a complaint
with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration and
sought whistleblower
protections in early 2005. Seven other federal prisons have
electronics recycling plants, including Elkton, Ohio; Fort Dix, New
Jersey; and Texarkana,
Texas. "Because the US as a country is not embracing this
very significant large volume and hazardous waste problem, what
we’re doing is pushing
it offshore, [and] we’re pushing it to prisoners," said Sarah
Westervelt, e-waste program coordinator with the Basel Action Network,
an international environmental organization. More than a year
after Smith’s disclosure, the US Office of Special Counsel finally
issued a response last month, faulting the Federal
Bureau of Prisons for failing to address inmates’ exposure to toxins
like lead and cadmium in the computer recycling operations. Even
Scott Bloch, the
head of the US Office of Special Counsel heavily criticized for
relative inaction in protecting federal employees’ rights at work,
called for a "thorough, independent and impartial investigation
into recycling operations at [Bureau of Prisons] institutions."
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER),
along with Smith’s lawyer, Mary Dryovage, say the Justice Department
should open a full investigation into alleged health and safety
violations perpetrated
by UNICOR, the government-owned corporation that runs industry
programs at federal penitentiaries. Businesses, federal agencies
and local governments have contracted UNICOR to recycle their e-waste,
resulting in $9 million in sales in 2005. According to its financial
reports, UNICOR employs 951 inmates
in its recycling plants, paying them between 23 cents and $1.15 per
hour. (Webmaster Note: Not only are prisoners paid way under
minimum wage standards, they are expected to pay up to and sometimes
over 10x retail prices for necessities, including food and toiletries.
Can you imagine being paid 23 cents
an hour and being expected to pay $10 for one aspirin tablet, not a
bottle of aspirin, a single pill. Peonage is debt slavery.
Why do we allow this? To
support prisoners, visit: www.heal-online.org/adopt.htm
and learn how now!) For complete story,
click here.
Tyra
Banks goes to jail for chat show:
Tyra Banks has spent a day in jail to prepare for the second
season of her US chat show. The former model asked to be
treated like any other female prisoner during her stay, and admits
that she was shocked by what she experienced. "It was one
of the most shocking, eye-opening
and terrifying experiences of my life. I felt violated," Banks is
quoted by The Sun as saying. For complete story,
click here.
Democracy
Now! Chicago's Abu Ghraib: Tuesday, May 9th, 2006:
For nearly two decades a part of the
city’s jails known as Area 2 was the epicenter for what has
been described as the systematic torture of dozens of African-American
males by Chicago police officers. In total, more than 135 people say
they were subjected
to abuse including having guns forced into their mouths, bags places
over their heads, and electric shocks inflicted to their genitals.
Four men have
been released from death row after government investigators concluded
torture led to their wrongful convictions. For complete story,
click here.
Prison
employees' arrests detailed--From hot checks to murders, prison
workers frequently charged:
They're
accused of fighting with their families, getting drunk in public,
writing hot checks, driving drunk and getting caught with illegal
drugs. Occasionally,
they're arrested on accusations of murdering, setting fire, stealing,
laundering money,
smuggling illegal immigrants, even robbing a bank or impersonating a
police officer. That was
the snapshot that emerged Thursday as state prison officials
made public
a list of Texas corrections employees who have been arrested during
the past three years. The list of charges is a cross- section of the
criminal code.
For complete story,
click here.
In
police lineups, is the method the suspect?:
CHICAGO AND BOSTON - A police lineup is often the moment
of truth in a criminal investigation. It's also, say many experts,
highly fallible. Of the
175 convictions overturned by DNA evidence, 75 percent were convicted
largely because of eyewitness testimony that turned out to be mistaken.
For complete story,
click here.
Prison
guards protest over conditions at Nevada State Prison:
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Up to 200 prison guards plan a
rally Friday outside the Nevada State Prison to
protest what they see as deteriorating conditions as a result of
inmate program cuts and policy changes by a new warden.
Scott MacKenzie, organizing director for the State
of Nevada Employees Association, said Thursday that guards working at
the medium-security prison now must deal with "a heavy handed
management style" that excludes
them from involvement in decisions.
MacKenzie added that good communication between prison
administrators and guards "is the key to safety, security
and respect."
Problems mentioned by guards have included cuts in inmate
programs by Warden Bill Donat, along with policy changes in sick
leave, time off and various rules that
they see as creating a hostile work environment.
For complete story,
click here.
Former
inmate: Chino prison officer plotted attacks:
CHINO - An officer at the California Institution for Men
solicited attacks against an inmate there for raising too many
complaints about the facility's living conditions, the former prisoner
said. Matthew Cramer, 38,
who was released on parole in March, said his complaints have spurred
an Internal
Affairs investigation. Officials
at the prison deny an investigation is under way and said Cramer's
charges are bogus. But he's pushing the case forward.
"She went to
many inmates and said, `Cramer snitched, Cramer did this, Cramer did
that,' " said the former prisoner, who now lives in Visalia.
"She tried to entice them to assault me."The
officer's last name is Duncan, said Cramer, who said he does not know
her first name. Many officers typically do not use their first names
inside prison environments.
For complete story,
click here.
Jeffco
death sentences highest since'76:
Jefferson
County judges have condemned seven killers in the last nine months,
equaling the county's largest concentration of death
sentences since capital sentencing resumed in Alabama in 1976, records
show. The latest was
Brandon Washington, who was sentenced to death on March 27 for a robbery
and murder. Judges also imposed seven death sentences between June
1997 and March 1998. Bryan
Stevenson, a death penalty critic, said the latest trend shouldn't
be a surprise in a state that leads the nation in per-capita death
sentences, where jury sentence verdicts can be less than unanimous and
judges may override the jury's
wish. "There is no
question in my mind," said Stevenson, executive director of the
Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative. "Alabama has one of
the most
expansive
death penalty statutes in the country."
For complete story,
click here.
Prison
canteen system nears end of its time:
For years, Oregon convicts shopped at prison canteens,
buying everything from shampoo to instant coffee and running shoes.
However, most of these general stores behind prison walls have
closed in recent years, vanishing like mom-and-pop grocery stores
supplanted by big corporate chains.
Only two of 13 state prisons, the Oregon State Penitentiary in
Salem and the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton,
still operate storefront canteens. Amid
a push for consolidation and standardization, the bulk of the convict
population no longer shops at the canteen. Instead, the canteen comes
to them, arriving once per week
in brown paper bags. Inmate warehouse workers do the heavy lifting for the
modernized system, known as "bagged canteen," filling
customized orders that are delivered
by trucks to thousands of prisoners.
Top-selling items in the convict marketplace, based on sales
revenue: envelopes, TVs, instant coffee, noodles, protein powders,
compact discs, AA batteries, CD players/radios and refried beans. Canteens conform with the Department of Corrections' mission
to hold inmates accountable, said
Perrin Damon, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Most inmates work, earning points that can be used to fund
canteen purchases, providing an incentive for them to work hard,
Damon said. "Plus,
having responsibility for their own funds, saving and spending -- it
mirrors the real world," she said.
Family members can donate money to inmates'
accounts. However, convict purchasing power is kept in check by rules
that limit monthly spending to between $50 and $75.
(Webmaster Note: Prisoners are charged
at least twice the retail rate on most items, sometimes as much as 10x
the retail rate (what we pay at the store on the outside).
They have to use this "allowance" (even
if they have more funds in their accounts) to purchase toiletries
including toilet paper and sundries.
Who stops the debt peonage slavery in this system?
Who stops the
slavery period? How is it
like the "real world" for an adult to be paid in
"points" and not at least to be paid minimum wage?
What human and civil rights standards are we
using to judge this? It's
flat out garbage!!!) For complete story,
click here.
Ex-prisons
official pleads guilty in co-worker assaults:
The
Texas prison system's former anti-gang chief pleaded guilty Friday to
reduced criminal charges in a deal that allows
him to avoid going to prison for sexually assaulting co-workers.
Salvador "Sammy" Buentello, an assistant director of
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice who retired
under fire in May 2004, pleaded guilty in a Huntsville state court to
a felony charge of unlawful restraint and five counts of official
oppression, all misdemeanors. Three felony
sexual assault charges were dismissed.
State District Judge Bill McAdams sentenced Buentello to five
years' deferred adjudication on the felony charge and a year's probation
on the misdemeanors. He was also fined $7,000.
The felony charge carried a maximum 10-year prison sentence,
the misdemeanors a maximum year each in the county
jail. Under the deferred
adjudication agreement, if Buentello is not arrested on or convicted
of new charges, he will not have a felony conviction on his
record, according
to prosecutors. Walker
County Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Stroud said Buentello
must undergo psychiatric counseling and a sexual-therapy
evaluation but
will not have to register as a sex offender.
For complete story,
click here.
Torture
Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons:
They
are just some of the victims of wholesale torture taking place inside
the U.S. prison system that we uncovered during a four-month
investigation for BBC Channel 4 . It’s terrible to watch some of the
videos and realise that you’re not only seeing torture in action
but, in the most extreme cases, you are
witnessing young men dying. The
prison guards stand over their captives with electric cattle prods,
stun guns, and dogs. Many of the prisoners have been ordered to strip
naked. The guards are yelling abuse at them, ordering them to lie on
the ground and crawl. ‘Crawl, motherf*****s, crawl.’
If a prisoner doesn’t drop to the ground fast enough,
a guard kicks him or stamps on his back. There’s a high-pitched
scream from one man as a dog clamps its teeth onto his lower leg.
Another prisoner has a broken ankle.
He can’t crawl fast enough so a guard jabs a stun gun onto his
buttocks. The jolt of electricity zaps through his naked flesh and
genitals. For hours afterwards his whole
body shakes. Lines of men
are now slithering across the floor of the cellblock while the guards
stand over them shouting, prodding and kicking.
Second by second, their
humiliation is captured on a video camera by one of the guards.
The images of abuse and brutality he records are horrifyingly
familiar. These were exactly the kind of pictures
from inside Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad that shocked the world this
time last year. And they
are similar, too, to the images of brutality against Iraqi prisoners
that this
week led to the conviction of three British soldiers.
But there is a difference. These prisoners are not caught up in
a war zone. They are Americans, and the video comes
from inside a prison in Texas. For complete story,
click here.
Locked
Up in the Tombs: Dangerous-to-Society Women:
Lockup
isn't supposed to be fun, but we are innocent until proven guilty.
Right? I was arrested with Cindy Sheehan,
Medea Benjamin, and Rev. Patti Ackerman last week as we attempted to
deliver to the United States Mission a petition with 72,000 signatures
of women who say no
to war. Just a few hours
before this, the Iraqi Women's Delegation had been received warmly at
the UN. We were not received warmly at our publicly owned
building, although
our group had been told the petition could be delivered to a
receptionist. In fact, as we approached, security guards locked the
doors. We moved from the
building and
were reading the petition when police arrived to arrest us. Cindy,
Medea, and Patti locked arms and legs to avoid being hurt. I held
tightly to a banner for peace. The police
tried to pull it from my grasp but failed. They lifted me, pulled my
arms behind my back, and carried me to the paddy wagon. I weigh 104
pounds. Might makes right, eh?
I yelled, "George Bush killed my nephew." I said this
over and over. We four
"dangerous-to-society" women were driven to a police station
where we were photographed and
fingerprinted. The walls and floor of our cell were decorated with
feces, blood, and urine. The bathroom was also filthy.
(Webmaster Note: So,
this is how we treat the mothers
of American sons who die in Iraq?
This is how we honor freedom and protect democracy?
What in the hell is going on?)
For complete story,
click here.
Author
embraces technology - launches Internet portal from behind the walls
of a maximum security federal prison.
TAMPA, FL– Author,
screenwriter George Martorano
has assisted in launching the website www.georgemartorano.com.
Martorano, in his 23rd
year of a life without-the-possibility-of-parole sentence, has found
a world-wide
audience for 23 years worth of writings- including 10 novels, 20 short
stories and numerous screenplays.
George Martorano is currently serving his 23rd
year of an
LWP (Life-without Parole) sentence in a maximum security federal
prison in Coleman, Florida. Mr.
Martorano plead guilty to drug conspiracy charges in 1983. Despite
a plea
agreement which intended Martorano to serve 10 years in prison, a
federal judge ignored the plea agreement and sentenced George
Martorano to serve a life sentence without
parole for his first-time, non-violent marijuana offense. The reason
given was Mr. Martorano's failure to outline activities about his
father's alleged, unrelated illegal business
activities that the judge had hoped he knew. Mr. Martorano is the longest serving first-time, non-violent
offender in the history of America. Despite the circumstances
surrounding George Martorano's living conditions over the last 23
years, he has overcome, raised above and far exceeded expectations by
educating himself,
maintaining a healthy positive mental attitude and teaching and
counseling hundreds of inmates over the years.
Writing
by Suicidal Detainee Reveals Depths of His Despair:
Just before
Jumah al-Dossari tried to kill himself by fashioning a makeshift noose
and opening a gash in his
right arm, the Guantanamo Bay detainee handed his lawyer an envelope
containing pages of tidily handwritten Arabic, some stained with dried
blood. Dossari had told his
lawyer they could discuss the letter at a later time. "The detainees are suffering from the bitterness of
despair, the detention humiliation and the vanquish of slavery and
suppression," Dossari wrote, according to a translation. "I
hope you will always remember that you met and sat with a 'human
being' called 'Jumah' who suffered too much and
was abused in his belief, self, dignity and also in his humanity. He
was imprisoned, tortured and deprived from his homeland, his family
and his young daughter who is in the
most need of him for four years . . . with no reason or crime
committed."
For complete story,
click here.
Hollywood
stars join campaign to close prison:
The campaign to
close Guantánamo Bay has secured high-profile support, with Nobel
laureates and film stars signing a letter
in today's Guardian demanding an end to torture.
Hollywood stars Danny Glover, of Lethal Weapon fame, and film
legend Harry Belafonte join writers Harold Pinter, Wole
Soyinka, Dario Fo, Nadine Gordimer and Alice Walker among others in
demanding the prison's closure. Recent
reports say the Bush administration is thinking of closing
the prison, which has attracted global condemnation for the use of
torture and the systematic abuse of detainees' human rights.
For complete story,
click here.
Funds:
Doing time is money - prisons pay off for fund:
BOSTON For managers of
the RS Partners Fund, the second-best performing U.S. small-cap value
mutual fund since
2001, only two things are certain this year: jails and education.
Andrew Pilara, who oversees the $2.3 billion fund, is bullish on
Corrections Corp. of America, the largest operator of jails and
prisons in the United States, and Corinthian Colleges, which runs 130
colleges in the United States and Canada.
While most companies will post smaller
earnings gains in 2006 as consumer spending weakens, businesses like
Corrections and Corinthian Colleges will keep growing, said Pilara,
who co-manages the fund
with Joe Wolf and David Kelley. Demand for their services is not dependent on the economy, he
said. "Our caution
led us to businesses that aren't economically
sensitive,"
Pilara said in an interview by phone from his office at RS Investments
in San Francisco. Pilara
said he expects rising commodities prices to hamper U.S. growth, while
economists are forecasting that the first quarter will show the
biggest gains in two years. The RS Partners Fund climbed 14 percent in the past year.
Much of the gain came
from energy-related companies like Compton Petroleum and Paramount
Resources, which increased as oil and natural gas prices rose.
For complete story,
click here.
Out
of Jail, into the Army:
Facing an
enlistment crisis, the Army is granting "waivers" to an
increasingly high percentage of recruits with criminal records - and
trying to hide it. We're
transforming our military.
The things I look for are the following: morale, retention, and
recruitment. And retention is high, recruitment is meeting goals, and
people are feeling strong about the mission. -- George W. Bush, in
a Jan.
26 press conference It was about 10 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2002, when a drug deal was
arranged in the parking lot of a mini-mall in Newark, Del. The car
with the drugs, driven by a man who would become a
recruit for the Delaware Air National Guard, pulled up next to a
parked car that was waiting for the exchange.
Everything was going smoothly until the cops arrived.
"I parked and walked over to his car and
got in and we were talking," the future Air Guardsman later wrote. "He asked if I had
any marijuana and I said yes, that I bought some in Wilmington, Del.,
earlier that day. He said he wanted some." The drug
dealer went on to recount in a Jan. 11, 2005, statement written to win
admission into the military, "I walked back to my car [and] as
soon as I got in my car an officer put his flashlight in the window
and arrested
me."
For complete story,
click here.
Inmates
Awarded $248,000 For Abuse Conditions Called 'Dehumanizing':
Justice took
its time coming to Bernard Brown and the men who suffered with him
during those
weeks in a filthy cellblock at the D.C. jail. Almost a decade passed between the time the men were beaten,
robbed and deprived of showers, working toilets and eating
utensils and the day last month when a jury awarded them $248,000 for
the abuse they suffered. Brown
and Vonsauli Smith had finished their prison sentences and rejoined
society. The cuts and bruises they and the others were left with after
guards beat them had long since faded to soft brown scars.
But Brown says he never will forget
the viciousness of the days he spent on South One cellblock, a place
described in an unrelated court proceeding as "the most
deplorable, unjustifiably restrictive, dehumanizing" prison
accommodations one expert had ever seen.
For complete story,
click here.
American
Indian activist Leonard Peltier seeks new trial:
ST. LOUIS — “It is
my obligation to find errors in the government’s case,” Barry
Bachrach, a defense lawyer for
Leonard Peltier, told the World outside of the Thomas Eagleton Federal
Courthouse here Feb. 13, after a hearing to review Peltier’s
conviction and sentencing. Peltier,
a leader
of the American Indian Movement (AIM), has spent 30 years in prison
for his alleged role in the shooting deaths of two FBI agents during a
1975 standoff on South Dakota’s
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. However, no one witnessed the shooting,
and ballistics tests, which were concealed from the court at the time
by the FBI, showed that
the bullets could not have been fired from the alleged murder weapon.
Peltier has repeatedly denied responsibility.
While Peltier’s defense has been ongoing since his arrest
in 1976, Bachrach is taking a different approach. According to
Bachrach, “the Federal Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under
the statutes upon which Peltier was
convicted and sentenced. The laws under which Leonard Peltier was
convicted require that the incident take place on a federal enclave,
which does not include the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation where the incident did take place. In this case,
the government therefore lacked jurisdiction.” (Webmaster's Note:
Read "The COINTELPRO Papers"
for truth about Peltier's case).
For complete story,
click here.
Department
of Corrections or Corruption?:
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- It's called the Iron Triangle.
A place where on each side of State Road 16, a handful of
prisons meet. Those
who live and work in the Iron Triangle will tell you behind the razor
sharp wires is a code, one few are willing to talk about openly.
"Everybody likes to use the phrase good old boys club, that's what it
is out there and they protect one another. There is a code of
silence," says a former correctional officer we will call Dave.
Dave is breaking the
silence along with a few others who are still in the corrections
system. "If it were
known who I am, at minimum my career with DOC would be over, at
minimum," says a high
ranking correctional officer we will call Mark.
The only way Dave and Mark would talk to us is we concealed
their faces, distorted their voices and changed their names. "I
fear retaliation from the upper echelon at work," says TJ,
another correctional officer who would only speak on condition of
anonymity. There is one
person who is not afraid
to say who he is. "I could sit here until the sun goes down next
week," says Ron McAndrew. McAndrew has been on the inside of Corrections as warden at
the Florida
State Prison. "They'll
find some way to get even with you and that's well known. The
intimidation factor is unbelievable," says McAndrew.
With these former and current
correctional workers, we've uncovered documents, pictures and other
evidence that is now part of numerous state and federal
investigations. "I
would equate it to the mafia,
yes," says TJ. There
are steroid probes, sexual harassment lawsuits, claims of inmates
being tortured.
For complete story,
click here.
John
Robert Ballard remains at a state prison:
RAIFORD, Fla. - John Robert Ballard was set free from death row
after the state Supreme Court ruled there was insufficient evidence to
convict him of killing two friends but he didn't rush out of prison
Friday at the first opportunity to savor his freedom. Ballard, who was expected to be released Friday afternoon and
reportedly had a bus ticket home, remained at the Union Correctional
Institution in Raiford hours after prison officials said he was free
to go. What was the
holdup? "When people
are released from prison, sometimes they have to wait on their
ride," Department of Corrections spokesman Robby Cunningham said.
"It's very common that there's not someone at the front door the
second they walk out."
For complete story,
click here.
Waging
Peace On The Death Penalty:
At
12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning Michael Morales is scheduled to die for the
1982 murder of Terri Winchell, a 17-year old Lodi,
California high
school student. The trial
took place in Ventura County, where I live.
This evening, as Michael is strapped to the executioner’s
table, Amnesty International
and Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions
will hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Ventura County
Government Center, where Morales was condemned to death. We will call
for the abolition of the capital punishment.
Michael Morales has lost his struggle to survive, but
eventually we death penalty abolitionists will prevail in the United
States as we
have prevailed in 120 other countries, from Angola to
Nepal to Venezuela. Eventually,
we as a nation will learn to respect the universal human right to
life. We will reject
execution as a form of torture. For complete story,
click here.
French
prisons on the borderline of human dignity:
After visiting
two prisons in Marseille and Paris, the council's Human Rights
Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles
said: "...inmates' living
conditions are on the borderline of the acceptable, and on the
borderline of human dignity."
Europe's top human rights watchdog said some French
prisons
were in a "disastrous" state on Wednesday in a damning
report on the country's criminal justice system that fuelled a
mounting sense of crisis. French
courts were overworked and underfunded, police operated with a sense
of impunity and defence lawyers needed better access to their clients,
said the report by the 46-nation Council of Europe based in Strasbourg
in eastern France. "Conditions in some holding facilities are
disastrous and totally at odds with a modern society's
requirements," the council's
Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro
Gil-Robles wrote. For complete story,
click here.
Calif.
prison guard convicted of aiding racist prison gang:
LOS ANGELES
(AP) - A former prison guard was convicted Tuesday on charges of
aiding a white supremacist inmate gang that operated at the California
Institute for Men in Chino. Shayne
Allyn Ziska, 44, of Fontana was found guilty of federal charges of
participating in a corrupt organization's conspiracy, violent crime in
the aid of racketeering and deprivation of rights under color of law.
Ziska helped the Nazi Low Riders distribute methamphetamine,
heroin and other drugs, federal prosecutor Adam D. Kamenstein said.
U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr., who heard testimony
from several inmates and other correctional officers over a two-week
trial, also found Ziska guilty of allowing a gang member to stab an
inmate.
For complete story,
click here.
Autopsy
reports expose cruelty of lethal injection:
It's the stuff
of nightmares, and the very definition of cruel and unusual
punishment: A prisoner remaining aware, but paralyzed and unable to
speak, while a deadly, caustic drug flows through his veins.
This could be the reality of execution in the United States.
Lethal injections, the preferred method of execution in every state
but Nevada, use three drugs: sodium thiopental, a surgical anesthetic,
followed by the paralytic drug pancuronium bromide, and finally
potassium chloride, which stops the heart and causes death.
A medical journal's review of autopsy reports in 49 executions
by lethal injection in Texas and Virginia showed that 43 had
critically low levels of anesthetic in their bloodstreams, and 21 had
so little that they were likely conscious throughout the painful
process of stopping their heart.
This is unwelcome news to death-penalty supporters,but no
surprise to those familiar with the history of lethal injection.
For complete story,
click here.
Harrison
County inmate tortured by jailers, attorney says:
GULFPORT
— A Harrison County inmate who died following a weekend altercation
with jailers was tortured
and beaten "relentlessly" while
restrained, a Gulfport attorney representing the dead prisoner's
family says. Michael
Crosby, who is representing the family of Jessie Lee
Williams, told
the Sun Herald on Wednesday that numerous witnesses are prepared to
testify in court, if necessary, that Williams received abuse at the
hands of jailers
Saturday night. For complete story,
click here.
New
Supreme Court Gatekeeper for 11th Circuit:
The
U.S. Supreme Court has assigned Justice Clarence Thomas, a strong
supporter of capital punishment, to handle emergency stay requests
coming out of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The move could affect Florida death penalty appeals.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, a relative
moderate on death penalty
issues, previously handled the 11th Circuit, which includes Florida,
Georgia and Alabama.
For complete story,
click here.
A
Glimpse Inside the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, Where 90
Percent of the Cases are Drug Related:
One afternoon
in February 2000, when I was learning the ropes at the district attorney's office, I got a call from Phil Matier of the Chronicle who
wanted to talk about police chief Fred Lau. On Chinese New Year's the
SFPD's Lion Dancers had performed at a party in Brisbane, for which
they got four hours of overtime pay, authorized by Lau. Matier wanted
to know if the DA's office was investigating the episode; if a
complaint had been received; and the section of the law pertaining to
misuse of funds. I said I'd look into it.
It occurred to me that by making a big deal out of episodes
like this, which may have cost the taxpayers a thousand dollars, the
media directs attention away from the big ongoing story: one-third of
all San Francisco cops' pay is overtime. Overtime pay goes out to the
vice and narcotics squads daily, in amounts that add up to millions a
year. Because it happens every day, it's routine; it's not news. Thus
the system is never exposed. A thousand dollars in bullshit overtime
pay is news. A thousand thousand dollars in bullshit overtime pay is
not news. Seventy percent
of the cases handled by the district attorney's office are for
possession or sale of illicit drugs--mostly crack cocaine--and another
20 percent involve attempts by poor, desperate people to get money for
drugs. On a typical
morning in Department 10, one of the four municipal courts on the
first floor, 26 people wait patiently as the proceedings begin at 9:20
a.m. None appear to be affluent. Guessing from their demeanor and
attire, six are regularly employed, including a muni driver and his
wife. The rest are lumpen. There's a tall white man with dyed black
hair, a Carl Perkins impersonator. Two Samoans, four Latinos, a white
woman dozing, a white-haired Greek gent in his sixties. Everybody else
is African American. At
the end of the day I debriefed the assistant DA--a self-described
"progressive" hired by Terence Hallinan--who handled all
those cases.
For complete story,
click here.
Imprisoning
the innocent: 'It's un-American':
Alex
Villalobos vividly remembers when he prosecuted his first case as an
intern in State Attorney Willie Meggs' office back in the late '80s.
Villalobos, then a Florida State University law student, was
assigned a juvenile burglary case. The youth arrested for the crime
was accused of breaking a window, entering a residence and stealing a
gun. He swore he didn't
do it, but Villalobos won a conviction.
Eighteen years later, Villalobos, 42, is majority leader in the
Florida Senate, an influential Republican from Miami who's in his 14th
year as a lawmaker. Unlikely as it may be, he still wonders if that
convicted burglar actually was telling the truth.
Five years ago the conservative politician first thrust himself
into the spotlight as the Legislature's poster boy for defending the
interests, through law and science, of wrongfully convicted inmates.
For complete story,
click here and scroll down.
Telemarketing?
You call that rehab?:
Church
allegedly made people work for 28 cents an hour.
A rehabilitation program at a church is facing allegations it
forced people to work as telemarketers for 28 cents an hour under the
threat they could go back to jail.
The state Department of Human Services, which investigated the
program, notified the House of Refuge on Thursday that it had 10 days
to explain itself before its license would be revoked and the program
shut down. The men were
sent to the program by judges or state agencies for substance abuse
rehabilitation. A department report said they were paid about 28 cents
an hour, but even those wages were withheld and donated to the church.
Most of the men in the program have since been pulled out,
officials said. It was unclear if anyone
remained in it Friday. (Webmaster
Note: This is not
surprising and not a rare or unusual practice in Utah.
Utah has many programs for youth called "residential treatment programs" and/or "boot camps" where children
are enslaved (not paid anything and forced to work under threat of
physical violence and denial of privileges including food and water).
Utah courts regularly place children in RTC's as an alternative
to state run juvenile facilities.
And, the practices of abuse, torture, and POW-style
brainwashing are regularities in that state and in many other programs
run throughout the Mid-West and Southern states.
Please learn more at www.heal-online.org/childtortureusa.htm
We must stop this before all of us are under the thumb of
reckless, evil bastards.)
Story is no longer available through CNN and story could not be
located elsewhere. It was originally on
www.cnn.com,
February 3rd, 2006(?) under the headline in bold above.
Losing
a Friend: When you've been buried alive in federal prisons for
nearly a quarter century like George Martorano has, you get used to
bad news. While serving a life sentence for drug smuggling, he's
already lost his mobster father to a gangland hit, his son in a
motorcycle accident and his wife to cancer [Cover, "In the Name
of His Father," Brendan McGarvey, March 3, 2005]. Last Tuesday, a fellow inmate came to his cell with some more
bad news: Chris Penn, the actor who's long supported Martorano, had
died at his California home. Penn,
whose Academy Award-winning brother Sean is also known for taking on
causes, has stood behind Martorano's feeling
that he was being
punished because of his bloodlines. "We spoke on the phone almost
every Sunday afternoon for 15 years," Martorano said on the phone
from a central
Florida prison. "It's hard to lose him."
Penn—best known for playing Nice Guy Eddie in Reservoir
Dogs—was talking about producing a screenplay Martorano had
written
while incarcerated. "He's the longest-serving nonviolent offender ever. It's
ridiculous," Penn said during a September interview with City
Paper. "He should be out here, not in
there. I can't wait
until the day he is free."
For complete story,
click here.
Why
Prisons Don't Work: I
was among 31 murderers sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in
1962 to be executed or imprisoned for life. We weren't much different
from
those we found here, or those who had preceded us. We were
unskilled, impulsive and uneducated misfits, mostly black, who had
done dumb, impulsive things -- failures,
rejects from the larger
society. Now a generation has come of age and gone since I've been
here, and everything is much the same as I found it. The faces of the
prisoners
are different, but behind them are the same impulsive,
uneducated, unskilled minds that made dumb, impulsive choices that got
them... For complete story,
click here.
Judge
Requests Clemency for a Killer He Condemned:
In a highly unusual development, a judge who condemned a
killer to die has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency.
Michael A. Morales is to be executed Feb. 21 for the 1981
killing of Terri Winchell, a Lodi high school student. Ventura County
Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath, appointed by Gov.
Ronald Reagan, said in a letter to the governor that he believes the
sentence was based on false testimony from a jailhouse informant.
For complete story,
click here.
Two
guards convicted in Wilson jail beatings:
Two former
guards accused of beating prisoners at the Wilson County Jail became
inmates themselves yesterday after a federal jury convicted them of
violating prisoners' civil rights.
For complete story,
click here.
Federal
Judge Blasts Mandatory Minimum Sentences:
Forced to
impose a sentence he deemed unjust, a Northern District of New York
judge took sharp aim last week at a federal statute that required him
to impose a life-without-parole term on a 32-year-old "relatively
small-time drug dealer" with an IQ of 72.
Judge David N. Hurd said child rapists and murderers will go
free on parole while Justin D. Powell languishes in prison for life,
largely because the defendant was convicted of drug crimes twice
during his teenage years, more than a decade before the instant
offense. Because of those prior convictions, the sole sentencing
option was life, Hurd said. "The
increment of harm in this case bears no rational relationship to the
increment of punishment that I must impose," Hurd said at a
sentencing proceeding last week in Utica, N.Y. "This is what
occurs when Congress sets [a] mandatory minimum sentence which
distorts the entire judicial process... . As a result, I am obligated
to and will now impose this unfair and, more important, unjust
sentence."
For complete story,
click here.
State
board awards $750,000 to falsely imprisoned man:
SAN
DIEGO – A state board agreed today to award more than $756,000 to a
Rancho Penasquitos man who
spent 21 years in prison before doubt was
cast on his second-degree murder conviction in the death of his
girlfriend's toddler. The
Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board agreed with a hearing
officer's recommendation to approve Kenneth Marsh's claim, said the
board's public information officer, Fran Clader.
Marsh is to receive
$100 for every day he spend behind bars.
In a 12-page proposed decision, hearing officer Kyle Hedlum
wrote that at a December hearing, Marsh proved by a preponderance
of
the evidence that he did not murder his girlfriend's son.
Philip Buell was three months shy of his third birthday when he
was died on April 27, 1983. Included
in a list of
nine "findings" in the hearing officer's
proposed decision were that the toddler had an undiagnosed blood
disorder that contributed to his death, and that a doctor's decision
to administer the drug Mannitol to the boy contributed to his death.
One of Marsh's attorneys, Donnie Cox, said Mannitol sometimes
is used to treat head injuries.
For complete story,
click here.
Bill
aims to block `panic defense':
The Bay Area men convicted last year of murdering a
Newark transgender teenager said they panicked upon learning that the
beauty
they had been intimate with was biologically male.
Using that ``panic defense,'' their attorneys called it merely
a manslaughter, but jurors rejected that argument. Now a
civil rights
group wants the California Legislature to redress what they see as
victim-blaming in hate-crime cases.
Named in honor of the 17-year-old who was beaten and
strangled
in October 2002, the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act would amend
jury instructions to state that the use of so-called ``panic
defenses'' is inconsistent with
California's comprehensive hate crimes
law. For complete story,
click here.
Gateway
killing suspect's past includes lengthy criminal record:
…Considered a youthful
offender, he was ordered to pay $90 in restitution to the business and
$50
in investigative costs. The court ordered he be placed in youth
facility and recommended boot camp.
In court papers, Cooper said he had only completed the 10th
grade at
South Fork High School in Stuart, that he worked as a
dishwasher at a restaurant for $4.25 an hour and rode a motorcycle.
For complete story,
click here.
Success
for Sentencing Reform in New Jersey:
Drug
Policy Alliance New Jersey has achieved a big victory for sentencing
reform in the lame duck session of the state legislature. The
New Jersey Senate and Assembly passed legislation on Monday, January
9, that would give judges discretion not to revoke people’s
drivers’ licenses for
drug offenses.
For complete story,
click here.
U.S.
to Seek Dismissal of Guantánamo Lawsuits
--Bush administration wants federal judges to deny hearing
habeas corpus petitions effecting at least 300
detainees 04 Jan
2006 The Bush regime notified federal trial judges in Washington that
it would soon ask them to dismiss all lawsuits brought by prisoners at
Guantánamo
Bay, Cuba, challenging their detentions, Justice
Department officials said Tuesday. The action means that the
administration is moving swiftly to take advantage of an
amendment to
the military bill that President Bush signed into law last
Friday. The amendment strips federal courts from hearing habeas corpus
petitions from Guantánamo detainees.
For complete story,
click here.
Man
Jailed for Over a Year Saw No Lawyer:
DALLAS
- A man was jailed for more than a year without ever seeing a lawyer
as he waited for a repeatedly postponed court hearing, gaining release
only after a cellmate told an attorney about the case. Walter Mann Sr.,
69, was released Dec. 16 after a year and three months - more than twice the time he would have served if he had been convicted in his
contempt-of-court case.
For expanded story and source,
click here.
Nun
freed after serving 3 years for war protest:
Sister
Ardeth Platte, 69, walked out of a federal prison in Danbury, Conn.,
Thursday morning filled with peace and joy, but not
a bit of remorse
for her crime. "I
feel very good about offering 41 months for peace in this world. So
every day has been sacred for me," she said.
For complete story,
click here.
Alabama
inmates sue secretary of state over voting rights:
Three
Alabama inmates have filed a lawsuit in federal court against
Secretary of State Nancy Worley,
claiming they are wrongfully being
denied voting rights. The
suit, filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, contends Worley violates
Alabama's constitution by requiring
felons to apply to the Board of Pardons and Paroles to have voting
rights restored. The suit
contends the constitution doesn't strip voting
rights for certain
felonies and there is no need to ask the parole board to restore them.
For complete story,
click here.
Guilty
When Charged:
While
enjoying the Christmas season in the comfort of your home, take a
minute to say a prayer for the wrongfully convicted.
American prisons are full of wrongfully convicted persons. Many
were coerced into admitting to crimes they did not commit by
prosecutors' threats to pile on more charges. Others were convicted by
false testimony from criminals bribed by prosecutors, who exchanged
dropped charges or reduced sentences in exchange for false testimony
against defendants. Not
all the wrongfully convicted are poor. Some are wealthy and prominent
people targeted by corrupt prosecutors seeking a celebrity case in
order to boost their careers.
For complete story,
click here.
Court
May Hear Chinese Detainees Muslims Lack Country of Refuge:
A federal judge in
Washington said yesterday that he will consider allowing two detainees
in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to appear before him
in court to challenge their confinement, telling lawyers that the
ethnic Uighurs who have been cleared for release have been held too
long. U.S. District Judge James Robertson said he believes the case
of the Uighurs (pronounced wee-gurs ) presents "a genuine
dilemma" because the government has determined they are not enemy
combatants but has not found a country to accept them. U.S. officials
are not willing to send the Uighurs -- Muslims who are seeking their
own homeland on what is now part of northwestern China -- to their
native country for fear that they would be tortured or killed.
For complete story,
click here.
EU
Official Calls for End to Death Penalty:
European
Parliament president Josep Borrell called on the 76 countries still
allowing the death penalty to respect the right to life and end the
practice of capital punishment. Borrell said the United States is the only democratic state
that makes "widespread use" of the death penalty and the EU has a duty to convince the Americans to abolish it.
For complete story,
click here.
Demonstrators
rally at Richmond City Jail On Human Rights Day, they decry prisoner
treatment in U.S.:
From
cell doors that haven't locked properly to the beating
death of one
inmate by another, Richmond's jailhouse has faced its share of
criticism this year. It
received more yesterday from a handful of folks who protested across
the
street in recognition of International Human Rights Day. Specific criticisms of prisoner treatment were leveled
against the city jail and correctional facilities across the nation
and U.S. military prisons abroad.
For complete story,
click here.
DART
cops put a guy in jail 11 days for jaywalking:
DART
police pepper-sprayed Todd Lyon and cuffed both him and his 14-
year-old son, Jared. The father spent 11 days in jail. The offense?
Jaywalking.
For complete story,
click here.
Wrongful
Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake:
In May 2004, the White House dispatched the U.S. ambassador in
Germany to pay an unusual visit to that country's interior minister.
Ambassador Daniel R. Coats carried instructions from the State
Department transmitted via the CIA's Berlin station because they were
too sensitive and highly classified for regular diplomatic channels,
according to several people with knowledge of the conversation.
Coats informed the German minister that the CIA had wrongfully
imprisoned one of its citizens, Khaled Masri, for five months, and
would soon release him, the sources said. There was also a request:
that the German government not disclose what it had been told even if
Masri went public. The U.S. officials feared exposure of a covert
action program designed to capture terrorism suspects abroad and
transfer them among countries, and possible legal challenges to the
CIA from Masri and others with similar allegations.
For complete story,
click here.
The
Long Struggle of Leonard Peltier:
Leonard Peltier,
one of America's longest-serving political prisoners, turned
sixty-one-years-old on September 12, 2005. Peltier has spent nearly
thirty years in federal prison, the result of one of the most infamous
political frame-ups in modern U.S. history. He was convicted of
killing two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on the
Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in 1975. Believing
he could not receive a fair trial in the U.S., he fled to Canada. The
Canadian government extradited him in 1976, and he was tried,
convicted, and sentenced to two life terms in 1977.
Many of today's progressive-minded people will find themselves
unfamiliar with the details as well as the significance of the Peltier
case. This is a tragedy, given the widespread opposition to the
Patriot Act and the heightened fear of political repression by
opponents of the Bush administration. The rush of events since 9/11,
instead of bringing the Peltier case back into focus, seems to have
pushed it further into the margins of political consciousness, where
it has unfortunately been for two decades. This is something that
needs to be corrected.
For complete story, click here.
Jose
Padilla's America:
WHATEVER
ELSE HE IS, Jose Padilla is an American citizen. That inescapable fact
explains both the Bush administration's decision last week
to charge
him with a crime — and the importance of the Supreme Court's
upcoming decision on whether to hear his case.
The first decision represents a change in course
for an
administration still struggling, more than four years after the
attacks of 9/11, to find a legal strategy in the war against
terrorism. But it is the second decision, due in
almost three weeks,
that could prove to be more significant to Americans and the rule of
law. The Supreme Court needs to rein in the Bush administration's war
on the
Constitution.
For complete story,
click here.
Congress
Moves to Limit Prisoner Habeas:
Congress
moved on several fronts last week to impose sweeping limits on the
ability of prisoners to challenge the legality of their convictions
and sentences in federal court.
For complete story,
click here.
Officer
describes deadly chase Drug agent on trial for manslaughter in
shooting of suspect:
Mike Walker, the first California drug enforcement agent ever
charged
with killing someone in the line of duty, took the stand
Monday in San Jose and calmly described the harrowing car chase that
led to the shooting death of Rudolfo "Rudy" Cardenas.
Walker's testimony came in the fourth week of his trial on
voluntary manslaughter charges for killing Cardenas, a 43-year-old San
Jose man. Walker is trying to
show he acted in self defense, but
prosecutors have called him a cowboy cop, whose reckless and rash
behavior led to Cardenas' death.
If convicted, Walker could face up
to 11 years in state prison.
For complete story,
click here.
Judge
rails against drug sentencing:
PROVIDENCE
-- Federal judges and prosecutors in Rhode Island have joined a
national debate over the disparity in prison sentences for crack
versus powder cocaine. U.S.
District Judge William E. Smith sentenced a Pawtucket man in
September, saying he would not "blindly apply" federal
sentencing guidelines that treat 5 grams of crack as the equivalent
of 500 grams of powder cocaine. (A packet of sugar weighs about 1
gram).
For complete story,
click here.
Florida
Prison Guards Get New Policy On Violent Acts:
Hoping to change a
two-fisted culture in the ranks of prison guards, the head of
Florida's prison system
Thursday ordered a new policy of automatic
suspension of any employees charged with a violent attack - on or off
the job.
For complete story,
click here.
California's
life-and-death politics:
HERE'S CALIFORNIA, a state so blue they could name a
Crayon after it — Left Coast Azure. And yet, next month, the Big
Blue Golden State plans to put a man to death.
California, your red is showing.
It's true that Republicans here can't prosper without pledging
to be as eco-green as a can of baby peas, but most Democrats — even
that metric standard of liberalism, Barbara Boxer — can't advocate
emptying death row and still hold on to office.
Most of the other big blue states don't have a death penalty,
or don't use it. Massachusetts, still a little freaked over those
witch trials, hasn't put anyone to death since 1947. New York, first
to use the electric chair, hasn't sent anyone to the hot seat since
the Beatles were just some British band.
For complete story,
click here.
The
Sickening Details--Why the Prisoners are Dying:
On
a daily basis for more than seven years I have been alerting other
journalists and the legislators that the prisoners are
dying
preventable deaths. We have nineteen families in our UNION group who
have lost a son or daughter to the unbearable callousness and
incompetence of the prison bureaucracy.
When we were simply begging for help to prevent some of these
deaths, medical neglect wasn't a topic that anyone wanted to
recognize, let alone remedy.
But when we were able to find lawyers to
file six lawsuits in the past year, then and only then, did reform
become a higher priority. Headlines
in the major newspapers the
past two days state that a prison
healthcare emergency exists in general terms. But since I know the
specifics surrounding a number of the prisoner deaths, I feel
compelled to share the systemic dysfunction that just never seems to
make it to public view let alone get corrected.
For complete story,
click here.
Justices
to Hear Inmate Case for News:
WASHINGTON
-- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider reinstating rules that
keep newspapers and magazines out of the hands of disruptive
Pennsylvania inmates, a case that court nominee Samuel Alito dealt
with. A panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had sided
with inmates who claimed the ban on most reading material and personal
photographs violated their free speech rights.
Alito, one of the lower court judges in the case, filed a
dissent and argued that the state should be allowed to withhold the
news.
For complete story,
click here.
High
Court Hitching Post Win Leads to Loss in Alabama:
Larry
Hope and his lawyers discovered last week that winning a battle at the
U.S. Supreme Court does not guarantee victory in the war.
Hope was the Alabama prison inmate in the 2002 case of Hope v.
Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, in which a 6-3 majority cleared the way for him
to sue guards who left him handcuffed to a hitching post for seven
hours. Justice John Paul
Stevens wrote that evidence indicated guards "were fully aware of
the wrongful character of their conduct."
"The obvious cruelty inherent in this practice should have
provided respondents with some notice that their alleged conduct
violated Hope's constitutional protection," Stevens added.
For complete story,
click here.
Petty
Crime, Outrageous Punishment:
There was nothing honorable
about it, nothing particularly heinous, either, when Leandro Andrade,
a 37-year-old Army veteran with three kids and a drug habit, walked
into a Kmart store in Ontario, California stuffed five videos into his
waistband and tried to leave without paying. Security guards stopped him, but two weeks later, Andrade went to another Kmart and tried to
steal four more videos. The police were called, and he was tried and
convicted. That was ten
years ago, and Leandro Andrade is still behind bars. He figures to be
there a lot longer: He came out of the courtroom with a sentence of 50
years to life. If
you find that stunningly harsh, you're in good company. The Andrade
case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Justice David
Souter wrote that the punishment was "grossly
disproportionate" to the crime.
For complete story,
click here.
Nevada
prison employee accused of helping inmate to escape:
RENO, Nev. (AP) - A
Northern Nevada Correctional Center employee was arrested on suspicion
of helping an inmate to escape the facility in a truck, authorities
said. Ana Kastner, a
dental assistant at the medium-security prison, was booked over the
weekend into the Washoe County Jail on a charge of aiding and abetting
an escape. She provided a
cell phone to inmate Jody Thompson, who used it to coordinate his
escape Thursday by hiding in a prison industries delivery truck that
left the prison, investigators said.
For complete story,
click here.
Conflict
Seen in Contract for Private Prison:
SACRAMENTO — California's state auditor, investigating
private prison contracts, found that one operator failed to disclose that two of its employees had been high-ranking state prison officials
but cleared another firm of any conflict.
In a 58-page report, the auditor said the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation "needs to better ensure against
conflicts of interest and to improve its inmate population
projects."
For complete story, click here.
Prisoners
Left to Drown in New Orleans:
A makeshift prison has been set up in the Greyhound bus and
train station in downtown New Orleans. It's being run by the Burl
Cain
- the warden of Angola prison as well as prison guards from New York.
The nearby prison, the Orleans jail was flooded after the hurricane.
What happened to the
prisoners there and in other parish prisons in
New Orleans? For complete story,
click here.
Boozman
introduces drug courts bill:
WASHINGTON -- Rep.
John Boozman, R-Rogers, on Tuesday introduced legislation aimed at
strengthening the powers of local drug courts.
The bill directs the U.S. attorney general to create standard
guidelines for drug testing and require penalties or therapy if an
offender fails a test. "Currently, we have drug courts that are
exceptional," Boozman said. "We have drug courts that aren't
working very well at all because there is no structure.
"The bill calls on the attorney general to set standards
that require each offender to be tested for every controlled or
addictive substance.
For complete story,
click here.
D.C.
Inmates 'Tortured,' Mothers Claim:
A
group of mothers said yesterday that their sons were "beaten and
tortured" by guards at the D.C. jail during several incidents
last month in which they alleged that inmates were sprayed with Mace,
stripped, blasted with water hoses and dragged from their cells and
attacked out of the view of
security cameras.
Sabrina Wynn, testifying at a D.C. Council hearing on behalf of
six mothers whose sons are jailed, called on the District to
investigate the allegations and
fire any corrections officers who are
found to be responsible…"If dogs were mistreated as our sons
have been, those responsible would be prosecuted for animal
cruelty,"
said Wynn, whose testimony came in a day-long hearing
by the council's Judiciary Committee into the operations of the
Department of Corrections.
For complete story,
click here.
2.26
Million Inmates In The US:
A staggering two-and-a-quarter
million people are behind bars this morning in America. The Bureau of Justice Statistics says its newest calculations
show:.. As of Dec. 31, 2004, 104,848 women were held in state and
federal prisons -- up from 68,468 in 1995. Women constituted 7
percent of all inmates -- up
from 6.1 percent in 1995.
For complete story,
click here.
4
ward suicides prevented:
STOCKTON -- Staff prevented four wards at a youth prison near
Stockton from committing suicide last week, a spokeswoman for the
California Division of Juvenile Justice said Monday.
The four wards at DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility,
southeast of Stockton, were making nooses out of clothing
and
bedsheets, Juvenile Justice spokeswoman Sarah Ludeman said.
Staffers performing regular checks Wednesday prevented them
from carrying out the group suicide in
the Modoc hall living unit for
drug counseling. Three of the wards were taken by ambulance from the
youth prison, Ludeman said. Ludeman
did not know the wards' ages but said all four had been transferred to
other youth prisons for special treatment.
For complete story,
click here.
Hospital of Horrors: Time
in Carswell¹s prison medical facility can be a death sentence for
women prisoners.:
This is the prison at Carswell.
...We got an inmate
who is not breathing. She’s turning blue.” The
911 tape was scratchy, but the words were clear.
“Are they doing CPR?” the Med-Star ambulance company
operator asked. “I
assume so,” the caller replied. “They’ve got about 90 people up
there. ...”Betty Appleby gets angrier and more frustrated each time
she listens to the tape, describing key
moments in a tragedy that
would change her large, closely knit family forever.“Can you believe
that? Ninety people? I know that’s an exaggeration by whoever’s
calling, but
what it says to me is that a lot of people were tramping
around that cell and destroying evidence that could have helped us
find out exactly what happened to my sister so
that we could see
justice done. And get some peace.”Appleby is speaking of her
youngest sister, Linda D’Antuono Fenton — the inmate who was
“turning blue.” On Feb.
23, 2004, Fenton was found unconscious and
near death in a supposed high-security cell at Federal Medical Center
Carswell — a prison that a federal judge two years
earlier had
allegedly ordered her removed from. She was two days away from being
released, after serving almost seven years for a drug offense — two
days before she
could get out and, as she had promised in letters to
her family and friends, tell the world about what was going on inside
the Fort Worth federal prison hospital walls.
For complete story,
click here.
Justices
to Decide When Victims' Transcripts Can Be Used:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 -
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to address a major new debate in
criminal law and decide the circumstances under which prosecutors can
use the transcripts of 911 calls, and similar unprompted statements by
crime victims, as evidence at trial.
The debate was opened by the court itself in a decision last
year that significantly limited the use that prosecutors could make of
statements by witnesses who did not appear at trial or otherwise make
themselves available for cross-examination.
For complete story,
click here.
ACLU
Urges Supreme Court to Protect Rights of Disabled Prisoners:
WASHINGTON
-- The Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in combined cases that
will determine
whether disabled prisoners may sue state officials for
violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“Prisoners rely on state officials to meet their basic needs,
and
persons with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to neglect
or mistreatment,” said Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director of the
American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a friend-of-the-court
brief in today’s case. “Congress understood that problem and the
ADA was designed to address it.”
The ACLU submitted its friend-of-the-court brief along
with 18
other civil rights organizations and advocates for people with
disabilities, including the American Diabetes Association, the
American Council of the Blind and the
National Multiple Sclerosis
Society. The groups argue that the High Court should overturn a lower
court decision and allow paraplegic Georgia inmate Tony Goodman to
pursue a civil lawsuit against the state. For complete
story,
click here.
The Prison
Industry: Capitalist Punishment--Oct. 28th, 1999--The
assembly lines at CMT Blues look like those at any other US garment
factory, except for one thing: the workers are watched over by armed
guards. CMT Blues is housed at the maximum security Richard J.
Donovan State Correctional Facility outside San Diego. Seventy
workers sew T-shirts for Mecca, Seattle Cotton Works, Lee Jeans and
other US companies. The highly prized jobs pay minimum wage. Less
than half goes into the inmate workers' pockets -- the rest is
siphoned off to reimburse the state for the cost of their
incarceration and to victims' restitution fund. The California
Department of Corrections Joint Venture Program, and CMT Blues owner
Pierre Slieman say they are providing inmates with job skills and
work experience. But two inmates and former CMT Blues
employees say Sleiman and the Department of Corrections are
operating a sweatshop behind bars. What's more, they say that prison
officials retaliated against them when they blew the whistle on
corruption at the plant. Inmates Charles Ervin and Shearwood
Flemming spent 45 days in solitary confinement after talking to
reporters about an alleged label switching scheme in which they
claim they were forced to replace "made in Honduras" labels with
"made in USA" tags. They are suing CMT Blues and the California
Department of Corrections for labor and civil rights violations.
The CMT Blues scandal and the host of human rights and labor issues
it raises, is just the tip of the iceberg in a web of interconnected
business, government and class interests which critics dub the
"prison industrial complex." Borrowing from the phrase "military
industrial complex" coined by President Dwight Eisenhower during the
Cold War, the term refers to the growing political and economic
power that emanates from the increasingly intertwined relationship
between private corporations and what were once exclusively public
institutions. In short, incarceration has become big business. And
it's booming. The prison industry now employees more than half
a million people -- more than any Fortune 500 corporation, other
than General Motors. Mushrooming construction has turned the prison
industry into the main employer in scores of economically depressed
rural communities. And there are a host of firms profiting from
private prisons, prison labor and services like healthcare and
transportation. Today, there are over 1.7 million people
incarcerated in the United States, more than in any other
industrialized country. They are disproportionately African American
and Latino (almost 70% of US prisoners are people of color) and two
thirds are serving sentences for non-violent crimes. One in three
African American men between the ages of 20 and 29 is either in
jail, on probation or parole. 1.4 million black men -- or 13% of
African American men -- have lost the right to vote because they
have committed felonies. Taxpayers foot the bill for "get
tough" policies that treat a generation of young people -- mostly
young people of color -- as expendable. New York and California,
states that once had arguably the finest public university systems
in the country, now spend more money locking people up than on
giving them a college education. Meanwhile, prison gates are
swinging wide open for corporations. Some like CMT Blues, Microsoft,
Boeing, TWA, and Victoria's Secret, are using low cost prison labor
for every thing from manufacturing aircraft components and lingerie
to booking reservations. In addition to companies exploiting prison
labor, there are eighteen or so private prison corporations that
control about 100,000 prison beds across the country. The largest,
the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America -- whose
securities were dubbed the theme stock of the nineties by one
investment firm -- also operates private prisons in Puerto Rico,
Australia, the UK and will soon open one in South Africa. These
private lockups cut corners on labor costs, often hiring untrained,
inexperienced guards, leading to a dismal record of escapes and
brutality against inmates. In a Texas prison operated by one
company, guards were videotaped beating, shocking, kicking and
setting dogs on prisoners. While private prisons hardly have a
monopoly on such violence, critics argue that hiring low wage,
untrained guards -- some of them with criminal records of their own
-- makes brutality more likely. The prison industry is not a
new phenomenon, but rather has some grim historical antecedents. As
death row journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal argues in a special column for
CorpWatch, mixing the profit motive with punishment only invites
abuse reminiscent of one of the ugliest chapters in US history.
"Under a regime where more bodies equal more profits, prisons take
one big step closer to their historical ancestor, the slave pen,"
writes Jamal. In fact, prison labor has its roots in slavery.
Following reconstruction, former Confederate Democrats instituted
"convict leasing." Inmates, mostly freed slaves convicted of petty
theft, were rented out to do everything from picking cotton to
building railroads. In Mississippi, a huge prison farm resembling a
slave plantation later replaced convict leasing. The infamous
Parchman Farm was not closed until 1972, when inmates brought suit
against the abusive conditions in federal court. Today,
criminal justice issues have become so urgent that organizing
efforts by diverse communities around the country are beginning to
pierce the deafening "tough on crime" drumbeat espoused by pundits
and policy makers for the last 20 years. Community organizers,
church groups, labor unions and progressive think tanks are coming
together to fight prison privatization in the South. Organizations
like Families against Mandatory Minimums are fighting discriminatory
sentencing. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch put prison
issues at the top of their US agenda. In Concord, California 2,000
Latino students have taken to the streets to demand "education not
incarceration," as part of a protest against the backlash against
immigrant communities. Labor code and freedom of speech
violations like those alleged in the suit against CMT Blues also
resonate beyond prison walls. UNITE, the garment workers union, has
joined inmates Ervin and Flemming in their suit against the clothing
manufacturer and the California Department of Corrections. And the
suit has caught the attention of first amendment advocates who would
like to overturn California's ban on journalist interviews with
state prisoners. Punishment endured by prisoners like Ervin
and Flemming has "an incredible chilling effect on prisoners
because, combined with the media access ban, they know they can't
communicate (with the press) with out suffering retaliation,"
explains Joseph Pertel, an attorney for the inmates. Pertel says it
was actually a prison employee, not his clients, who called a local
television station. Nevertheless, the two men, both convicted of
second-degree murder, spoke out against working conditions at CMT
Blues jeopardizing their eventual parole. Because prisoners
have so little voice on the outside, we highlight writings by prison
journalists in this Issue, including an original column by Mumia
Abu-Jamal and writings from Prison Legal News, edited by
two Washington State inmates. Contributor Alex Friedmann, due to be
paroled next month, was transferred out of a CCA private prison into
a Tennessee state penitentiary, when his reporting behind bars
angered company executives. We hope that by giving a voice to those
inside prison walls we can contribute to a dialogue on redirecting
criminal justice policy in this country. For complete story,
click here.
Human Rights News Archive
State
pharmacist convicted of conflict of
interest--December
24, 2008--A judge has
convicted a former state pharmacist on
felony conflict of interest charges for
taking payments from drug companies and
pocketing money for supervising pharmacy
interns from Duquesne University.
Steven Fiorello, 61, of Palmyra could
face up to five years in prison and
$10,000 in fines for each of two felony
convictions. Dauphin County Judge
Richard Lewis, who ruled in a nonjury
trial, scheduled sentencing for Jan. 21.
For complete story,
click here.
If Obama Is
Pro-Science and Honest, He'll Put the
Kibosh on the Drug War--December
23, 2008--One of the many
things that made Barack Obama such a
refreshing candidate was his frank and
unapologetic admission of drug use.
True, Anderson Cooper extracted curt
"yeses" from some 2004 Democratic
candidates when he asked them
point-blank if they had ever smoked pot.
But Obama has written openly and without
prompting about his experiences, not
only with marijuana, but cocaine, a
"hard" drug. On the campaign trail he
even joked about inhaling deeply --
"that was the point," he said more than
once. Unlike George W. Bush, Obama
didn't hide behind evasive murmurs about
"irresponsible behavior," or turn his
drug experiences into a setup for some
maudlin born-again conversion story.
For complete story,
click here.
Recently subpoenaed
Bush/Rove IT expert, is Wellstoned:
Pilot killed as
plane crashes in Lake Twp.
--Witness: 'It blew up and shook the
ground a little bit.' 19 Dec 2008
(OH) A single-prop, private airplane
crashed next to a vacant house on
Charolais Street Northwest Friday
evening, exploding into flames and
killing the pilot. Michael Connell, 45,
of Bath Township, was alone in the
plane, according to State Highway Patrol
Lt. Eric Sheppard. Connell was a
prominent Republican political
consultant. He founded New Media
Communications in Richfield, which
developed campaign Web sites for
Republican presidential candidate
John McCain and President [sic]
George W. Bush. For complete
story,
click here.
Ohio Attorneys
Seek Protection for Mike Connell and his
Family against Alleged Threats from Karl
Rove 24 Jul 2008
Sources close to the Ohio Corrupt
Practices Act/RICO claim sent us a copy
of a letter that asks Attorney General
Mukasey for protection for Michael
Connell and his family who have been
allegedly threatened by Karl Rove. Rove
is believed to be the strategic
mastermind behind the Bush 2004
re-[s]-election campaign and the
possible Ohio election improprieties.
The alleged threats appear to be the
result of the re-opening, through the
Ohio Corrupt Practices Act/RICO claim,
of the stalled investigation into the
2004 Ohio Elections. For complete story,
click here.
Stark Co. plane
crash: Who was Michael Connell?
20 Dec 2008 Michael
Connell was killed when the Piper
Supercub he was piloting crashed three
miles short of an Akron-Canton Airport
runway. He leaves behind a wife and four
children. Connell, of Bath Township, is
considered to be one of the Republican
Party's top computer experts. He led the
companies that designed websites for the
GOP and a virtual who's-who list of
republican political leaders including
President [sic] George W. Bush, Senator
John McCain, as well as national
organizations. Connell developed a host
of federal government software and data
management systems. Connell is also said
to be a close confidant of the Bush
family. Earlier this year, Connell was
subpoenaed to testify in an Ohio federal
court regarding voter fraud just days
before the November presidential
election. His alleged intimate