[Nfbf-l] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl

[Lenora J. Marten]

Sherri - here is some additional information in an article
by the Huffington Post:

The school's webiste is: http://www.judgerc.org/

Judge Rotenberg Center Trial: Tape Shows Teen Being Shocked 31 Times (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

osted: 04/12/2012 11:43 am Updated: 04/12/2012 2:54 pm


A jury in Dedham, Mass., saw video this week of an 18-year-old being tied down and shocked 31 times as he screamed in pain.
The footage was presented by lawyers of Andre McCollins, who is suing the Judge Rotenberg Center for developmentally disabled students, which treated him in part by attaching electrodes to his body and shocking him.
The incident recorded on video took place in 2002 after McCollins refused to take off his coat,according to MyFox Boston.
The station reports that lawyers for the center fought to keep the public from seeing the video, but a judge denied their request.
"These are dramatic tapes, there’s no question about that,” Edward Hinchey, an attorney who represents two of the Rotenberg Center’s clinicians said. “But the treatment plan at the Rotenberg Center, the treatment plan that Andre had in place on October 25, was followed.”
The lawsuit is just one of several ongoing investigations and lawsuits involving the center, which remains open, according to Mother Jonesmagazine.
On its site, the center insists that "JRC relies primarily on the use of positive programming and educational procedures to modify the behaviors of its students. If however, after giving these procedures a trial for an average of eleven months, they prove to be insufficiently effective, JRC then considers supplementing them with more intensive treatment procedures known as aversives."
The center contends that these procedures are only administered after "prior parental, medical, psychiatric, human rights, peer review and individual approval from a Massachusetts Probate Court."
In a 2007 expose on the center, Mother Jones reported that, "Of the 234 current residents, about half are wired to receive shocks, including some as young as nine or ten."
Mother Jones also notes that the center is the only facility that uses shocks to discipline students, "a form of punishment not inflicted on serial killers or child molesters or any of the 2.2 million inmates now incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons."
UPDATE: The center supplied this response to the video in an email to The Huffington Post:
JRC educates and treats the most difficult behaviorally involved students in the country and administers the GED to treat severe behavior disorders only after other treatments have failed and a court order is obtained to do so at the request of the student’s parents and doctor. The treatment plan must also be approved by a Human Rights Committee, a Peer Review Committee and a physician. These students predominantly exhibit behaviors that are dangerous to themselves and others and have been resistant to previous treatments. Students parents or guardians, along with their school districts and medical personnel are involved in developing care plans and in most cases, before coming to JRC have tried several residential programs and psychiatric facilities and found them unsuccessful. Often students are chemically restrained with medications and their guardians either remove them from those programs or the students are asked to leave.
On the issue of the video tape, the sole reason a recording exists is because JRC maintains cameras in every room where a student may receive treatment. It is the only such facility to do so. This is for the protection of the students in our care and is precisely to enable us to review every application of the GED.









Lenora 



-----Original Message-----
From: Sherri <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Mon, May 21, 2012 7:26 am
Subject: [Nfbf-l] Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl




I am passing this along in hopes that all will sign. This is just 
nbelievable. Even my County Disability Coordinator shared this. Thanks.
Sherri
---- Original Message ----- 
rom: Samme.Ripley at ocfl.net
ent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 12:06 PM
ubject: FW: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl

haring………………..this video can be very compelling for those familiar with 
lectric shocking of disabled students in past years.

…Samme

From: Sherri [mailto:flmom2006 at gmail.com]
ent: Sunday, May 06, 2012 6:00 PM
o: Ripley, Samme
ubject: Fw: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl

Do you know anything about this? This is outrageous if it's true!

Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jon Perri, Change.org
To: flmom2006 at gmail.com
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 4:39 PM
Subject: Mass. school electrocutes blind girl



                  VIDEO: Special needs student electroshocked. Tell his 
assachusetts school to stop using electroshock devices on children.

                  Sign Gregory's Petition

            Sherri -
            In 2002, a special needs student named Andre McCollins was 
llegedly strapped down and electrocuted for hours, leaving him with 
ermanent brain damage, all because he refused to take off his jacket. The 
eople torturing Andre were officials at his school. You can watch what 
appened on video.
            The video was shot at a Massachusetts school for special needs 
ids called the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC). Gregory Miller used to be a 
eacher there, and he says electrocuting kids as punishment is extremely 
ommon -- even for minor offenses like raising your hand to go to the 
athroom.
            "A non-verbal, nearly blind girl with cerebral palsy was shocked 
or attempts to hold a staff member's hand -- her attempts to communicate 
nd to be loved," Gregory says.
            Gregory desperately wants to help the kids at the JRC - that's 
hy he started a petition on Change.org demanding that the JRC stop using 
lectroshock to punish kids. Click here to add your name.
            Gregory says the JRC's founder created electroshock devices 
hich are even stronger than police stun guns to punish students for bad 
ehavior. An official at the United Nations said that using these devices on 
hildren is considered torture.
            According to the Boston Globe, the JRC’s founder resigned after 
eing charged with misleading a grand jury by destroying video footage of 
ther students being shocked.
            Gregory believes that if thousands of people sign his petition, 
is former bosses will capitulate in the intense pressure generated by a 
ational spotlight.
            Click here to sign Gregory's petition demanding that the JRC 
mmediately cease its practice of punishing special needs kids with 
lectroshock devices.
            Thanks for being a change-maker,
            - Jon and the Change.org team
            This email was sent by Change.org to flmom2006 at gmail.com   | 
tart a petition
           Unsubscribe. Edit your email notification settings.


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