Torture not Treatment - Disability Rights International

TORTURE NOT TREATMENT
The implication of this approach is a highly unorthodox program for treatment and education.
All residents, regardless of diagnosis or history, are subjected to the same behavior modification
techniques of reward and punishment. The use of traditional psychological therapies and/or
medication is virtually non-existent at JRC. 9 Psychotropic medications are rarely used. 10
According to JRC, seventy percent of educational instruction in the school consists of solitary
work on a computer referred to by JRC as ―self-paced, programmed instruction.‖ 11
The ―rewards‖ used at JRC include ―a contract store‖ where students can ―pick rewards to
purchase‖ based on points they earn in the program. Rewards also include such basics as the
right to social interaction with other patients or staff, 12 as well as other fundamentals of daily
living. For example:
By making our school building as rewarding as possible, both in its look and in its
various reward functions and areas, we have been able to use the opportunity to attend the
school building as an earned reward. Similarly, students who behavior extremely poorly
are required to stay in their residence and receive academic instruction there, instead of at
our school building. 13
One of the implications of the behaviorist model of care is that JRC takes anyone so long as
―needed treatment procedures are made available to us.‖ 14 As the JRC website states, ―Our
policy of near-zero reject and expulsions, coupled with the success we demonstrated in treating
our students, resulted in agencies referring their most difficult behavior problems to us. Most of
our referrals had been unsuccessfully served in numerous other private and public mental health
and educational facilities before they were referred to JRC.‖ 15
The ―near-zero rejection‖ policy has allowed the facility to become what JRC calls a ―hospital of
the last resort‖ 16 for children or adults with disabilities who simply have nowhere else to go. The
fact that JRC is the last stop for parents looking for a placement for their child may explain the
fervent support for the program that some parents have expressed over the years. In other cases,
however, JRC actively markets its programs by visiting families and giving them brochures and
gifts to recruit new students. 17
When I visited the place, I was expecting much more difficult, non-communicative
behavior in these children. It was a total surprise to me to find out that half to two
thirds of the kids from NY had learning disabilities or emotional problems – street kids,
kids of color – carrying these shock backpacks. It is prison-like and they are prisoners
of the apparatus.– Psychologist who visited JRC on behalf of the New York State
Department of Education 18
In the early days of the facility, most students were diagnosed with autism or mental retardation
and accompanying self-injurious behaviors. As of 2006, however, according to a New York
State Department of Education (NYSED) report, most students from New York State ―have the
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