Torture not Treatment - Disability Rights International

TORTURE NOT TREATMENT
districts have knowingly sent children and adults to this facility, and they continue to fund the
abusive practices that take place at JRC. While the infliction of severe pain on children and
adults at JRC has been challenged in the courts time and time again, the legal system of the
United States has failed to provide basic human rights protections for this population.
There have been many attempts over the decades to legally ban the use of the pain and
punishment perpetrated against children and adolescents residing at JRC. JRC‘s vast financial
and legal resources have been instrumental in defending practices used at JRC and beating back
numerous legal challenges in the courts. As described below, cases upholding JRC practices
have resulted in leading professionals and mental health officials losing jobs in state leadership
positions.
JRC has taken to requiring staff to sign confidentiality agreements so that they cannot speak
publicly about treatments provided at the facility. 192 Coupled with threats of lawsuits against any
and all detractors – including state officials – JRC has fended off efforts to ban its practices. The
Massachusetts legislature has, instead, adopted laws that permit the use of shock and long-term
restraints.
A climate of fear appears to have kept officials from enforcing existing laws and challenging
dubious laws and treatment practices that have been widely criticized by mainstream mental
health professionals. Despite the existence of federally-funded human rights oversight
mechanisms, oversight agencies charged with the protection of rights have not been successful in
protecting vulnerable children and adults with disabilities from continuing to abuse and
mistreatment. Current laws create extensive legal oversight, but these protections have not
stopped the practice of aversive treatment.
MDRI turns to the United Nations to seek enforcement of international human rights law
after decades of political and legal advocacy have failed to stop abuses at JRC
Futility of current oversight regime
As part of JRC‘s settlement with the state of Massachusetts, the Bristol County probate court
ruled that JRC must get judicial approval for every child it seeks to use the most severe
punishment against – electric shock, restraint, food deprivation - as treatment. JRC is required to
document the inappropriate behaviors of its new admissions and make a case before the court as
to why the punishment is needed. In each case, the court must find that the treatment poses less
of a danger than the behavior caused by the underlying disability.
The courts are a rubber stamp for JRC. The doctors tell the court that treatment is
necessary, and the courts defer to medical authority. You have to understand, their
dockets are overloaded and they don‟t have time to look into this. And they hear the
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