 |
  |
  |
|
|
|
When they restrain kids. . . [t]hey’d have rug burns all over their bodies. . . . They hold your arms back and they purposefully push your face in the rug. They have their knee in your back and your arms all the way back. I’ve been restrained before so I know. There’s only one teacher, but everyone’s in a different place, so it’s not good. They try to give you a book and tell you to study out of it. I asked to talk to the ombudsman probably every day. They [facilities staff] said, “OK,” but it never happened. It’s my right to call but they wouldn’t let me talk to him. Or the other thing they’d say is “Tell me what you’re going to tell him.” “Custody and Control: Conditions of Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Prisons for Girls,” Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union take the first in-depth look at New York’s highest security juvenile prisons for girls. What the report uncovers is disturbing: Upon being found “delinquent,” young girls from backgrounds of intergenerational poverty, many of whom have survived abuse and trauma, are locked up and again abused and neglected, this time at the hands of the state. This report documents the excessive use of a face-down “restraint” procedure in which girls are thrown to the floor, often causing injury, as well as incidents of sexual abuse, and inadequate educational and mental health services.
|
 |
|
|
