UN official says JRC tortures its students

Armed with the support of “countless professionals” in the disability and psychology fields, Joyce is the co-sponsor of legislation that would limit skin shock applications “only to the most egregious cases.” A companion bill would also establish a “single state-wide Peer Review Committee consisting of licensed professionals that would be charged with the approval and oversight of all aversive therapy interventions.” This would replace the current process — one that Joyce said is more of a rubber stamping — in which a probate court judge approves the use of skin shocks on a case by case basis.

Although his preference would be to ban the practice outright, Joyce said several past attempts have been unsuccessful, largely due to opposition from select House members. He is hoping that his latest proposals are enough of a compromise — combined with the recent news — to secure passage by the close of formal session on July 31.

But JRC officials contend that Joyce and other critics of the school continue to ignore several key realities, the most significant of which is that aversive therapy is scientifically proven to be safe and effective.

Flammia said their opponents have resorted to exaggerating and even fabricating information to support their arguments, and perhaps the most egregious example of this, he said, is a 57-page report released in April by Mental Disability Rights International, an international human rights group based in Washington, D.C.

The report, entitled “Torture not Treatment,” draws on various government reports, interviews, and information and testimony from JRC’s own website. It was also written as an “urgent appeal” to Nowak and was the basis for Nowak’s conclusion that the school tortures its students.

“It’s not an investigation,” Flammia said of the MDRI report. “It’s really a disgrace is what it is.”

In a 115-page reply to the MDRI report, Israel, the school’s founder, asserts that the authors of the report “never visited JRC, never interviewed JRC’s clinicians or staff, never spoke to the hundreds of parents who are pleased [with] what JRC has been able to accomplish for their children, never advised JRC of their investigation, never invited JRC to respond to their concerns, and never interviewed current or former students who have been pleased with the results of their treatment at JRC, including the use of aversives.”

Israel also demonstrates instances where the report took quotes out of context, and he provides a separate rebuttal for 63 “false” accusations made by MDRI, including claims that the shock devices cause injuries and that students at JRC are secluded or isolated for long periods of time.

In addition, Israel argues that JRC treats the “most difficult students in the country” without the use of dangerous psychotropic drugs and often with positive-only procedures, while boasting of a “near-zero rejection and expulsion policy.” He said MDRI ignored all of these facts and characterized the report as a “false, misleading, sensationalized, and one-sided account of JRC that is worthy only of a tabloid.”

Not surprisingly, the report’s primary author, Massachusetts native Laurie Ahern, dismissed Israel’s criticisms altogether, arguing that it doesn’t require a visit to the school to find evidence of torture; all it takes is a visit to JRC’s website.

“What’s new is our analysis of what’s going on there,” said Ahern, MDRI’s president and an award-winning journalist and disability advocate. “There was no investigation needed. It’s been well documented for over 30 years.”

Ahern, like Senator Joyce, believes that JRC has relied on its “vast financial and legal resources,” as well as a “climate of fear” to keep the school up and running for decades. She added that several state officials she contacted “would not return calls or e-mails, and all who agreed to be interviewed would only be interviewed anonymously.”

And yet, as much as she faults JRC officials, she also blames the Massachusetts government for permitting this “inhumane treatment.”

“Absolutely, we all do,” said Joyce, when asked if those in state government deserve part of the blame. “That is certainly not a badge of honor for the commonwealth, and I accept MDRI’s criticism and agree with it.”

The bottom line, said Ahern, is that the JRC’s practices must be stopped immediately, and she is very pleased that the UN’s torture expert now agrees.

“You can’t have a little bit of torture, or regulated torture,” Ahern said. “It’s very black and white.”

To access the full MDRI report, “Torture not Treatment,” go to www.mdri.org. To access Matthew Israel’s full reply, go to www.judgerc.org.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jul 8 2010. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.