Children hogtied, shackled, sprayed, forced to eat vomit, stripped naked ..

July 22, 2003 11:52 PM

Mississippi Gulag.Remember Tranquility Bay? Kids being forcibly deported to Jamaica, where they have to earn their right to speak by advancing in a perverted "level" system, with punishment ranging from laying on the floor for hours to painful "restraint" sessions? A report by Assistant Attorney General submitted on June 19, 2003 to Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove sheds light on two different "correctional" facilities, the Oakley and Columbia "Training Schools" in Mississipi. Boys and girls aged from 10 to 17 are hogtied for hours, pepper sprayed for disobedience, forced to eat their own vomit during exercises, or stripped naked and locked in a dark room for days because of suicide attempts. Between torturing sessions, they have to participate in good Christian prayers. These kids have to suffer abuse that would lead to a nationwide scandal if it happened to adults (or if sex was involved). AP has a brief summary.
posted by Eloquence (11 comments total)

Horrendous. I read both articles but couldn't decide whether these were state-run or privately funded (like Tranquility Bay).
posted by ttrendel at 12:28 AM on July 23, 2003

Three administrators were reassigned following the report

Harsh!
posted by magullo at 4:04 AM on July 23, 2003

What's the problem? I mean after all they arebeing allowed, er..forced to participate in good Christian prayers. So obviously, it's okay. They're finding God. I'm just thankful that the good lord has brought these wayward lambs to the care of these fine people that are teaching them some character and morals.

Praise Jesus.


posted by damnitkage at 5:17 AM on July 23, 2003

Undoubtedly this is going to mess up these kids' minds. Perhaps the counselors should be more worried about the state of their own souls...

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Matthew 18:5-7
posted by unreason at 5:46 AM on July 23, 2003

"This is a work in progress. And it's taken over 20 years for the system to be in the state that it's in, and it would not be something we can fix overnight. But I can assure you that we are aggressively looking for answers," DHS Executive Director Thelma Brittain said during a news conference.

well, i'll bet if thelma were left hogtied in a pool of vomit the answers would miraculously come overnight.
posted by quonsar at 7:19 AM on July 23, 2003

If parents just disciplined their kids more instead of being so timid about the feelings of two year-old brats, they wouldn't be so screwed up later in life to require this kind of treatment.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:03 AM on July 23, 2003

I gather that now there is a paradox: the State wants info from the Justice Department so that it can prosecute the offenders, but the Justice Department is hesitant, perhaps for fear of letting those people who were responsible for the situation in the first place clean it up.
posted by kablam at 9:08 AM on July 23, 2003

Three administrators were reassigned following the report

Hey, after all, reassignment worked so incredibly well in the Catholic church when priests were accused of child molestation, right?
posted by beth at 9:58 AM on July 23, 2003

"After reading British journalist Decca Aitkenhead's recent exposé of Tranquility Bay*, a private institution in Jamaica for reforming errant children of the rich, Alice Miller remarked, "I believe these schools are creating a future generation of sadists." "

Christ wept.
posted by troutfishing at 10:30 AM on July 23, 2003

hey civil_disobedient - why do these kids require this kind of treatment? We don't allow convicted murderers to be treated like this, why is it okay to do it to kids?
posted by Irontom at 10:31 AM on July 23, 2003

Sorry, Irontom, perhaps I should clarify myself.

If the state just disciplined their inmates more instead of being so timid about the feelings of serial rapists and murders, they wouldn't be so screwed up after they get out.

Hmm.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:32 PM on July 23, 2003