Did You Know That the Judge Rotenberg Center Has Gotten Its Death Sentence?
Question by Teddy & Chiliswoman: Did you know that the Judge Rotenberg Center has gotten its death sentence?
Medicaid will no longer pay for kids to be there as of May 15th. And the state of Massachusetts is rescinding it’s approval to use restraints and aversives. SO the JRC will not have kids to torture anymore. Since someone posted about this place not to long ago, I thought people might like to know. Sometimes the acts of advocates and activists pays off. It has taken decades to close this place down, but it looks like its end is near.
More details:
The Massachusetts Governor’s office filed a motion Thursday that would
vacate a 1987 Consent Decree that has been an agreement with JRC that
aversives, including electric shock, could be used as long as a judge
approves their use on each individual. It is clear from the recent letter
from the former student and other evidence that judges have been approving
the use of electric shock without being provided a clear picture of the
behaviors the person has exhibited often non-dangerous or even comforting
behaviors such as wiggling one´s fingers, talking to another resident or
getting out of one´s chair without permission. If the Governor’s office is
able to put an end to the consent decree, Mass. State departments will have
the ability to disallow the use of all aversive procedures including
electric shock through regulations and will have more flexibility in
protecting the residents of JRC.
More good news made public today –the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) in their first effort on this issue about which I am aware,
sent a letter to the Mass. Office of Health and Human Services saying CMS
would no longer allow federal Medicaid money to be used for anyone who lives
at a facility that uses electric shock interventions, even if that person is
not receiving the treatment themselves.
It appears that the combined efforts of the Department of Justice, the Food
and Drug Administration and CMS motivated by the recent letter from the
former student and so many amazing advocates who have fought this battle for
years, may finally be coming together in a number of efforts aimed at ending
these horrendous practices for good.
Aut-Echo Some states have eliminated all institutions except for short-stay psychiatric, but other states hold onto the past. JRC was a private institutions and had few residents from the state it was in. Many of its residents were from neighboring New York State.
Closing JRC won’t be like the closing of many institutions – few of the residents originally came from the same place (New York is bigger than England). And there will be a huge concern that these people are cared for exceptionally well and monitored as the JRC is a very wealthy business and they will do their upmost to prove that they are the only one who can provide care so they can get back into the business of torture.
This is a long overdo end to one of the greatest abominations the US has been party to.
Edit – ended all LARGE institutions, small community based institutions remain. Unless a person chooses where they live, who they live with, and what staff they have – it is still an institution in my book.
Best answer:
Answer by gardensallday
Great news! Tx for posting.
Answer by Aut-Echo
absolutely brilliant news teddy,its about time!
the only bad thing is the effect it will have on the residents who have built up a feeling of safety,routine and trust with that place,it will be awful having to move,hopefuly they will be given long transitions and not a kick up the bum out the door like had personaly been given when they closed the ld institution of mine down.
although the use of shocks had to be approved by the parents,and the students of parents who didnt sign for it did not get shocked it is still barbaric practice and shoud never been allowed to happen.
criminals who have murdered many people or big time paedophiles get treated better-what does that say about the way society views us?
every student of JRC has what is termed severe challenging behavior.
am also someone who is labeled under this category and though am lucky enough to live in a country which woud have never allowed a facility like the JRC to operate as it is,was left with permenent damage from the high security LD institution that used to live in as a result of the abuse and punishment had recieved off staff.
oldskool overbearing restraint techniques do not work-they trigger fight or flight chemicals and put us on the defensive,many of us with learning disability [the UK definition,aka intelectual disability] do not process punishment like anyone else does; depending on the individual we may not recognise/ understand pain and have no pain threshold and we may not be able to link a physical punishment with what we are being punished for-am not able to feel/understand pain at all and cannot link punishment to behavior.
the JRC were shocking people for ‘crimes’ as bad as refusing to eat their food,how on earth do they think
people who have a different way of understanding and processing the world will be able to grasp that what they are doing is considered naughty,and another thing half the crap they were shocking them for were not naughty behaviors-they are confusing the students even more and possibly instilling a unremoveable belief that the people doing the punishing are bad people that cannot be trusted or asked for help,that is a mindset of mine have lived with since having all behaviors of mine beaten by dad every day from toddler age,was diagnosed as an adult with severe lifelong reactive attachment disorder with most of it owed to how was treated by him.
america needs to get used to the idea of gradualy destroying institutionalism for learning/developmental disability once and for all,no disrespect meant at all to american residents but why is it the government can not develop small residential care homes that are designed around community living so that residents
have a much higher chance of being able to integrate and live in the community in their own place with support?
institutionalism destroys us,have seen far worse irreversable damage in many fellow residents have lived with, luckily in the UK they closed down all institutions bar several that survive for short term assessment.