712 Digital Group - top

Report: Iowa school uses full-body wraps, denies mental care

News

August 7th, 2017 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federally funded nonprofit organization claims in a report that an Iowa school for juvenile boys held under court order is violating their constitutional rights by not providing essential mental health care and instead relying on restraints and seclusion rooms.

In the report released Monday, Disability Rights Iowa threatened legal action unless the state makes significant changes at the Boys State Training School in Eldora. The organization claims the institution doesn’t have enough mental health professionals, locks up children in seclusion room and restrains them with full-body wraps.

State officials say they share the organization’s goal of improving treatment, but they said other audits and assessments have lauded the school. The institution has space for 130 boys aged 12 to 18 and currently has about 100 students.