Shocks given at Rotenberg Center were "harming" autistic teen, expert testifies

This sort of sadistic punishment in institutionalized settings is more common than most people would like to believe.

I have worked in MHMR Texas (mental health mental retardation) on the mental retardation side. The things that go on in institutions that house those with MR and autism are beyond description. Let me just say that the employees are severely underpaid, so the really talented ones with education go elsewhere. You are left with staff that is usually young, uneducated, inpatient, often on drugs, and on a power trip with a bunch of poor defenseless patients. I have been told by those who work at such places that many of the younger employees are regular drug abusers (typically benzodiazepams such as Xanax, opiates such as Vicodin and Oxycontin, Ritalin and methamphetamines), so many of them are high as kites while on the job.

Some of the things I KNOW for a fact go on in these places: Sexual abuse, rape, torture, physical abuse, putting patients in embarrassing situations and then laugh at them, pitting patients against each other and making them fight until one of them passes out, physically restraining patients by sitting on them until they pass out, encouraging patients to ingest drugs not prescribed to them, and plenty of verbal abuse. When young girls there end up pregnant, it is blamed on another patient and abortions are quickly and quietly arranged.

These places are sick, sadistic warehouses where our society puts adults with mental disabilities that we don't want to deal with or see. The funding for these places is very low, and the employees tend to cover for each other.

I'm not saying that every employee of these places such as State Schools are drugged out sadists, but there are enough of them on the job to make these places living hells for many of the unfortunate patients who have no place to go.

Once these patients can no longer attend public school (they can go until they are 21 years old), most parents cannot deal with the full time job of caring for them, watching out for them, and dealing with melt-downs, tantrums, and other behavioral difficulties. Our government doesn't want to pay for in-home help, so these parents, exhausted, confused and heart-broken, end up putting their kids in these places because there is no where else for them to go.

The increasing number of children being born with severe autism and mental retardation is rising sharply. Nobody wants to think about what the options for these kids will be. Nobody wants to understand how difficult it is to have a severely handicapped child in the home. The kids who are normal are ignored and neglected, because both parents have to deal with the handicapped one. Usually marriages split up, leaving many of these patients with single mothers or fathers.

There are so many issues related to this, I could write a book on it. Suffice to say, this is a HUGE societal problem for which there is no easy solution, except to stop pissing away our tax dollars on foreign nations, and put that money into helping those in need. Short of throwing a bunch of money at it, in order to retain quality employees (in Texas, state school employees who deal directly with the patient population get around $8.50 per hour), and better facilities, I can only see this problem getting worse.

Let me leave you with this thought: There are tens of thousands of these patients hidden away in state schools and group homes. Most of these are so overcrowded that there is a waiting list. We never see or hear of their plight until stories like these come to light. We have a real problem on our hands which will only get worse as the years go by. What is the answer???

Wow this is disgusting.

I can't believe this is happening to these defenseless children.

I have looked up everything I could since I heard about this, the DOJ opened an investigation 2 years ago on the center but I cant find an update on the investigation.

Letter from DOJ

I also found a report done by Mother Jones which revealed over 5 years ago the "treatment" the center uses.

Mother Jones "School of Shock"

I also found this report done 6 years ago by an out of state committee which was composed of Doctors and other professional consultants. They all agree at the end of the report that the methods uses are not effective.

JRC School Report

And its funny I went to the Judge Rotenberg Center website and found that the man who founded it Dr. Matthew Israel "retired" last year.

JRC Website

This needs to stop, I don't know what the hell the DOJ has been doing these last two years but they need to shut this place down. This place is using science and medicine as an excuse to inflict pain and suffering on the innocent...dear God Josef Mengele would be proud.

Wait is this America!! What year is this!!! *looks around for Nazis*

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
Let me leave you with this thought: There are tens of thousands of these patients hidden away in state schools and group homes. Most of these are so overcrowded that there is a waiting list. We never see or hear of their plight until stories like these come to light. We have a real problem on our hands which will only get worse as the years go by. What is the answer???

We need to find out a lot more about autistic epidemiology, for starters. Autistic diagnoses have been going through the roof over the past two decades. When I was a kid back in the 80s, it was only vaguely starting to appear on the radar. Now, autism is a condition that afflicts literally millions of people. It's literally getting to the point that demographically speaking, being non-autistic may not actually be the definition of baseline normal homo sapiens sapiens for much longer.

We need to find out more about what is causing autism, and then we need to come up with a means of treating it that genuinely works. Most of what I've read tends to implicate a combination of genetics and diet. I know there are certain things (bread, mostly) which can cause me to go mentally weird. Although steak is good for me physically, it makes me a lot less positive mentally as well, I've noticed.

That is something which needs to be chased up.

Originally posted by Bob Sholtz
.........it could be me on that table.

two days ago someone i know saw a poster advertizing autism awareness because this month is autism awareness month (he wasn't aware that i have asperger's syndrome) and he said "can't they just beat it out of them..like until they stop lining up things in order".

words can't describe the anger i feel. everyone involved, including that judge 8 years ago, should be shocked until pronounced dead.

They just don't want us to exist. That is the real issue. As someone else said, these clinics or centers or whatever, are basically a meat locker; a closet to shove people into, that society doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of, because we aren't perpetually 25 year old geniuses who look like Britney Spears.

I will say to anyone who reads this thread; if you are normal, be thankful. You do not know how fortunate you are. Being an athletic muggle with the proverbial prom queen wife, 2.4 kids, white picket fence and labrador dog...not to mention being able to afford the luxury of atheism because you haven't experienced things which most people would simply consider completely nuts...that is an ideal that we get brainwashed to want and expect as well, you know...and we get shat on much more heavily than you, in some cases, because we can't fit into it.

That's seriously messed up, I felt like I was watching a Hollywood horror movie. The people that did that need to be stripped of any qualifications they have and jailed for a very long time with "aversion therapy" applied during their time in jail to aid in their "rehabilitation".

Originally posted by spoonbender

they call shock therapy

thought this kinda
stuff stopped decades ago

You may be thinking of something called Electroshock therapy. Which is different. And is still done today in very rare cases. Now, when they do them, the patient is put under first, so they never feel a thing.

They introduce electrical pulses to certain parts of the brain through the temples and it induces seizure activity. It is used today only for extreme cases of depression that have been helped at all by any other method of treatment.

There is much debate as to whether or not it really helps at all. And if it does work, they are not really quite sure how it does....But for what it is worth I knew a woman a few years back who received this treatment and it did seem to help her.

Ever seen the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? That's how they used to do this treatment...Just shock them wide awake and induce a seizure. Like I said, now, they are put under first and this treatment is only done in rare cases.

What we see in this video, is based on something called Operant conditioning to change human behavior. Think along the lines of positive and negative reinforcement.



In this case, it is obviously negative reinforcement....Well, at least that is the idea...Hey " Misbehaves" so they shock him, so he learns that if he does this action again, he will be hurt....So he doesn't do the action anymore....That is the idea....


However...What they did to this guy, clearly crossed the line and was abuse....Straight up abuse. And torture. He was sent to the hospital the next day (Only after his mom made them send him) and was diagnosed with acute stress disorder ( I think that is what the news story I read said.)

Basically he had a bit of PTSD, if you want to get right down to it....It made him worse...And it is awful.

The people that did this to him went beyond way overboard. Tying him down...Shocking him for hours? They don't need to be shocking people in the first place....

And the fact that they tried to have the video covered up for so long just shows that they know how bad it really is...

I hope these cruel human beings have the book thrown at them....They deserve it.

This should never take place....

Prisoners at Gitmo have gotten better treatment for god sake!

Gee, I guess that's what "experts" get paid the big bucks for. Now me, I'm not an expert, so I never would have figured it was in any way harmful to a person to be strapped down for seven hours and shocked. Guess they won't be needing my testimony, then.

It is my sincere hope that whoever is behind this gets shocks themselves.

Ten times as much, since they are an adult and an authority figure.

We really need to organize some kind of awareness campaign. This is too much, too far. And the worst thing is that this video only scratches the surface.

A magical happy place full of rainbows.

reply to post by all6ixes


I think only half of the problem is awareness. Here's the other half of the problem...

en.wikipedia.org...

At least they weren't using real electric shocks. But this does show us how most people are willing to submit to perceived authority to do the most atrocious things, against their own internal moral and ethical objections.

Closely related...
en.wikipedia.org...

For the love of Mike ... What has happened to my country? I hope I can get out before it is too late to leave.

ETA: OP, title of this thread should really be changed to something more appropriate ...

He was fully restrained. There is absolutely no sense in what they did. I work for a PD and we deal with violent psych patients at a hospital. IF one of our guys tasered a fully restrained patient he would get fired. If a patient is on his stomach with his hands and feet restrained he is zero threat.

I am glad I never got called to something like this. I would get fired before I got out of the building.

I had to chill for a few hours before I could contain my rage enough to post a coherent reply...

This is what privatization of our institutions leads too. Prisons, juvenile detention centers, even alcohol rehab centers, when they're privatized and when a judge has a financial stake in those centers they see $$$ for every warm body they sentence to those profit centers.

"Judge Rotenberg Center" where we restrain a youth THEN taser them, or apply electro-shock to a juvenile for not taking his coat off... W.T.F. America. And isn't it nice how the judge who runs/owns the center can get a fellow judge to seal the record?

Isn't this what we should be talking about on MSM instead of how many maids Ann Romney has?

I've worked at Judge Rotenberg. I know of the video in question. How many of you folks that are jumping up and down saying that the ppl in the video should be "what ever harmful phrase" even know of what the place is about. It is where you bring your child to undergo AST because his behaviors are a danger to self and others. The place is known for that. Alll over the country.

The kids that go there are violent prior to their arrival. The center explains to the parent what happens and how it is done. The parent is well aware of what they are signing their child up for.

Also, the Mk ultra stuff and mind control subjects. These kids are not what they are looking for. They are "damaged" prior to their arrival at centers like these.

Heres where I am going to get flamed. I do not agree or disagree with the practice AST I have seen it abused and I have seen it take the most violent offender and rewire him to be a pretty succesful person. It goes both ways.

Just remember this when watching the good ole FOX spin that we KNOW exists. Do not jump up and down when it is conveinant. FOX spins everything. His mother knew full well what she was signing her son up for.

My biggest gripe is just cuz FOX says I guess....

funny hes black...

where are the trayon martin guys now? not here, because he is white an disabled... nothing to care about or what?


I hope you see the sarcasm... seriously, do you have to be black or a normal person that the public cares about you? this is racist

reply to post by BlastedCaddy


The mother said she was NOT told that they would torture her son. She said that in a court room not exclusively to FOX. The only way FOX could spin that video would be if they actually faked it themselves. All FOX did was share it with the world.

It is truly sad that you consider making public evidence of abuse and torture "spin".

It does not matter what you say no words can erase the horrific truths revealed in that video.

(although Matthew Israel who founded the place erased video evidence to avoid incriminating himself..)

Originally posted by aLLeKs
where are the trayon martin guys now? not here, because he is white an disabled... nothing to care about or what?


I hope you see the sarcasm... seriously, do you have to be black or a normal person that the public cares about you? this is racist

Is this white for you?

reply to post by BlastedCaddy


I'm interested in your perspective since you worked at this place and must have knowledge about their work.

Heres where I am going to get flamed. I do not agree or disagree with the practice AST I have seen it abused and I have seen it take the most violent offender and rewire him to be a pretty succesful person. It goes both ways.

I can see where your coming from, many aggressive therapies work on people. But usually they are counter productive, I believe the majority of practicing experts would agree that the type of therapy used at JRC is outdated and excessive resulting in a change which is very bad or slightly better.

This Report which I posted in my previous post contains a lot of thorough information on the effectiveness of JRC's techniques.

I'm reading the material provided by the Doctors at JRC which they have on their website, a lot of it I find very hard to believe due to the information provided in the reports done by outside sources.

They seriously downplay the adverse side effects of their treatments. But I am no Doctor I cant really sit and critique the work of educated professionals, however I due to lean towards the majority rule when in comes to the scientific community.

Just remember this when watching the good ole FOX spin that we KNOW exists. Do not jump up and down when it is conveinant. FOX spins everything.

I cant really find a "spin" in this story. Unless you want to say them showing the video of a teenager being electrocuted again and again screaming in pain is somehow attempting to distract people from the truth in an effort to get them angry. The media has a terrible way of sensationalizing stories of suffering, but certain ones such as this I believe are important to reveal. They help us reflect on the way we conduct our society and make us contemplate the repercussions of our choices.

This story existed long before the local FOX news station covered it, this law suit has been going on for a while, and JRC has probably spent a lot of money and a lot of time trying to keep it quiet. They even tried to persuade the judge not to let the media show the tape of the teenager being electrocuted.

His mother knew full well what she was signing her son up for.

Not completely true. She may very well have known that the treatments were "aggressive" but nowhere near as aggressive as they actually were. She signed up for her son to get better not be "treated" to become a lifeless zombie, and if that is the best or the most common result of JRC's "treatment" than what makes it more ethical or socially acceptable than say lobotomy or euthanasia?