MANSFIELD, Ark. (AP) - An employee at an Arkansas juvenile detention center is under investigation for shackling a 15-year-old boy and leaving him restrained overnight, according to emails from state officials.
Emails from caseworkers, the juvenile ombudsman and the teen’s mother indicate that the Arkansas Department of Human Services is reviewing the incident that occurred at the Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center last month, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The emails also show that the Mansfield facility director and the Arkansas State Police’s Crimes Against Children Division were notified of the incident this month.
Aftercare worker Michelle Edgin, who is assigned to the teen’s case, wrote an email Monday to his mother, saying that she disagreed with how the boy had been restrained and reported the encounter to authorities.
Edgin claimed in the email that the teen disclosed he was restrained for becoming violent. She wrote that “instead of taking off the restraints when he was calm, he claims that (the state employee) left them on all night, which is not protocol.”
“I have every intention of getting this staff member punished for his actions,” she wrote. “I will not let the kids I care for be treated unfairly.”
Edgin declined to comment to the newspaper about the case or the facility’s use-of-force policy.
Arkansas youth advocates have criticized the use of force and use of physical restraints, in particular, at juvenile detention facilities. Investigators have found that staff at some of the state’s youth lockups have improperly used restraints in the past, sometimes leading to injury and civil rights violations.
Tom Masseau, executive director of Disability Rights Arkansas, said the nonprofit’s inspectors visited the Mansfield facility in September and didn’t note an issue regarding restraints. He said the issue was more prevalent at two juvenile detention facilities in Dermott.
State law restricts the state Human Services Department from releasing any information about individual children in its custody, but it doesn’t prohibit the agency from giving details about the employment status of workers.
Department spokeswoman Marci Manley didn’t identify the worker and said she didn’t immediately know whether he had been disciplined.
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com
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