Mississippi School Handcuff
School found chaining students to railings
Alternative school principal admits students are handcuffed
A Mississippi public school caught handcuffing its students for misdemeanors as minor as violating the dress code has been banned from using the 'abusive' punishment.
Capital City Alternatives school in Jackson was found to be regularly chaining children to railings and poles, sometimes for up to four consecutive school days.
But a district judge has now outlawed the extreme disciplining technique, labelling it tantamount to abuse.
'The focus should be education, not incarceration and it’s tantamount to child abuse when children are handcuffed to railings for something as simple as not having the appropriate belt or inappropriate shoe strings,' Judy Owens, director of the Mississippi office of the Southern Poverty Law Center told ABC News.
Owens said some students had been handcuffed as punishment for up to four days in a row.
'We know there are some students who actually had to eat their lunch with one hand handcuffed to a railing,' she said.
But a court settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, will force teachers at any public school in the Jackson school district to stop handcuffing students younger than 13.
Older students will only be allowed to be handcuffed for crimes, under the law and no students may be handcuffed to railings, poles, desks, chairs or other objects.
'It’s apparent there were severe problems that we hope now are being addressed and will be alleviated,' Lee told lawyers in court on Friday, just before signing the settlement order.
CCA Principal Marie Harris admitted that her teachers had been handcuffing students but claimed it was done for their own safety, according to ABC News.
The school was ordered to conduct a 'climate assessment' that includes students, parents and teachers, as well as requiring all teachers be trained to deal with students with emotional and behavioural management problems.
'We’re excited to have a comprehensive settlement that changes not only the practice of handcuffing kids to railings but in addition the settlement focuses on changing the overall climate of this school from one that’s jail like to one that focuses on education,' Owens said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151085/School-chaining-students-railings-punishment-banned-using-handcuffs.html#ixzz1wG2qPtBQ
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