US school staff torture teenager with electric shocks
CCTV footage showing staff at the Judge Rotenberg Centre in
Massachusetts pumping electricity through Andre's body.
A shocking new video has surfaced showing the staff at a mental institution in the US state of Massachusetts use repeated electrical shocks on a disabled boy while laughing.
The footage shows 18-year-old Andre McCollins tied face down to a table and screaming with pain as staff at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass. applied 31 jolts of electricity over the course of seven hours. McCollins was admitted to a nearby children's hospital later that day where doctors diagnosed him with acute stress response caused by the shocks. They also said that the shocks could have killed the boy. The video, filmed in 2002, was played in a court just outside Boston on Tuesday despite the institution's attempts for years to suppress it. It was released this week after a high court judge overturned a previous ruling keeping the footage from being broadcast to the public. McCollins' mother, Cheryl McCollins, has sued the institution and three of its employees for the harsh treatment of her son ten years ago. She told the court that she had “no idea that they tortured children in the school.” Lawyers for the school said the shocks were administered as “aversive” therapy, describing McCollins as an "aggressive" student. Judge Rosenberg Center -- a school for disabled children -- was established in 1971 to help 'fix' children who are disruptive and intent on self-harm.
Daily Activist: [Horrific Video] Disabled Student Tortured
Daily Mail: Tortured, terrorised and abused
HuffPo: Tape Shows Teen Being Shocked 31 Times