NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) – Disability Rights Tennessee has filed a lawsuit against the State of Tennessee, the Department of Child Services (DCS), the DCS Commissioner, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Education Commissioner.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants violate the rights of children with disabilities in the juvenile justice system. They say children with disabilities are held in “prison-like” facilities and “are not provided with legally mandated rehabilitative and educational services.” The lawsuit also alleges that children with disabilities are subject to abuse and violence.
According to the lawsuit, once young people enter the defendants’ facilities, they struggle to access basic services such as education, mental health care, medical care and physical safety.
Methods of “abuse” used against children include solitary confinement, pepper spray, and peer violence as a “behavior management tool.”
One of the three victims, who filed the lawsuit with the Tennessee Disability Rights Association, said a classmate “forced him to perform sexual acts on her and beat her when she refused.” When he told school staff about it, rather than protecting him, the suit says, the staff encouraged other young people to beat him again.
Another victim has come forward, claiming he was repeatedly pepper-sprayed for having an “autistic tantrum,” according to the lawsuit.
One girl alleged that after a “minor disciplinary incident,” she was shackled, dragged through floodwaters and placed in solitary confinement, according to the lawsuit.
Other victims have come forward, and the lawsuit details several other alleged abuses.
Read the full lawsuit below.
Disability Rights Tennessee is a nonprofit legal services organization that provides free legal assistance services to protect the rights of Tennesseans with disabilities.
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