Investigation Continues Into Teen's Death Following 'Prone' Restraint
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
November 30, 2006

PERTH, NEW YORK--Police and the New York Office of Children and Family Services are investigating the November 18 death of a 15-year-old at the Tryon Residential Center for Boys.

While an autopsy was not able to determine the cause of his November 18 death, the teenager, whose name has not been released, was reportedly held facedown in a 'prone' restraint for some time after he became "physically aggressive" toward staff.

Cliff Zucker, executive director of Disability Advocates, Inc., the state's federally mandated protection and advocacy system, said the state Children and Family Services should ban the prone restraint because of its risks to youths. The technique is already prohibited in the state's mental health and prison systems.

Two employees of the rehabilitation center, which houses up to 172 juveniles, have been placed on paid leave during the investigation, the Albany Times-Union reported Tuesday.

"These are troubled kids, often from very difficult circumstances, who find themselves at Tryon," the Times-Union wrote in an editorial. "But they shouldn't be all the more vulnerable because the figures of authority to whom their well-being is entrusted to are using methods to maintain order that should be obsolete."

Related:
"Tryon Center resident dies over weekend" (WNYT-TV)
http://www.wnyt.com/x10875.xml?ag=x995&sb=x183
"'Prone restraint' allowed at youth facilities" (Times-Union)
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=537655
"Opinion: Dead at 15" (Times-Union)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/06/red/1130g.htm
"Youth center workers off job" (Times-Union)
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=539281

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Reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express international disability rights news service.
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