The Southern Poverty Law Center has undertaken many important cases involving the civil rights of individuals including those with disabilities. Reading through the list of cases below, what strikes me is how many involve excessive punishment and cruel restraint. We need a total reform in how behavioral intervention is addressed in this country, but creating a federal law on restraint, as is pending in Congress, would be a big step in the right direction. For anyone who does not think we need such legislation review the following list.
Hinds
County School District officials violated the constitutional rights of
a 10th–grader who was expelled for throwing a penny that landed on his
school bus driver. The expulsion and subsequent assignment to an
alternative school threatens to derail the academic and athletic career
of the 16-year-old boy, a good student who dreamed of a collegiate
basketball scholarship.
Children
held at the Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Mississippi
endured squalid conditions and horrific physical and mental abuse that
violated their civil rights. Children were forced to endure shackling,
physical assaults by staff, confinement to vermin-infested cells and
overcrowded, unsanitary conditions that resulted in widespread
contraction of scabies and staph infections. The detention center also
failed to provide children with adequate medical and mental health care
during their confinement.
Students
with disabilities in Hillsborough County, Fla., were deprived of
special education services required by law and subjected to harsh
punishment that pushed them along a path to incarceration. The Southern
Poverty Law Center, joined by the Advocacy Center for Persons with
Disabilities, filed a class action administrative complaint to bring
Hillsborough County schools into compliance with federal special
education law and end practices that exclude or isolate children with
disabilities.
Students
with disabilities in Palm Beach County, Fla., endured a culture of
neglect and overly harsh discipline because the school district failed
to provide the counseling, social work and psychological services
required by law. The Southern Poverty Law Center and a coalition of
advocacy groups filed a class action administrative complaint to bring
Palm Beach County schools into compliance with federal special
education law and end practices that exclude or isolate children with
disabilities.
At
the Calcasieu Parish Public School System in Louisiana, students with
disabilities or emotional disturbances were deprived of the educational
services required under federal law. The SPLC filed a class
administrative complaint against the school district and reached a
negotiated settlement agreement ensuring the services are provided and
these students are not arbitrarily removed from class.
The
Southern Poverty Law Center filed suit on behalf of mentally ill girls
living at the Columbia Training School who were shackled, physically
and sexually abused, and provided with inadequate mental health
treatment.
The
Holmes County School District in Mississippi was systematically
violating the rights of students with disabilities by failing to
provide them with the educational services required under federal law.
The district has agreed to a plan that will help ensure students with
disabilities are identified and given educational services required
under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
A class administrative complaint against the Caddo parish, Louisiana, school district.
In
May 2006, the Southern Poverty Law Center, along with attorneys from
the Southern Disability Law Center and the Juvenile Justice Project of
Louisiana, obtained a class-wide settlement agreement affecting all
special education students with Emotional Disturbance in East Baton
Rouge Parish.
The
Southern Poverty Law Center, along with attorneys from the Southern
Disability Law Center and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana,
obtained a class-wide settlement agreement affecting all special
education students with Emotional Disturbance in Jefferson Parish.