Tough Love Kills, Too

Radley Balko | October 11, 2007

Appropos of Jacob's post below...

Omega Leach, the Philadelphia teen killed in June after the city sent him to a Tennessee treatment center, died of strangulation after a fight with a staff member there, according to the Tennessee medical examiner.

The death has been ruled a homicide, the autopsy report says.

Bruce P. Levy found that Leach had "multiple hemorrhages" of his neck muscles from a clash June 2 with two staffers at the Chad Youth Enhancement Center outside Nashville.

[...]

Philadelphia's Department of Human Services has been sending some of the most troubled kids in its care to Chad since at least 2001. In 2005, after a drumbeat of warnings about harsh treatment and the death of a 14-year-old girl, DHS and city courts continued to use Chad even as Tennessee and New York state pulled their youngsters from the facility.

While Leach's death prompted Philadelphia officials to start removing youngsters from Chad, eight city youths were still housed there, a city official said last night.

[...]

Tennessee repeatedly cited Chad for failing to tell regulators about children who had been injured there. In one case, the state learned only after the victim's mother called police that three residents had tried to strangle another, records show.

The Inquirer also reported that in early 2005, a man called the Philadelphia child-abuse hotline and warned that his coworkers were using "improper and illegal" force against city youngsters.

In response, DHS dispatched an investigator to Chad - three months later. The city concluded that while there had been no "illegal physical restraints," nonetheless "some residents were being harshly and improperly restrained."

In reply, Chad said it had a "nurturing and positive environment," but would hire more staff.

Link here.