Concerns that
schools are becoming more and more like prisons have been bolstered by the
revelation that numerous school districts are using "isolation booths" to place
unruly children in solitary confinement as a
punishment for bad behavior.
The controversy
erupted after concerned mother Ana Bate found out from her son that Mint Valley
Elementary School in Longview, Washington was using a padded isolation chamber
to deal with students with "behavioral disabilities". Bate obtained photos of
the isolation box and posted them on Facebook, prompting
outrage and interest from local media.
The school
claims the isolation box is a "therapeutic booth" and that only children with
special needs and parental permission are placed inside. However, Candace Dawson
told KATU.com that her son was put inside the booth without her permission.
"He said that's the naughty room," Dawson
told KATU News. "That's what he called it. He said when kids are naughty they
get put in there." Dawson filed a formal complaint Wednesday.
KATU also
received a separate letter from another mother saying her child was also put
inside the box without her permission.
The isolation
box is also in use at dozens of other school districts in the local region,
including Hillsboro, Battle Ground and Reynolds.
Solitary
confinement is considered by many to be a form of psychological torture. Both
the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch have warned that
solitary confinement is traumatic for young people. Studies into solitary
confinement used in prisons have found the method to be
"counter-productive" and have noted that it actually increases violent
tendencies.
From
surveillance cameras in school bathrooms, to palm-scanning for school meals, in
addition to regular police drug raids, schools are increasingly being used not
just for education but indoctrination - teaching children that they are
prisoners of the state and acclimatizing them to being constantly spied on and
subjecting them to prisoner training. Prison Planet
AN/SM
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