School children shackled to chairs with masks over heads by teachers in ‘horror campaign’
Warning: This article contains graphic content which some readers may find distressing.
Six former students at a state correctional school in Wyoming have accused the institution of extensive abuse and humiliation.
According to a lawsuit filed in February 2024, six former students of Wyoming Boys' School in Worland accused the facility of abuse, including solitary confinement, psychological abuse and physical harm, per WyoFile.
The claims the group have put forward are as follows:
- Excessive use of force, including using a restraint chair for long periods of time
- Tackling, shoving and slamming boys who were not resisting
- Indifference to some of the boys' medical needs
- Failure to accommodate disabilities
- Denying the boys periodic reviews of their solitary confinement.
The defendants, which includes the school, current and former employees, and the Wyoming Department of Families, have denied the allegations and filed a counter-motion to dismiss the case.
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In a new update, three of the plaintiffs - named as Blaise Chivers-King, Charles 'Rees' Karn, and Dylan Tola - filed a response last Thursday, which included footage, photos and further testimony of the alleged abuse.
In one image shared in the response, a shirtless Karn is seen strapped to a chair by his ankles and wrists with a mask covering his head. Meanwhile, another image shows a boy cowering in the corner of solitary confinement.
The lawsuit also includes an alleged quote from one of the school's guards, in which the man is claimed to have said: "The best part of the chair is watching the kids cry and scream like a f**king child … that’s what makes it worth it."
Other alleged punishments include: being placed in restraints for 'up to eight hours a day' and having their medical needs ignored by staff, with some former residents being placed in solitary confinement after self-harming.
Each of the men involved in the case had been sent to Wyoming Boys' School had been sent to the instituation after 2018. Each of the boys had been sent to the school after falling foul of the law, with Karn currently serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 2023.
Differing claims over treatment at the school
The lawsuit filed by the group also paints a different picture of their time at the facility.
When it came to Karn's testimony, he claimed that one staffer had shoved his head into broken glass and then restrained him – an allegation which the accused staffer has since denied. The state went on to add that he was consistently disruptive during his stay at the facility, including attacking another inmate with a shower head and making bomb threats on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the state said that DH was placed in solitary confinement for refusing to follow instructions, a claim which he says is inaccurate. "The behaviours for which DH was punished were obvious symptoms of his disabilities," his response reads.
Elsewhere in the filing, the group accused the school of falsifying records about their time in the facility.
"The (staffers’) logbooks had large gaps in documentation, inaccurate entries, uncertain authorship, and no verification mechanism," the lawsuit claims, going on to add that one of the plaintiffs - a minor identified as 'DH' - had been in solitary confinement during this time.
The state, however, argues that there is no 'evidence plaintiffs were discriminated against ‘by reason of’ their disabilities; rather, the record shows WBS staff’s actions were based on Plaintiffs’ conduct.'
A judge will decide whether or not the case will go to trial or be dismissed.
LADbible has approached the Wyoming Department of Family Services and Wyoming Boys' School for comment.
Topics: World News, Crime
Brenna Cooper