DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge has ordered an Iowa state home for male juvenile offenders to stop the use of a physical restraining device and to reform its use of isolation as a form of punishment.
The Des Moines Register reports that the ruling Monday came in a class-action lawsuit filed against the Boys State Training School in Eldora in 2017 by two advocacy groups. At issue is the use of an immobilizing device called "the wrap" on boys at the facility — nearly five hours at a time, in some cases — and boys as young as 14 routinely forced into isolation for weeks at a time.
