No torture at Rotenberg! Shut it down!

The Stop the Shock Coalition will protest outside the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) on Oct. 5 in Canton, Massachusetts, to demand an end to the torture, including shock therapy, used on disabled people housed at the center.

This coalition has over 30 member organizations, including the Disability Justice and Rights Caucus of Workers World Party, National ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today), Autism Career Pathways and the Autistic Peoples of Color Fund. The coalition has held previous demonstrations, rallies and press conferences to bring attention to the torture of disabled people at the center.

Fifteen miles southwest of Boston, Canton is headquarters to Dunkin Doughnuts and Reebok. The population is 75% white, and the median household income is over $130,000. U.S. Census Bureau 2020 data reports that 61.9% of the 24,370 people living in Canton have a bachelor’s degree or higher.  

On the surface, this center’s lush, manicured lawns, large shade trees and colorful metal flowers and butterfly sculptures may resemble a small college campus in a nice little town, but this belies the fact that inside the walls of Rotenberg torture is practiced.

U.N. report links Rotenberg torture to six deaths

Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Torture, said he was shocked after reading a report on Rotenberg by Mental Disability Rights International in 2010. (tinyurl.com/5da96ffr) The 67-page report was titled: “Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center; Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.”

As the U.N. report shows, Rotenberg has used shock treatments known as GED or graduated electronic decelerator treatment for decades, and this is linked to the deaths of six children. One child, Andre McCollins, was shocked and tortured over 30 times, because he refused to take off his coat. His mother, Cheryl McCollins, has become a dedicated activist and organizer, working on the Oct. 5 protest.

There have been past protests at the JRC in Boston and in New York State where the Board of Education has been an enthusiastic conspirator complicit in shipping New York children with disabilities to be shocked, tortured and murdered. Most of the residents are actually from New York. A state law, named “Andre’s Law” after Andre McCollins, which would ban sending New Yorkers with disabilities to Rotenberg has been proposed in Albany at the New York legislature.

In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration banned GED devices, citing an “unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury” from them. The FDA said evidence pointed to both psychological and physical risks including burns, tissue damage, worsening underlying symptoms, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But the regulation was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2021, saying FDA officials had overstepped their authority.

Since that time, Congress clarified that the FDA does have the right to ban the devices, which prompted the agency to file another proposal. The issue of GEDs will face more litigation in the coming period.

System fails people with autism spectrum disorder 

The Rotenberg Center is the only place in the country that uses the controversial skin shock therapy. Many of the 250 residents at Rotenberg are on the autism spectrum. According to Massachusetts General Hospital, autism spectrum disorder, ASD, affects 1-in-36 children. 

ASD is one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the United States and lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. People with ASD have difficulties with communication. This can look like significant challenges with spoken language or with social communication. (tinyurl.com/5n992d9z)  

Texas plans to execute a man with autism on Oct. 15, although there was actually no crime committed. This case reveals the ways the criminal justice system can fail people with diagnoses like autism.

Robert Roberson, who has autism,, took his little daughter Nikki to the hospital in 2002 when she rolled out of bed and was unresponsive. Nurses and doctors thought Roberson’s responses were not appropriate. His expression was flat, he took the time to dress his daughter, and he showed no emotional distress for Nikki. So, they didn’t believe his story. He was charged, convicted of capital murder and sent to death row.

Roberson’s planned execution has caused a wave of attention to his autism from researchers, journalists and support organizations who offer guides for people with autism and their parents on how to interact with police. (tinyurl.com/bdd6bv47)

A New York veteran public sector worker and union activist with several disabilities told protesters outside a NYC Board of Education office on June 20: “Aversive conditioning, such as electrical stimulation devices to punish children and students at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts for allegations of ‘self-injurious or aggressive behavior’ is not only ablest, sexist and racist discrimination against people with disabilities but violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution banning cruel and unusual punishment.  

“Those who practice this torture at Rotenberg are in the same category as the Nazi war criminals convicted at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity who sterilized, tortured and murdered millions, including those whose only so-called ‘offense’ was having a disability!” 

There are one billion children and adults with disabilities worldwide, most still segregated from society in abusive institutions, living in poverty or left without educational and economic opportunity. Fortunately for the people confined at Rotenberg, there are families and activists who care and are fighting for the disabled. 

Punishing people’s behavior by denying food, long-term painful restraints, sensory deprivation, electric shock and ammonia face spraying are all torture. The 

Stop the Shock Coalition will not stop their struggle until Rotenberg ceases to exist!