Disabled Boy 'Tortured' With 31 Electric Shocks at Treatment Center

18-year-old Andre McCollins was shocked 31 times by the staff at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts, and video footage showing his experience has been released to the public for the first time. McCollins' mother has brought a lawsuit against the Rotenberg Center for what she calls "torture" and "abuse."

The Judge Rotenberg Center is a private school for children with physical and social disabilities. McCollins was a student at the time and had been asked to remove his jacket by staff from the Center. When he did not respond, he was subdued by several staff, and then strapped to a table.

What followed was agonizing for people in the courtroom to watch. Counselors at the Center administered 31 shocks over the next several hours, as McCollins screamed for help. Throughout the trial, the Center asked that the video footage of the incident not be released to the public, but yesterday the judge overseeing the trial ruled against them, and Fox News released the video.

"I never signed up for him to be tortured, terrorized, and abused," McCollins' mother said on the stand yesterday. "I had no idea— no idea— that they tortured the children in the school."

After the electro-shock, McCollins was left in a catatonic state, a stress-induced coma, according to authorities.

"I couldn't turn Andre's head to the left or to the right. He was just staring straight," McCollins' mother said. "I took my hands and went like this (waving her hand in front of his face). He didn't blink."

THIS WAS DONE TO MOSTLY BLACK CHILDREN http://nymag.com/news/features/andre-mccollins-rotenberg-center-2012-9/

http://www.science20.com/countering_tackling_woo/judge_rotenberg_trial_ends_settlement_nothing_changes_jrc_though-89394