Report says shock tapes destroyed against order

[Guest guest]

Report says shock tapes destroyed against order

By Wen, Globe Staff | January 18, 2008

Top officials at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center destroyed videotapes at the focus of an investigation into alleged abuse at one of its group homes after being ordered by state investigators to preserve the tapes, according to a report obtained by the Globe.

The tapes, a compilation of footage from video cameras inside the group home in Stoughton, recorded an August 2007 incident in which staff wrongfully administered dozens of shocks to two emotionally disturbed teenagers, after a caller posing as a supervisor professed to be delivering orders from the school's director and a chief aide. One student received 77 shocks, the other 29.

An investigator with the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, which examines abuse allegations and can refer cases for criminal prosecution, viewed the tapes as part of her inquiry and asked Rotenberg officials if she could have a copy of them, according to the commission's report on the incident. School officials declined, saying that the school "did not want any possibility of the images getting into the media," according to the report, which was obtained by the Globe.

The investigator then directed the school to preserve a copy of the tapes for use by State Police conducting a criminal investigation. She was later told by a trooper, who apparently attempted to view them that "the images were not preserved by JRC."

Israel, founder and director of the school, did not return a phone call yesterday to discuss the tapes, but a school spokesman, Ernest Corrigan, said that school officials did not want to keep the tapes out of fear they would end up in the hands of the media or on the Internet, further upsetting the lives of the two victims in the Aug. 26 incident. He said investigators from the commission held an "exit interview" on Sept. 30 with school staff, leading them to believe there was no more need to keep the tapes.

In an interview with the Globe earlier this week, Israel said the tapes had been reviewed by several investigators soon after the August incident and were not preserved because the investigation "seemed to be finished."

He said the school normally keeps its recordings for about 30 days and then reuses the tapes.

Israel gave a similar explanation at the State House on Wednesday when asked about the tapes at a public hearing on a bill to restrict shock treatments at the school.

However, he did not mention being asked by state investigators to preserve the tapes.

The destruction of the tapes has led some critics of the school, the only one in the nation that uses shock treatments for special education students, to call for an investigation into whether Israel or his staff engaged in obstruction of justice.

"I believe the tape was intentionally destroyed because it was incriminating," said Senator A. Joyce, a Democrat from Milton, who has long sought to ban shock therapy at the school. "I intend to ask the attorney general to investigate."

Lawyers with experience in state and federal prosecutions say that obstruction-of-justice investigations can be complex, but that they center largely on why a piece of evidence was destroyed.

"Any investigation would want to look into intent very closely," said Ricciuti, a former prosecutor now in private practice in Boston.

The disclosure about the tapes occurs as the Disabled Persons Protection Commission is preparing for a public release of its findings Tuesday.

Its report concludes that one of the teenage students was severely physically and emotionally abused by the incident. The commission has referred the case to the Norfolk district attorney's office.

The Rotenberg school has more than 200 students, most of whom are mentally retarded, autistic, or emotionally disturbed. It has about 900 staff members.

Started by Israel in 1971, the residential school has attracted nationwide controversy for its unorthodox behavioral-modification techniques, which include the administration of two-second skin shocks as a way to deter violent or disruptive behavior.

Critics say that such shocks are often given for relatively minor infractions, such as swearing or leaving a seat without permission.

After failing twice in the past two decades to close the school, opponents have embraced a bill pending in the Legislature that would allow shocks only to stop students from hurting themselves or others.

Leo Sarkissian - executive director of The Arc of Massachusetts, a grass-roots organization representing people with intellectual disabilities - said he was outraged to learn that investigators no longer have the tapes, saying the destruction of the recordings shows "a lack of integrity" by Israel and his staff.

But Corrigan, spokesman for the school, said such assertions are unfair, adding that school officials voluntarily set up video cameras to monitor the staff and student performance.

"There is no obligation to hold on to these tapes for any length of time," he said.

Wen can be reached at wen@....

2008 The New York Times Company

Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your "fix" Check it out. Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!! Learn more.