Immigrant children as young as 14 say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.
Washington — Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at a juvenile detention centre in Virginia say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.
The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.
A former child-development specialist who worked there tells The Associated Press she saw kids with bruises and broken bones. She’s not authorized to publicly discuss the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The centre’s lawyers deny all abuse allegations.
Read more:
‘Death awaits me’: Why refugees risk crossing the US border
‘Not animals’: Guatemala family mourns niece killed by US Border Patrol
AP
