Innocent young people imprisoned in institutions

by Ian Birrell

"Imagine that it was your son, your daughter, your sister, your brother. Taken away by the state against their will to be locked in an institution hours from home. Forced to take drugs they do not need, turning them catatonic, unable to stop dribbling – and if they resist, held down by six guards, stripped and injected with strong sedatives. Stuffed in a tiny cell with just a mattress on the floor, fed through a hatch like a wild animal. Sometimes with no shower, no sink, no toilet paper – and always with no dignity."

"Your relative, of course, has rights as a citizen. Even if they carry out evil crimes, they are protected by rigorous laws. Yet such actions are being inflicted on innocent young people with autism and learning disabilities. They are being handcuffed, bruised, restrained face down by teams of adults, even having their spectacles removed. They must obey orders to access books, television, even fresh air. Some slump into depression and shed weight, others swell up through over-eating. Yet if families protest, they can be legally removed as protectors and publicly silenced with court orders that threaten to seize all assets." 

"These stories sound Dickensian. They remind us of pitiful footage from foreign orphanages or places where people with mental illness are chained to trees. Yet this is happening right here in our country. It is happening right now in secretive psychiatric institutions – both private and state-owned. These practices are a flagrant denial of the most basic human rights for British citizens – but they are permitted by politicians, sanctioned by doctors and funded at huge expense by taxpayers."

Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/the-care-system-remains-twisted-incarcerating-people-with-learning-disabilities-is-inhumane/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0kyNxq22Evn4bU2XCV82gwDZ1FK-xU0Vu9VM2qGLQnlmcjhCV0MIFDmUI