812. South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit

The media speaks of a civil lawsuit against South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit involving accusations of violence and intimidation to control underage residents.

It is a prison. The atmosphere and tone can be hard but when judges hand out sentences, they do not order broken bones and bruises as part of the sentence.

The idea with a prison sentence is also to re-integrate the youth into the society at some point and what will the teaching of violence then learn them? That they can use it on the streets if they are the strongest in a group!

It is not supposed to be fun to be there as a teenager but there should also be a limit to how awful it should be.

Sources:

• Stories of abuse, intimidation revealed in investigation of South Mountain Treatment Unit (Public opinion Online)
• Inside the alleged abuse of at-risk youth in Pa. treatment centers (Herald mail Media)
• Pa.’s youth development center staff are mistreating mentally disabled kids, advocacy group claims in federal lawsuit (Penn Lives – Patriot News)