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Content Warning: This article discusses sensitive topics including torture, ableism, institutional abuse, and death.
As outlined in both international and domestic law, torture is arguably one of the most egregious violations of human rights and dignity. You may be surprised to learn that the practice is alive and well in New England, funded by taxpayer money. People with disabilities are currently being tortured in Massachusetts.
The Judge Rotenberg Center, formerly called the Behavioral Research Institute, was founded in 1971 by behavioral psychologist Matthew Israel. Inspired by the work of behaviorist B.F. Skinner and his use of electroshock aversive treatments on rodents, Israel developed a device to replicate aversive electroshock conditioning on humans. Like other proponents of eugenic violence, Israel considered it his life’s mission to start a “utopian community.” Matthew Israel invented and patented the Graduated Electronic Decelerator (GED) for the purpose of behavior modification. This remote-controlled device is typically worn on the legs or torsos of patients, and can deliver a shock nine times more powerful than a cattle prod. The GEDs are used alongside other forms of physical punishment and abuse, violent restraints, withholding food, medical neglect and sensory deprivation helmets. When the use of sensory deprivation helmets in “treatment” killed 22-year-old Vincent Milletich in 1985, the facility was ordered to close its doors. This decision was overruled by Judge Ernest Rotenberg, who the facility is now named after.
In 2012, the use of GEDs at the Judge Rotenberg Center was condemned by then UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, who was also a survivor of electroshock torture at the hands of the Buenos Aires police during the genocide. He was the second UN official to call for cessation of the practice and an investigation into the facility.
While sometimes advertised as a “last resort,” survivors of the barbaric practice have said this is not the case. In a particularly harrowing case from 2002, an autistic teenager named Andre McCollins was shocked after he refused to take off his coat. He was then held in a four-point restraint and received 30 additional shocks over the course of seven hours. The Center justified the continued administration of the shocks because of his pained screams in response to the torture, which they referred to as “major disruptive behavior.” Unfortunately, McCollins was not the only resident to be subjected to such extreme and inhumane treatment. One anonymous survivor of the facility shares that “The electrodes had actually burned into [their] skin. [They] experienced long-term loss of sensation and numbness in [their] lower left leg, after getting a shock there. [They] felt searing pain all the way down to the bottom of [their] foot, and [were] left with no feeling in [their] skin from the knee down for about a year.” Sadly, not all residents of the JRC are able to tell their stories. Since its founding in 1971, six residents have died due to medical neglect, violent restraints, aversive treatments and attempts to escape the facility.
Despite incessant advocacy by disability rights groups like the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Disability Rights International, ADAPT, and the ARC of the United States to ban the practice, Matthew Israel remained adamant that the devices should be used frequently and indiscriminately, supporting the expansion of the practice to schools and prisons. In a 2007 interview, Israel suggested the GEDs “could be used everywhere… It could and should be used—not as a last resort, because it has no side effects.” He was forced to resign in 2011 as part of a plea deal after being indicted on charges of child endangerment and obstruction of justice.
Advocates were hopeful when the device was banned by the FDA in 2020, however, this hope was short lived. In July 2021, the ban was overturned and the GEDs remain in use. The Judge Rotenberg Center is the only facility in the U.S to use the GED aversive. The facility grosses over $78.6 million yearly from state governments, private donors and school districts, and seems to spare no expense at protecting its image. The Judge Rotenberg Center has notoriously cracked down on criticism, threatening survivors and activists with lawsuits alleging “defamation.”
Abuse of residents at the JRC is not only a matter of dehumanization and ableism, but also racism. Residents of the JRC are predominantly black and brown disabled people from Massachusetts and New York, some being placed at the institution by the Department of Child and Family Services. In 2016, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that 87.4% of the JRC’s school-aged population were people of color. This is reflective of national trends, as black and Latino children are overrepresented in the child welfare system, where they face heightened vulnerabilities. Massachusetts and New York residents’ tax dollars are funding this abuse.
This past weekend, a group of activists with the Stop the Shock Coalition held a protest outside the facility, wielding signs that read “This School Tortures Autistic People,” and calling for the FDA to reinstate the ban on Graduated Electronic Decelerators. Survivors of the JRC spoke out against the abuse they faced and gathered to remember those whose lives were taken by the horrific practices.
Standing outside the JRC, knowing what was happening within its walls, was a deeply impactful experience. As a survivor of institutional abuse and a disability justice advocate, I am constantly reminded that we have to publicly relive our trauma in order to be heard. The Judge Rotenberg Center, while unique in its aversive methods, does not exist in a vacuum. It is part of a larger history of institutionalization in the United States, enabled by prejudice, greed and the exploitation of the most vulnerable. Shutting down the JRC would do far more than protect those currently being abused; it would be an affirmation of human dignity itself. Reject dehumanization, Stop the Shock.
Update: This article has been updated on Jan. 21, 2025 to provide additional context on the claims of institutional racism.