Lawsuit claims isolation and abuse at Wyoming Boys School

Staff at Wyoming’s state youth detention facility locked juveniles in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, repeatedly buckled one in a restraint chair for up to 12 hours a day and poked fun at another while withholding the leg brace he needed for his disability for months, a federal lawsuit alleges. The abuses the Wyoming Boys School has been accused of coincided with sharp state budget cuts that shut down part of the facility and occurred even as most other states limit or totally ban juvenile solitary confinement. Permanent psychiatric conditions including paranoia and anxiety can result for youths, according to the lawsuit filed by three former inmates against the Wyoming Department of Family Services, Wyoming Boys School and 10 of the facility’s employees including Superintendent Dale Weber.