New Page 2

Isaiah Simmons

Died January 23, 2007

Isaiah's Mother & daughter

Cause of death: Restrained at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School

Initial reports:

"Four youths who witnessed his death immediately told their lawyers
that they watched Isaiah Simmons suffer an excruciating death. Students
say staff sat on Isaiah for three hours until he passed out and died."

A Maryland senator said that the Juvenile Justice System in their state
"is an embarrassment, it is the worse system we have in our whole
government, and has been for years. It is in need of total overhaul."

Isaiah allegedly acted out in a dinner line and had to be restrained.
The incident occurred during dinnertime around 5 p.m. and officials were
not called until after 8 p.m., over three hours later. Officials have shown
concern as to what happened during that window of time.

NEWS ARTICLES / PRESS RELEASE:

4/17/07 - 6 Indicted in Juvenile Offender's Death

3/3/07 - Closing disappoints school's supporters

3/1/07 - Nurse reported school's methods

2/27/07 - Youths held in Md. home unnecessarily

2/24/07 - Death probe spurs debate Bowling Brook youths not questioned out of school, some say

2/24/07 - Death Of Prep. School Student Still Not Determined

2/16/07 - O'Malley backs bill on juvenile staff: Training for private programs would be regulated by the
state

2/8/07 - Bill seeks reform of juvenile facilities Legislation would have Md. oversee training in private facilities

2/3/07 - Review of staff training minimal Workers in private juvenile programs unchecked by state

2/2/07 - Restraint called common at school Youths describe practices at facility where boy died

2/1/07 - Students Pulled From School Where Teen Died

1/31/07 - CPR, 911 call for youth were delayed

1/30/07 - Youth restraint challenged Juvenile programs official questions action before teen's death

1/29/07 - Investigators Question Witnesses In School Death View video

1/28/07 - School says staff acted properly in restraining boy who later died

1/28/07 - Witnesses Say Teen Was 'Held Down' In School Death View Video

1/27/07 - Youth describes struggle with staff

1/27/07 - Press Release Source: Bowling Brook Preparatory School

1/25/07 - Questions Surround Teen's Prep School Death

6 Indicted in Juvenile Offender's Death

April 17, 2007
By Ben Nuckols
The Associated Press

WESTMINSTER, Md. -- Six former staff members at a school for juvenile offenders waited 41 minutes before calling 911 about an unresponsive 17-year-old student who died, prosecutors said Tuesday in announcing an indictment against the workers.

"They thought he was faking," State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes said.

Isaiah Simmons died Jan. 23 while being restrained by staff at Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

Medical examiners ruled Simmons' death a homicide, and the FBI has opened a civil rights investigation. The school has closed, and Simmons' death prompted the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services to reform its crisis intervention policies.

The grand jury declined to indict the six employees on the more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter. Steven Heisler, an attorney for Simmons' family, said they disagreed with that decision.

"There's no question that there was reckless endangerment," Heisler said. "However, when reckless behavior results in a death, that is manslaughter."

Charged with reckless endangerment in the indictment returned this week are Michael P. Corradi of Middletown, Pa.; Dennis Harding of Baltimore; Brian G. Kanavy of Mechanicsburg; Jason W. Robinson of Westminster; Shadi Sabbagh of Keymar; and Mark R. Sainato of Keymar.

Messages left with Corradi, Kanavy and Robinson were not immediately returned. Sainato's number was disconnected, and Harding and Sabbagh had unlisted numbers.

Barnes did not release names for any attorneys representing the men.

If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, each could face a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Brian Hayden, an administrator with nonprofit Bowling Brook, said the school hopes to reopen and fully supports its former employees.

"Hopefully, the truth will bear out through the criminal proceedings and these gentlemen will be found innocent of all charges," he said in a news release.

Bowling Brook was under contract with the state of Maryland to educate boys in trouble with the law. Youths at the residential school, including some from Pennsylvania, were relocated to other schools after it closed.

The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services placed Simmons at the school following a 2006 conviction for robbery with a deadly weapon.

Among the changes since his death, staff at state-owned and private juvenile facilities have been advised that youths should only be restrained if there is an immediate risk of harm, that restraints should last a maximum of 30 minutes, in 15-minute intervals, and that they must be videotaped. Simmons was restrained over a period of several hours.

Medical staff also will have to be consulted in the event of a restraint that lasts 15 minutes, Donald DeVore, Maryland's secretary of juvenile services, said Tuesday.

"These are things that, based on my experience, if they had been in place at the time that Isaiah died, might have saved his life," DeVore said.

DeVore also said that he would not allow staff to use compliance techniques that caused pain.

"There are methods for juveniles that are safe methods of dealing with kids that don't cause pain," he said.

The department also ordered inspections of all juvenile facilities. DeVore said he expects to receive reports from those inspections by next week.

___

On the Net:

Bowling Brook Preparatory School: http://www.bowlingbrookprep.org

State's Attorney: http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/stateatt/index.html

Closing disappoints school's supporters

March 3, 2007
By Rona Kobell

Bowling Brook Preparatory School was long regarded as a rare gem in Maryland's troubled juvenile justice system, a place that took in delinquent teens and turned them into well-mannered young men.

The residential program for juvenile offenders has been the subject of intense criticism since a youth died there in January, yet some of its supporters were disappointed yesterday to learn that it will close next week.

An emotional Del. Donald B. Elliot, a Republican representing parts of Carroll and Frederick counties, called the closing of Bowling Brook a "sad ending to an outstanding institution."

Even if investigators determine that the death of 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons was caused by "excessive disciplinary practice," Elliot said, he is confident that such behavior was an anomaly at the Carroll County school.

"The school has contributed so much to the community," said Elliot, who expressed hope that Bowling Brook will be able to reopen.

State officials had been investigating practices at Bowling Brook since Simmons died, but many in the community thought its good reputation would help it weather the storm.

Del. Nancy R. Stocksdale, a Westminster Republican who has visited the school many times, said that as recently as last week, Juvenile Services Secretary Donald W. DeVore talked to her about making changes at the school. But the idea of closing it didn't come up in their meeting, she said.

"The investigation should have revolved around these employees and what they did, and what the kid did to get them to do that," she said. "If you have a murder in a prison, you don't close down the whole prison. You fix the situation."

Stocksdale said the state "jumped ahead" with threats to revoke the school's license under pressure from the state's chief public defender, Nancy Forster, who said in January that she wanted all of the children there removed.

Unlike communities that rally to get juvenile facilities in their midst closed or try to ignore them, Carroll County officials embraced Bowling Brook. Boys from the school picked up trash at festivals, set up tables for corn roasts and served breakfast to raise money for charity.

When Union Bridge, about four miles from the school, held monthly breakfasts to raise money for its new town hall, the Bowling Brook boys helped set up tables and pour orange juice.

A few months ago, when officials paid off the town hall mortgage and decided to stop holding the breakfasts, Bowling Brook asked whether it could host the event to continue to raise money for the town.

The youths assembled a spread with bacon, pancakes, potatoes and eggs, and served it politely, Union Bridge Mayor Bret Grossnickle said.

"I don't know what happened. I wasn't there," Grossnickle said of the incident that led to Simmons' death. "But I know the boys that came were polite, considerate and well-mannered, so they were doing something right."

But many juvenile advocates who once praised Bowling Brook said the school had become a victim of its own success. Because it was well regarded, the state overloaded it, they said, and sometimes sent to it youths who did not fit in well in a cooperative setting that stressed teamwork.

"If the kid fit the mold, it would be a good program," said Stacey Gurian-Sherman, who runs a Montgomery County-based advocacy group for juveniles and their families. But abuse, she said, is never acceptable.

After years of delays in closing troubled institutions under the two previous governors, Gurian-Sherman said she is encouraged that the O'Malley administration took steps that led to the closing of Bowling Brook.

"They have done the right thing," she said. "This is a great indication that the O'Malley administration is going to walk the walk."

Jim McComb, who heads the Maryland Association of Resources for Family and Youth, an association of private service providers, said Bowling Brook had "some outstanding successes" working with some of the toughest teens. But the school grew too large, and that contributed to its problems, he said.

"They redirected the lives of thousands of kids over the years," McComb said. "That does not justify practices that result in children dying."

rona.kobell@baltsun.com Sun reporters Gadi Dechter and Greg Garland contributed to this article.

Nurse reported school's methods

March 1, 2007
By Gadi Dechter and Greg Garland

Five months before a student at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School collapsed and died while being restrained by staff, the school's nurse told the Department of Juvenile Services that she was concerned about the safety of youths held there, according to documents obtained by The Sun.

Janis Miller complained in August to the state about the staff's handling of several youths - including one who was badly bruised and scraped while being restrained. Bowling Brook director Michael Sunday later rebuked her for sending the teenager to a hospital emergency room, her written report said.

"My only concern is for the students. ... I could not live with myself if something happened to one of them that could permanently disable them or cost them their life," Miller wrote state officials Aug. 26. "Right now, I feel I am their only advocate."

In an interview, Miller said no state authorities responded to her complaint until the death of Isaiah Simmons, 17, in January.

A spokesman for the Department of Juvenile Services said yesterday that officials at the time regarded Miller's complaints as a "medical management issue," and they concluded the matter was best handled internally by Bowling Brook.

"In hindsight, this should have been given a lot more attention than it was given," said Edward Hopkins, the spokesman.

Steven Heisler, an attorney representing Simmons' family, said they were outraged to learn from a reporter of Miller's unsuccessful efforts to get the state's attention.

"If this is in fact true that the state was warned and failed to take action to investigate and stop these practices, it is reprehensible," Heisler said. "Had they taken action, Isaiah might be alive today."

Sunday and other officials at Bowling Brook did not respond yesterday to requests for comment.

The methods allegedly used to restrain Simmons at Bowling Brook, a privately run residential program for juvenile offenders, have provoked criticism from medical experts.

Witnesses have said they saw staff members sit on the struggling teen until he passed out during a restraint that lasted three hours. In a written statement, Bowling Brook officials denied any improper conduct.

The cause and manner of Simmons' death have not yet been established. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is handling the investigation

Students and former Bowling Brook employees have said it was not unusual for youths to be held to the ground by staff, sometimes for hours, as a way of controlling disruptive behavior or punishing disobedience.

In an interview yesterday, a former Bowling Brook administrator, Maile Barrett, described an incident last year in which she saw a senior counselor sitting atop a prone student and "singing" while other counselors stood around and watched.

Putting pressure on someone's back while holding him facedown can restrict breathing and lead to death by "positional asphyxia," experts say. Bowling Brook officials have "categorically" denied their workers ever sat on students and said counselors use proper restraint techniques.

The Department of Juvenile Services placed Simmons at Bowling Brook two weeks before his death, after a juvenile court found him responsible for a robbery. In February 2006, he used a box cutter to rob another juvenile of a cell phone near the Inner Harbor.

Miller's written complaint offers insight into the management and culture of the once well-regarded residential school in Carroll County.

A licensed practical nurse who has worked at Bowling Brook for four years, Miller said she reported her concerns last summer after consulting with the state's nursing licensing board.

She said she noticed a change in the school's culture in March, after returning from eight weeks off to recuperate from surgery. Staff were more aggressive in confronting youths, she said, and "cursing" at students became commonplace.

Lack of treatment Her complaint to the state details allegations of improper medical treatment, such as students going without prescribed medications for conditions such as diabetes, depression and seizures. But she decided she had to register her concerns with state officials after she saw the injuries a student sustained while being restrained by staff July 16.

"I've been working with restraints for five years before this job, and I never saw a kid look like that before," said Miller, who previously worked at Hoffman Homes for Youth, a psychiatric residential treatment program for children in Pennsylvania. "He looked like he'd been hit by a car."

She said the student, identified in records as Raymond Aur, 17, had "a large abrasion" and yellowish bruise on his face and other bruises on his torso. His body appeared "contorted," with his neck twisted toward one shoulder, according to her report to the state.

The Baltimore teenager has told The Sun that Bowling Brook workers took him outside and, during a lengthy restraint, pressed his face into fresh-cut grass as punishment for talking during a meal. At one point he urinated on himself, he said.

After talking with Maile Barrett, who was her supervisor, Miller said, she called the school's consulting physician. He recommended the youth be taken to the emergency room.

Physicians at Carroll County General Hospital "did not find any facial, cranial or shoulder fracturing of any kind," said Bowling Brook's incident report, written by Barrett.

About two weeks later, Bowling Brook director Sunday called Miller and Barrett into the school's conference room, according to Miller's written complaint to the state. Also present was Brian Hayden, who is listed in tax returns as the treasurer of the nonprofit school's board of directors.

Not 'team player' During the meeting, Miller said, Sunday chastised her and Barrett for insubordination, saying the women had disregarded the consensus of counselors that Aur did not require a hospital visit.

"The team decided that Raymond Aur wasn't going to the ER," Sunday said, according to Miller's report, yet they "sidestepped" other staff and called the doctor.

"We were yelled at for not being team players," Barrett said in an interview.

Barrett was a 10-year veteran of Bowling Brook and the school's compliance officer since 1998 when she quit one week before Simmons' death. She said she left, in part, because Sunday made it clear after the Aur incident that she would not be promoted.

"Once you're labeled not a team player, you might as well kiss your butt goodbye," Barrett said. "I felt like I was being pressured out of the door."

Meanwhile, Miller said, she was haunted by Aur's treatment. "There were sleepless nights," she said, "just worrying about another kid getting hurt."

Miller said she eventually decided to approach authorities with her concerns. On Aug. 22, she called Anne Fox, a manager with the Department of Juvenile Services' medical division, who put nurse manager Kay Schoo on the phone as well.

In the phone call, Miller said, she told Schoo and Fox about the severity of Aur's restraint, about Sunday's reaction and other concerns. Fox instructed Miller to send a report to Schoo's attention documenting her allegations.

Miller did that on Aug. 26, records show. She did not hear back from the state.

"Not a single word," Miller said. "I didn't hear from them again until Isaiah Simmons died. Anne Fox called me the next day and asked me how I was doing."

When she asked Fox why no one had responded to her report, Fox said she was not at liberty to discuss it, Miller said.

Juvenile Services officials declined to make Fox or Schoo available for interviews yesterday.

Since Simmons' death, Miller said, she has been interviewed several times by Jeff Kessler, an investigator with the department's internal investigations unit. When she told Kessler about her complaints against Bowling Brook five months earlier, he said he had not been aware of them, she said.

Miller said she regrets she didn't do more to alert authorities about practices at the school, but she had believed the state would investigate her claims.

"I don't know what else I could have done," she said. "I thought they were taking care of it. They're the ones who were supposed to take care of it."

The state's new Juvenile Services secretary, Donald W. DeVore, agreed the agency should have done more.

"Clearly, this department should be following up and taking action on warnings from health professionals and to fail to do so is unacceptable," De-Vore, who was appointed to the post by Gov. Martin O'Malley last month, said in a statement. "We will not let warnings about the safety of children in our care just slip through the cracks."

gadi.dechter@baltsun.com, greg.garland@baltsun.com

Youths held in Md. home unnecessarily

February 27, 2007
By Brian Witte

ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice has been asked to explain why it was holding 46 youths at a residential program for juvenile offenders when it determined -- after a youth died -- that they could be released to the community, an analyst told lawmakers Monday.

Simon Powell, an analyst for the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, said the decision to release the youths from Bowling Brook Preparatory School "kind of begs the question" that if the incident had not happened "whether these kids would still be at that facility -- even though DJS believed that they could be placed in the community with appropriate services."

If the incident had not happened, Powell said: "I would wager all those kids would still be at Bowling Brook."

Powell conducted a review of the youths' placements after the death of 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons, who died in a struggle with staff members at Bowling Brook, a private Carroll County school under contract with the state.

Simmons died Jan. 23, and the incident is under investigation by the Carroll County Police Department. Powell did not provide any additional details about the investigation. Staff involved in restraining Simmons were placed on administrative leave.

Out of 66 youths, Powell found that 46, or 70 percent, were recommended for placement at home after the incident. Most of them required aftercare services, but some were simply released. Twenty of the youths, or 30 percent, were recommended for subsequent residential placement.

Powell's analysis was presented at a time when lawmakers are focusing on the long-troubled agency and its budget.

Death probe spurs debate Bowling Brook youths not questioned out of school, some say

February 24, 2007
By Gadi Dechter and Greg Garland

A month after a youth died while being restrained at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School, authorities have not determined what caused his death or whether any laws were broken in the way the juvenile facility's staff handled him.

Though investigators say dozens of people have been interviewed, key student eyewitnesses to Isaiah Simmons' death have not been contacted by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office since the youths were removed from the residential program, according to students and their families.

Investigators from different agencies did question the students in interviews at Bowling Brook immediately after Simmons' death Jan. 23, officials have said.

But experts say the youths should have been interviewed again -- in a different setting and away from the school's staff -- after the juvenile court ordered their removal from the facility.

"The first time, they may have felt constrained to say anything because of fear of retaliation," said Timothy T. Williams Jr., a retired Los Angeles homicide detective who runs a private investigation firm. "I would interview them after they'd been removed."

A spokesman for the sheriff's office said the agency has conducted more than 40 interviews, including many with students, but he declined to say where or provide other details.

"Who was interviewed and what was discussed, I don't know and wouldn't be able to tell you if I did know," said Lt. Phil Kasten, the spokesman.

He said the sheriff's office "has applied the greatest resources and tenacity toward the investigation" while waiting for a report from the state medical examiner on the cause of Simmons's death. "This investigation will take as long as necessary, and that could easily be a couple of more weeks," Kasten said.

The methods allegedly used to restrain Simmons at Bowling Brook, a privately run residential program for juvenile offenders, have provoked criticism from medical experts and national authorities on safe ways to subdue unruly youths.

Witnesses have said they saw Bowling Brook staff members sit on the struggling teen until he passed out. In a written statement, Bowling Brook officials have denied any improper conduct. The school's own account of the incident, contained in a required report to the state, describes a three-hour confrontation involving physical restraint that ended when the East Baltimore youth lost consciousness.

Simmons was pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital Center. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is handling the investigation.

Ronnell Williams is one of several youths who discussed the incident with The Sun after he was removed from Bowling Brook at his lawyers' request. He described in graphic terms watching Simmons lose consciousness after staff sat on him. "He told them he was hurting, he told them he couldn't breathe," Williams said. "Didn't nobody want to believe him."

Williams said that before being released from the school, students "were afraid to talk" to authorities, fearing retaliation from Bowling Brook staff. In the month since a judge ordered him removed from the school, Williams has not been contacted by sheriff's deputies or state police, his mother said yesterday.

Giovanni El-Shird, 18, who witnessed part of Simmons' three-hour struggle with Bowling Brook staff, said he hasn't been contacted by investigators since returning to Baltimore, either. The mother of a third student who saw Simmons being restrained also said her son hasn't been interviewed since leaving Bowling Brook.

Maryland Public Defender Nancy S. Forster issued a statement yesterday expressing confidence "that the sheriff's department and Maryland State Police will interview our clients in a confidential setting away from Bowling Brook."

Though some experts said the youths should have been interviewed again after they left the school, others said the initial interviews might have yielded sufficient information.

"Sometimes you're going to get the best information right after the incident went down," said John L. Sullivan, former chief of detectives for the Las Vegas Police Department.

A preliminary review by the medical examiner found no "apparent trauma" to Simmons' body.

After the medical examiner issues its final report and sheriff's deputies conclude their investigation, the case will go to David P. Daggett, chief deputy state's attorney in Carroll County.

"We would look at all of the facts," Daggett said.

If there are conflicting facts, the matter could be presented to a grand jury to decide whether an indictment is warranted, Daggett said.

Bowling Brook officials said they would like to comment but have been advised by their attorneys not to do so. It is clear that Simmons' death has taken a toll on the school.

The school was housing 170 juvenile offenders at the time of Simmons' death. But the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services has removed all but nine of the 74 youths it had placed there. Other states have also pulled youths out.

A juvenile services spokesman said the school, which is licensed by DJS, had about 70 students as of this week. All Bowling Brook staff members involved in restraining Simmons have been placed on administrative leave, said Edward Hopkins, the spokesman.

Bowling Brook is well-regarded by many in Carroll County, and youths from the school frequently are involved in civic activities.

Nancy B. McCormick, economic development director of Taneytown and a strong supporter of Bowling Brook's program, said the school and its students are one of the nominees for the county's philanthropist of the year award next month.

gadi.dechter@baltsun.com
greg.garland@baltsun.com

WJZ13

Death Of Prep. School Student Still Not Determined

February 24, 2007
(AP) KEYMAR, Md.

Authorities still haven't determined what caused the death of a youth who died while being restrained at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

It's been a month since Isaiah Simmons after the incident in Carroll County.

And authorities also haven't determined whether any laws were broken in the way the juvenile facility's staff handled him.

Investigators say dozens of people have been interviewed. The methods allegedly used to restrain Simmons at the privately run residential program for juvenile offenders have provoked criticism from medical experts and national authorities on safe ways to subdue unruly youths.

O'Malley backs bill on juvenile staff: Training for private programs would be regulated by the state

February 16, 2007
By Gadi Dechter

Gov. Martin O'Malley is supporting legislation that would force the state to regulate staff training at private residential programs for juvenile offenders, officials said yesterday.

The administration's endorsement bolsters the chances for a bill that has gained momentum in recent weeks after the death of an East Baltimore teenager at Bowling Brook Preparatory School. Isaiah Simmons died Jan. 23 after being physically restrained for hours by workers at the privately run center in Carroll County.

Simmons' family joined child welfare advocates yesterday in urging lawmakers to support the legislation.

Lawyer Steven H. Heisler (left) listens as Felicia Wilson, Danielle Carter and Jeffrey Wilson address Senate
committee. They are the mother, sister and uncle of Isaiah Simmons, who recently died at Bowling Brook
Preparatory School.

"My name is Felicia Wilson, and I miss my son very much," Simmons' mother, in a faint voice, told members of the Senate Education Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. "The reason I'm here is to help other children, other children in the state."

Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services has acknowledged that it exercises virtually no supervision over staff training at residential programs like Bowling Brook, even though it places hundreds of youths in state custody in such facilities -- at a cost of millions of dollars a year.

Under current law, workers in private programs must have 40 hours of training, including in restraint techniques, but the training is not supervised or approved by the state. The legislation would require direct-care workers to receive instruction only from state-approved trainers. It also would require that the workers be at least 21 years old.

In addition to the staff-training provision, the pending law would put in place a system of "outcomes evaluation" at private juvenile facilities. The data-driven system would measure success by requiring state agencies to collect and report statistics, such as recidivism rates, on children in private programs.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat, cautioned his fellow lawmakers that the legislation will "not cure what ails the Department of Juvenile Services. Our system is a disaster ... but this is the most minimal step you could possibly take and we have a hell of a lot more to do."

Arlene F. Lee, executive director of the Governor's Office for Children, which oversees juvenile services and other state agencies that provide services to children in state custody, said her office will accept responsibility for developing a staff-training certification system.

"The governor is very supportive of" the bill, Lee said after the hearing. "Our fundamental commitment is improving outcomes for children."

The Office for Children has already begun soliciting software vendors to implement the outcomes evaluation component, Lee said, which will be part of the governor's broader StateStat initiative to hold state agencies accountable for the public dollars they spend.

Jim McComb, who heads an association of private residential programs for youth, told the committee that his association's members welcome a law that would make their programs subject to stricter rules about the training of their staff.

"We need legislation that is more specific about regulation dealing with behavior management," he said.

The methods allegedly used to subdue Isaiah Simmons at Bowling Brook have provoked strong criticism from medical experts and national authorities on safe ways to subdue unruly youths.

Witnesses have said they saw Bowling Brook staff members sit on the struggling teen until he passed out and died. In a written statement, Bowling Brook officials have categorically denied that workers knelt or sat on Simmons' back while he was held face-down.

The school's own account of the Jan. 23 incident, contained in a required report to juvenile services, describes a three-hour confrontation involving physical restraint that ended only when the East Baltimore youth lost consciousness.

Simmons, who was at Bowling Brook after being found responsible in juvenile court for armed robbery, was later pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital Center. The Carroll County sheriff's office is investigating the death.

Despite the wide-ranging support for Zirkin's bill yesterday, the committee's vice chairman, Democrat Roy P. Dyson of Southern Maryland, expressed "a great deal of concern" about its cost.

A fiscal analysis prepared by the state estimated the cost of implementing the outcomes-evaluation component at nearly $900,000. The analysis did not put a dollar amount on the staff-training provision.

"The cost should not be considered when it comes to children," Simmons' mother said after the hearing.

As a delegate, Zirkin sponsored a similar bill last session, which passed the House in a unanimous vote, but the measure died in the Senate Finance Committee amid concerns over cost. But Zirkin predicted his bill would pass this year, with O'Malley's support.

"He has given me assurances that this is a bill he wants to see passed," Zirkin said.

gadi.dechter@baltsun.com

Bill seeks reform of juvenile facilities Legislation would have Md. oversee training in private facilities

February 8, 2007
By Gadi Dechter

Isaiah Simmons III, age 17, died January 23, 2007 after being restrained at Bowling Brook Prepatory School in Maryland.

Isaiah's mother and daughter.

The state would be required to oversee the training of staff at private residential programs for juvenile offenders such as the Bowling Brook Preparatory School, where a student died last month, under legislation pending in Annapolis.

Isaiah Simmons, 17, died after being physically restrained for several hours by Bowling Brook counselors. The methods used to subdue him have raised questions about the state's oversight of such programs. Witnesses have said they saw staff members sitting on the struggling teen until he passed out and died.

Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services has acknowledged it exercises no supervision over staff training at Bowling Brook and about 20 other private facilities it licenses - though it places hundreds of children in state custody with them.

Backers of the legislation hope public concern will give momentum to the proposed legislation, similar versions of which have failed in the past. "The tragedy at Bowling Brook will have a major impact on the debate this year," said the bill's lead sponsor, Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat.

Jim McComb, who heads an association of private residential programs for youth, said his association supports more regulation of training, particularly in restraining techniques.

"Anybody can claim to do this restraint training," said McComb, executive director of Maryland Association of Resources for Family and Youth. "The only people who should be allowed to do it are people who have been somehow approved by the state."

Youth welfare advocates welcomed the legislation, which would require direct-care workers at residential facilities to be at least 21 years old and receive instruction only from state-approved trainers.

"When you put a child in an organization run by private industry, but they have a state contract, why shouldn't they be subject to the same standards as the Department of Juvenile Services?" said Kimberly M. Armstrong of the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition. "You may have a child who would still be here if the staff had known how to react to him in a proper manner."

Bowling Brook officials have said in written statements that Simmons was restrained by "senior staff of the highest caliber with advanced training." They have also "categorically" denied that workers knelt or sat on Simmons' back while he was down, as several student eyewitnesses have told The Sun and their lawyers in the Maryland public defender's office.

A former Bowling Brook counselor who worked there for three months in 2004 told The Sun this week that he routinely saw other counselors kneel on students' backs while they were down.

"I've seen knees on backs, knees on butts, knees on legs," said Micah Mincey, who works as a public school substitute teacher in Savannah, Ga. "Sometimes it would be a knee on the back, just enough to get [a student] calm, but if a person was squirming and trying to get up" then the weight was applied longer, he said.

Medical experts say that putting pressure on a person's back while he is on his stomach - especially after a period of intense physical exertion - can cause cardiac arrest. The medical examiner has not released a cause of death for Simmons. The death is being investigated by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.

Mincey said he quit his job as "counselor-teacher" at Bowling Brook after his supervisors quarreled with him about completing some paperwork. He said he was not trained by Bowling Brook but arrived at the job with restraint training from Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, where he had worked with mentally ill patients.

Current regulations require that staff at state-licensed private facilities pass criminal background checks; that direct-care workers under age 21 have an associate of arts degree; and that those over 21 have at least a high school diploma or equivalent. Workers must also have 40 hours of training, including in restraint techniques, but the training is neither supervised nor approved by the state.

A fiscal analysis last year did not put a dollar amount on the potential cost of the training, but said the effect on small businesses that provide residential care would be "meaningful." The cost of developing training programs would likely be passed onto the state, the analysis said.

Del. Peter A. Hammen, a Baltimore Democrat who supports the bill and is chairman of the House committee that will hear the legislation, expressed hope that its cost would not preclude its passage.

"We have to be extremely careful with what we pass, with regards to how much it costs. But we also have to understand how important the issue is to the citizens of Maryland," Hammen said.

A spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said reform of the juvenile justice system is a top priority, but that it is too early to weigh in on specific proposals. "It's something that we will work with Senator Zirkin on," Rick Abbruzzese said.

O'Malley's choice for juvenile services secretary, Donald W. Devore, met this week with Zirkin and the governor to discuss the proposal. "This is something that Secretary Devore will work with the General Assembly on, and at the appropriate time, make a recommendation to the governor," Abbruzzese said.

Review of staff training minimal: Workers in private juvenile programs unchecked by state

February 3, 2007
By Gadi Dechter and Greg Garland

Isaiah Simmons III, age 17, died January 23, 2007 after being restrained at Bowling Brook Prepatory School in Maryland.

Isaiah's mother and daughter. The state exercises virtually no supervision over the training of workers at privately run programs for juvenile offenders such as Bowling Brook Preparatory School, where a youth died last week after being restrained by staff, state officials acknowledge.

The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services says it isn't required by law to monitor how staff are trained and does not do so, even though it places about 900 juvenile offenders housed in privately operated centers at a cost to taxpayers of about $36.4 million.

One of the offenders it referred to the school in Carroll County, 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons, died there Jan. 23 after losing consciousness while being restrained over a period of several hours, a struggle described in an incident report filed by Bowling Brook with the state agency.

"The law does not require us to identify their training, assess it, nothing," said spokesman Edward Hopkins. He said the agency checks only personnel records at private facilities to make sure staff are reported as being trained. "We have to believe they are operating in good faith in providing that training," he said.

Though the agency is not precluded by law from conducting whatever supervision it deems necessary, officials said their resources are stretched thin. "I have eight investigators to cover the entire state of Maryland, so you do the math on that," said Peter Keefer, the assistant director for the department's investigations and monitoring division.

The state pays Bowling Brook $124 a day to house each youth referred there by the Department of Juvenile Services, Hopkins said. The payments are made under a three-year contract with the nonprofit school that extends to June 30, 2008, and allows for payments of up to $3.5 million a year.

Staff at state-licensed private facilities must pass criminal background checks supervised by the state. Direct-care workers under age 21 must have an associate of arts degree, while those over 21 must have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, state officials said.

They must also have 40 hours of training, including the use of restraint techniques.

Methods questioned The methods used to subdue Simmons have raised questions about such practices and about the state's oversight of such programs.

Multiple witnesses to Simmons' death have independently told lawyers they saw staff members sitting on the struggling teenager until he passed out and died, according to Maryland's chief public defender, Nancy S. Forster.

Several youths have also stated in interviews with The Sun that Bowling Brook staff routinely restrained students, sometimes for hours and for what they describe as minor infractions, such as disobeying an order not to talk at dinner. They described techniques that appear to conflict with what state policies and that experts say are widely accepted as proper methods for controlling an unruly youth.

For example, one student said that he was held facedown for four hours, and that staff did not release him when he complained of trouble breathing.

Experts say that counselors who provide care to troubled youths should be carefully trained in safe restraining techniques, because children can suffer serious injury or die if improper methods are used.

In the incident report released this week by the juvenile services department, school officials said their staff handled Simmons appropriately.

Bowling Brook officials have also expressed confidence that an investigation by the Carroll County sheriff's office will determine that the school did nothing wrong.

"The staff involved in this incident was senior staff of the highest caliber with advanced training," the statement said. "Bowling Brook has an extensive training program for all staff that meets or exceeds the requirements of Maryland law, including the use of physical restraints."

The president of a firm that formerly trained Bowling Brook's staff in restraint techniques, Pennsylvania-based JKM Training, said methods described by students there are inconsistent with his company's curriculum and philosophy.

"We never [teach] a position that gets on top of somebody," said company president Joseph K. Mullen. "There's no body weight used, no pressure points used. Any time you're inflicting pain, you're walking across the line of child abuse regulations in any state you're working in."

Mullen said Bowling Brook is not a current client and declined to say when his company, which provides training in 35 states, last worked with the school.

Despite limited state oversight, most residential facilities for juvenile offenders try to provide their staff with high-quality training that meets standards recommended by national advocates for youth welfare, said James McComb, executive director of the Maryland Association of Resources for Family and Youth.

The nonprofit group, which represents about half of the 270 state-licensed private residential child care and juvenile programs in Maryland, offers its members the training services of Steve Parese of North Carolina, an expert in controlling aggressive youths.

"We make his training available to anybody who signs up," McComb said.

Parese was in Baltimore last week, putting five people through a physically rigorous four-day training program to prepare them to train others how to subdue troubled youths.

At a small hotel meeting room near BWI Marshall Airport, Parese and Damaris Bristol wrestled a struggling Rachel Eversole facedown.

Leaning over her, Parese pinned Eversole's shoulders back using a wrestling hold called a "double arm bar" and clasped his fingers across her upper back, while Bristol draped herself over Eversole's ankles. It appeared that Parese was pushing down hard on Eversole's back, but she said she had no trouble breathing. "There's no pressure on my back at all," Eversole said.

Parese pointed out that all of his 200-pound weight was distributed on the floor; his body was cradling Eversole, not pushing on her.

Eversole will take the skills learned here back to the Shining Tree Children's Home in Hagerstown, where she will teach other counselors how to physically control court-committed youths when they become dangerous to themselves or others. Bristol works at the Florence Crittenton Services shelter in Wyman Park.

To the untutored observer, the difference between a safe restraint and a potentially deadly one is not immediately apparent.

For example, in another facedown restraint demonstrated by Parese's students, it appeared that two of them were leaning on top of the third student's neck.

In fact, they were leaning into each other, using their shoulders for balance without constricting the breathing of the student being restrained.

At the end of the class, Parese gave his students printed certificates acknowledging that they had completed his "Therapeutic Aggression Control Techniques" curriculum.

Not vetted or certified Though Parese said his techniques assiduously conform to national standards such as those recommended by the Child Welfare League of America, his curriculum is neither vetted nor certified by Maryland. "Many states require an approval process to be certified as a trainer," he said. "Maryland doesn't."

McComb said his association would welcome clearer state laws and regulations governing how restraints are used on youths, such as those regulating psychiatric care facilities.

As of yesterday, all but about 25 of the 73 Maryland youths committed to Bowling Brook had been removed or released after an emergency court hearing requested by public defenders. Just two weeks ago, it was housing 170 students, many from other states.

McComb said he hopes Bowling Brook can survive the storm of controversy over Simmons' death.

"We don't have anything better in this whole state," he said. "Bowling Brook will stack up against the best of them. This is an organization that has helped thousands of kids."

Restraint called common at school Youths describe practices at facility where boy died

February 2, 2007
By Greg Garland and Annie Linskey

Isaiah Simmons III, age 17, died January 23, 2007 after being restrained at Bowling Brook Prepatory School in Maryland.

Isaiah's mother and daughter. As authorities continued to investigate the death of a youth who was being restrained at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School, four young men held there said the school's staff routinely restrained students - sometimes for hours and for minor infractions.

The accounts by the four youths, all juvenile offenders, describe practices that conflict with what state policies and experts say are the proper and widely accepted methods of physically controlling unruly youths. The use of physical restraint should be brief and done only as a last resort to keep a youth from injuring himself or someone else, state officials say.

In separate interviews with The Sun, one youth said he was held to the ground by Bowling Brook staff for four hours as punishment for talking during a meal.

Another said he was restrained four times in his 18 months at the school. A third described the restraint of students as "a regular occurrence" and estimated that he saw it happen once a week.

Three of the four complained that when they were restrained, they had had trouble breathing while being held down.

Officials at Bowling Brook, a privately run residential program for juvenile offenders, declined to comment yesterday on the youths' allegations. The young men were interviewed outside Baltimore's juvenile court as they were released to home detention.

The four were among at least 40 youths who have been removed from Bowling Brook at the request of the Maryland public defender's office since the death last week of Isaiah Simmons, 17, who lost consciousness after being restrained by staff for more than three hours.

At least four youths who witnessed the attack have said staff members "sat on" Simmons while he was held facedown on the ground, according to the Maryland public defender. Two witnesses have told The Sun that Simmons complained during the incident that he couldn't breathe.

The school has said in a written statement that its handling of Simmons was proper.

An expert who teaches restraint techniques to state workers said the training emphasizes that "no weight should be applied" to a youth held facedown in a prone position. "No program will say sit or kneel on them," said Danny Martinez of Jireh Consulting and Training in Albuquerque, N.M. He said most incidents of restraint last one to five minutes.

His firm has been teaching the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services employees who train workers at state-run facilities for about five years but is not involved with any training program at the privately run Bowling Brook.

Youths who were interviewed yesterday described witnessing or being subjected to lengthy periods of restraint.

Maurice Holmes, 18, said he was held to the ground for four hours the first time he was restrained. "It felt like I was going to die," he said. "I'm blowing snot out my nose. I'm saying, 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe.'"

Raymond Aur, 17, said he saw people restrained almost every day during his 10 months at Bowling Brook.

He said he was restrained in a seated position three times and on the ground four times. In July, he said, he was restrained for four hours because he disobeyed orders and spoke during a meal. He said workers took him outside and pressed his face into fresh-cut grass. His face was covered with bruises and cuts, he said, and at one point he urinated on himself.

Aur said that three staff members held him down and that the men worked in shifts so that when one got tired, another would take his place. After they released him, Aur said, the guards told him that he had been restrained for four hours - and now "owed" the school four hours of work.

He said he had pain in his arms that continued until the next day, when the staff took him to the hospital. His mother, Sheila Aur, showed a reporter a hospital bill for $386 that was sent to her. The description is for "services for Raymond D. Aur rendered at Carroll Hospital Center" on July 17.

Sheila Aur said that when she visited her son that weekend, he "looked like he'd been beaten by 10 people. ... They said that Ray had been restrained for a long time."

While the state Department of Juvenile Services allows workers at its state-run facilities to use facedown restraint, some programs prohibit that because of the potential to cause harm.

Staff at the Glen Mills Schools, a well-regarded program for juvenile offenders in Pennsylvania, are told not to put a youth facedown, said Jack Rachko, who oversees training there.

"We tell them to do everything possible to keep him faceup," he said. "We never want them facedown, always faceup - and you always monitor their breathing."

He said it is rare for a youth at Glen Mills to be physically restrained for longer than 10 minutes, and it would be brought to the attention of high-level supervisors if a restraint went on for much longer than that.

"You gain control and it's over, usually within 10 minutes," Rachko said. "We don't have extended restraints going on and on and on."

Maryland's policies say physical force - including restraint - is to be used as a last resort and that "only the minimum amount of physical force necessary to control the youth may be used."

But Nichelle Vandervall said her son, who is 16, was restrained with such force that on one occasion, his elbow was dislocated and a blood vessel in his eye burst. "It scared him to death," she said. "He hasn't been restrained since then."

But Vandervall has mixed feelings about the facility. She's noticed a positive change in her son's attitude. "He's not as aggressive as he was," she said.

"Bowling Brook, what they stand for, the opportunity is excellent," she said. "My son is much better than what he was when he got there. He sees that he can be something other than a drug dealer."

Investigators with the Department of Juvenile Services inspect private facilities like Bowling Brook several times a year, according to department spokesman Edward Hopkins. The most recent visit to Bowling Brook was Jan. 12, less than two weeks before Simmons' death. "There were no negatives, no deficiencies or things like that" found in the unscheduled visit, Hopkins said.

KJZ13

Students Pulled From School Where Teen Died

February 1, 2007

Kai Jackson
Reporting

(WJZ/AP) KEYMAR, Md. Growing fallout after the mysterious death of a teenage boy at a Carroll County private school.

State leaders are trying to find out what led to the death of Isaiah Simmons.

Kai Jackson explains dozens of students are no longer at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

Ed Hopkins from Carroll County Department of Juvenile Services says, "Now the request to have the juveniles removed from the facility is coming from their individual council, whether it be a private attorney or public defender."

Before Simmons died, 73 students attended Bowling Brook. That number has dropped to 25.

Simmons was pronounced dead at Carroll Hospital Center last week after staff at Bowling Brook Preparatory School, about 40 miles northwest of Baltimore, placed him in physical restraints during a confrontation.

The death is being investigated by the Carroll County's sheriff's department amid allegations from some witnesses that staff restrained Simmons inappropriately.

The report, released Tuesday, provided the school's first detailed description of the Jan. 23 incident. Posted below is a copy of the report:

The school also issued a statement about their policy concerning student restraint policies. Click here to read the full statement.

School officials told investigators Simmons became enraged for no apparent reason and was restrained after threatening to harm other students and staff. He lost consciousness as he struggled with staff members, the sheriff's office said last week in a statement.

Investigators who arrived at the scene found paramedics treating Simmons for cardiac arrest.

A preliminary examination by the state medical examiner's office did not reveal any apparent trauma that may have led to Simmons' death. Blood and drug tests ordered by investigators are expected to take several weeks to complete, the sheriff's office said.

The Department of Juvenile Services placed Simmons at the residential school following a 2006 conviction for robbery with a deadly weapon, the sheriff's office said.

The school said staffers first tried to calm the situation verbally, but when he continued to struggle restrained him in a sitting position and finally in a prone position.

After an unspecified period of time, the report says, "Simmons stopped struggling and became non-responsive."

"Actions of all staff were in compliance with Bowling Brook policies. Staff followed procedures in dealing with unfortunate medical emergency," the report concludes.

Some students who witnessed the struggle saw it differently. Bowling Brook's report provides the first detailed description by the school of the Jan. 23 incident that ended with Simmons' death.

It differs significantly in tone from the vivid account given by Ronnell Williams, 18, one of at least six Bowling Brook students who witnessed the incident.

"They grabbed (Simmons) and slammed his ass down," Ronnell Williams said. "He was face down, eagle-spread, his arms was out and his legs, too," he said. "There were five staff. One on each leg, one on each arm, and one had his knees on (Simmons') back."

"He told them he was hurting," Williams said. "He told them he couldn't breathe. Nobody wanted to believe him."

At least three other student eyewitnesses have given similar accounts to their lawyers, including statements that staff "sat on" Simmons as they restrained him, according to the Maryland public defender's office.

CPR, 911 call for youth were delayed

January 31, 2007
By Gadi Dechter and Greg Garland

Bowling Brook staff believed boy feigned sleep while unconscious, school reports

When a youth at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School lost consciousness last week while being restrained by staff, workers delayed administering CPR or calling for an ambulance because they believed he was pretending to be asleep, according to a report sent by the school to the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.

When the paramedics were finally summoned, 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons was rushed to Carroll Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Bowling Brook's account of the efforts by staff to restrain Simmons for at least three hours is contained in a required report to the juvenile services agency, which placed Simmons in the residential program for juvenile offenders. The report, released yesterday, describes in clinical terms the hours of restraint and what happened when Simmons lost consciousness.

" [In] time, [Simmons] stopped struggling and became nonresponsive," the report says. "The collective thinking of intervening staff and students was that [Simmons] was feigning sleep.

"[Simmons] was then raised from the prone position to the seated and brought outside, for staff to assess and check vital signs. Within minutes, [Simmons] was returned back in to the house for staff to administer CPR as the ambulance was simultaneously called."

Medical experts say it can be dangerous to delay even for few minutes beginning cardiopulmonary resuscitation or calling an ambulance.

"It's been well documented that the sooner you start CPR, the better the chances are that patients will survive," Eric J. Beauvois, an emergency room physician at St. Joseph Medical Center in Baltimore, said yesterday. "The sooner you can get the paramedics involved and the sooner you can get the patient in the hospital, the better. All those will increase your chance of resuscitation. A matter of minutes can make a difference."

Bowling Brook's report provides the first detailed description by the school of the Jan. 23 incident that ended with Simmons' death. It differs significantly in tone from the vivid account given by Ronnell Williams, 18, one of at least six Bowling Brook students who witnessed the incident.

"They grabbed [Simmons] and slammed his ass down," Williams said yesterday in an interview. "He was face down ... eagle-spread, his arms was out and his legs, too," he said. "There were five staff. One on each leg, one on each arm, and one had his knees on [Simmons'] back."

"He told them he was hurting," Williams said. "He told them he couldn't breathe. Nobody wanted to believe him."

At least three other student eyewitnesses have given similar accounts to their lawyers, including statements that staff "sat on" Simmons as they restrained him, according to the Maryland public defender's office.

Bowling Brook, through its public relations agency, released a statement last night expressing confidence that the Carroll County sheriff's investigation into the death "will reveal that Bowling Brook's procedures were appropriate, that our staff acted in accordance with our procedures and in a manner consistent with Maryland law."

In response to allegations that staff have restrained students by sitting or kneeling on them, the school "categorically" denied that workers ever sat or knelt on the "head or torso" of Isaiah Simmons. The statement did not address allegations that staff sat on Simmons' back, as Williams and others have claimed.

School officials said that their staff training program meets or exceeds legal requirements in Maryland, including in the use of physical restraint, and that the "vast majority" of staff have four-year college degrees. The counselors involved in the incident with Simmons were "senior staff of the highest caliber with advanced training," the statement said.

While the state medical examiner has not determined the cause of Simmons' death, one medical authority says it appears to fit the general pattern for what is known as "positional asphyxia."

That can occur when a person is being restrained after a period of intense physical exertion, and is positioned on his stomach with weight applied to the back, said Harry J. MacDannald, a pulmonary and critical care physician at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek, Calif.

"What happens is when individuals struggle for long periods of time, their muscles become fatigued," said MacDannald, who has studied positional asphyxia. "They get respiratory muscle fatigue. If they are then placed face down, when the person breathes, their chest is compressed. It takes even more work to breathe under those circumstances. Eventually, they just stop breathing."

Authorities yesterday continued to remove students from Bowling Brook, for decades a well-regarded residential program outside Westminster. As of yesterday, 15 of 72 young offenders placed there by the Department of Juvenile Services had been removed from the school, said Edward Hopkins, a department spokesman. All but one of the 15 were sent home to parents or guardians, he said.

Many of the youths were removed at the request of their lawyers in the Maryland public defender's office.

In Annapolis, youth advocates and a deputy public defender urged the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to expand the state's supervision of privately run programs such as Bowling Brook by giving the state's independent monitor authority to oversee their operations. State Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat, said he planned to introduce legislation today that would give the independent monitor that authority.

Simmons was the first youth in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Services to die since 2001, when a girl committed suicide at another center. The department placed Simmons at Bowling Brook after he was found responsible in juvenile court for an armed robbery.

The Department of Juvenile Services released Bowling Brook's written account of the hours before Simmons' death in response to a request by The Sun.

The school's report says the confrontation and prolonged physical restraint started at 4:45 p.m. and ended when an ambulance was called more than three hours later, at 8:15 p.m.

The incident began when a school counselor overheard Simmons say he would "spaz out" if staff confronted him, the report says.

A Bowling Brook staff member questioned Simmons about that statement. Simmons responded by threatening to fight or even "shoot" another student, according to the report.

Believing that Simmons' comments and body language were potentially "explosive," staff tried to calm the situation by using techniques described in the report only as "touch, proximity, and other para-verbal methods of de-escalation." The youth was then restrained in a seated position.

When Simmons continued to resist, more staff members and several students joined in the restraining efforts. Four staff members then "rolled" Simmons into a "more restricted prone position," according to the school's account.

Because Simmons continued threatening to hurt others and himself, he was moved to another part of the school to "redirect the dynamic of the interaction." There, in the presence of several other students, Simmons continued to struggle and threatened "to urinate and defecate."

Simmons then began to cooperate, the report says, though he was still in the "restraint position." When one staffer tried to engage him in conversation, the teenager spoke of his 22-month -old daughter and of his absent father. But he later resumed struggling and making threats.

After an unspecified period of time, the report says, "Simmons stopped struggling and became non-responsive."

The school's report draws this conclusion: "Actions of all staff were in compliance with Bowling Brook policies. Staff followed procedures in dealing with unfortunate medical emergency."

One of the staff members who called 911 told the dispatcher that nothing was unusual in the way workers restrained Simmons.

"We're trained in that," the worker said, according to tape of the 911 call released by Carroll County authorities. "It was the same thing we do all the time when we have an aggressive kid. I don't know what happened. He was in a restraint, and then he stopped responding."

gadi.dechter@baltsun.com
greg.garland@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Laura McCandlish contributed to this article.

Youth restraint challenged Juvenile programs official questions action before teen's death

January 30, 2007
By Greg Garland sun reporter

The head of a Maryland association of juvenile programs said yesterday it would be "indefensible" for staff to sit on a struggling youth for three hours to restrain him - something at least four youths have told their lawyers happened last week in the death of a teenage boy at Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

But Jim McComb, executive director of the Maryland Association of Resources for Family and Youth, said it isn't clear that such behavior by staff at Bowling Brook - a private residential program for juvenile offenders - would have violated state law.

"We have regulations that prescribe what is doable and not doable in every private and public school, and in treatment centers for children with mental and emotional problems. But we don't have anything comparable for children's residential programs," McComb said.

The death of Isaiah Simmons, 17, after being restrained by staff at Bowling Brook has raised questions about state law governing privately run facilities, the training required of their staff and the way the state monitors and regulates such programs. The Carroll County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death.

Maryland Public Defender Nancy Forster said at least four youths have independently told lawyers in her office that they watched staff members sit on Simmons for three hours last Tuesday until he passed out and died.

At an emergency hearing Friday, a Baltimore judge ordered three city youths removed from Bowling Brook. Similar motions have been filed in several other counties.

Bowling Brook officials have said in a statement that Simmons' "aggressive behavior continued over a period of time during which he was restrained humanely consistent with state-approved discipline policies."

McComb said no state law prohibits the state or a private facility like Bowling Brook from restraining an unruly youth but that it should be done in a reasonable manner.

"Nobody could possibly defend sitting on a kid for three hours," McComb said. "If that's what happened, it's indefensible."

Edward Hopkins, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, said state law prohibits physically restraining a youth "except when failure to do so would result in harm to others or to the child."

However, Hopkins added, "It's not clearly defined in the law what is an acceptable means of restraint. ... Three hours, on its face, does appear to be unreasonable. But we were not there to witness the event and do not know all of the facts and circumstances."

The Department of Juvenile Services placed Simmons at Bowling Brook after he was effectively found guilty in juvenile court of armed robbery.

There are no national standards for qualifications or recommended training for youth workers at juvenile facilities. Minimum education standards, restraining methods and the type and length of training of youth supervisors are all left to state governments.

In Maryland, a high school diploma or its equivalent is all that is required for direct care youth workers, who get salaries that start just under $30,000, Hopkins said.

He said all staff assigned to state-run facilities must undergo six weeks of training, under similar standards to those used for police and correctional officers.

In contrast, only 40 hours of training are required for staff in privately run juvenile programs like Bowling Brook, Hopkins said.

He did not have details about just what kind of training is required for staff at Bowling Brook. A spokesman for Bowling Brook said no one was available yesterday to discuss the issue.

Bowling Brook currently houses 170 youths from several states - 73 referred there by Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services. But it is licensed by the state as a "group home" rather than a "secure care" facility.

State law requires that secure care programs have written policies about how to restrain a youth. It also requires annual staff training and "prohibits the use of restraint in any manner that causes the child physical pain or undue anxiety."

No such language is in state laws governing group homes.

Bruce Chapman, founder of a behavior management program used by juvenile systems in Virginia and several other states, said caution must be exercised when restraining a youth.

"The one thing you don't want to do when restraining a kid is to put too much weight on him," he said. "There are two ways for certain death - and that's one of them."

Delaware requires anyone who works directly with juveniles in a secure facility to have a bachelor's degree as well as additional training. Delaware strengthened its training requirements in response to problems at its main juvenile facility, the Ferris School.

"A college degree doesn't solve all the problems of the world, but it gives a stronger foundation," said Dianne Gadow, a former superintendent at the school who is credited with turning it around. Gadow moved to Arizona in 2004 to become that state's deputy director of the Department of Juvenile Corrections.

She said juvenile administrators need to constantly offer more training because those in their care have complex problems.

"The kind of kids that are coming in our system are a lot more damaged and have a lot more substance abuse problems," she said.

In Missouri, where state-run juvenile programs have become a national model, state policy requires a college degree or four years combined of college classes and relevant experience.

Once hired, youth specialists undergo a year of intense training - nearly 70 hours of courses in group therapy and family dynamics, physical crisis intervention and communication, according to Tim Decker, director of Missouri's youth services division.

That's in addition to the more than 40 hours of supervised observation before they can work alone with the youths. The department requires an additional 40 hours of training each year, Decker said.

He said he couldn't recall an instance in which a young offender died in custody, and said it would be unlikely to happen.

"Where you run into problems is when one person tries to restrain someone. It's difficult do that in a very safe way," Decker said. "To me, that's a set-up for problems right there. Think of the force - it almost has to be a struggle."

greg.garland@baltsun.com
Sun reporters Gadi Dechter, Rona Kobell and Todd Richissin contributed to this article.

wjz13.com

Investigators Question Witnesses In School Death

January 29, 2007
Mike Hellgren Reporting

View video

(WJZ/AP) CARROLL COUNTY, Md. At least four youths at a private residential school for juvenile offenders have independently told their lawyers that they watched as Isaiah Simmons suffered an excruciating death at the Carroll County facility, Maryland's chief public defender said.

As WJZ's Mike Hellgren reports, Simmons, 17, died Tuesday during a struggle with staff at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

According to chief public defender Nancy Forster, youths at Bowling Brook watched as staffers sat on Simmons for three hours until he passed out and died. One youth, Ronnell Williams, confirmed that account to The (Baltimore) Sun Friday evening.

"Four or five guys" held Simmons to the ground for more than two hours, and Simmons cried out several times that he couldn't breathe, Williams told The Sun. "We watched a guy die."

Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon ordered Williams released into his mother's custody late Friday. Two other youths were also ordered removed from Bowling Brook in response to an emergency request by public defenders.

The emergency hearings will continue next week across the state, said Foster, who wants all of her office's clients at the school to have their cases reviewed in juvenile court. "We want our children out of there," she said.

The death of Simmons, 17, remains under investigation by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. According to the office, staff at Bowling Brook said Simmons collapsed Tuesday evening while being restrained after an outburst. It was the first death of a youth in the custody of juvenile services since 2001.

Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services has a contract with Bowling Brook to educate juveniles in trouble with the law. Of the 170 students at the school on Tuesday, 74 were sent there by the department, said Edward Hopkins, a juvenile services spokesman.

Department of Juvenile Services staffers are providing indefinite 24-hour supervision inside the school, Hopkins said.

Simmons was in the department's custody after a juvenile court effectively found him guilty of armed robbery. He had entered Bowling Brook two weeks before his death.

Williams told The Sun that Simmons was having a hard time adjusting to the program. On Tuesday afternoon, Simmons said, "I'm going to spaz out," and had a disobedient outburst before school counselors, according to Williams. "He couldn't deal with the pressure," Williams said.

Bowling Brook has been in operation for decades and has drawn few complaints from youth advocates, who expressed surprise at Simmons' death. "My experience with Bowling Brook had always been that it's a great program," said Susan B. Leviton, who directs the juvenile law clinic at the University of Maryland. "When you (visited) Bowling Brook, every kid was involved in sports, they were going to school, they were keeping facilities clean. It was a very active and engaged place."

School says staff acted properly in restraining boy who later died

January 28, 2007

Bowling Brook Preparatory School officials said yesterday that its staff "followed all appropriate restrictive procedures" in handling Isaiah Simmons III, 17, who died after reportedly losing consciousness while being restrained by staff last week at the private residential center for juveniles.

"When Isaiah became threatening, our staff responded for his safety and the safety of others," said a statement by the school yesterday, the first public comment by the Carroll County facility since Simmons' death Tuesday.

"Isaiah's aggressive behavior continued over a period of time during which he was restrained humanely consistent with state-approved discipline policies and counseled throughout to de-escalate the crisis," the statement said.

The Baltimore law firm of Steven H. Heisler has begun investigating the death - the first of a youth in the custody of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services since 2001 - on behalf of Simmons' family, the law firm said yesterday.

The Bowling Brook statement expressed condolences to Simmons' family but added, "We do not know what caused Isaiah's death." School officials said they are cooperating with the investigation by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office and asked "that everyone affected refrain from further speculation until officials investigating have been able to more thoroughly determine the facts."

The statement comes one day after Maryland's chief public defender said that at least four youths at Bowling Brook told lawyers that they personally witnessed staff members sitting on a struggling Simmons for three hours until he passed out and died.

Simmons' family has said the East Baltimore youth had no medical conditions.

[Gadi Dechter]

Witnesses Say Teen Was 'Held Down' In School Death

January 28, 2007

View Video

(AP) CARROLL COUNTY, Md. At least four youths at a private residential school for juvenile offenders have independently told their lawyers that they watched as Isaiah Simmons suffered an excruciating death at the Carroll County facility, Maryland's chief public defender said.

Simmons, 17, died Tuesday during a struggle with staff at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

"Four or five guys" held Simmons to the ground for more than two hours, and Simmons cried out several times that he couldn't breathe, Williams told The Sun. "We watched a guy die."

Department of Juvenile Services staffers are providing indefinite 24-hour supervision inside the school, Hopkins said.

Simmons was in the department's custody after a juvenile court effectively found him guilty of armed robbery. He had entered Bowling Brook two weeks before his death.

Youth describes struggle with staff

January 27, 2007
By Gadi Dechter

Judge orders 3 removed from juvenile facility after teen being restrained dies

At least four youths at a private residential program for juvenile offenders have independently told their lawyers that they witnessed staff members sit on a struggling Isaiah Simmons for three hours Tuesday until he passed out and died, Maryland's chief public defender said last night.

The statement by Nancy Forster came after a Baltimore judge ordered three city youths removed from the Bowling Brook Preparatory School in response to an emergency request by public defenders. The emergency hearings will continue next week across the state, Forster said, until all of her office's clients at the school have had their cases reviewed by a juvenile court.

"We want our children out of there," she said.

In three hearings that lasted until 7:30 p.m. yesterday, Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R.K. Hargadon released one youth, remanded one to house arrest and sent the third for a brief stay at the Maryland Youth Residence Center, a juvenile shelter in Baltimore.

The youth who was released, Ronnell Williams, 18, told The Sun that he and other students watched as "four or five guys" held Simmons to the ground for more than two hours Tuesday. During that time, Williams said, Simmons cried out several times that he couldn't breathe.

"We watched a guy die," Williams said after he was released into his mother's custody.

Hargadon, who is in charge of the city's juvenile court, will hear removal petitions Thursday on behalf