Young immigrants detained in Virginia center allege abuse

21/6/2018 18:07

        Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at a juvenile detention center in Virginia say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.
        
        The abuse claims against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Multiple detainees say the guards stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.
        
        In addition to the children's first-hand, translated accounts in court filings, a former child-development specialist who worked inside the facility independently said this week that she saw kids there with bruises and broken bones they blamed on guards.
        
        In court filings, lawyers for the detention facility have denied all allegations of physical abuse.