01/26/2010
Cooley Serves as Pro Bono Co-Counsel in Juvenile Shackling Case Victory
New York -- Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 – Cooley Godward Kronish and the Legal Aid Society secured a judgment from the New York State Supreme Court that the policy of the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) to shackle children whom it transports to court is illegal. Cooley served pro bono as co-counsel in the suit.
"The court's recognition that OCFS cannot treat children this way is part and parcel of a culture of abusive practices that is not rehabilitative and does not reorganize that these are children who are in the care of the state," said Nancy Rosenbloom, director of the Juvenile Rights Law Reform Unit and the lead lawyer on the case. "We had evidence of kids not being able to drink their milk on the way to court because of the chains," Rosenbloom told The New York Times.
Cooley and the Legal Aid Society represent "John F.," a boy who was placed in the custody of OCFS for rehabilitation after a juvenile delinquency finding. The class action case, brought on behalf of all children who are transported to New York City's courthouses while in OCFS custody, challenged OCFS's policy and practice of routinely shackling every such child whom the agency transports to court, restraining boys and girls with handcuffs, footcuffs, and waist belts that attach the their cuffed hands to their waists. Although OCFS staff accompany each child, the agency keeps children fully shackled the entire time they spend in the public corridors, public waiting areas, and other areas of courthouses – often for a full day. The agency makes no individualized assessment of controllability and dangerousness; rather, every child is shackled.
Granting plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, Justice Milton A. Tingling, Jr., found that the shackling practice violates the State's own regulation, which prohibits the use of mechanical restraints unless "a child is uncontrollable and constitutes a serious and evident danger to himself and others." The court declared that OCFS's policy allowing "shackling of all youth – regardless of behavioral assessment or without apparent need" is "an attempt to create law where [OCFS] lacks authority to do so" and "completely contradict[s] the language" of the governing regulation. The Court noted that OCFS did not contest or contradict plaintiffs' contention that the agency shackles all youth without individualized assessments.
On behalf of the entire class of children, the Court enjoined OCFS "from restraining, with handcuffs and/or footcuffs, children placed in their non-secure or limited secure custody pursuant to Article 3 of the Family Court Act, during the time the children spend in New York City Court buildings" unless the agency makes a determination that an individual child poses "a serious and evident danger to himself and others at the time defendant seeks to restrain the child."
The Cooley litigation team included partner William Schwartz and associates Rachel Kane and Karen Won.
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