Connecticut Authorities Investigate Misuse of Pepper Spray on Adolescents

Connecticut state legislators recently held their last of four hears since late October regarding problems with the Department of Children and Families (DCF). According to public documents, pepper spray was used during attempts to subdue agitated young psychiatric patients at the state run Riverview Hospital in Middletown on three separate occasions since September.

When the need for help arose, DCF personnel at Riverview contacted the Connecticut Valley Hospital, a nearby facility whose police carry pepper spray but no lethal weapons. After pepper spray was used on the youngsters, state Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein was incensed. Her early December letter to DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton stated, “This is an egregious violation of the children’s rights to safety and an inappropriate use of force. None of the incidents involved a weapon or an immediate threat to anyone’s life. These children are entitled to safe and humane psychiatric treatment … [but] the practice continues and it must stop immediately.”

In one incident the police already had the child on the floor. In a second incident an eleven-year-old boy was behind a television console, attempting to push it over at the time he was sprayed with pepper foam.

Meanwhile, DCF spokesman Gary Keeblatt stated, “We believe the practice of using pepper spray is unacceptable – except when absolutely necessary to protect a child from serious physical harm, and when there is no lesser intervention available to adequately insure safety.”

According to Keeblatt the agency is conducting a clinical review of all incidents with the goal of avoiding a repeat in the future.