Michigan issued a ban for all staff members in youth centers to stop using dangerous restraints on children amid the death of 16-year-old Cornelius Fredericks.
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On April 29, Cornelius Fredericks went into cardiac arrest after several staff members at the Lakeside Academy in Kalamazoo restrained him after he threw a sandwich in the main cafeteria. For twelve minutes, some employees sat on top of the teen’s stomach and chest while others held his arms and legs as he yelled that he was unable to breathe. He died two days later after receiving treatment at a local hospital and the medical examiner ruled his death as a homicide caused by asphyxia.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in an announcement Thursday that stricter rules will be enforced for staff members at state-licensed youth centers on how they will physically restrain children as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
This new reform prohibits staff members from pinning down a child while they are facing down and other methods that prevent a child’s breathing. If there are no other methods to de-escalate a situation, the staff must immediately notify families and the state department if physical restraint in that those particular methods are used.
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MDHHS Director Rober Gordon said in a statement that “The change here is about more than addressing particular bad actors, It is about transforming a system so that we treat the young people in institutional settings with the same compassion and care that we want for our own children.”