Lawsuit claims isolation and abuse at Wyoming Boys School

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal lawsuit alleges staff at Wyoming’s state youth detention facility locked juveniles in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, even as other states are getting away from the practice for both adult and adolescent inmates. Three former Wyoming Boys School inmates filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Casper against facility employees and the Wyoming Department of Family Services. They allege one of them was not only put in solitary confinement but kept in a restraint chair for up to 12 hours a day for over two weeks. Department spokesman Clint Hanes says the agency denies all allegations of wrongdoing.