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Declaration of Rachel Hope Roberts
December 7, 2004
I was a patient at
Provo Canyon School in Orem Utah for 26 months beginning in October
2000 and ending in December 2002. As a patient I experienced and
witnessed abuse of all kinds. While there I was denied the right to
correspond with local authorities and Child Protective Services. I
was not allowed to use the phone to call the toll-free child abuse
hotline. My current requests for my patient records have been
denied because I can not afford the exorbitant copy fee of over
one-thousand dollars for my 1700 pages of records.
I have witnessed
the abuse of others. A girl named C. refused to talk to staff
while sitting on a chair. A dial 9 was called. Five staff came and
grabbed her 100 lb body. They then carried this small 14-year old
down the hall and proceeded to the stairs where they dropped her on
her head. I have seen girls thrown and slammed into the walls and
floors. A girl named Shaw had her nose broken by staff when they
smashed her face into the floor.
I have been thrown
to the floor and had a staff’s knee in my back and someone sitting
on my legs and another holding my arms down. The staff member who
had his knee in my back was also holding onto my neck so I couldn’t
breathe or move. I tried to talk to tell them that I couldn’t
breathe, but I was choking for air. My necklace was ripped off along
with my watch and shoes and my knee brace. I was then put into the
small observation room and was ‘forgotten’ about. I was not
permitted to use the restroom or get water and I did not get to
eat. I asked for a sweatshirt because I was cold and staff
refused. A staff member told me that I looked like a dead person
because my lips were purple from the cold along with my fingertips.
Girls who are gay or bisexual are verbally degraded and yelled at.
They are told that they will be damned to hell.
I was drugged
against my will with Haldol once. This was done because I refused to
talk to staff when I was working off points by sitting in a chair. I
was sent to isolation in the observation room as a result. They had
no right to send me to observation because it is for those who are a
danger to themselves or others. Refusing to talk is not a valid
reason for isolation. I was so angry that I yelled. I heard staff
call a dial 9 and 20 or more staff came running into this very small
room. I am very claustrophobic so I jumped up and I backed myself
into the wall farthest away from everyone. I have not experienced
such fear in years. I was scared and I dropped to my knees, there
was no strength in my body. I then had to remove my pants and I was
given a shot in the butt of Haldol.
I’ve seen the
effects of Haldol on others. One friend at PCS had a muscle spasm
and was unable to move her neck; another one who was unable to keep
her tongue in her mouth because it was so swollen. She just kept
drooling. It gave some of the girls’ lazy eyes that just sit there
at the bottom of the eye and go nowhere.
I have seen many
unnecessary takedowns and restraints of other patients. One girl was
in her room on her bed crying. Staff came in and told her to take a
chair, she told them that she didn’t need too; Staff called a dial
9. Staff then went into her room grabbed her by the wrist and
ankles and dropped her on the floor, bent her arms behind her back,
pinned her, and carried her out to the observation room. She was
yelling and crying because she was upset and in pain. Staff then
dropped her in the observation room, shut the door and left her
there for the night without a mattress. She had to sleep on the
hard, cold, concrete floor.
I have bad knees
and ankles regardless I was forced to run during the physical
activity program every day of the week. Whenever I told staff that
I had to stop running due to knee pain I was yelled at and told to
keep running. If I did not keep running I would receive a Class 2
and punished.
I actually had my
knee give out and I collapsed to the floor. I was told to get back
up and stop faking it and keep running. Now both of my knees and
ankles are damaged and I require physical therapy and a special knee
brace.
I experience pain
with activity. Dr. Robert Crist placed me on many different
medications. I never became fully zombified to not know what was
going on, so I was always calling them on their bull and then they
would increase my medications.
When I refused to
take all of the drugs I was thrown into the observation room. They
often increased my medications. One night they upped them. The next
morning I told staff that I didn’t feel good. I was told to knock it
off and keep walking. I fell down the stairs but luckily one of my
friends grabbed me by the collar. I had to focus on staying
conscious because I was so dizzy. I was sent to the nurse who told
me to just drink orange juice and that I just had a low sugar level,
I drank orange juice and still felt horrible, I couldn’t stand up or
stand straight for the matter, and I was dry heaving into a bucket
in case I actually threw something up, my throat was raw and I
actually tasted my own blood. I was pale. One of my staff
wanted to call an ambulance but the nurses refused. They called
Kathy Black and I was taken into her office. My blood sugar level
and my BP was really low, they sent me to bed. They put me on a new
and dangerous medication.
They had to take my
pulse every day. I had to have frequent EKG tests. I was always
falling asleep, I literally could not stay awake, and I felt
horrible and I told the nurses and they took my pulse and told me I
was fine and to go back to class. One day when I went to the
hospital with my courier. I asked if I could look at my EKG results
and saw that my heart was beating only 48 times a minute. I was
overdosed twice by the staff at Provo Canyon School.
Once my hand was
injured and extremely swollen. PCS staff refused to take me to the
hospital and did not inform my mother as required. Pain medication
was denied. I was forced by staff to play volleyball and write and
do everything I normally would do with this painful, swollen hand.
Five days later I was taken to the hospital for x-rays. I still have
damage to this hand.
I also sprained my
ankle and was taken to get x-rays. The doctor said that I should
use crutches but PCS staff did not provide them. Instead I was told
to hop. My hip popped out of place once and I fell to the ground and
yelled a cuss word. I was punished for swearing and saw the nurse
later. I had to hobble because I was in so much pain. I slept on
the top bunk because staff refused to move me to a bottom bunk. I
had to painfully climb to the top bunk without the use of a ladder.
Staff yelled at me and told me to stop being such a faker. I
received no treatment for this and had my friend hold my arms
through the crack in the door and yank them as hard as she could
while I slammed my hip into the wall and popped it back in place. I
still have trouble with my hip and it pops in and out now fairly
often.
These statements
are true to the best of my recollection. I am now an adult and will
testify under oath that these and other abuses occurred while I was
a patient at Provo Canyon School.
Rachel Hope Roberts
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