Center Investigation Leads to Parent Protest

News 8 WISH-TV/February 11, 2002

Parents who say their kids are victims of abuse want the Indianapolis Training Center to close its doors for good. They were among the demonstrators protesting outside the center Saturday.

The center is under investigation by Child Protective Services in Marion county. The center has also been the subject of an investigation by the News 8 I-Team. It found that the center's facing allegations of solitary confinement and beatings.

Some of the protestors Saturday were parents of the kids who reported the allegations. Others were neighbors who simply want a closer look at those reports. The Indianapolis Training center is home to more than 100 juveniles. Some of the kids were sent there under court order, others were brought here by their families. The allegations include kids being put in solitary confinement without food and punishment delivered by staff members swinging a wooden board. Parents say that's not what they expect from a faith-based program.

Administrators say that they isolate trouble making kids in "prayer rooms" in the building, but deny any abuse goes on there. They also say that spankings are no longer used as punishment.