Investigations by VICE: Special Report
Sixteen-year-old Cornelius Fredrick died in a residential youth facility.
VICE News investigated his death and uncovered widespread abuse in for-profit foster care across the United States.
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Part 2: Deadly Restraints
“George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minnesota police officer sparked mass outrage and a nationwide movement for police reform. But restrictive physical holds aren’t just standard practice in law enforcement. They’re regularly used on thousands of children in residential facilities, juvenile justice, psychiatric care, and public schools.
And they sometimes go horribly wrong.
At least 20 children have died as a result of restraints since 2001, according to press clippings and Government Accountability Office reports collected by VICE News. They range from a 7-year-old girl who was restrained multiple times in a mental health clinic; a 15-year-old boy with autism who was pinned by four employees to the ground for over an hour; and a 17-year-old who died in a church-run treatment center after she choked in a restraint.”
Part 1: Cornelius Fredrick
“Cornelius Fredrick was a skilled three-point shooter, a goofball who loved making his friends laugh, and an aspiring rapper who went by the name Corn Bands. The Black 16-year-old wanted to be a therapist when he grew up, to give back to the foster care system that had raised him.
On May 1, 2020, those plans ended. Cornelius died after he was restrained by seven staffers in the cafeteria at Lakeside Academy, the residential facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he lived. Cornelius had thrown a sandwich. His last words were “I can’t breathe,” according to a lawsuit later filed by his aunt.”
Part 3: Handle with Care — Full documentary
