Death of Aaron Bacon - No jail time for offenders

[Anonymous]

The "tough love? trial is over
by Christopher Smith

After Arizona teenager Aaron Bacon died of perforated ulcers on a wilderness program for wayward teens two years ago, eight North Star employees were charged with felony neglect and abuse of a disabled child (HCN, 6/10/96). Now their trials are over, and only Bacon?s field instructor, 22-year-old Craig Fisher, is guilty as charged.

Although Fisher faces a maximum of five years in prison for a third-degree felony, his colleagues got off considerably lighter: Five employees found guilty of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor in Utah, were punished Nov. 1 with three years? probation, community service and restitution for legal fees. Another employee received a similar sentence earlier this year, while the seventh will likely avoid prosecution through a probation agreement.


Aaron?s parents were stunned that jail time was not ordered for more of the defendants. Prosecutors testified that North Star staffers ignored the 16-year-old boy?s pleas for medical help and starved him for eight of 21 days spent hiking through canyons south of Escalante, Utah. His mother, Sally Bacon, was especially critical of Georgette Costigan, a licensed medical technician who saw Aaron the day before he died, gave him a piece of cheese and told him to work harder. "She killed my son as surely as she put a gun to his head," she said.


Throughout the case, North Star employees maintained that Aaron?s death was an accident: "This is a crime that was committed by good, earnest (people) who fouled up," said defense attorney James Bradshaw. "They are not the demons as they?ve been characterized

[cherish wisdom]

Everytime I read about this I am truly outraged. Here this boy was starved, exposed to the elements and denied life saving medical care - when he had serious symptoms of illness. There was no justice here. I read the actual court record somewhere on-line but can't find it. Does anyone have a link to it?

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake when you make it again.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=circlofmiamithem&keyword=mark+twain&mode=books' target='_new'>Mark Twain

[Deborah]

Disgusting. Heads should roll.
Here's the link you requested.

http://courtlink.utcourts.gov/opinions/ ... r12_98.htm

[Anonymous]

At least the state of California cracked down on sending adjudicated youth out of state to places like the Arizona Boys Ranch after Nicholas Contreras (California resident) was abused to death.  Nobody did any real time in that case, either, but I do feel at least some good came out of this tragedy because it woke California up to the risk of sending kids out of state. What we need here is tighter controls on sending kids out of state to private programs because it seems the Interstate Placement Contract is not enough to prevent kids from being secretly taken across state lines (or out of the country) and forced in abusive programs.

Also, California has the strictest laws to protect kids who are being transported.  It was passed a few years ago, albeit watered down somewhat since the Youth Law Center knew they would never be able to abolish the practice all together, and the bill sponsor (Aroner) wanted to get at least something on the books.

[cherish wisdom]

California does have some rules that protect kids. For instance - all facilities must have a pay phone available for student use. There are also no locked residential facilities. However, there have been reports of abuse in California as well. As a result of the rules - there are few programs in the state.  So many parents send their chidren to the very abusive programs in Baja California, Utah and Arizona.  Insurance companies sometimes pay for this since they can not find a program within 200 miles of their home.
If insurance companies refused to provide funding for these programs many would fold.  I'd like to suggest that all of those who were abused in a program that was paid for by their insurance company write letters to the insurer informing them of the untherapeutic treatment and abuse they experienced.  

Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.
--Rep. Robert L. Henry, TX December 22, 1914 (quoting Lincoln)

[Anonymous]

Actually, there are locked residential facilites called adolescent psychiatric hospitals and they do have a locked ward.  I know, because I visited a teen in one a couple of years ago.  The pay phone in the hallway was available for use but the kid could not call out, only receive phone calls from family who were given a special code, date and time to call.  No one to monitor their phone calls, though, which is definitly not par for the course in the kind of progams we are talking about here.

[cherish wisdom]

What I said was there were no locked RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES. Been there, done that. The hospitals are locked down. The children can have calls on the pay phone from anyone.  They can also make calls out at the nurses station. The staff is not allowed to touch the pay phone. It is only for the patient use.  

You know, if Mama Cass Elliot would have shared that damn sandwich
with Karen Carpenter, they would both still be alive today!!!!!!!

--chongo

[Anonymous]

Okay, I see what you mean now.  California does not have locked residential treatment facilities. They do have locked boarding schools, like CEDU's Running Springs in the San Bernadino mountains which seems odd considering how restrictive and custodial these programs are.  Definitly no wilderness programs operating in the state like the kinds we hear about in Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Texas, etc.  This lack of alternative schools is one of the main reasons why so many California kids end up in out-of-state placements so I don't know that it really solves the problem as much as it contributes to the problem?

[Anonymous]

True - California is the most populous state and has only a handfull of programs. Most do not take kids over 16. So - they are sent to Utah and other notoriously abusive states.

[Anonymous]

I just read the case about Aaron Bacon. It made me cry. How stupid can they be? I can't believe they got away with litterally torturing him and starving him to death. It is truly disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Aaron Bacon died 4 years after Michelle Sutton and Kristen Chase died in 1990. All three of these tragic deaths were preventable. As in Aaron's case, no one was held accountable for the deaths of Michelle Sutton or Kristen Chase.

http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.c ... erapy.html

In recent years, the deaths of more teens has only served to underscore what Bob Bacon said in 1990 about the death of his son .... "the lessons are not being learned".  

Why?

Because Greed, Ignorance and Denial can not be legislated, much less monitored.

 :flame: