“It is unmistakably clear that coercion has no place in the mental health field. U.S. law should be brought into full alignment with international human rights standards.” – Jan Eastgate, President CCHR International

Call for legal reform in $140 billion U.S. mental health industry following homicidal restraint deaths and evidence of harm from coercive psychiatric treatment

By Jan Eastgate
President CCHR International
August 7, 2026

The United Nations Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recently issued a powerful new Open Letter reiterating its opposition to the involuntary detention and treatment of individuals in the mental health system.[1] The Committee warned that any form of coercion in mental health care is incompatible with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). CCHR welcomes the initiative and calls for similar protections to be adopted in United States law.

Although the CRPD was adopted in 2007 and drew heavily on U.S. disability-rights principles, the United States has never ratified the treaty, citing the existence of a predecessor law—the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA should be reformed to provide explicit protections against forced psychiatric institutionalization and treatment, protections already guaranteed under international human rights law.

The CRPD Committee’s Open Letter makes the following key points:

• The CRPD prohibits involuntary placement and involuntary treatment without exceptions. Involuntary placement and involuntary treatment, whether as measures of last resort or subject to certain safeguards, are still incompatible with the human rights model of disability.
• They perpetuate institutional power imbalances that have been widely documented as exposing persons with disabilities to torture and ill-treatment.
• Evidence-based reports have concluded widespread violence experienced by persons with disabilities in institutions, along with harm and death caused by involuntary commitment and involuntary treatment. There are no therapeutic benefits and a lack of clinical evidence supporting use of coercion and involuntary institutionalization.
• Involuntary placement, involuntary treatment, seclusion, restraint and similar practices are not legitimate rights-based responses to distress or crisis, but discriminatory measures that deny legal capacity, undermine liberty, and may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The European Times further reported that the CRPD “prohibits involuntary placement and involuntary treatment of persons with disabilities on the basis of disability, without exceptions. Involuntary placement and involuntary treatment, whether as measures of last resort or subject to certain safeguards, are still incompatible with the human rights model of disability set out in the UN CRPD, which prohibits coercion in mental health services.”[2]

These human rights perspectives are urgently needed in the United States, where 1.2 million Americans are involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities every year. The consequences of coercion can be lethal: A July 2025 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found that individuals who were involuntarily hospitalized were nearly twice as likely to die by suicide or overdose within three months of release.[3] An estimated 100,000 Americans receive electroshock treatment annually, and state laws in many jurisdictions still permit it to be administered involuntarily—despite well-documented risks of memory loss and brain damage.

A new evaluation of court-mandated mental health treatment in New York under its involuntary commitment law known as “Kendra’s Law” compared the outcomes of people forced into outpatient mental health treatment under state law with those who received similar services voluntarily. Forced treatment—often called “assisted outpatient treatment”—was found to be more harmful when mandated.[4]

Between 2016 and 2022, there was a 141% increase in the use of pharmacologic restraint among hospitalized children ages 5–17 with a mental health diagnosis.[5] Often-used physical restraints can cause serious injury or death.

Recent cases involving the restraint deaths of a 7-year-old and a 16-year-old each resulted in homicide rulings by medical examiners and the prosecution of six staff members.[6]

• In July 2026, Louisville prosecutors announced second-degree manslaughter charges against several staff members from Louisville’s Brooklawn foster care psychiatric treatment facility in Kentucky who had restrained 7-year-old Ja’Ceon Terry. One held his legs out straight while another pushed against his back until his nose nearly touched the floor. They continued restraining him until he vomited and lost consciousness. The coroner ruled the death a homicide. Deborah Francis, Jillian Parks, and Amanda Whitlow (who had helped restrain the child earlier) were charged with felonies that carry five to ten years in prison. The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting obtained records showing that in his final hours, Ja’Ceon was publicly shamed, verbally abused, and left alone in his room for nearly six hours.[7]

• Following his death, CCHR International raised the alarm about children and teens abused and killed in psychiatric facilities, with Ja’Ceon’s death becoming a clarion call for a nationwide ban on restraints. CCHR also wrote to local police and state officials demanding criminal charges. Louisville Public Radio reporter Jasmine Demers’ series of articles detailing the days leading up to Ja’Ceon’s death provided a compelling reminder of why charges were necessary.[8] The case ranks among the worst and most tragic CCHR has reported since its inception in 1969.

Other abuse cases include:

• On April 29, 2020,Cornelius Frederick, 16, an African American foster care youth, was restrained for throwing a sandwich on the floor of Lakeside Academy, a psychiatric facility in Michigan owned by Sequel Youth & Family Services (now Vivant). Seven male staff members held him on the floor for more than 10 minutes, putting weight on his legs and torso. He gasped that he could not breathe. Cornelius died two days later, on May 1, 2020, at another hospital.[9] In 2023, two youth counselors were sentenced for their part in the deadly restraint that led to a lack of blood flow and oxygen, resulting in his death from a heart attack. The two counselors restraining him both pled no contest to involuntary manslaughter and were sentenced to 18 months’ probation. The former director of nursing at the for-profit hospital was also sentenced to a mere 18 months’ probation.[10]

• A 2023 $485 million jury award against Acadia Healthcare, a leading U.S. behavioral residential hospital chain, should also prompt significant regulatory changes. In a civil case, an eight-year-old girl, identified as G.S., was repeatedly sexually abused while in Acadia’s treatment foster care system in New Mexico.[11]

• In 2024, Clark Harman, 12, died of asphyxiation due to smothering after being restrained in a small, enclosed sleeping bag in a North Carolina behavioral therapy camp, Trails Carolina, owned by Family Help & Wellness LLC (FHW). No charges were filed against those responsible.[12] In May 2025, after two teenage girls committed suicide at FHW’s Asheville Academy for Girls (formerly known as Solstice East) in North Carolina, the program closed.[13] Survivors say Clark’s death was an example of an industry that brutalizes children in the guise of “therapy.”

• Universal Health Services’ (UHS) Pavilion Behavioral Health System in Illinois was sued over a minor patient assaulted by another minor while under the facility’s care. In 2024, a court awarded $60 million in compensatory damages and $475 million in punitive damages.[14]

• In 2026, Utah health officials revoked the residential treatment license for UHS’s Provo Canyon (behavioral) School’s campus, ordering the facility to stop providing services by Aug. 16 after years of scrutiny over allegations of abuse and mistreatment. Regulators cited video evidence of a staff member striking a restrained client, along with repeated failures to protect girls from harm, violence, discrimination, and disrespectful treatment. The license of a similar facility for boys in Springville was also revoked. “No child should be hurt in a program that is meant to protect them; particularly programs that require the authorization of the state to operate,” said Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the Division of Licensing and Background Checks.[15]

The 2023 joint World Health Organization-Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) guidance Mental health, human rights and legislation: guidance and practice also called for legislative reform to end coercion in mental health services, replace psychiatric institutions with inclusive community support systems, and enshrine free and informed consent in the mental health field.[16]

The United States cannot claim leadership on disability rights while continuing to allow forced psychiatric detention and treatment. It is unmistakably clear that coercion has no place in the mental health field. U.S. law should be brought into full alignment with international human rights standards. Anything less abandons the very principles of liberty and equality that America champions.

[1] Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “Open Letter to United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies, 1 July 2026

[2] Torsten Hjelmar, “UN CRPD Committee urge Council of Europe Member states to oppose and withdraw Additional protocol,” The European Times, 3 Aug. 2026, https://europeantimes.news/2026/08/215298/

[3] https://www.cchrint.org/2026/04/03/congressional-roundtable-exposes-mental-health-crisis/ Natalia Emanuel, et al. “A Danger to Self and Others: Health and Criminal Consequences of Involuntary Hospitalization,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 1158, July 2025, https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr1158

[4] Maya Kaufman, “New study flags concerns with mental health treatment mandate,” Politico, 3 Aug. 2026, https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/03/new-study-torpedoes-mental-health-treatment-mandate-01021010

[5] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/12/29/study-finds-141-increase-in-psychotropic-drug-restraints-of-children/; Pharmacologic Restraint Use During Mental Health Admissions to Children’s Hospitals,” Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/1/e2023062784/196192/Pharmacologic-Restraint-Use-During-Mental-Health

[6] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/12/29/study-finds-141-increase-in-psychotropic-drug-restraints-of-children/; Tyler Kingkade, “Video shows fatal restraint of Cornelius Frederick, 16, in Michigan foster facility,” NBC News, 22 July 2020, https://www.yahoo.com/news/video-shows-tackling-fatal-restraint-005214163.html; Deborah Yetter, “7-year-old died at Kentucky youth treatment center due to suffocation, autopsy finds; 2 workers fired,” Louisville Courier Journal, 19 Sept. 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/19/death-child-jaceon-terry-brooklawn-kentucky-youth-center/10428004002/; Satchel Walton, “Four years later, three indicted for Ja’Ceon Terry’s death in Louisville foster care,” Louisville Public Media, 16 July, 2026, https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2026-07-16/four-years-later-three-indicted-for-jaceon-terrys-death-in-louisville-foster-care

[7] Satchel Walton, “Four years later, three indicted for JaCeon Terry’s death in Louisville foster care,” Louisville Public Media, 16 July 2026, https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2026-07-16/four-years-later-three-indicted-for-jaceon-terrys-death-in-louisville-foster-care

[8] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/10/04/racism-task-force-warns-coercive-psychiatric-practices/#_edn27; Jasmine Demers, “Fatal failures: What happened in the final hours of Ja’Ceon Terry’s life,” Louisville Public Media, 19 July 2023, https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2023-07-19/fatal-failures-what-happened-in-the-final-hours-of-jaceon-terrys-life; Jasmine Demers, “Louisville psychiatric facility settles with estate of child who died there after alleged abuse,” Kentucky Lantern, 14 June 2023, https://kentuckylantern.com/briefs/louisville-psychiatric-facility-settles-with-estate-of-child-who-died-there-after-alleged-abuse/ 

[9] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/10/04/racism-task-force-warns-coercive-psychiatric-practices/; Hannah Rappleye “Michigan to ban restraints in youth facilities after Cornelius Frederick’s death,” NBC News, 11 Apr. 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-ban-restraints-youth-facilities-after-cornelius-frederick-s-death-n1262756; Corey Williams, “Lawsuit: Teen Screamed ‘I can’t breathe’ during restraint at a Michigan youth facility,” ClickOn Detroit, 24 June 2020, https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2020/06/24/lawsuit-teen-screamed-i-cant-breathe-during-restraint-at-michigan-youth-facility/

[10] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/02/09/cchr-demands-stronger-accountability-in-troubled-teen-behavioral-industry/; Counselors get probation for role in teen’s death at a now-closed Michigan youth home,” AP News, 19 Dec. 2023 https://apnews.com/article/former-counselors-probation-involuntary-manslaughter-teen-death-02fbfb801f0dbee0db5d1a47f06808e3/; Curtis Gilbert, “Under scrutiny, company that claimed to help troubled youth closes many operations and sells others,” APM Reports, 26 Apr. 2022, https://www.apmreports.org/story/2022/04/26/sequel-closes-sells-youth-treatment-centers

[11] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/07/18/for-profit-psychiatric-hospitals-need-stronger-penalties/; Colleen Heild and Olivier Uytterbrouck, “Foster child sexual assault results in $485 million jury award,” Albuquerque Journal, 11 July 2023, https://www.abqjournal.com/news/foster-child-sexual-assault-results-in-485-million-jury-award/article_bfdf6e86-1f70-11ee-b4e3-c7c608def4fe.html

[12] “Deaths Spur Closures, but Troubled Teen Camps Must Be Banned, CCHR Warns,” CCHR International, 3 July 2025, https://www.cchrint.org/2025/07/03/deaths-spur-closures-but-troubled-teen-camps-must-be-banned/; “No involuntary manslaughter charges in boy’s death at nature therapy camp,” AP News, 6 Nov. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-nature-therapy-death-charges-2a7d88d315e8dd50a0801e6bddd0a084

[13] “Deaths Spur Closures, but Troubled Teen Camps Must Be Banned, CCHR Warns,” CCHR International, 3 July 2025, https://www.cchrint.org/2025/07/03/deaths-spur-closures-but-troubled-teen-camps-must-be-banned/; Jeffrey Collins, “Residential treatment school closes in North Carolina after deaths of 2 girls,” AP News, 3 June 2025, https://apnews.com/article/therapy-school-closes-north-carolina-asheville-academy-9854c3ca7cda11cc06f05d9fccef4112  

[14] https://www.cchrint.org/2024/04/19/cchr-condemns-mental-health-industry-putting-children-at-risk-of-sexual-assault/; Morgan Gonzales, “UHS To Pay $535M In Sexual Assault Suit,” Behavioral Health Business, 1 Apr. 2024, https://bhbusiness.com/2024/04/01/uhs-to-pay-535m-in-sexual-assault-suit/

[15]https://www.cchrint.org/2026/07/17/utah-behavioral-school-loses-license/ citing: “Utah Moves to Close Teen Treatment Center Accused of Abusing Girls,” The New York Times, 7 July 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/us/utah-boarding-school-abuse-paris-hilton.html; “Utah revokes Provo Canyon School’s Provo campus license, orders facility to close,” 2KUTV, 17 July 2026, https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-revokes-provo-canyon-schools-provo-campus-license-orders-facility-to-close

[16] Torsten Hjelmar, “UN CRPD Committee urge Council of Europe Member states to oppose and withdraw Additional protocol,” The European Times, 3 Aug. 2026, https://europeantimes.news/2026/08/215298/