KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Michigan Center for Youth Justice is calling for the shutdown of a teenage rehabilitation center in Kalamazoo.
Previously, police were called to the academy on Wednesday, April 29, for a report of a resident who had gone unconscious. 16-year-old Cornelius Fredricks went into cardiac arrest after being restrained for throwing a sandwich.
Emergency responders were able to revive him, but he later died at Bronson Hospital following complications.
Following his death, several teens fled the facility into surrounding areas. They have all been returned, but many have now been transferred to different out-of-state facilities.
Furthermore, students began to get tested en-mass for COVID-19 after this incident. Test results quickly came to show a large percentage of students with the virus. Since then, several children’s rights groups have been calling for an evaluation of the facility, and a state investigation has been launched.
Now, the Michigan Center for Youth Justice is the latest organization to voice concerns about Lakeside Academy.
“We believe that both those who were involved in the restraint, as well as the facility Lakeside Academy, need to be held accountable for Cornelius Fredricks’ death,” Executive Director Mary King said. “We think that there should be an investigation that is made public. We believe that Lakeside Academy, which is operated by the national for-profit group Sequel Youth and Family Services, needs to be closed.”
King says that both facilties operating in Michigan have been the subject of a number of complaints prior to this incident.
“Sequel Youth and Family Services has a history in Michigan of violations at the two facilities they operate, both Lakeside Academy and Star Albion Prep, and we would like to see Sequel Youth and Family Services out of our state, out of Michigan,” King said. “For-profit companies like Sequel should not be running youth consignment facilities because there’s so little accountability and limited oversight for those kinds of companies. Cornelius Fredricks’ death really points out the need for the creation of a juvenile ombudsman, somebody who can respond to complaints from families, from youth, in order to prevent more deaths.”
King also adds that this is symptomatic of other facilities in Michigan, as well as elsewhere in the country.
“I was recently contacted by Sara Gesler from Oregon, who was successful in getting Sequel out of operating in her state,” King said. “She’s very concerned and has been tracking what’s been going on with Sequel in other parts of the country. Sequel is a NASDAQ-listed publically traded company, and they have an incentive to spend less money in order to maximizr their shareholder profits. We believe that kind of company has no business running a facility for incredibly vulnerable youth.”
The organization is now trying to make sure that action is taken in relation to this incident.
“The first thing we’re doing is raising public awareness about this tragedy, because something happened in a private for-profit facility, and it’s not often that it becomes public news,” King said. “We have been in conversations with the governor’s office and the Department of Health and Human Services. We know there are some legislative activities that will be needed in the future, we’d really like to see a juvenile justice ombudsman in Michigan and we’re gonna advocate strongly for that to happen. We’d really like to see some restrictions or prohibitions against having for-profit companies running juvenile facilities in Michigan.”
The incident remains under investigation by the State of Michigan at this time.
