This video shows seclusion cells used in the Portland Public School District prior to lawmakers’ 2012 intervention, which produced a set of rules prescribing insignificant changes. The much-ballyhooed “improvements” did not forbid seclusion, and the laws were so flimsy they allowed, the following year, the imprisonment of a terrified 7-year-old with multiple disabilities in a 6’x8′ concrete “scream room” without heat, light or windows at a Springfield elementary school. – Eds.

The family of a 7-year-old developmentally disabled student who says she was stuck in a dark, windowless “scream room” by her teacher has filed a $300,000 lawsuit against Springfield Public Schools.

The girl suffers from claustrophobia, post traumatic stress disorder, nightmares and fear of darkness because of repeated forced visits to the 6-by-8-foot room, says the lawsuit filed Thursday in Lane County Circuit Court. The room was used to punish her, the suit says.

A representative from the school district couldn’t offer immediate comment Friday. Continue reading at OregonLive.com