Restraint chair ‘will be disposed of’ when civil rights lawsuit is over, Wyoming Boys' School leadership says

The restraint chair at the center of a lawsuit alleging abuse at the Wyoming Boys’ School “will be disposed of” when litigation is over, the Wyoming Department of Family Services said in a statement to WyoFile.

According to department figures, the chair hasn’t been used on residents since 2022. It currently remains at the school, “but only for the purpose of preserving evidence per the lawsuit,” the department said.

In 2024, six former boys’ school residents joined a lawsuit alleging abuse at the facility, including extended periods of solitary confinement and physical harm. The school, where judges can sentence delinquent boys ages 12 to 21, is a 38-acre facility near Worland overseen by the Wyoming Department of Family Services.

In June, the former residents filed a court document that included an image — which sparked outrage on social media — of one of the plaintiffs in a restraint chair with a bag over his head. Images included in the filing show that the chair bears a warning label that states: “Warning: Use of the safety restraint chair without first reading and thoroughly understanding the instructions could cause injury or death. . . Do not leave detainees in this chair for more than TWO hours.”

Photos from a court filing show a resident alone in solitary confinement and another strapped to a restraint chair with hood over his head at Wyoming Boys’ School. (Court filing)

Despite the warning, some of the former residents allege that the school put them in the restraint chair for more than two hours. In 2021, Dale Weber, the school’s superintendent, approved restraining one of the plaintiffs in the chair from 11:50 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to the document. Another former resident was restrained in the chair for about five hours in 2019, the document states.

The school purchased the high-back chair, which has shoulder, lap, wrist and ankle straps, in 2016. Use of the chair climbed from once in 2018 to 23 times in 2021, according to figures from the family services department. Allegations in the lawsuit stem from that time period.

The number of times the restraint chair was used dropped in 2022, the first decrease since the school started using the chair in 2018. The school hasn’t used the chair since then, according to the Department of Family Services.

The department handles allegations of abuse or mistreatment at the boys’ school as Child Protective Services cases. Such cases are confidential under statute, according to Wyoming Department of Family Services Director Korin Schmidt. Child Protective Services is part of the family services department, meaning the agency itself investigates allegations against the boys’ school, which it oversees, without external oversight or transparency.

The department said in a statement to Wyofile that it doesn’t work with third-party, independent investigators when looking into complaints at the boys’ school.

Most of the defendants, including Weber, continue to work at the boys’ school, employee rosters show. Defendants Mark Nelson, Kevin McGinty and Darryl Coronado no longer work at the school.

Since October, Weber has also served as the interim superintendent of the Wyoming Girls’ School after long-time superintendent Chris Jones retired, according to the Department of Family Services.

WyoFile editor Tennessee Watson contributed to this story.

Politicians mull action as details of alleged abuse, falsified records at Wyoming Boys’ School become public

Wyoming Boys’ School superintendent denies staff were asked to falsify records

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for:

Your real name — first and last.
Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
No more than three comments per story, including replies.

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
Comments that are not directly relevant to the article.
Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know:

Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement.
We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance.
Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you.