The Legal Aid Society announced that it had secured a guarantee from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) that the agency will no longer employ “prone” restraints or face-down restraints on children living in residential treatment centers (RTCs) or in any OCFS overseen facilities throughout New York State, reports THE CITY.

These restraints had long been prohibited in virtually every other residential child care facility in New York because they are known to risk death or serious harm. Proposed regulations recently issued reflect the newly adopted prohibition, likely to affect hundreds of children statewide.

“The use of prone restraints on children in any setting has always been an inhumane and barbaric practice, capable of inflicting significant harm and trauma,” said Dawne Mitchell, Attorney-in-Charge of the Juvenile Rights Practice at The Legal Aid Society.