BY CHRIS LAWRENCE
CHARLESTON — Dozens of children victimized at a religious boarding school in Harrison County have reached a record settlement over abuse they suffered at the hands of the home’s employees.
Lawyers announced a $100 million settlement for the victims who formerly lived at the Miracle Meadows School in Salem.
“This school had policies involving handcuffing children,” said Charleston attorney Jesse Forbes. “It had policies where they would throw children in cells, lock them in and not give them a bathroom. They would work them in a field all day, then give them some basic ration, and lock them in a cell to sleep on a concrete floor.”
The facility was operated from 1987 until the state moved in and shut it down in 2014. According to Forbes, the operators were able to stay one step ahead of investigators for many years.
“A lot of the abusers were brought in on work visas from other countries through a religious organization. As soon as there was abuse reported, they would be shipped back to whatever country they came from and the kids would be shipped back to their parents. Law enforcement would never really have the information they needed to move in and shut it down,” Forbes said.
The situation that finally broke the case open involved a female student who drank cleaning fluid. School officials had to take the youngster to an emergency room. There she was able to be alone with a doctor and begged for help, detailing the abuse. The doctor contacted law enforcement, who raided the school and shut it down.
The school’s director, Gayle Clark, was convicted of child neglect and failing to report in Harrison County and sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation. The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department uncovered multiple allegations of sex abuse and physical assault at the school. The school, founded by Clark and her husband, had operated as a boarding school targeting at-risk youth, including those with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. The school accepted children from ages 6 to 17.
“You have kids who were chained up, tied up and left in isolation cells for weeks and months on end. This is something you wouldn’t believe in a Steven King novel, much less in the rural hills of West Virginia,” said Forbes.
The settlement ends the claims of those involved. Other victims have since come forward and filed their own claims. Forbes said the money will be helpful to get the victims, many of whom were special needs children, the assistance they need, but it doesn’t erase the abuse they endured.
He said the biggest desire of his clients was to do all they could to make sure no other children anywhere had to go through the same kinds of trauma.
“They wanted to see something happen to change this for other kids who might be suffering in another school somewhere else in the country or West Virginia. Hopefully, this sends a really loud message to anyone running a school — they better have safeguards in place and they better do it appropriately,” he said.
