In a recent shocking expose CNN described the suicide of a 13-year-old boy in Georgia in a “seclusion room.” These 3′ by 4′ prison-like rooms are used across the United States, with little state guidelines for their use. Innocuous sounding titles are used like “chill room” and “time out room” but they are really solitary confinement cells “used for punishing unruly children.” Even elementary school children are not exempt.

These are the same type of solitary confinement cells that inmates in prison are put into when they disbehave, but they are adults, not little school children. The irony is that if any parent were to lock their child inside a small closet, they would be considered by the state’s Child Protective Services to be abusing the child, but not so the schools.

The practice of isolating students in maximum-security like cells is increasingly, but not exclusively, used for special education and disabled students. Many are completely traumatized by this experience, as would any adult. Instead of calming practices, employing de-escalation measures or sending them to a counselor, teachers and administrators excuse themselves by saying this is a “last resort,” but the evidence does not support that assertion.

In the early afternoon of April 17, Gabriel began to disturb his classmates at École Marie Rivier in St. Jean sur Richelieu with loud noises. The school specializes in teaching children with developmental difficulties.

His teachers gave him two warnings to calm down. When Gabriel continued to misbehave, one teacher took him to the corner of the classroom and rolled him in a weighted blanket, which is sometimes used to calm autistic children.

The heavy blanket was tightly wrapped around the 3-foot, 11-inch Gabriel at least four times, pinning his arms to his sides, the coroner's report said. With only the tips of his toes peeking out, the boy was left on his stomach, his head completely covered, for more than 20 minutes.

Gabriel eventually stopped making noise. The teacher went to check on him, turning him on his back. The boy appeared "listless and blue in the face," the coroner's report said.

The teacher called 911 and the school nurse tried to resuscitate Gabriel. He was already in a deep coma, however, and died the next day at Montreal's Ste. Justine Hospital.