Worland, Wyoming — A federal jury will decide next month whether staff at the state-run Wyoming Boys’ School violated a teenager’s constitutional rights through repeated isolation and force, after U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl sent the case to trial and refused the school’s request to bar the term “solitary confinement” from the courtroom.
The trial, set for Nov. 9, is the first of six cases brought by former residents who sued the Wyoming Department of Family Services, the school and its employees in 2024, WyoFile reported. The judge granted the defense request to try each former resident’s claims separately.
What the lawsuit alleges
The school in Worland detains delinquent boys ages 12 to 21 and is overseen by the Department of Family Services, according to WyoFile. The first plaintiff served two stints there between ages 15 and 17, each lasting roughly 11 months, and alleges violations of his 14th Amendment rights through isolation, excessive force and denial of due process.
He spent more than 75 days in isolation across 17 separate stints, Cowboy State Daily reported, in rooms of about 8 by 10 feet with no exterior windows or carpet. In his ruling on the defense motions, Skavdahl wrote that a jury should decide whether some of those stints amounted to unconstitutional punitive solitary confinement, and cited the 10th Circuit’s “clear skepticism of the use of isolation, especially for children.”
Claims headed to trial
The claims going to the jury include excessive force over a Nov. 3, 2020, tackle, brought against nine staff members including Thad Shaffer, and a failure-to-intervene claim against dorm director Del Olson, Cowboy State Daily reported. The judge said video of that incident did not show the aggressive step staff had reported.
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A second excessive-force claim covers a Nov. 23, 2021, incident in which, the judge said, video shows the youth complying until he was struck with a riot shield. A procedural due process claim alleges a staff member placed him in punitive isolation without notice or a hearing, according to Cowboy State Daily.
The judge dismissed the plaintiff’s disability-discrimination claims and excluded a separate tackling incident, finding the video contradicted the account. The plaintiff dropped his medical deliberate-indifference claims.
Pretrial rulings
At a pretrial conference, Skavdahl considered 21 motions and ordered the defense to bring physical items to court, including a spit mask, restraints, riot gear, a mattress and magnets, WyoFile reported. He denied a request to exclude testimony from two former employees who allege school leaders told staff to falsify records, including incident reports, saying there were too many unknowns to bar it.
The defense argued the term solitary confinement would collapse different detention statuses into a single inflammatory label. The judge said he would watch to make sure it was not used to inflame the jury. The school has denied using solitary confinement as punishment.
WBS does not use the terms ‘solitary confinement’ or ‘isolation’ to describe its practices.
Wyoming Boys’ School, in a court filing quoted by Cowboy State Daily
Where the system failed
The allegations of falsified incident reports go to the heart of how state youth facilities are overseen: if the paperwork is wrong, the agency’s own records cannot be trusted to show what happened to the children in its care. The Department of Family Services runs both the child-welfare system and the facility, and no public statement from the department appears in either report. FAN tracks how state custody, whether in foster homes or locked facilities, operates with little outside scrutiny. Read more about problems in the foster care system.
Key facts
- Six former Wyoming Boys’ School residents sued the Department of Family Services, the school and staff in 2024.
- The first trial begins Nov. 9 in U.S. District Court before Judge Scott Skavdahl.
- The first plaintiff spent more than 75 days in isolation across 17 stints, Cowboy State Daily reported.
- Excessive-force claims over incidents on Nov. 3, 2020, and Nov. 23, 2021, will go to the jury.
- Two former employees allege leaders told staff to falsify records; the judge allowed their testimony.
- The judge refused to bar the term “solitary confinement” at trial.
Sources
- WyoFile (via Wyoming Tribune Eagle) — Judge denies Wyoming Boys’ School request to bar term ‘solitary confinement’ in upcoming trial (2026-10-16)
- Cowboy State Daily — Judge: Worland Boys’ School Solitary Confinement Case Should Go To Trial (2026-10-02)
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