Student beaten to death at Chinese internet addiction boot camp

Follow up to the article posted on July 10 regarding China's bootcamps for treating teens with "Internet Addiction":

Wall Street Journal article:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2009/08/04/when-internet-addiction-turns-deadly/

So-called “Internet addiction” among Chinese youths has led to a proliferation of clinics around the country that claim to be able to treat the recently defined disorder.

On Monday, police in the south China city of Nanning said that a 16-year-old boy died in at a boot camp for Internet addicts after being beaten by supervisors, according to the Global Times, in what would be the first reported case of a death at a treatment facility for Internet addiction.

The three adults who beat the teenager have been detained by police, his father told the Global Times, and the boy’s family is also planning a protest at local government offices to demand a full investigation and immediate closure of the treatment facility.

The clinic’s mission statement promised a tough environment but said that torture and “other methods that might damage a child’s health” were not used. Last month, the Ministry of Health ordered another Internet addiction center in northern China to stop using electroshock as a form of punishment after former patients complained online of harsh tactics.

China’s netizens have played a key role in drawing nationwide attention to recent cases of deaths in prisons and detention centers, so it should be no surprise that they are up in arms over the fate of one of their own. Many questioned the fairly new diagnosis of “Internet addiction” as a mental disorder.

“Internet addiction? It’s a term made up by some so-called ‘experts’, how come these parents believe what they’ve said?” said one commenter on the cnbeta Web site.

“[It] should be the parents’ problem. Why do they always exaggerate their kids’ hobbies, turning them into addictions or problems?” said another.

On Netease’s news forum, one netizen called for greater tolerance of Web habits: “I am sure only China has such a term: Internet addiction…. Why can’t its people accept new ideas and new things with an open mind?”

–Sky Canaves and Juliet Ye


China Global Times Article:

http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2009-08/453958.html

By Wen Ya

A teenager sent by his parents to a boot camp to cure his Internet addiction died after he was beaten by camp supervisors, police in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region claimed yesterday.

The three teachers who allegedly beat Deng Senshan, 16, were detained by local police Sunday, Deng Fei, the boy’s father, a businessman from Ziyuan county, told the Global Times yesterday.

“We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors. The case is still under investigation,” a police officer at the Jiangnan branch of Nanning Public Security Bureau said.

He refused to give further details.

Deng graduated from Ziyuan No. 2 High School in Guilin in July and was sent to Guangxi Qihang Survival Training Camp, a branch set up by Guangzhou Self-help Teenager Development Training Center on Saturday by his parents.

They had read an ad about the camp online and hoped the experience would help rid their son of his Internet addiction.

Deng Fei paid the camp 7,000 yuan ($1,024) for one month of training.

He signed the camp agreement that said it aimed to help children to become independent and rectify their bad habitats by “close management with training teachers.”

“Our methods are tough but do not include torture or other methods that might damage a child’s health,” reads the mission statement.

But his son was put in solitary confinement within hours of his arrival and was then beaten to death by his trainers after they “scolded” him for running too slowly, Deng said.

“My son was very healthy and was not a criminal. He just had an Internet addiction when I left him at the camp.

“The police informed us that our child had died on Monday morning. We can’t believe our only son was beaten to death,” the father said.

The teachers who beat Deng realized he was badly injured and sent him to hospital in Wuxu town three hours later. He was declared dead about 3 am Sunday – 10 minutes after he arrived at the hospital, Deng Fei said.

The boy’s medical record, which was faxed to the Global Times, read: “The boy showed no response to emergency treatment.

“He arrived with a very weak heartbeat and could not breathe. He was exhausted after being beaten. We were unable to save him.”

The victim’s father was notified by the police of his son’s death and rushed to the town. He called the camp but officials there denied the incident had taken place.

The camp’s principal, a man surnamed Xia, denied Deng had been beaten by his teachers and told the father his son was sent to hospital because of a serious fever.

“But I was told the truth by my relative who is in the local police force,” the father said.

After arriving at the local funeral parlor to identify his son’s body, he saw “blood all over the his face” and “wounds on his wrists were bruises from where had been restrained by handcuffs.”

Photos of Deng’s body shown to the Global Times show visible injuries.

The forensic doctor, surnamed Gan, who carried out a postmortem examination on Deng refused to answer any question when contacted by the Global Times.

“The teachers promised me that they would not use any physical punishment on my son when I dropped him off,” Deng Fei said.

Some 40 people, including parents and Deng relatives, are calling for an investigation and demanding the camp be closed down immediately.

“We’re planning to sit before the local government for a protest tomorrow. If they don’t give us justice, we will go to the camp to confront them,” Deng said.