Facing mounting pressure and at least one criminal investigation over its use of shock therapy on its wards, a Massachusetts clinic that is home to several District of Columbia students has gone on the defensive, saying that it is the last best hope for many otherwise lost children.

“Most of the students at the Judge Rotenberg Center have been rejected by, expelled by, and/or failed in every other program,” Rotenberg spokesman Ernest Corrigan wrote in an statement to The Examiner. “The very same children who have come to Rotenberg and have had their lives transformed.”