Contreraz had been incarcerated at the residential school's branch in Oracle, Arizona, where he was subject to severe physical abuse and willful neglect at the hands of staff members until dying from cardiac arrest.
Contreraz's death made national news in the United States, and while the staff escaped legal punishment due to technicalities, it highlighted systemic abuse at the Arizona Boys Ranch, and increased the criticism of private prisons.
He had stolen a car and then failed in rehab programs in Sacramento, and thus ended up at the ranch in the Arizona desert, which is the "last resort" before the California Division of Juvenile Justice.
He had asthma, perhaps exacerbated by the change in elevation, and was prescribed inhalers by Dr. Rutz during his second and final visit with her one month later on February 8, but was forbidden to use them without the permission of facility staff.
During the two months there prior to his death, he lost 14 pounds in weight, suffered fevers of temperatures over 100 degrees, muscle spasms, and severe chest pains.
Other documented symptoms included chills, sweating, rapid pulse and impaired breathing, dry heaves, cyanosis, coughing, wheezing, and "moldy" body odor.
As his condition worsened, Contreraz's treatment became more extreme as staff members at the facility used physical exercises as a method of abuse, ordering him to do calisthenics, and when he faltered he would be shoved to the ground or punched.
His grandmother, Connie Woodward, later told The Arizona Republic[citation needed] newspaper that facility staff monitored the conversation which was held over speaker phone.
According to witnesses later interviewed by Arizona Child Protective Services, after his final collapse and inability to move, Contreraz was ordered by staff to get up, to which he simply replied "No", which was his last spoken word.
[2] The California Department of Economic Security issued a report the year of Contreraz's death and said there was a "pattern of abuse and neglect" at Arizona Boys Ranch, even while the authorities were investigating the institution, according to Linda Blessing, the agency's director.