Therapy or abuse?

[undergroundpanther]

Monitored 24 hours a day, not allowed to speak or move without permission,
subject to a rigid disciplinary system. forced to lie on the ground for months
without moving or speaking, being sprayed in the face with pepper spray, having
your arms and limbs twisted into unnatural positions - the idea being to cause
extreme pain without leaving marks, beatings, put in dog cages and starved,
punished if they do not hurl abuse at one another, reveal personal information
and proclaim their salvation by their captors.



Abu Ghraib? Nope. Teen Behavior Modification Warehouses. And this is but a
sampling of the abuse teens are receiving under the guise of 'therapy', and at
the cost equivalent to an Ivy League College. More on the Industry:
http://fornits.com/wwf/



Exposing WWASPS camp abuse
By Michal Zapendowski
Published: Thursday, April 28, 2005

"By habit, I was already awake before the screaming began. As soon as the wake
up call started, I reminded myself that I had become a machine and I wasn't
really there."

Thus begins an account of a typical day at Tranquility Bay, Jamaica, one of a
dozen camps run by the Utah-based World-Wide Association of Specialty Programs
and Schools. WWASPS runs camps across remote parts of the United States, Central
America and the Caribbean, whose purpose is to "reform" defiant teenagers.
Although the account was published in Texas in a fictional short story
competition, its author, Ryan Pink, has stated that what he describes in the
story, including the screams of students who were being punished by camp staff,
is true.

Parents in the United States who pull their children out of normal schools and
send them to WWASPS camps do not have to provide any justification - accounts
online include a 17-year-old girl who had been accepted to Harvard before her
parents sent her to Tranquility Bay. Students remain in the camp until they turn
18 (they can be sent there as young as 11 or 12), or until they genuinely
embrace the camp's belief system, which includes accepting parental authority,
turning away from drugs and sexuality, and genuine gratitude for having been
sent there to be reprogrammed.

While at the camp, students are monitored 24 hours a day, are not allowed to
speak or move without permission and are subject to a rigid disciplinary system.
Punishment at Tranquility Bay includes being forced to lie on the ground for
months without moving or speaking, being sprayed in the face with pepper spray,
or having your arms and limbs twisted into unnatural positions - the idea being
to cause extreme pain without leaving marks. At other WWASPS camps, students
have been beaten, put in dog cages and starved. Teenagers who cooperate with the
program rise in a complex system of internal ranks, eventually becoming
enforcers against new students. In so-called "group therapy" sessions, students
are punished if they do not hurl abuse at one another, reveal personal
information and proclaim their salvation by the program.

Child abuse has slowly grown out of the family sphere and turned into an
industry.

Even normally "defiant" teenagers are often unable to resist the camp's methods
of indoctrination, and the Web is overflowing with testimonies from parents
whose son or daughter was transformed into a "perfect" child, instinctively
obedient and brimming with filial devotion.

These camps are not an aberration in a culture that fetishizes law and order
above individual liberty, is unreasonably terrified of rebellion, drug use and
teenage sexuality and is absolutely unwilling to believe that giving
unrestrained power to fanatical conservatives could result in genuine
atrocities. Both Republicans and Democrats are aware of these camps, but with
the exception of congressman George Miller of California, none of them have
tried to do anything about it. It's taboo to question the absolute rights of
parents in this society.

Several institutions run by the organization in Latin American countries and
elsewhere have been shut down, but for the most part they continue to operate,
and are expanding. Sending your son or daughter to one of these camps is very
expensive, and WWASPS has become a multi-million-dollar organization, with
thousands of staff and a network of Web pages online designed to spread
misinformation about the programs and convince desperate parents to send their
children into the system.

But very few people even know about the issue, to a large extent because the
camps are run privately rather than by the government. Letters have been sent to
congressmen, court cases have been fought and articles have been published, but
there are at least as many people working to support these camps as there are
working to shut them down.


http://www.browndailyherald.com/media/paper472/news/2005/04/28/Columns/Exposing.\
Wwasps.Camp.Abuse-942997.shtml

[MercutioATC]

1. Costa Rica closed them down.

"Dundee Ranch was closed after Costa Rican authorities charged the facility with violating children's civil rights"

http://www.ticotimes.net/dailyarchive/2003_11/week1/11_05_03.htm#story_two

[ElectroPrincess]

2. I hate that concept ...

I served in the army and the drill sergents I had as an ROTC cadet in Basic Camp in the late 70s, were FRESH OUT OF COMBAT IN VIETNAM.

These men were tough but the absolute worst treatment was added PT push ups or telling a cadet off so long and so close that the Drill Sergeants "Smokey the Bear" hat rim left a mark on their forehead.

Now I also know significant numbers of enlisted men and women have been treated harshly in boot camp, BUT the goal is always the same: To break down the individual free will and build a TEAM.

I hate the concept to putting teens through such rigors. They are NOT emotional mature enough to handle the "mind games" and intense scrutiny of their person. Also, such tactics do NOT work in the long term.

Anyone who has raised a child successfully (they have achieved both financial and emotional independence as an young adult without too much help on Mom and Dad's part AND are well adjusted to the insanity of the real world) KNOWS that intimidation and physical punishments only work SHORT TERM. If you don't do the hard "bleeding heart liberal" work of actually listening to your children and understanding the stresses from their view, then the resentments of "such intellectual laziness" as to send them to TEEN BOOT Camp will last a lifetime.



Unfortunately I think these lazy parents have seen one too many re-runs of Full Metal Jacket and/or that a**hole "Drill Sergent" on the History channel. Newsflash folks: Many honorable combat Marines think this former Marine is *too much* and, therefore, reflects a POOR image for their beloved Corps. Good drill sergeants are TOUGH but not total horse's asses and sure as sh*t, deep down, they are NOT vindictive.

In addition, parents who send their teens to these "pseudo boot camps" are either heartless or out of touch with their children's' challenges in life. Either way, it's a piss poor way of achieving a lifetime attitude adjustment. Such maturity comes with time and the unconditional love of the parent(s). No matter what, I will NOT EVER give up on my child. That's what will pull them through the rough spots. Nothing more, nothing less.

[bumblebee1]

3. Has anyone heard that teens are usually rebellious? n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

4. I watched that show 'Brat Camp' last night.

They had these kids in the wilderness camping solo for three nights to get them to achieve some sort of cathartic breakthrough.

What I saw was a 14yo (I think) boy crying "I want my mommy", over and over as he huddled in the sleeping bag, obviously terrified.

I have a 13 year old son. I can't imagine ever sending him to one of those camps, no matter how bad things got. (knock wood, things are good so far)

[pitohui]

5. i camped when i was 14

what kind of weinie would start crying about it

we used to do it for fun, i saved up good money to buy my boots & backpacks

don't know the show you speak of, so don't know the context, but camping outside is not torture

not quite the same thing as tranquility bay, the parents who pay others to torture their kids should be prosecuted for felony assault, battery, and conspiracy, just as they would be if they paid a professional hitman to kill their child, a few parents in jail over shipping their child out of the country to be tortured & we'd see the end of demand for this type of business

[Midlodemocrat]

7. I don't think the kid was a weinie.

Each of these kids were all sent to this wilderness camp as punishment for their behaviors, so it is similar to the Jamaica Camp, only that it is being filmed.

I don't think a terrified 14 yo all alone in the woods is a weinie. Not at all.

[pitohui]

8. he couldn't have been alone if he was being filmed

think abt what you are saying

the folks on reality TV are actors

they're acting

p.s. i'm sure we're in agreement on the larger issue that parents should not be able to out-source child abuse

[ElectroPrincess]

10. I camped err well went on numerous "exercises" in the army

Sometimes tactical with small Intel units. Since I resigned my commission, you couldn't pay me to camp in any way, shape or form EVER in the future. Hell, I'd be crying like a 5 year old abandoned child if you left me out in the woods alone. Not because of being abandoned, but because there were no toilet or shower facilities.

IMO even Hotel 6 is better than camping, i.e., their bathrooms are usually clean. I hate the dirt, bugs and having to wee wee and pooh out in the open. IMO roughing it overnight in a tent sucks if you can get around it! :P

Nope, I love that kid! - be proud to be his "mommy" any day because he would NEVER NAG me about going camping. :puke:

<all of the above is tongue-in-cheek humor>

[Bassic]

12. I watched a bit of that show and I agree.

I think this is totally inhuman and ridicoulus. These people don't want to take the time to be parents, so they want to program the kids to do as they wish. God I hope they rot in Hell.

[ernstbass]

6. VERY disturbing

[Pithlet]

9. These are companies preying on the desperation of parents

Parents who've been convinced that their rebellious teenager is down the path to evil self destruction after watching too many episodes of Dr. Phil. So, they ship their kid off to these places to be abused with no repercussions. There should be more laws in place to protect these kids. No teenager should be forced against their will to be taken out of their homes and placed anywhere unless the parents can legally show a clear need for treatment at a state approved facility. Anything else is just outsourced child abuse. Children aren't property. They have rights of their own, including not being imprisoned against their will and subject to abuse.

[Bassic]

11. This is disgusting.

People who send their kids over there deserve to be seriously hurt.