GAO report on boot camp abuses October 10 2007...read it and weep.

[madfloridian]

GAO report on boot camp abuses October 10 2007...read it and weep.

It is in pdf format, and I have not seen this in our media much. It is 38 pages long. Today is October 15, 2007, and the report came out 5 days ago.

GAO reports on private boot camps

We found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at residential treatment programs across the country and in American-owned and American-operated facilities abroad between the years 1990 and 2007. Allegations included reports of abuse and death recorded by state agencies and the Department of Health and Human Services, allegations detailed in pending civil and criminal cases with hundreds of plaintiffs, and claims of abuse and death that were posted on the Internet. For example, according to the most recent NCANDS data, during 2005 alone 33 states reported 1,619 staff members involved in incidents of abuse in residential programs.

Because there are no specific reporting requirements or definitions for private programs in particular, we could not determine what percentage of the thousands of allegations we found are related to such programs. We also examined, in greater detail, 10 closed cases.

Here are 3 examples given.

Female, 15 May 1990 Cause of death Dehydration
Showed signs of illness for 2 days, such as blurred
vision, vomiting water, and frequent stumbling. Program staff thought she was faking her illness to
get out of the program
Collapsed and died while hiking
Lay dead in the road for 18 hours
Program brochure advertised staff as “highly trained
survival experts”

Male, 15 Sept. 2000 Internal
bleeding
Head-injury victim with behavioral challenges who
refused to return to campsite
Restrained by staff and held face down in the dirt for
45 minutes
Died of a severed artery in the neck
Death ruled a homicide

Male, 14 July 2002 Hyperthermia
(high body
temperature)
Experienced difficulty while hiking and sat down,
breathing heavily and moaning
Fainted and lay motionless
One staff member hid behind a tree for 10 minutes to
see whether the victim was “faking it”
Staff member returned and found no pulse
Died soon afterwards

Source: Records including police reports, legal documents, and state investigative documents.

Just one more bit from the report, which is 38 pages long.

Investigative documents we reviewed indicate that at the time the parents
enrolled the teenager, he did not have any issues in his medical history.
Staff logs indicate that the victim was considered to be a continuous
problem from the time he entered the program—he did not adhere to
program rules and was otherwise noncompliant. By the second day of the
boot camp phase of the program, staff noticed that the victim exhibited an
oozing bump on his arm. School records and state investigation reports
showed that the victim subsequently began to complain of muscle
soreness, stumbled frequently, and vomited. As days passed, students
noticed the victim was not acting normally, and reported that he defecated
involuntarily on more than one occasion, including in the shower.

Staff notes confirmed that the victim defecated and urinated on himself numerous times. Although he was reported to have fallen frequently and told staff he was feeling weak or ill, the staff interpreted this as beingrebellious. The victim was “taken down”—forced to the floor and held there—on more than one occasion for misbehaving, according to documents we reviewed. Staff also tied a 20-pound sandbag around the victim’s neck when he was too sick to exercise, forcing him to carry it around with him and not permitting him to sit down. Staff finally placed him in the “sick bay” in the morning on the day that he died. By midafternoon of that day, a staff member checking on him intermittently found the victim without a pulse. He yelled for assistance from other staff members, calling the school medical officer and the program owners. A responding staff member began CPR. The program medical officer called 9-1-1 after she arrived in the sick bay. An ambulance arrived about 30 minutes after the 9-1-1 call and transported the victim to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

38 pages. Read it and weep for what our country has become.

I guess they call them "pain-compliance techniques" as in the case of Martin Lee Anderson.

Me, I call it a form of torture.

[flashl]

1. I read that report ...

as bad as the stories within the report was it was still sanitized.

[acmavm]

2. Sounds like another bush** admin program approved by

Alberto Gonzalez.

[AuntPatsy]

3. Kicking it up.....I guess its not what we have become more so it is what have we

allowed to happen for far too long.

[madfloridian]

4. You are right. We did allow it to happen.

It is really not who most of us are at all.

[Elspeth]

5. Not real boot camp, but these "tough love" treatment places?

Just trying to make sure.

[madfloridian]

6. "Residential treatment programs", including boot camps

"Residential treatment programs
provide a range of services,
including drug and alcohol
treatment, confidence building,
military-style discipline, and
psychological counseling for
troubled boys and girls with a
variety of addiction, behavioral,
and emotional problems. This
testimony concerns programs
across the country referring to
themselves as wilderness therapy
programs, boot camps, and
academies, among other names."


I used boot camps in my subject line because that is the one being picked out right now by the media abroad...and because I am writing a lot about Martin Lee Anderson.

I don't think it is misleading. These programs use various names.

Boot camps get attention right now and then the attention spreads around.

Here is the page from which I got the report...That is the title they used. I did not think to examine it, as the point I am making is the use of what could be called torture often leading to death.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071010/NEWS01/71010017

"GAO reports on private boot camps
Eun Kyung Kim
News Journal Washington bureau

WASHINGTON - The types of abuse reported from private boot camps and wilderness programs for troubled teens would send parents in private households to jail, yet very rarely has anyone in such treatment centers served prison time for similar actions, House lawmakers were told Wednesday.

Untrained staff and reckless management at such camps have led to thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which resulted in death, said Greg Kutz, who headed a congressional investigation into the centers for the Government Accountability Office."

[madfloridian]

8. And besides ""Residential treatment programs", would not fit in the subject line.

At least not in the one I used.

[madfloridian]

11. Also called "Therapeutic Schools and Programs" by their trade group

Apparently they all try to avoid the name boot camp.

http://www.natsap.org/

"The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) website serves as a resource of information about our organization and the members it serves."

I am learning that although the boot camps in Florida have been shut down since Martin Lee Anderson's death, other programs other different names may still be operating.

Other states have not shut down programs that are similar.

Acquittal Fits the Pattern in Boot Camp Deaths

"Even so, the jury’s decision fit with a longstanding pattern: When a youth who has been sent to one of these programs dies or is badly abused, the odds are that no one will be held responsible."

As Ms. Schemo reported, the boot-camp industry has insisted for years that accusations of mistreatment and worse are, in the words of a trade group, “the noisy complaints of a few individuals.” (The trade group doesn’t call them boot camps, either, at least in its name: the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs.)
The noise has sometimes made a difference. When past incidents, like the death of 16-year-old Aaron Bacon in Escalante, Utah, in 1994, broke into public view, some states moved to shut down the worst operators, step up oversight of the camp programs and improve conditions in them, and the Anderson case has spurred such an effort in Florida. But in other states, the camps remain completely unregulated, and critics say it is only a matter of time before the next Aaron Bacon or Martin Lee Anderson hits the headlines."

[gratuitous]

7. Dickensian Work Houses for the 21st Century

We just dress them up a little differently, but the basic premise is the same. "Troublesome" youth inculcated with the notion of what they can expect life to be like as long as they "choose" to remain "troublesome."

[Kurovski]

9. K&R. (nt)

[madfloridian]

10. If parents did it, it would be called "abuse", and they would be punished.

"If those of us who are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse were to learn of this type of treatment occurring in a family's home, we would be required to file a suspected child abuse report so that the concerns could be investigated," said Allison Pinto, a child psychologist and an assistant professor at the University of South Florida.

"We must consider the reports of mistreatment and abuse occurring in residential facility just as seriously."

GAO reports on private boot camps

[madfloridian]

12. The tragedy of Aaron Bacon in 1990s in Utah....

http://outside.away.com/magazine/0695/6di_here.html

"When a Utah judge raps his gavel on May 22 to begin a preliminary criminal hearing into the death of 16-year-old Aaron Bacon, the key evidence for the prosecution will come from the waifish, longhaired teen himself. A rebellious kid who smoked a little marijuana and brought home too many C's and D's, Bacon was enrolled last winter by his parents, Robert and Sally Bacon of Phoenix, Arizona, in a Utah-based wilderness therapy program called North Star Expeditions. The couple's hope, like that of thousands of parents in the United States who send their kids to the 115 or so such private boot camps--or "Hoods in the Woods" programs, as they're sometimes called--was that North Star would teach their son hard lessons about discipline and survival and that through the experience he'd grow in self-esteem, give up drugs, and return home a healthier and happier teenager.

Instead, after only a few days in the stark and beautiful Escalante River Basin, Bacon felt his life slipping away. He didn't know it, but he'd somehow developed a bleeding ulcer, and as the energy drained slowly from his body, the aspiring poet documented his final days with ever more faint and tortured scrawls in a notebook. They were days spent hiking and camping in the slickrock and scrub-pine backcountry, but they were also days spent in emotional and physical distress as North Star staff allegedly ignored his pleas for medical attention and continued to march him farther from civilization.

"I am in terrible condition here," Bacon wrote ten days before his death. "I feel like I'm losing control of my body."

And a comment from this 1995 article....

"a growing number of observers are left wondering whether something about these programs--some designed for hardened criminals-to-be, and others, like North Star Expeditions, for basically "good" kids with a few behavior problems--is inherently flawed."

And the deaths continue. The GAO report concentrated on up to 2005.

[Ian_rd]

13. This is an excerpt detailing one of the cases. It will fucking blow your mind.

The victim was a 14-year-old male. According to police documents, the
victim’s mother enrolled him in a military-style Arizona boot camp in 2001
to address behavioral problems. The mother told us that she “thought it
would be a good idea.” In addition, she told us that her son suffered from
some hearing loss, a learning disability, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD), and depression. To address these issues her son was
taking medication and attending therapy sessions. According to the
mother, her son’s therapist had recommended the program, which he
described as a “tough love” program and “what needed.” The
mother said she trusted the recommendation of her son’s therapist; in
addition, she spoke with other parents who had children in the program,
who also recommended the program to her. She initially enrolled her son
in a daytime Saturday program in the spring of 2001 so he could continue
attending regular school during the week. Because her son continued to
have behavioral problems, she then enrolled him in the program’s 5-week
summer camp, which she said cost between $4,600 and $5,700 (between
$131 and $162 per day). Her understanding was that strenuous program
activities took place in the evening and that during the day youth would be
in the shade.

Police documents indicate about 50 youth between the ages of 6 and 17
were enrolled in the summer program. According to police, youth were
forced to wear black clothing and to sleep in sleeping bags placed on
concrete pads that had been standing in direct sunlight during the day.
Both black clothing and concrete absorb heat. Moreover, according to
documents subsequently filed by the prosecutor, youth were fed an
insufficient diet of a single apple for breakfast, a single carrot for lunch,
and a bowl of beans for dinner. On the day the victim died, the
temperature was approximately 113 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the
investigating detective. His report stated that on that day, the program
owner asked whether any youth wanted to leave the program; he then
segregated those who wanted to leave the program, which included the
victim, and forced them to sit in the midday sun for “several hours” while
the other participants were allowed to sit in the shade. Witnesses said that
while sitting in the sun, the victim began “eating dirt because he was
hungry.” Witnesses also stated that the victim “had become delirious and
dehydrated… saw water everywhere, and had to ‘chase the Indians.’” Later
on the victim appeared to have a convulsive seizure, but the camp staff
present “felt he was faking,” according to the detective’s report. One staff
member reported that the victim had a pulse rate of 180, more than double
what is considered a reasonable resting heart rate for a teenager.

The program owner then directed two staff and three youth enrolled in the
program to take the victim to the owner’s room at a nearby motel to “cool
him down and clean up.” They placed the victim in the flatbed of a staff
member’s pickup truck and drove to the motel.

Over the next several hours, the following series of events occurred.

• In the owner’s hotel room, the limp victim was stripped and placed into
the shower with the water running. The investigating detective told us
that the victim was left alone for 15 to 20 minutes for his “privacy.”
During this time, one of the two staff members telephoned the program
owner about the victim’s serious condition; the owner is said to have
told the staff person that “everything will be okay.” However, when
staff members returned to the bathroom they saw the victim facedown
in the water. The victim had defecated and vomited on himself.

• After cleaning up the victim, a staff member removed him from the
shower and placed him on the hotel room floor. Another staff member began
pressing the victim’s stomach with his hands, at which point,
according to the staff member’s personal account, mud began oozing
out of the victim’s mouth. The staff member then used one of his feet to
press even harder on the victim’s stomach, which resulted in the victim
vomiting even more mud and a rock about the size of quarter. At this
point, a staff member again called the owner to say the boy was not
responding; the owner instructed them to take the victim back to the
camp. They placed the victim in the flatbed of the pickup truck for the
drive back.

• Staff placed the victim on his sleeping bag upon returning to camp. He
was reportedly breathing at this time, but then stopped breathing and
was again put in the back of the pickup truck to take him for help.
However, one staff member expressed his concern that the boy would
die unless they called 9-1-1 immediately. The county sheriff’s office
reported receiving a telephone call at approximately 9:43 p.m. that
evening saying a camp participant “had been eating dirt all day, had
refused water, and was now in an unconscious state and not
breathing.” This is the first recorded instance in which the program
owner or staff sought medical attention for the victim. Instructions on
how to perform CPR were given and emergency help was dispatched.
The victim was pronounced dead after being airlifted to a local medical
center. The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy expressed
concern that the victim had not been adequately hydrated and had not
received enough food while at the camp. His preliminary ruling on the
cause of death was that “of near drowning brought on by dehydration.”
After a criminal investigation was conducted, the court ultimately
concluded that there was “clear and convincing evidence” that program
staff were not trained to handle medical emergencies related to
dehydration and lack of nutrition. The founder (and chief executive
officer) of the program was convicted in 2005 of felony reckless
manslaughter and felony aggravated assault and sentenced to 6-year and 5-
year terms, respectively. He was also ordered to pay over $7,000 in
restitution to the family. In addition, program staff were convicted of
various charges, including trespassing, child abuse, and negligent
homicide but were put on probation. According to the detective, no staff
member at the camp was trained to administer medication or basic
medical treatment, including first aid. The mother filed a civil suit that was
settled for an undisclosed amount of money. The program closed in 2001.

[Richard Steele]

14. Sadly K&R'd