Michael at Midwest Academy

This testimony was found on the Sodahead website. All rights goes to the original author.

I was at Midwest Academy from June 16, 2004 till December 19, 2004.

I was 16 when I was sent there and turned 17 while inside. For my 17th birthday I received a tube of toothpaste and a roll of some nice toilet paper which I ended up getting a consequence for a week later even though it had been approved by my family rep. Mr. Eric S.

Now at the age of 26 I've served in the United states Army as a 68W Health care specialist aka combat medic. I've buried my parents, grand parent and a close friend. I'm an artist now. I was a troubled youth although I never got in trouble with the law. My mother died when I was 8 years old and I made many bad decisions after that.

Midwest Academy did nothing to help me. They did help my depression go deeper by making sure I knew I was a piece of trash. I was forced to eat my own throw up when I was ill and couldn't finish 80% of each portion of food on my trey. Mr. Jake was the staff member. A former graduate of the facility. He liked to make life the worst because he went through worse when he was at "casa by the sea" in mexico which was closed down. While I was there I had no mental health help. My letters outgoing and incoming were read and censored.

There was no looking out windows due to accusations of "Run Plans". 10 kids attempted to escape one night. The next week an electric wire was installed on top of the fence. No interaction with the opposite sex. I mean zero interaction except for during seminars (I graduated through the first 3 past discovery), if the girls were around we were forced to turn our heads and close our eyes. None of the staff had backgrounds to help troubled teens. Mr. Doug and Mr. Bob were cool. They let me know I was still human. Mr. Bob quite or was fired 4 months into my stay unfortunately.

Ultimately Midwest Academy made me a worse person. I just got better at Manipulating while i was there. My depression worsened due to no contact with family except for censored letters and no mental help. In fact you could say that place was mentally damaging and I've been through Military bootcamp equal to Paris Island which was a billion times better. I still have all the letters also. Midwest Academy was no different than a county jail except it was 3 grand amonth. I don't know if they've changed at all. I prey they have for the sake of the kids there now.

It has been close to 10 years. I got my act together in March 2007 at Ft. Benning Georgia. I sought out help for my issues through a licensed therapist. Some kids need help. Help and guidance not to make stupid mistakes that can destroy their lives and their families but Midwest only works on roughly 15%. Look into Military Schools. Look into rehabs. Look into theropy. Be straight forward with your children tell them you love them and the decisions they're making are worrying you.

The Midwest Academy I remember was the Hell on earth and what does hell create? Demons and Monsters. almost anything you do will be a wiser decision than sending a loved child to that institution. Parents that praise the place are fools. Teenagers rebel. Teenagers get into arguments with there parents. That's just a stage of growing up. The kids that are doing good now aren't doing good because of Midwest Academy, They're doing good because there smart people who just needed to grow up and get a view of the big picture. Well I hope this helps. Sincerely, Michael B. NICKNAMED by Max in Honor family(before it was against the rules), Baka

Sources:

• The original testimony on Sodahead
• Factsheet about the program (Fornits Wiki)

areaofinfinity at the F.L Chamberlain School

This testimony was found on Reddit. All rights go to the author known as areaofinfinity

I was placed in F.L chamberlain school in Middleboro, MA this summer.

The reason for this was because I was shy, I didn't have a lot of friends and because I told a teacher I was suicidal after I came out the previous night to my dad. He was so angry he beat me, told me that I was a "failure at life" and I was going to "end up on the street doing drugs". My dad is extremely homophobic.

The following week I was told to pack my bags and go to this school. My mom told me it was to "get away from my dad until he calmed down".

What happened in the next 2 1/2 months were so terrible, It hurts me to even talk about it. I was so sick with stress that night, sleeping in this bed with gang marks carved into the bedframe, starvation, being forced to take medication which I have never took before to "fit in". When I woke up and went to this so called school, I entered a classroom with kids twice my age, mostly tough guys and one girl. The classroom was an old historic building, holes and punch marks were EVERYWHERE. I did not belong here. These kids were serious. I was exposed to things that I never wanted to be exposed to. On my first day I learned the Spanish teacher was having an illicit relationship with an underage student and kids were walking out of math class and smoking crystal meth, and the teacher didn't even care.

I begged my parents to take me out. If I even showed the slightest tear or even sounded troubled, it was policy to put you on phone restriction so you couldn't talk to your parents. I prayed to god. 75% of the kids there were hardcore kids who really should of been in Juvi.. The 25% who were innocent, kids who really needed help were shown no mercy, by the staff members or kids.

The only reason I got out was because I was stabbed in the stomach and when I went home for a visit, when I finally got one I went to see my grandparents, and my grandma saw my scar, then my mom saw, then they asked me questions, more and more. I finally cracked. I told them everything. my parents begged them to just let me sleep over at my house. Before I went to sleep I used the bathroom, and I started urinating blood. I passed out in the bathroom and then that was it. I was out. What a coincidence, right? It turns out the medicine they gave me was causing my liver to fail, and I lost consciousness a lot. Of course at the place they didn't care, they would think you were acting out or sleeping. Every time I passed out I was "frozen". I could talk to no one. I trusted no one. I barely spoke. I barely ate. And can you believe, that right now, THIS second they are still doing these things, behind closed doors, not just there but in "programs" around the country? That's not even scratching the surface.

I was lucky I wasn't killed right when I got there because I was openly gay at that point. These scars won't go away. If I can dedicate my life, just to shut these people down then that's what I will do. These kinds of things cause people to go to jail for life, and yet, behind that happy-go-lucky school tour guide, there is pain that will never go away.

The author later wrote an update:

Its been 5 months since I was rescued from the boarding "school" that I spoke about in my post before. Unfortunately, even the name of the "school" triggers my PTSD so if you want to read about what happened, click on my profile, and find my previous post.

I can finally say that I am getting better every day. I think about it less and less. I am in a great place right now. I'm at a real school with real people, freedom and people who are accepting and loving.

5 months ago I never thought that this would happen... Well, I didn't really think at all, I was in survival mode all the time. I weighed under 105 pounds, and I was so sick, I nearly threw up every day. I am so grateful that I was saved. I am so happy I'm safe.

Two months ago my family and another family that was in this "program" decided to take action. We wrote a review on greatschools.org explaining in depth what happened to both of us. Unfortunately, 2 weeks later the review was removed by the "school" after filing a complaint with the website. We learned this as we had an email explaining why our review was deleted.
What happened is sick. This never should of happened. But It did, and I want to dedicate my life to making sure other parents and teens don't make the same mistakes we did... Looking at "programs" to help get better.

To ANYONE suffering from the consequences of long term psychiatric and physical abuse. Anyone who has survived.. It will get better in time. Remember, The best revenge is living a good life.


Sources:

• The original testimony (Reddit)
• The update (Reddit)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)