A mother's story (From CAICA)

Yesterday we published the testimony made by a teenage girl who was forced to attend Carolina Spring Academy. It was the mother who decided to sent her. Here is her version:

I began having difficulties with my teenage daughter. Several months after the problems began my daughter, Taylor, decided to leave school without permission – which, of course, was a bad idea. I received a telephone call from Taylor’s school informing me of what happened.

Just when I thought things could not possibly get any worse, I was informed by school officials that she had been expelled. I could not believe this was happening to us. With no schools available so late into the final semester, and with her acting out and misbehaving, I did not know what to do.

I found myself doing what many parents would do – looking for answers on the Internet.

As I did a few random searches using key words and phrases like “teen problems at home” and “help with my teen”, I received a number of pop-up ads touting phrases like “Help My Teen” and “Teen Solutions”, each one claiming to offer the same things.

They claimed to specialize in helping the troubled teen. They claimed to have specialty and therapeutic boarding schools boasting to promote education first and foremost, self-esteem, and respect for authority … you name it, they had it. And, it all sounded great … just what the doctor ordered.

Oh, and the biggest thing was that you did not have to be worried about taking your teenager to them because they had a professional transport group that would pick her up for a nominal fee of $1,500.

As I look back now, I still cannot believe that not only did I send my only child away, but I let two strangers come into our home in the wee hours of the morning to take my daughter away.

After eight days of hell slowly went by, I knew something was very wrong. So I trusted my mother’s intuition, and I went to the school, Carolina Springs Academy (CSA) to get her.

On my way to the school another CSA student’s mother called me on my cell phone. After I shared all the horrible thoughts I had and information from the articles I had read, she pleaded for me to pick her daughter as well. I gladly agreed.

When I arrived, I could not believe my eyes – the building, the grounds - nothing that I could see even came close to looking like the beautiful pictures they have on their Web site. As I got out my car, it seemed I had just entered a thick fog.

Even as I stepped onto the porch, things appeared to be strange, right on down to the man raking … who by the way, would not even look my way. The office was not very clean and had a musky smell. When I told the office employee I was there to pick up my daughter, she became – well let’s say - not so nice. When I went on to tell her I was also picking up another child, she became downright rude.

When Tara Hall, the so-called Family Representative, finally arrived at the office she was also unhappy with my arrival and decision. She asked me, “Why? What had changed my mind?” When I shared with her some of the articles I had found and printed out, she got angry and said, “Well, you can’t believe everything you read, especially on the Internet.”

I said to her, “you’re absolutely right.” As luck would have it, I had articles regarding allegations of child abuse and neglect at Carolina Springs Academy which I showed her. With that she got on her walkie-talkie and ordered someone to bring the girls right away.

Of course when Taylor saw me she almost jumped out of the car before it even stopped. I can’t begin to tell you how emotional that reunion was, and still is. My heart hurt as I saw how dirty she was – her hair, her clothes, her overall appearance was dirty. She even smelled dirty. My heart hurt for her.

As I hurried the girls to my car, I felt as if everyone was watching. The three of us agreed they all seemed to have that far-away, foggy look in their eyes. The girls and I were crying so hard you would think we would not have noticed them. But we did.

The drive home was unforgettable. We all felt so very grateful – for the sun, the trees, and the wind that kissed our cheeks as we got out of the car. The two girls told me so many horrible stories … some I still can’t get out of my head, not to mention my heart. I’ve told my daughter a hundred times how sorry I am for sending her there.

I have nightmares - I can’t sleep at night – I am still having a very difficult time forgiving myself for the entire CSA experience. In fact, for as long as I live I do not believe I will ever be able to forgive myself for allowing two complete strangers to enter my daughter’s bedroom in the middle of the night, waking her from a deep sleep, forcing her to get dressed as they watched, forcing her into their car, and taking her away from her home and her family.

What was I thinking?

God help me, because I don’t know. I have nightmares about those two strangers picking up my daughter and never bringing her back. All the while, I’m running and searching for Taylor, and I can smell that horrible smell. And then it gets so bad that I can’t breathe or even move. That’s when I realize I’m no longer asleep.

Scared and confused, I get up to go watch my daughter sleep. I lay there beside her and I take deep breaths just so I can smell her. Then she notices I’m there, and says, “Mama it’s OK, I’m home, I’m safe, and in some way or other it was meant for us to cross paths with that so-called school. God sent us there so we could help others.”

Her words are comforting and at some point we both drift back to sleep. It has been almost a month since we’ve been home. At times it seems she never left. But then night comes, and once again I remember that horrible smell and the two strangers who took my daughter in the middle of the night. This is when I find myself praying to God to give me another chance. This is when I pray that no one will have to go through what I do every time sleep comes.

Please take a moment to read Taylor's story.

(Which was published yesterday and to be found on this blog).

The facility closed down in 2009. Later there was an investigation into animal cruelty when dead animals was found on the abandoned campus.

Sources:

• The original testimony (From CAICA)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

A daughter's testimony about South Cariolina Academy (From: CAICA)

This statement was given to the human rights organization COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE. All rights belongs to the author:

Seven Days I Will Never Forget

I would like to share my story about the seven days I spent at Carolina Springs Academy (CSA), a World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) program.

I was a normal teen who had some issues at home, but I never dreamed the issues were big enough that my mom would have me taken to a place far from home. I understand she was frustrated and the people she talked to made her think they had all the answers for our family.

I woke up in the middle of the night and two strangers were in my bedroom. They made me get dressed in front of them and even made me go to the bathroom in front of them. They said the usually handcuff kids but that if I cooperated they would not use them on me. I was so scared I decided to cooperate with them so they held onto my wrists instead of using handcuffs. I asked to see and talk to my parents but they would not let me. Finally, once we were in the car they allowed my parents to come outside and I was able to say a quick goodbye from the car window.

One of the girls from Imagine group at CSA said when the escort service was taking her through the airport they put their hand in her pants and held onto her panties so they could pull hard and hurt her if she tried to run. They tried that on another girl at CSA, but she would not let them put their hands in her pants. So instead, they attached a dog leash to her belt loop and dragged her through the airport on a leash. She was embarrassed, hid her face in her hands, and put on her sunglasses.

Mr. Billy is the person who transports children. He transports girls alone which doesn’t seem right to me. When my mom came to pick me and another girl up from CSA, she saw Mr. Billy get into a van alone with a girl.

One of the girls at CSA was transported to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica while I was there. The contract my mom signed says they can send kids there without even getting the parents’ permission. They say they will try to reach the parents but if they can’t get a hold of them then the kids can be transported there and they can get a passport for the kids. And if that happens, the parents are responsible to pay for everything.

My first few days:

I spent the first three days at CSA with my host buddy. During that time I was only allowed to talk with her, and only if an upper-level girl was around. For those first three days all she did was teach me about 200 rules. One thing she told me that I thought seemed strange was that I would get fat there and that I would feel great when I left the program. The people who had been there for a while seemed strange to me. Most of what they said did not make any sense.

When girls had been in the program for about six months, they made fun of new girls. They acted like we were crazy for not wanting to be there. Upper-level girls worked in shifts and were responsible to take care of the lower-level girls. Staff did not take care of the girls. Instead of talking with us, usually upper-level girls used hand signals. For example, if they were trying to tell us we could brush our hair they would tap the top of their heads. It seemed really strange to me. I had to have permission to do everything including using the bathroom, and then someone was always with me. I could never talk to anyone or go anywhere within the facility without permission. The girls had to wear skirts but they would not let us cross our legs. Some of the rules were very petty and seemed ridiculous.

We had to be silent most of the time. We talked less than an hour a day on most days and when we did an upper-level girl was always there to listen to your conversation. You could never talk to another lower-level girl without staff or an upper-level there to listen. I felt we were treated very unfairly. For example, if one girl talked the rest of us had to be in bed at 7:30 p.m.

None of us were allowed to shave our legs or armpits until we reached upper-level status. Everyone was dirty because they did not have enough time to take care of personal hygiene or to use the bathroom to have a bowel movement. My mom was shocked to see how dirty I was when she came to pick me up. During the week I was there I was not able to have a bowel movement. The girl that came home with us said she did not remember having a bowel movement the entire month she was there. I never had privacy or enough time.

Boys were mostly skinny while girls were mostly fat. The girls were given large plates of greasy, poor-quality food and were forced to eat at least ½ of what was on their plates. I threw up my first day there. The food is greasy and horrible. The kitchen is filthy.

I was not allowed to go anywhere alone. When girls looked at the field as if they were thinking of running they were told that an old man lives out there and that he shoots anything that’s yellow. We all wear bright yellow sweat suits to make us less of a runaway threat.

In the week I was there we were allowed to go outside only twice for less than an hour each time for PE. There was no real PE and no PE teacher. There were only upper-level girls telling us what to do.

Everything we did at CSA was repetitive. During my stay I was not allowed to go outside every day, I was never allowed off the property, I was not allowed to have fun, and I did not have a regular teacher helping with my school work. There was nothing to do but school work for a few hours and listening to inspirational tapes for hours on end.

I met with my buddy who was on level 2. She explained it “takes forever” to move up a level. I was allowed to talk to my buddy, who was on level 2, for 30 minutes a day. We had to have an upper-level girl there who listened to our conversations, someone who had already attended at least one seminar and who had reached upper-level status. If we were caught talking alone we lost hard-earned points.

Parents must attend brainwashing seminars so their kids can advance in the program. The parents of an 18-year old girl were convinced by the program that their daughter was not ready to graduate and that she should go to another facility, Pillars of Hope, in Costa Rica to finish her program. Her parents wrote her a letter telling her she was going to have to stay to graduate from the program. She cried, no senior prom, no pictures, she was sad she would spend her 18th birthday there. She was pressured to stay after she was 18 by upper-level girls and staff who told her she could not make it in the world, that she would make the same mistakes again, and that she could not make the right decisions. Staff and her parents finally convinced her to go to Pillars of Hope to finish out her program. They promised to give her some spending money and that she could go on the beach so she agreed.

Medical issues:

I saw girls who were very sick while I was there. Five girls were throwing up blood and one looked like she broke her hand. There were about 92 girls in the building that is fairly small so when they were vomiting it was all in the same area. They had nothing like Lysol to clean things up. The staff did not help the girls when they were sick or hurt. Because they did not have any cleaning products or Lysol they sprayed air freshener instead. Staff kept the temperature of the dorms very cold to try to kill the germs.

A.J. had horrible sinus problems and was very sick. She vomited every day after she ate and got in trouble for not eating all of her food. Staff and upper-level girls would not allow her to even lay her head down or let her rest.

I remember when the girls were throwing up Miss K.K. said she wanted to leave to buy some Vitamin C because, like she said, she wanted to get the devil out of her. She said she did not want to take the germs home.

The only time I saw staff helping kids was when they gave out medications. They lost my medication and did not give it to me for two days. Then, when staff finally found it, they tried to make me take more than I should have. When I tried to let them know they were giving me too much they got angry and took away some of my points. I remember one day when they could not find the keys to the medication cabinet. Girls were sick and wanted their medications but could not have them until the next day. Over-the-counter medications were kept in a cabinet with a lock on it. Prescription medications are kept in the office away from the kids in another building.

One girl complained all day that she could not breathe. She was very sick and hit the floor when she passed out. They would not do anything to help her. It was students who took her to bed and changed her clothes. Staff and upper-level girls said she would be accountable and get lost points if she talked. She was supposed to leave the program in 20 days.

Another girl got mad and punched a wall. She had gotten frustrated and was sent to OP. During lunch a staff member told her to move her fingers because they knew she was in a lot of pain. She tried, but her middle and ring fingers cracked and she screamed and cried. They wrapped it and put ice on it and would not take her to the doctor though she begged them to. They kept putting ice on it for 2-3 days. She hit her hand accidentally on the trash, she screamed, vomited in the trash can because it hurt so much, then she hit the floor and rolled around holding her hand. Miss Nancy said they’d get some ice.

The facility:

The bathrooms were filthy. The showers had mold growing on the tiles, the floors were filthy with used menstrual pads left lying around. The bathroom smelled terrible.

The PE area and other areas smelled terrible. We went to “buddy” meetings. We took our blankets because it was so cold, but it was disgusting when I saw other girls’ pubic hair on my blanket. The pubic hair is all over the floor.

The cafeteria was disgusting too. We were not allowed to keep our binders on the table. I did not want to put mine on the floor because it was so filthy.

My mattress had big wires poking through and I could feel them when I tried to sleep. We were not allowed to move once we were in our beds and could not even turn our heads without getting in trouble.

We had to sit Indian style on the hard floor of our dorm to listen to education videos four hours each day, and then on and off throughout the day. We were not allowed to lean against our beds so we had no support for our backs.

During school hours we were forced to sit on a chair and not move or talk. The chairs were close together and it was very uncomfortable.

Sunday was supposed to be “clean day”. We were not allowed to go outside and have fun, not even on Sunday. We cleaned for most of the day and were allowed to watch videos if everyone did what they were supposed to do.

There was no toilet paper in the bathroom for two days. One time I had to use my bath towel. There are no doors inside the building and when you go through a doorway you have to count. There are cameras in the dorms watching as you sleep. They leave a light on at night. They say they have to do that to avoid girls from trying to run away.

Education:

If you don’t do your homework in a regular school the teacher reprimands you, but at CSA the student will reprimand you – you’re supposed to keep your eyes on your books 100% of the time – if you twirl you hair or scratch yourself a student will call you out. Staff only cares about upper-level girls. They don’t even have to do school work, basically what they do is pick on lower-level kids.

School – it’s not school, you teach yourself. I was told many of the girls have fallen behind in their school work since they got there. One girlwas having problems in Geometry and asked to see a teacher. It took 5 days to see one so she was stuck on the same problem all that time. During school you are sitting in the lunchroom with other kids but no one is teaching you. You read a book, do the workbook and turn in your assignments. Then you turn in your notes and take a test. You can take two tests between Monday and Thursday, and one on Friday. You cannot take a test on Saturday. If you do not get at least a B grade you have to do that lesson all over again.

Communication with the outside world:

We were not allowed to contact anyone outside the facility. The only communication was with our parents, and those were monitored. I wrote my mama letters when I could on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Things seemed alright on my first day. I wrote two positive letters to my mama, she got them both.

After I was there a day I knew something was wrong and wrote my mama letters to try to warn her and to tell her the Discovery seminar brainwashes parents into thinking their child must graduate the program, meaning the child will usually be there at least 2 years, instead of 6 months to a year like they tell the parents. She never got those letters. I could not understand why I did not receive any letters from my mama while I was there. A girlsaid staff discourages parents from writing to their children. My mama wrote to me every single day and sent them overnight but I never got her letters.

I did receive a package from my mama. When I saw it, it had already been opened and was at Ms. Lynn’s desk. There was a note to Ms. Tara in the box but no letter to me. My mama said she put an envelope with my name on it saying “I’m coming to get you, there’s something wrong with this program.” I did not get the letter, it was not in the package.

I was told that if parents get close to Ms. Tara she would convince them their child must stay in the program and graduate. I was confused and cried when I saw other girls opening letters from their parents and I did not receive any. Miss Lynn gave me a “break in silence,” and made me write an essay. Everything we did there was repetitive.

Staff:

Ms. Anne is a strange woman, she makes strange comments, is scattered-brained, and does not seem to care about the girls.

Miss Teresa is very mean. When my mom came to pick me and T.R. up from CSA Miss Teresa led us to believe we were being transported to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica when we were really being taken to be picked up by my mama.

Miss Tara, the family representative only spent about 30 minutes a day with the girls, if that. The rest of the time they were supervised by upper-level girls.

The upper-level girls are the ones who take care of the lower-level girls and who hand out corrections. Kids take care of themselves for the most part. The only time I saw staff caring for the girls was to hand out their prescription medications.

Miss Kathy was mean and rude and was in charge of watching us while we slept. She stayed up very late socializing with other staff and upper level girls, keeping us awake. She forced us to sleep with the light on. Most girls did not get much sleep most nights I was there.

Discipline:

One girl told staff and upper-level girls she had to use the bathroom, but they would not let her. Because she was on level 2 and was considered a run risk, she was not allowed to go alone (only upper-level girls can go to the bathroom alone). She had to hold it. Finally, she could no longer hold it and stood up. She said she had to pee and that she was going to go if no one was going to take her. A male escort came in and told her if she did not follow the rules they would take her to OP. He tried touching her and she got angry. She said she was just trying to do her work and go to the bathroom. She told him she did not want to go to OP. He tried to pick her up and she got upset, putting her fist up in the air. I was told she was taken to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica.

If you look at a boy you get what is called a Cat 4, which means you lose a lot of your points.

OP is Observation Placement. Kids are taken there as punishment. I was told if you go there you have to sit in a chair and write sentences, lie on the floor, or stand with your face against the wall. They make you sit in an uncomfortable position. OP is in a small metal shed. It gets very hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I was told they don’t use the heat or air conditioner. I saw that doors inside and outside are dented where it looks like they were beaten.

I was told if you tell anything that happened at seminars you lose all of your points.

I feel very fortunate that my Mama followed her intuition and started doing research about this program. When she read stories of others who had bad experiences, and when she realized this program was about discipline and that they used brainwashing techniques, she came to pick me up. I will always be grateful to my Mama for doing this and for not believing everything someone else told her.

The facility closed down in 2009. Later there was an investigation into animal cruelty when dead animals was found on the abandoned campus.

The mother also has her story about this stay. Her version will follow tomorrow

Sources:

• The original testimony (From CAICA)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

Grandparents feedback on Carolina Springs Academy

This testimony was found on Blogspot.com. It has been written by grandparents to a troubled teenager. All rights go to the original authors.

If you child is in this place you need to rescue them immediately. Let me tell you my story. Two weeks ago our precious grandaughter was acting out and we found this place on the internet that showed horses, rolling hills, and happy kids with smiling faces. What a crock.

After we put her in this place (Carolina Springs Academy) we starting researching and found out a lot of bad things. We went to the place (in the daytime) for a tour. There was no one in the front building so we opened the door and went into the library area which on their website shows a whole lot different library than we seen. The floor was actually falling in and we about froze while we were in there (no heat). The lady that met us starting reciting this speech and talked about our granddaughter. Near the end of the speech we realized that she was not talking about her, she did not even know who she was. The girls had just came from lunch so I asked her what they ate. She told me, fried chicken, rice and gravy, green beans and a choice of two desserts. Later I found out that they ate red beans and boiled noodles with no seasoning and they only drink water. We also found out that the three antiquated dinsaur computers in the library are the only ones on the premises. We did pick our granddaughter up after two weeks.

We found out that the kids are not allowed in the library, that the women would get them a book from the library. My granddaughter had to look at the ground with her head turned to the right and if she looked up she lost points. She was not allowed to speak. They got her out of bed at 4am to go and wash up the dishes from the night before which was close to 100 bowls. They do not eat out of plates, only bowls. They loose points if they cry. We brought her some pictures of the family (4) that day and because she cried, they took them away from her. A lot of her discipline came from the older kids. One of them hit her and she could not respond or she would get in trouble. One of them stole some stuff of hers. They are allowed three towels and can only wash them (and her clothes) once per month plus they are damp so they put them in a plastic bag until the next day.

When we picked her up, her three towels were wet and smelly. She said that four girls in the building have staf infections and one girl had a big sore on her mouth that was herpes. In this dorm (like a double wide trailer) was 68 girls with 3 showers and 3 sinks. She said they have three minutes to take a shower and that is all. She said that they never got to leave this building except to go eat. They exercised in this building, watch films in this building (which is supposedly their school work) and everything else in this building. All the windows are boarded up so they cannot look outside. We had to pay around $500 for uniforms. When we picked her up we saw that she got used uniforms that did not even fit. The dress shirt that she got had four names in the collar and each one marked out for the next girl. When we picked her up she was dirty and in only two weeks they had broken her spirit. She said that the equestrian program (horses) was a big joke among the kids. They just wanted money for that program but since you can't talk to your child, you don't know what they are doing.

They read their incoming and outgoing mail and decide if they want it sent/received or not. It's up to them. When she came out of the back door of the dining hall, she looked down at the ground all the way to us because they are not allowed to look up. When she finally saw us she started crying and hugging us. On the way home she told us some horror stories. She also started talking about how if you "secret" something and believe it in your heart and write it down everyday that eventually the universe with align with your heart and it will come true. We still don't know what all that is about but if they had her talking like this in two weeks I wonder what they would have done to her mind on a year or two. She said that a lot of the girls had been their years. She said that she saw her family rep only once per week and that she had to stand in front of her, look to the right and to the ground. The rep would ask her if she is ready for her feedback and she would say yes. The rep would then tell her what she thought about her and tell her what she thought she should do (remember all along looking at the ground and to the right). They strip them of their dignity and self worth. Nothing a child can do is bad enough to deserve this. Everything this school told us is a lie.

One particular sheet in her application that gave them permission to move the child across state lines was not signed. They said that we did not have to sign it. Just send the paperwork without it. They said that that sheet was only for the children that were wards of the state. When our granddaughter was admitted, they wanted that paper signed. We refused. Then in a few days, the same paper was sent to the home to be signed and a return envelope was inside. Again, the paper was not signed. One of the women told her that if she did not straighten up that she would be sent to another program in Jamacia and one of the girls had already been there and showed off a big scar on her leg from that place. All the pictures on the web site are a joke.

I will continue this blog at a later time but I really want you to know that your child is in danger in this place. I am not with an organization or anything like that just a concerned grandparent. Get your child out, now. I know that all boarding schools are not like this---but this one is.

Carolina Springs Academy functioned like many other boarding schools. The school closed around 2009. They tried to open it under a new name but it has not been successful.


Sources:

• Boarding School Facts (Original testimony on blogspot)
• Factsheet about the boarding school (Fornits Wiki)

A stay at Carolina Springs Academy (From: CAICA)

As the text on the website belonging to COALITION AGAINST INSTITUTIONALIZED CHILD ABUSE states the author has asked to remain anonymous. She attended WWASPS' Carolina Springs Academy program in South Carolina. All rights belongs to the author:

When I was 14, I was acting out -- sneaking out, having sex with my boyfriend, and giving my newly divorced parents some problems. My mom claims she sent me to CSA because she didn't know what I was doing when I snuck out, although a drug test could have shown that I was clean.

I was told we were going to Atlanta to visit friends, but needless to say I was surprised when we pulled up to a solitary farmhouse on a hill. There was no sign, and no nearby homes, and my mother told me this was a specialty boarding school. After a few minutes of refusing to get out of the car, my mom left me there to go talk to the staff.

Looking back, I wish I could have turned the key and gone to California. However, I convinced myself that it might not be so bad, being under the impression that this was a real boarding school. I went into the front office, and the staff seemed normal and were nice to me, considering my mom was there.

I began asking questions -- "I need to re-dye my hair/get my blow dryer/get clothes", and upon being told I couldn't have these things, I was in disbelief. But that was nothing compared to what I faced next. Although I saw it reenacted countless times in my 14 months, the time between arrival and incarceration is a blur.

I remember seeing my mom in the doorway as they made me change into ill-fitting, old orange sweat clothes, scared and angry but unsure of what to say or do. My things were labeled, and most of my stuff was confiscated. I had to keep my hair up at all times, and wore socks with flip flops.

I'm not sure which was worse -- the shock of losing my freedom within a few hours, or the humiliation I felt deep down at where I was. I couldn't believe my mother had actually entered this building and still let me stay.

It was a double wide, and kept anywhere from 75 to 100 girls at a time. It smelled constantly, but especially during the rain, because our clothes would get wet and it was all up to the staff as to whether we could change them or not. The staff also complained of the smell, but blamed the girls -- they told us to wash better, do our laundry more, whatever the scent du jour was, despite the fact that it could take up to a week to get a load of laundry done and many of us were limited to 3-5 minute showers.

In levels 1 and 2, you showered last, so the water was always freezing. Because we were on such a tight schedule, only one shower was allowed per day, regardless of conditions. We walked from building to building, so even if our clothes and shoes got muddy or dirty or wet, we had to keep them on unless we had specific permission from the staff. I remember at least three or four times when I would take my socks off before bed, and the athletes foot had eaten through the skin between my toes.

The food was horrible. I am a vegetarian, but rather than providing protein substitutes, we got double servings of the starch or vegetables most of the time. Unless there was a documented food allergy, we had to eat at least half of each dish, I remember gagging several times and getting a correction for "being a drama queen". Most girls gained weight because of the heavy starch and grease, but when it was brought up by some parents, the "diet" food offered was even worse. It was basically the same thing, only with cheaper ingredients. Level 1 could not drink anything but water, and could not use any condiments on food.

PE was a joke -- it was either Ms. Mary (possibly one of the most miserable human beings on the planet) forcing us to run until we vomited at 7 in the morning, or just walking and talking. Talking was difficult though, because unless you were a level 3 or up, you couldn't talk to a level 1 or 2 without supervision by an upper level. This provided two problems -- many lower levels were left by themselves during PE, and upper levels were overwhelmed with people needing supervision.

"Worksheets" were the buildings behind the kitchen for punishment. Depending on the correction, you had to write 3,000-24,000 word essays, and the staff would sit there and count each word. I wound up missing 6 months of school because of this, and although I got caught up, many girls got behind in school because of worksheets. The teachers at the school were competent, but it could take up to a week to get assistance, especially from the math teacher -- there was one teacher for each subject, and they had signup sheets pages long.

I could write every stupid rule out, but I think the most ridiculous was not being able to look at the opposite sex. Upper levels and staff would actually watch our eyes to see if they moved towards wherever the boys were located, and even if it was a split second, you got a correction. The standards were much more lax on the boys' side though -- the boys were basically allowed to look, and even tried to talk to us a few times. We were forced to keep our heads bowed whenever they were around, it was degrading.

I was accused of giving sexual looks to boys during my first Discovery seminar, this was pointed out in front of the group and I was 'chosen out'. To this day, I don't know what I did to lead people to believe I was trying to get boys' attention, except the fact that I was scapegoated almost my entire time there for being overweight and "goth".

None of the staff in my time there had completed college -- some had gone into the military, but the psychologist was incompetent, and there was an extra fee to see her. There was nothing therapeutic about the staff. Some were nice, others were downright abusive or mean. There is no staff list on the website currently.

Speaking of the website, all but one of the photos used are not located on the actual CSA property. The photo of the big white house used in promo is actually the Belmont Inn in Abbeville -- at least 10 minutes from CSA. Even the brick house in other galleries is not what it leads the parents to believe. It is the office, the students live in double wides and trailers.

A few hundred feet from the girls' trailer is a mansion owned by one of the investors; the seminars are conducted in his basement. This guy is really creepy -- he's at least 50 years old, and took one of the upper level girls out driving in his car by herself.

The upper levels lived in a section of his house for a time until it was discovered they were drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and having sex after hours. If someone were doing these things in my house, I would know, so why did it take one of the upper levels coming clean for it to stop? That's just really fishy to me, as well as Narvin Lichfield's (the supposed owner) less than stellar records. I'm not an expert, but the man has been in a lot of trouble regarding scams and abuse of the program.

The worst, by a long shot, was the medical care available at CSA. Or the lack thereof. I as well as several other girls got walking pnemonia, but nothing was done to treat it; we were not even allowed bed rest. It took me four months to fully recover.

I didn't menstruate for over a year, after several months I brought it up to my family rep, and she told me that it was normal for a lot of girls, despite my complaints of phantom cramps and lethargy. Had I been treated or even examined, maybe I wouldn't be on hormonal medications for PCOS, and maybe I would be able to have children in the future without the help of medication.

But that was not the worst -- probably half of the girls were on medication of some sort, and sometimes the medications weren't filled on time, or had been stopped without the patient's knowledge. I was on 60mg of Paxil, and had to go a week without it, despite severe withdrawal.

There was also no detox program for girls with true drug addictions; a girl arrived when I was at level 3, and I remember her crying and vomiting the first few nights from heroin withdrawal. Another girl had to get her appendix removed, and she got an infection from the staples being loose (something along that line). One night, the staples came out, and the night staff just put them back in and used office staples despite her screaming. Nothing further was done.

Sometimes it took up to 6 weeks to get a doctor's appointment, but the parents have to set it up, so it's useless to go through the family rep. Sometimes the staff would refuse to give out things like Dimetapp (because of possible alcohol content) or Tylenol.

To make this very long story short, medical care was not properly administered or taken seriously.

I've been out of the program for five and a half years now, and I still have nightmares. I've met other students at my university that were in the Program, and all of them have the same horrible memories and fears I do.

I urge every parent who is considering putting their child into a WWASP program to look into the complaints and testimonies not offered on the website or other propaganda. Get the whole story. Don't throw away thousands of dollars on something that will make you and your children a slave to TASKS jargon, look into every other option.

The things CSA claims to offer are what every parent wants -- self esteem, respect, and integrity, but this is a play on emotions. CSA teaches conformity, fear, and all for one. They pit students against each other to break them down emotionally, and rebuild them. We call this "programming". WWASP is a cult, and cannot be allowed to continue.

The facility closed down in 2009. Later there was an investigation into animal cruelty when dead animals was found on the abandoned campus.

Sources:

• The original testimony (From CAICA)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

OM at Carolina Springs Academy and Tranquility Bay

This testimony was published in the WWASP survivors group on Facebook by OM who maintains all rights to this testimony.

I am really glad i found this group. I was at CSA (Carolina Springs Academy) for 8 months. I was taken by escorts the day after my 15th birthday.

I made it to level 3 then ran away. I got 5 miles away and then they found me. My mom told them to send me to Tranquility Bay in Jamaica.

Tranquility Bay was very dirty. I didnt want to eat the food there so they sent me to OP where we were kept in tiny rooms. We were only allowed to lay on mats on the floor, the floor was covered in ants. We were not allowed to sit up except for during meals, and if we spoke out of turn they would get violent.

I was restrained by the staff several times for practically no reason. They would grind my face into the hard floor, twist my arms around and crush them on the floor with their knees, and they poked their elbows into the backs of my knees and ground those into the floor also. The more you screamed the more they would hurt you. The guys and girls were separated, but i could hear screams of terror and pain coming from the boys section.

The day came when they took us to get out passports. I had only been there a few weeks but I looked emaciated with dark circles under my eyes, I didnt look like the same person. several other girls and I were taken to the american embassy to get out passports. I refused to sign my passport, I did not want to be in jamaica. I requested to talk to someone from the american embassy. they let me talk to a lady. I showed her my bruises and told her the horror stories. she informed me that they had heard many stories like mine and they had unsuccessfully been trying to close the place down. She said child protection laws were different in jamaica. I gave the lady my moms phone number, and told her to tell her what was going on.

When we got back to the facility they put me in isolation. The only reason they did that was because i hadnt signed my passport. I was in isolation for two weeks. Didn't get to talk to a single person during that time. I was just laying on a mat on the floor trying to keep my mind entertained. I would visualize my home and all the good memories I could remember, I would picture every place I had lived and every memory there to try and pass the time. After a while I felt crazy and began to hallucinate and see faces in the walls. After 2 weeks of isolation they moved me back to OP.

I was in Jamaica for about two months, in the program a total of nearly 11 moths. My mom was schocked by what the embassy told her and arranged for me to come home. My mom didn't recognize me when she saw me again. I was too skinny and sick looking, my skin was bad from their nasty cheap soap, My hair was like straw, and my nose would bleed every time i tried to eat. I was so happy to be free. correctional school was one of the worst experiences of my life.

Sometimes it feels like there aren't many people who understand what we went through. thanks for reading my story, I would love to be friends with people who have been through similar experiences. Even though its been 7 years it still haunts me.

Carolina Springs Academy was closed due to stricter regulation of the boarding school business in South Carolina. After the closure dead animals was found on the former campus due to possible neglect. Tranquility Bay closed down after introduction of stricter passport rules which prevented minors from being sent out of state without a valid passport.

Sources:

• The original testimony from Facebook
• Factsheet about Carolina Springs Academy - Fornits Wiki
• Factsheet about Tranquility Bay- Fornits Wiki

Book: New Bethany

Book cover

Testimonies collected by Mr Roger Kiser by The American Orphan Foundation

Picture perfect on the outside - let us take you inside

Confined to a remote Christian boarding school the students experienced a somewhat alternative version of the love and compassion Jesus told the world about.

Read their catching stories and understand that you don't know how it is to live at a boarding school.

A reader named "dulcikraut" wrote:

I can say before I even reading this book ALL the accounts are the ABOSOLUTE TRUTH of US who participated in comiling this book. Anyone who would doubt the reality of each and every account or question the truth about is simply showing thier own ignorance. There all too many witnesses to deny the horiific truth and we stand as one voice. This book is just the tip of the iceburg of how girls and boys were mentally, physically, emotionally, molested and raped at the hands of adult staff members of New Bethany. Some Abuser's are named some not. But they know who they are. I pray that the children hurt so severly by them will be able to grow strength to completly expose them all. May justice and truth be heard.

Thank you Roger and Rhonda, New Bethany Surivors for all your hard work to get this published, this is a vital turning point for us to finally come forward to help bring awareness as The Whitehouse Boys and SIA - Survivors of Insitutional Abuse. I am honored to be a part of this, Together We Are One Voice. These places must be stopped.

Source:
Product and webshop page on LULU

Bryant at Carolina Springs (from tbfight.com)

This story was originally written on a webpage called tbfight.com, which sadly is not online anymore properly because the boarding school closed sometime in 2009. All rights and credits goes to the author Bryant Hudson, who posted the original story on tbfights.com.

My name is Bryant Hudson. I am a former student (prisoner) at one of the WWASPS programs, Carolina Springs Academy(C.S.A), located in South Carolina miles away from any towns, villages or even major roads. Although it is advertised as a proffesional treatment center for troubled teens, most teens incarserated, as well as myself, find themselves in more of a concentration camp than anything else.

I've heard the horror stories of Jamaica's Tranquility Bay, and Mexico's High Impact. I personly met several students from TB, and I've got to be honest: the WWASPS facilities in the United States, from my experience, are not ran much better. There were no trained proffesional staff whatsoever. No proper education techniques. We, too, attempted to teach ourselves out of old tore up school books (many times several pages were missing). There were ridiculous and pointless rules for everything; EVERYTHING! We were forced to walk on eggshells and look over our shoulders every day while the staff (consisting mostly of minimum-wage-paid men on a power trip) waited with they're fingers crossed for us to break the rules. Breaking the rules led to worksheets, and worksheets led to OP. OP led to restrainment, and restrainment led to severe beatings (we'll get into that later). We were punished for anything you could imagine, including simple every day actions like sitting or standing (without staff's permission) reading, drawing, looking out windows(that weren't barred or covered up) and, yes, even talking! Our basic human rights were taken away, along with all of our legal rights. We couldn't listen to the radio or watch the news. Phone calls were completely forbidden; even newspapers were contraband. The truth is murder convicts on death row have more freedom than we did. Then there were the poor living conditions: cold showers, no doors on the toilets and no swower curtains. No water pressure and poor plumbing. The facilaty was overcrowded. Constantly the staff would take half the boys dorm to a horse stable miles away from the actual facility in a desperate attempt to hide us from DSS. Any medical needs were either ignored or responded to five to six weeks later. When I first arrived there was a serious stomach virus was going around. Everyone who caught the virus were shoved in one tiny room and were given apple juice, no medicine. When I caught the virus I was accused of withdrawing from Cocaine.

Cruel and unusual is the only term I can think of to describe the extreme forms of punishment they used. Although I spent about three months straight in worksheets, I never found myself in OP (observational placement), but I heard the stories, and I heard the screams. If walking past the tiny building, we could hear kids begging the staff to stop. No one really spoke about what went on in OP. I know what I saw, and I saw kids come back after days, weeks, or even months in OP with black eyes, broken glasses, carpet burns on faces, cuts, bruises , and bloody noses. I think the evidence is right in front of us. Untrained staff are restraining kids not even half their size and illegaly beating them. There is somthing seriously wrong with that!! With my own eyes, I saw one of my peers being choked by a staff member because he got out of bed without permission. This man still has a job at C.S.A. On one occasion everyone (exept upper levels) were forced to stand up against the wall with our hands behind our backs for four days and three nights because the directer of the boys facility accused a student of ejaculating in his food. Even though he had no proof we were all punished. When kids were being sent from South Carolina to High Impact or Tranquility Bay, the staff would taunt and torment them until the escorts came. We were often told that our girlfreinds or personal freinds back home were dead and would laugh about it. When one of my close freinds really did die I didn't know if it was real or another sick joke.

That is just a taste of the psychological torment I endured for eleven months at C.S.A. I never really told many people about it. In the program, any information you give to your parents about what is really going on is disregarded as a manipulation letter,and you are punished. I gave up after one month.The reality is that parents are conned into sending their children to these programs with promises of changing their teenager's lives.The truth is they have no idea what is really going on. They have no clue. Those of us who went through this cannot be bitter towards our parents. WWASPS is the real enemy. They are an empire built on conning parents out of there money, not helping teens. When I found this website, I was very encouraged that people are actually speaking out against WWASPS. I am so glad the truth is finally being revealed. It's verry condescending how the WWASPS website shows pictures of kids having fun and how most of the pictures on the website are not even taken at the facilities!

I would strongly advise parents who are considering sending their kid to a WWASPS progamto look at the facts. Four of the facilities have been raided and shut down, and the ones that are open are constantly being investigated and sued on charges of abuse and not having proper liscense. Does that sound proffesional to you?

Aftermath: After more than 10 year the authorities closed the boarding school in 2009. They tried to open under a new name, but it didn't work out. When aminal care groups visited the campus in 2010 they found animals in a such condition that they had to take them into care. The animal abuse case is investigated, but none cared to investigate whether something out of the ordinar happened to the teenagers, who had to live there for many years. Animals count more than human lives

References:
Datasheet about the boarding school from Secret Prisons for Teens
The original story (Cached version of tbfight.com - may take a while to load)