Archive | October 2013
28/10/2013  

179. Elan School

The facility opened around 1970. For more than 30 years teenagers suffered at this so-called school. Teenagers were thrown into a boxing ring where they had to defend themselves against not only one opponent but as many who could fit into the ring. They were severely beaten. Confessions were forced and often untrue. A man even had to go to jail due to a murder he was forced to confess and only got freed after a lengthy legal battle.

Words cannot describe slightly how awful it was to be teenager forced to live at this place.

Sources:

Update 2016:

Late 2016 authorities reopened the investigation of the death of Phil Williams Jr. who died shortly after one of the “boxing matches”. It is not clear how the authorities will conduct the investigation because purposely mismanagement of his treatment and death was allowed by people in the public system back in 1982 where Elan School enjoyed political backing

Source:

Maine police are looking into a claim that a 15-year-old boy who died three decades ago had been forced to participate in a boxing match at a now-closed school for troubled youth (USnews)

26/10/2013  

178. New Bethany Home

The New Bethany Home actually covers the facilities in Louisiana due to the school being forced to move around every time the authorities began to investigate them.

They have been located near Longstreet, Walterboro and Arcadia. Mack and Thelma Ford were managers. Two employees Olin King and Robert King were convicted of false imprisonment but managed to get on probation instead of jail.

It didn’t sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

Sources:

24/10/2013  

177. Red River Academy

Red River Academy located just outside Lecompte in Louisiana is regarded as one of the remaining boarding schools which uses the WWASP curriculum using some kind of psychodrama as tool when dealing with troubled teenagers. Daylong seminars combined with a lot of use of restraints fill the daily life of the students which is isolated from their family most of the time while they are forced to attend the program.

It does not sound like a fun place to be as a teenager.

Update 2018

Late 2017 an employee was convicted of obscenity for criminal sexual conduct involving a student (DeRidder man pleads guilty to obscenity at U.S. Youth Services KALB news). A number of lawsuits can be found on the Internet. The school seems to be inactive. The school changed its name to US Youth Academy

Sources:

22/10/2013  

176. Grace Christian Home & Academy

Grace Christian Home & Academy was located near Shreveport in Louisiana. The program had almost no students arriving willingly. The girls oddly had to earn the right to talk to their own family.

It didn’t sound like a fun place to live as a teenager.

Sources:

20/10/2013  

175. Kids Helping Kids

This drug program made use of host families and was very much a copy of Straight Inc. which closed after a number of lawsuits earlier. Among the founders several had a past in Straight. The same amount of claimed abuse continued in Kids Helping Kids.

It couldn’t have been fun to attend this as a teenager.

Sources:

18/10/2013  

174. Spectrum Care Academy, Inc.

This facility is marketed as a residential treatment center for minors. In the public is mostly known to claimed to have control of the treatment of 16 year old LaKeesha Cline who ran away and died being hit from a car. Her illness should have been handled by a facility suited to her needs. Second an employee had a relationship with one of the teenagers.

Sources:

17/10/2013  

173. Beulah Mountain Christian Academy

The facility was closed when alleged abuse came to the knowledge of the authorities. Due to technicalities two employees were aquitted of abuse. The facility made no secret of the use of corporal punishment.

It could not have been fun having to attend this place as a teenager.

Sources:

16/10/2013  

172. Tipton Academy

Tipton Academy was owned by the same people who also ran Meadowlark Academy. Both facilities closed at the same time. DHS in Kansas started an investigation which led to the closure of the facilities in short time.

What they found is not known but the investigator back then called the situation shameful.

It could not have been fun having been forced to attend this school as a teenager.

Sources:

15/10/2013  

171. Meadowlark Academy (I)

This isolated academy was located in Delphos, Kansas

In this isolated town a number of teenage girls were sent by their parents so they could live a lonely life shunned from anything normal teenage girls experience. The loneliness cannot even be imagined.

If they acted up or tried to escaped they were warned that they could be sent to Jamaica to an even worse facility named Tranquility Bay which still was in operation back then. The facility closed in 2011.

It was not a fun place to be teenager.

Sources:

14/10/2013  

170. The Stanbridge Earls School

The boarding school founded 1952 specializes in teaching of student suffering from dyslexia, dyscalculia, developmental coordination disorder and mild Asperger syndrome.

Unfortunately the students also held new students accoutable to a local code. Among the strange incidents was a 12 year old student who was ordered by the other students to undress in front of them.

The school would close in 2013 and start over under a new name.

It didn’t sound like fun being forced to attend this school as a teenager.

Source:
Boarding school at centre of sex abuse claims to close (Daily Telegraph)

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