Very seldom there is a testimony with a good outcome. This is one of them. All rights go to the author.

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I escaped being gooned. This is how I did it

This is the full story of my experience. I’ll create a separate post for advice since this one is already really long.

Some info on me: I am female but I identify as a transman now and go by he/him. I was not out as trans to anyone when I was sent off. At the time I was 17 years old 5’7 and 135 lbs but I’ve always been quite strong even without exercise. I was sent away because my father was cheating on my mother and I confronted him and told her about it. He didn’t like that so he made up some bs about me being a terrible child and sent me away as revenge. He even manipulated my mother into helping him. I live in the southeastern US and I was supposed to be taken to Open Sky in Colorado by Right Direction Crisis Intervention.

I have problems sleeping so I was awake and just about to go to bed when they knocked on my door at 5:00 am. My parents were standing there along with a man and a woman. Their names were Demetrius and Sharlene. I’ll refer to them as D and S. If anyone else has had experiences with either of them please let me know in the comments. I’m curious to know how it went.

I was somewhat nervous so I wore my hiking clothes but I didn’t fight back yet. I just went along with it and got in the car with two strangers. In the back of the car I didn’t speak much, I just started planning and braided my hair up tightly so it would be out of the way.

I had already decided to stop eating and drinking by the time we got to the airport. I wanted to make sure I had a way to escape in case I was going someplace truly terrible, even if that meant dying.

D was just annoying at the Airport and joked about me getting raped while S acted like a straight-up nonce. She kept commenting on my appearance and how good I looked. And when whenever I had to use the bathroom she’d insist on staring at me until I demanded she turn around. I tried my best to ignore them both.

The flight was awful. I think it was caused by me being sleep-deprived, but I had an extremely painful headache on the flight. I was both exhausted and in pain which made me pissed off. I decided I’m not going along with this anymore. When we landed in Dallas TX and got off the plane I sat down at one of the seats at the terminal and refused to move. D and S both berated me for a while and asked the plane to wait, but I shouted for them to just leave because I wasn’t coming, so they did. S then went and rented a car. I still wouldn’t get in it so they called the cops for assistance. The police tried to convince me to get in the car but I told them politely that I’m not going. They started surrounding me. I was falling asleep because I was so exhausted, but I was suddenly awoken by D and the cops all grabbing my limbs and running off with me.

I flipped the fuck out. I was terrified. I figured that if they were so desperate to get me to this place but wouldn’t tell me what it was then I must be going somewhere truly awful. I assumed that my parents had sold to a cartel for trafficking and I knew I’d rather die than experience that.

I slammed the cops around while they were carrying me. There was one cop was holding each of my legs so I kept slamming them into each other trying to knock them over. But they still managed to get me to the car where they struggled for about 15 minutes to even get me in the door. There were six cops plus D, so I was fighting seven large men at once. I had so much adrenaline going that I was extremely strong and everything was going in slow motion. At one point I remember looking over and seeing this super buff cop holding into my forearm and somehow I was able to pull it back from him fairly easily.

I would have preferred jail, hospital, or death to what I thought was human trafficking so I kept kicking the cop that looked most annoyed in hopes that he’d either shoot me or arrest me but he wouldn’t.

They eventually got me in the car. D soon joined me in the back while S drove. I obviously was in a lot of pain so I requested D take me to the hospital. He refused. I requested he let me talk to my parents. He refused. I asked to talk to police again. He refused. I informed him that regardless of whether he currently had custody over me, it was still illegal to deny me medical treatment. He chose to ignore it but said I was a good debater…

I was even more scared at this point. I started banging on the window trying to attract attention. D told me if I banged on the window one more time he’d kill me. I absolutely could not resist and I banged on the window one last time…so he slammed my head into the door and started strangling me. He stopped eventually but only after my vision had started turning black and I’d gotten a large cut above my eye.

I never actually attacked him. I continuously tried to escape and defended myself when he attacked me for it. It wasn’t at all a fair fight. I was hungry, thirsty, sleep-deprived, and injured from the struggle with the cops. He tried to rip my hair out but the braid I’d done prevented it from even hurting. He also went for my throat again but I’d learned to keep my chin down. I managed to get a good bite on his forearm and sank my teeth into the skin until he ripped his arm away.

At some point, I determined that I was more likely to survive a car crash than a fight with this man so I tried to grab the wheel. D pulled me back and threw me on the floor. I was on my back with my knees forced up to my chest. He sat on top of me and pushed down. So the weight of my legs, his entire body weight, and the force of him pushing down were all on my chest. I couldn’t inhale fully and started to suffocate and eventually passed out. When I regained consciousness he had gotten off me but was laughing and pointing out to S that I was ‘’playing dead’’.

As I was starting to get weaker and closer to death I’d stop trying to brute force the escape and asked to stop and go to the bathroom. We stopped at a gas station where I didn’t try to directly call for help because no one was really close by, but I did fake faint right on the gas station floor. D scared away anyone who tried to help and demanded no one call an ambulance. He and S literally dragged my limp body back to the car and for some reason, absolutely no one thought that was suspicious enough to call the police.

D put me back on the floor of the car but a few minutes later started to act strangely nice again and told me I could sit on the seat. I tried to sit up but realized my neck muscles were so broken I couldn’t lift my head to sit up. My entire body felt broken and useless. It was at that point I realized brute-forcing my way out of this wasn’t going to work.

So I talked. I asked D many questions. We talked about religion and death. He told me all about how evolution wasn’t real and talked about god. I told him he’d already lost because I’d be dead soon and that I was not afraid. Take my body but you can’t take me alive.

I asked him about his childhood and family life. He said he had children my age. He also said he’d done bad things when he was younger and that he used to beat women. When I asked about his childhood he literally started crying and said he wished he’d had more time with his parents. So I asked if they were dead. He looked at me dead serious and said “No.” I was absolutely bewildered by how stupid of a person I was interacting with. If your parents are still alive just go visit them…

About an hour after the first rest stop I asked to use the bathroom again. At this rest stop, I was determined to ask for help. After I got inside I collapsed on the floor against one of the walls and refused to move. A few people came inside and I begged them to call the cops. All of them including an army soldier ignored me. D wasn’t able to just grab me and put me back in the car because we were in public. Infection and likely sepsis from my bite on his arm had turned the whole thing red and puffy. He noticed it but was too dumb to realize what was wrong with him. D didn't know what to do so he called his manager and asked her. I yelled at them that I wanted to talk to police. She said in a cocky tone that he could call the police because they’d just put me back in the car. So D called the police.

And unsurprisingly they didn’t put me back in the car, they called an ambulance because I was dying. D and S followed the ambulance until we got to the hospital. They tried to come get me but were kicked out by cops and told their papers weren’t valid there (this was still in Texas). I was treated at the hospital and then taken by CPS who screamed at my parents for doing this to me. My mom was forced to drive all the way over to come get me and I was allowed to go back home.

Back at home, I was starting to fully feel my injuries. Every muscle in my body was wrecked. It was so painful. I bent down to pick up my cat one time and just collapsed on the floor and had to drag myself upstairs. It took almost a month to fully recover. Even after I was physically recovered I was still in shock for a few weeks after. I was scared they’d come back to kill me. So I had a manic episode in which I completed the last goal I had on my list which was creating an animation. I worked on it for days straight until I would collapse from exhaustion. I barely ate anything. I was so happy when I finished it so that I could be at peace when they came back to kill me.

But they never did. (I asked my parents and they told me I was kicked out from Open Sky and banned from Right Direction.) After that the happiness and mania quickly faded because now I would have to live with the trauma. Since then my anxiety and depression has gotten much worse and I developed an eating disorder and PTSD. I had one PTSD episode where a man told to move to a different seat at an event and I got triggered and came so close to trying to kill a man over a stupid chair.

When I point out to my parents that most of my mental health problems from this even. They tell me to get over it because it wasn’t that bad… my relationship with them was pretty much ruined by this.

But despite the trauma it’s caused me I have no regrets and I fully believe I would have been more traumatized had I actually gotten to Open Sky and been trapped there for months.

Thank you for reading. I know this post was really long. I’m happy to answer any questions in the comments.

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Source:
The original testimony on Reddit

Abducted from a hotel

This testimony was found on Reddit. All rights goes to the author known as Meeeesta. We can only imagine how traumatic it can be to have two strangers entering your room armed with taser etc.

Not sure if this will be as crazy as the other stories in this sub but I have been to 3 different facilities in my year 17. It started on August 10th, I had some minor substance problems. Smoking weed a few times a day, branching out to lsd, cocaine and of course vaped like a madman.

I was up visiting a college, UMaine to be exact, and my parents were planning on sending me to a boarding school for my senior year of high school after struggling to accept that I’m a daily substance user. I was incredibly depressed at the time though it was impossible to tell considering I was always pumped full of smokable dopamine. Sober moments were the worst. Being left alone to my own thoughts was probably the most terrifying thing for me. Constantly would think about the mistakes I’ve made in my short time on earth. Theft, meaningless relationships, bad grades, and how I was affecting my family.

Ok anyways, It was August 10th 2018, and was up visiting colleges. I was substance-less because I don’t have my drivers license and couldn’t pick anything up before we left. This probably affected my mental state because when I got an invite from a friend who was only a 35 minute drive away I freaked out. I was so happy because he just happened to be in Maine and said he had an ounce on him. I asked my dad and immediately was shut down because he knows my friends are all heavy smokers. After a lot of arguing I said fk it and got out of the car and just started walking. Well that turned into a lot more walking than I expected. With nothing but flip flops I ended up walking 22 miles in 18 hours with tons of breaks and stops at restaurants to ask for tap water (I had no money on me).

I knew the police had it in for me, no way my dad was going to legitimately let me walk all the way to my friends house. So yep, cops caught up with my location eventually and despite my valiant efforts I couldn’t outrun them all. One of them ended up stepping on my flip flop, breaking it, and adding to my myriad amount of blisters from walking with flip flops. I got taken to a psych ward immediately after for “suicidal tendencies” which isn’t even true, my dad probably said that.

Well I was in the ward for 5 days, till August 15th to be exact, and I didn’t get through the program in 5 days that would be really impressive. Instead my parents decided to pull me, I was ecstatic because August 15th actually doubles as my day of birth! I had some chick-fil-a as my first meal out and couldn’t have been happier. We went into our hotel room and I got my phone back. I began texting all of my friends that were worried about me going missing for 5 days. I told them all is well, BIG mistake. 10 minutes after getting my phone my dad leaves the room for what seems like an extreme amount of time.

I look up and bang 2 massive guys are entering my hotel room. So many thoughts rush through my head, my first instinct was that I’m being taken away, I had a feeling but didn’t think they would do this to me ON MY BIRTHDAY! Immediately I clutch my phone tightly and grab the lamp to my left. HELP HELP IM BEING KIDNAPPED, I shouted over and over, people were knocking on the door trying to find out what was going on as I wrestle these behemoths. I ended up destroying as much property as possible over these guys besides the tv, fucking monsters they were, glass bottles didn’t even phase them. Eventually a lady keys the door open to see fat albert sitting on my arm as I continue to clutch my phone. “CALL THE COPS” I tell her knowing it’s a futile effort, I was not going to make this easy, that was my philosophy. Eventually the bigger guy put my arm in such a painful hold I couldn’t bear the pain any more. Thinking back I should’ve let him break my arm. I coughed up my phone and agreed to work with them when the 2nd guy pulled a taser out saying they don’t want to cause any more commotion. I got into the car and willingly flew 5 hours out to Utah.

My parents had sent me to a Wilderness Therapy program on my birthday. Yep, this is my life now I thought as the workers take all of my belongings and zip them up into bags, giving me some used and some new clothes that I would be wearing for the next 60 something days. I’m going to stop this here but if anyone wants to hear about how my wilderness went / how I’m doing today I will make another post.

Source:

My story [long] (Reddit Troubled Teen Message board)

Being transported to Majestic Ranch Academy

December 4, 1995 - First Encounter

Today I was going home. That is what I thought when I had awoken that December morning in Gresham, Oregon. A month had passed since my entry into Pioneer Trails Treatment facility. I had completed the 30 day drug rehab program that I had been sent to by my parents in Washington. The staff all congratulated me as I got closer to my departure from the treatment facility. I felt proud and encouraged that I had completed the program and was finally going to be going home. But that is not what happened that day. I didn’t go home. I went to hell. A day that was supposed to be marked by change and hope for sobriety was instead made into a real nightmare I could not wake up from. The nightmare continued for the next seven months, a horror story so inhumane, most shy away from the sadistic details that are my memories. A sexually abusive, mentally and psychologically deranged owner of multiple boys’ behavior modification camps held captive over a hundred plus boys, me included. That day marked the last day I felt any security, the last day I would be allowed to hope or even smile. That day turned into one I would never forget.
Dan Peart, The Majestic Ranch for Boys:

The Untold Story of a WWASP Survivor

My hands were sweaty as I maneuvered my wrists painfully behind my back. The handcuffs were tight around my wrists, digging painfully into my skin. I was seated in the backseat of an 1998 Oldsmobile Delta that held the distinct smell of vomit and urine, nauseating and burning my eyes as it smothered the air around me. In front of me sat Dan Peart, the man that I would grow to hate, the man who would change the rest of my life. In the driver’s seat sat the inbreed sexual predator I knew as Rick. Rick, I would learn, took part in raping, molesting and sexually assaulting over half of the boys at Majestic Ranch for boys. This “school” that claimed to be a paradise for children ages 9-18 was instead an imprisonment camp geared towards hopeless parents and troubled youth. The directors as well as all the staff employed at Majestic Ranch for boys (formerly Old West Academy) had knowledge and in some cases participated in the various abuses upon the trouble teens made to live there from months and often years. Moreover, not only did the founder of this particular “boarding school” or “behavior modification” facility know about these grievances towards the youth at Majestic, Dan Peart, Owner, endorsed and encouraged them as well. He showed his dedication to his money making scheme and his loyalty to his affiliates like Robert Lichfield (Proprietor/Founder WWASP) by instigating the most heinous sexual and physical abuses, molestation, brain washing and overall manipulation of every child to endure a stint at the Majestic Ranch for Boys. Not only did he instigate it and condone all the abuses towards the young victims, he thoroughly enjoyed it. As of today, Dan Peart and his affiliates have served no jail time for any of the crimes they committed towards their victims. Most recently, Mr. Peart has been applying for Permits within the state of Montana, where he and his wife own a hotel, that will permit the transformation of said hotel into what he is hoping will be the opening of yet another one of his torture camps.

Kidnapped….what else would it be called?

We arrived at the airport in Oregon where I made my last dashing attempt at escape from these men I saw only as kidnappers. I had never seen them in my life, nor had I had a conversation with either of my parents telling me I would not be coming home. Quickly breaking free, I ran up to the nearest security officer I could spot, begging him please to help me escape these maniac kidnappers that had taken me from the treatment facility only hours before. To my relief the officer then turned to Dan Peart and placed handcuffs on him, placing him under arrest. If I only knew now that this would be the only time in the next nearly 20 years he would be in cuffs I suppose I would have tried a little harder to dramatize and delay boarding the airplane.
But this was all too bittersweet as Dan Peart provided custody paperwork to the security officer that implied his legal ownership over me. The officer looked down at me with pity yet began reaching for his ring of keys. Many kids had come through hollering the same spiel as I had, screaming my unlawful detention by these kidnappers. Custody paperwork and “transport men”, as they were referred to, were coming through airports and train stations toting a single paper that decided our fate. These Men, sometimes retired police offers and military personnel were showing up in the middle of the night, stealing young children from their warm American beds. A single signature of consent concluded the custody paperwork of both my parents. Their signatures were on the “contract” that placed their parental rights into the sole custody of a child abuser and sexual predator, Dan Peart.

In hindsight, I think many of us WWASP victims of Majestic Ranch would have taken any opportunity to impose justice on him via hand grenade, sawed off shotgun or simply use his own tactics of starvation and neglect to eliminate him. If we had known there would never be any justice for us. If I had known, or my parents had known maybe then things could be different. But the World Wide Web and Google didn’t exist yet so this couldn’t truly be foreseen. But now? Nearly 20 years later…and nothing? What happened to our justice system…who forfeited my rights and the other nearly 20,000 youth who have gone through these WWASP camps? As it were, at 15 I had no one that would help me, nowhere to go. My parents had already been successfully convinced of the saving graces that Dan Peart promised to deliver. A completely conformed youth when I came out, as their Old West Academy website so broadly GUARANTEE’s. I guess hindsight is not that great when you’re looking down twenty years of successful manipution and abuse, facing countless victim allegations and have yet to spend a day in jail. Understandably, we are unable to see the future or change the past, but we are able to look at the atrocities of both and find truth and knowledge in what we can prevent. Prevention can begin today, at any moment as we sit here and are aware of what is going on in the rural areas throughout this country…as we stand by and parents continue to send their “troubled youth” to camps like Majestic Ranch (still open and actively enrolling students) allowing perverts like Dan Peart to have complete and uninhibited access to your child.

Lesson One in Behavior Modification

I watched the snow fall sideways outside that dusty Oldsmobile window. I yearned for any clue or inclination of where I was being taken to and for how long. Every question I asked was answered with the same response. I was told we were heading to the airport to pick up another boy like me. An “out of control” adolescent that would soon know the true meaning of Behavior Modification, as I surely would. After hours of travel we had finally arrived at Majestic Ranch for boys located in Randolph, Utah approximately 150 miles from Salt Lake City. Again, my instincts were to fight or run away from these goons that thought they were going to confine me in a camp that I had not consented to. My attempt at an altercation led to my first punishment while at Majestic Ranch. I spent that first night being punished through what was called consequence continuum, a part of their behavior modification practices. Blackened toes hung over the 2'x3' milk crate I warily stood on. Besides the jet lag, sleep deprivation and ever increasing hunger, I had been standing on this milk crate for nearly two hours commencing my first punishment. My shoes and socks had been taken from me as part of my punishment as well. Thin clothing hung off my body wet and turning to hard packs of ice, white snow continued to fall around me. Cold stung my red nose, while dropping temperatures nearly -20 degrees began to rattle my body in painful spasms. I stayed on that milk crate for another three hours, my muscles literally frozen in painful contraction. Dan Peart, apparently satisfied with my punishment, brought me into House 2, where I would stay for the next six months. After such a brutally exhausting day that ended with five hours frozen on a milk crate you would think that I would have went right to sleep. That was not the case for me. I spent that first night emotionally broken, blindsided by the sudden change in my parents decision to not let me come home and instead begin entry into this boys camp without a word of warning.

The original testimony (ireport CNN)

Book: The Dead Inside

The book is about the stay of Cyndy Etler in the so-called drug rehab Straight Inc. Today known as a rehab program which destroyed more lives than it helped, it was considered one of the best rehab programs for minors when it was created.

The book provides a deep insight in the cult environment which founded the basis of a program where it never was about healing the teenagers but just proving whather ever lose assertion parents might had about possible drug use of their children.

Buy it here:
Source Book or ask for it at your local bookstore using the ISBN-number: 9781492635734

Thinking back

This comment was found on a message board. All rights goes to the original author:

It was terrifying. I was woken up by two large men I had never seen before. Nobody else was in the house, I know because my screams for help were met with silence, and when I eventually got outside, I saw that my Father's truck was gone. They forced me, naked, from my bed, and made me stand naked in front of them while they searched my clothes, only allowing me to dress after they handed each article back to me. They stole my cell phone, and I was unable to call my Mother for help. They drove me away under cover of darkness, in a blacked out car, and told me that if I made a scene I would be "dealt with". I still have nightmares of being taken from my bed, and the idea that that could happen to me again plagues my thoughts, even though I've long been an adult. It is also the #1 reason I am a gun owner; I will never allow that to happen to me again. Try and take me, I'm putting a fucking bullet in your head.

Source:
Escort experience (Reddit message board)

Transported from New Jersey to Colorado

This testimony was found on Reddit. All rights belong to the original author. She was lucky only to be zip-tied instead of being shackled. There is a reason for the transport firms telling the parents not to be there when the transport takes place:

Hi there everyone. I'm a 19 year old female from the United States. This is the first time I've ever told my story on the internet/ shared this with strangers.

When I was 16 years old my parents signed over legal guardianship of me without my prior-knowledge. While sleeping on an average summer night, I was awoken at 3 AM to the lights being turned on in my room. A large man and women stood there. I shot up in bed and reached around me to grab my phone- my phone was gone, my laptop which I normally watched TV on until I fell asleep was not in my bed anymore as well. I began to cry. "Where are my parents?" as I desperately tried to comprehend what was going on. They moved closer to me and began reciting a prompt, "Your parents have signed away your custody. You will be coming with us. You have 5 minutes to get ready." I pulled the covers over my head and began to sob. I couldn't comprehend why this was happening to me. I hadn't done anything wrong. I was a fairly good student in school; a very average 16 year old girl. They told me that I would have to ask my parents. "So where are my parents?" "Let me talk to my parents! This isn't suppose to be happening, this is a mistake." They told me that my parents had already left the house. I begged them to let me call them and they refused and told me to get ready. They yelled at me to put on clothes, to get dressed because we needed to leave. I asked them where I was going but received no response.

I first began to realize the seriousness of the situation as I changed out of my pajamas and into regular clothes while they stood there and watched me. They then led me to the bathroom and watched me pee. All I had on me was the clothes I was wearing and a pair of sunglasses. I was prompted to put my hands behind my back and was zip tied. I was led out of the home I once viewed as safe, the home I had spent my entire average suburban life growing up in, and into a van parked in my driveway.

I couldn't comprehend what was happening. I was shaking and sobbing so badly as if somebody close to me had died. I wanted to run away as I desperately tried to scheme of ways to escape. Now I live close to an airport (about 30 minutes away- tops), but it felt as if we were driving for hours. I wasn't recognizing the area we were in/ anything outside. It was pitch dark and I so badly wanted to open the door and throw myself out of the van, but I knew they would catch me. I was scared that if I did not comply with their orders, I would experience worse repercussions later on. What those were? I was not exactly sure at the time. The entire car ride was filled with my blubbering tears. They wouldn't answer my questions. I was being treated as if I were a hardened criminal.

Two hours later, we arrived at an airport. Mind you, with each step throughout my journey my thoughts were racing. Could I escape? Could I text somebody to save me? Could I convince somebody to help me? A stranger? What could I even do to get out of this situation? But in all reality, I knew if what they had told me was true, I was trapped. My parents had given me away. As we entered the airport, the captors had their arms around mine. With my hands still zip tied, they produced my passport to security and badges of some sort which allowed them to take me through the airport in quick fashion. Despite being in public, I was sobbing and they kept telling me to shut up. I tried to contain my tears but I couldn't.

I finally learned where I was going when we boarded a flight to Colorado. I'm from New Jersey, so you have to imagine how I was feeling only five or six hours after I had first been taken out of my bed that morning. My entire life was changing before my eyes. My dreams, my aspirations, my future summer plans, my friendships, my boyfriend at the time, was all melting away before me. There was nothing I could do to change anything. At the time it felt like I was watching everything I loved disappear. It was now early morning and we boarded the flight. My holders did not let me pee without standing in the stall with me, so once on the plane, when I asked to use the bathroom, the female transporter held the door open with her foot and watched me as I peed. The flight was a blur as I sat there welling up inside tears pouring down my face. I tried so hard not to cry. I don't even remember if people were staring or looking at me. I just remember sitting on this flight unable to comprehend that just a few hours prior, my life had been seemingly completely normal. I was so blindsided. Not to mention- I am terrified. I have no clue what is happening or where I am going. Will I ever talk to my family ever again? Will I ever lay in my bed again? Will I ever get to hold my dog? Go to prom? Get asked out on dates? Hug my friends? There were so many questions I couldn't grapple not having the answers to. After the flight ended, we went through the airport and boarded another flight. This time we entered a tiny skipper plane heading to another area of Colorado. This is when I finally really lost my shit. It was early afternoon by now, and on only three hours of sleep and beyond traumatized as fuck, stressed, hungry and drained, I spent the next hour of a flight sobbing like a fucking baby. I recall wondering what everyone else on the flight was thinking as it was a tiny plane with only tops 30 seats. The transporters slept or tried to. I looked around me wondering if I should ask somebody to text a number for me or beg a stranger for help, but be it zip tied and unsure of how asleep these people were, I was too scared.

We exited the plane on the runway because the airport was a very tiny building with only a few gates. Once in the airport building, we walked up to two women holding a sign. The transporters then untied my bound wrists and without a word- walked away. I was too drained to even consider running. I felt emotionally dead. The two women led me to the parking lot, we got in the car, they locked the doors and began to drive. I asked them where we were going, trying to remain calm in order to get the answers I needed to hear, but they ignored me and just had a conversation amongst themselves. I remained in silence for the first time since my ordeal had began on that early 3 am morning. I tried to figure out what I was going to do/ come to terms with everything. Only 15 hours prior, all I had known of life was the suburbs I grew up in and the expectations I had had for my life. It's weird because even then, I somehow knew I would never return back home for a very long time.

After driving for an hour, we eventually entered a tiny town- modern civilization. My heart lit up with hope. We parked and they led me out into the building which turned out to be a doctors office. I was in such shock and so confused but I didn't ask any questions. The doctor looked at my pitifully red, tear soaked eyes with sympathy. It was now around 5-6 oclock in New jersey at this point, but maybe only early afternoon (maybe 2 or 3 oclock in Colorado). I tried to smile back at him, but I didn't concern him with my problems as he obviously seemed aware of whatever process this was that I was experiencing. However, this was the first sympathy I had seen throughout my entire ordeal and I broke down into long weeping sobs as he took my blood. He just patted me on the back. I remember I kept imagining what all of my friends were now doing at home. Did they know I was gone? What were my parents doing? Once we left the doctors, the two women continued to drive and we arrived at a shopping center with a Mexican restaurant. "I'm not hungry" I told them. They told me that this would be the last good meal that I would ever eat for a very long time and that I better take their offer. While eating, I looked around me as normal people laughed with their families, couples enjoyed their meals with their dates, and kids my age cooled off from the summer heat. Nobody could even imagine what I was going through. I was so alone. The women enjoyed their conversation as I sat in silence.

We eventually went back into the van and continued to drive for another 30 or so minutes. Then we arrived at a shack. I remember thinking that I was at some sort of commune or something... I was so confused. Inside there were 40 or so hippie looking people, chatting, eating- dressed in hiking/ out-doorsy clothes. People smiled at me as tears silently rolled down my face. I was led to a sketchy storage room. The two women left and a very mean and angry women entered. I decided this is where I needed to be logical- I was going to completely pull myself together as it was the first time I had been alone with somebody one on one. "Where am I?" I asked her... she did not respond. "Is there any way that you would please let me call my parents, I think that this is a terrible mistake." I tried to explain that I am a very good normal average sort of kid etc. She told me that she could not and that if I was there- than this is where I was suppose to be there. "Please just let me call my parents, I swear this is a mistake." When she again told me no, I tried to hold it together, but I began to sob all over again. I couldn't control my sadness; I had never experienced such sadness in my entire life. At this point I was asking myself what did my life even mean anymore? What was the purpose of being alive if I had no control of my own life? I hadn't done anything wrong. She asked me to get naked and I did and squatted/coughed for her. She took all of my clothes- my bra, my underwear and sunglasses and handed my a plain red t-shirt, cargo shorts, hiking boots and hanes granny underwear and child's unpadded sports bra. She then pulled out a tarp and began making a Yukon backpack. You place all items on the ground on top of a flat tarp- then you precisely roll up items with tent tarp and tie it with a chord and intertwine in cloth straps. (I later became a pro at making this thing). When the backpack was finished she told me to pick it up and carry it (it weighed around 50-60 lbs). Between being so exhausted, emotionally drained and not use to carrying the self-made hiking backpack, my shoulders ached. I honestly recall just feeling dead inside. We walked out to the van and she placed the pack in the back and told me to get in.

We drove for about 15-20 minutes to a very wooded area. We pulled into a sandy pit and she told me that we would be walking a mile and to tie my hiking shoes well. I put on the large pack and began to follow her through the wooded trail. It is now around 5 oclock- but it still seemed like the early afternoon- the sun was blazing bright and I remember that birds were chirping a bunch etc. Eventually I began to hear voices in the distance. We soon approached a group of the dirtiest girls I had ever laid my eyes on. These girls looked around 13-15 years old. They were covered in dirt and were all laying around a cleared out area playing in the dirt (I later learned they were fire busting)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNLGW9uG2fE - this is part of what it takes to get out of the program we were stuck in. The girls looked at me with such sadness and sympathy. However, one girl approached me with a big smile on her face. She introduced herself to me along with two staff members. The woman who had walked me to the sight had the guides sign off on some papers and walked away. Nobody else spoke to me out of the 13 girls who were there because as I later learned, you were not allowed to speak or interact with a new person until they made it onto the first phase of the program unless you are their assigned big sister. Total mental torture.

All in all I ended up living in this hippee wilderness program for eight weeks. Time was the scariest aspect of all because we didn't know how long we would be there for- there was no set duration of stay. Along with this we were not allowed to know what day of the week it was or the time of day that it was. We showered once a week via boiling hot water. We would fill our water bottles with the water and take hand soap with us to a tarp and clean ourselves behind it with the dirty sports bra we wore the week prior. We were given two sets of every clothing item other than our underwear, which we had 4 pairs of. Minus the underwear, we changed our clothes once a week aka super disgusting because we hiked every day and lived outside. Our sources of water were lakes, ponds, cow poop holes etc and it was purified via chemicals which the staff held. Our water was filled with living visible bugs and moving worms, leeches and dirt/actual cow poop. And We drank it. That was that. I'm not complaining, like it was water. Our food was moldy and we carried it in the heat and changed it out every week. Each week we walked for miles all over the Colorado forests- sometimes ending up 50 miles away from our base sight by the end of the week. We would then be driven or walk back to the base sight and spend two days there to shower, get more food dropped off for us etc. We were never left alone. When we used the bathroom we would have to yell our name every few seconds so the staff knew that we were not running away. At night, they took all of our shoes, rain gear, jackets etc so we could not run away (many kids did though anyway). We slept in our individual tarps with a sleeping bag- there were no pillows. We could never talk to another fellow group member without a staff hearing or listening to our conversation. If any of these rules were broken.. the longer we would be there for. There were so many other crazy things and rules that I could try to describe, but it would just take me too long to give an accurate description or to explain everything well and its getting pretty late at night right now as I'm typing this out folks.

But my journey did not stop there. After my eight weeks in this program, I attended the "boarding school" my parents signed over my legal guardianship to. This prior program unbeknownst to me was just a pre-requisite for going to the "boarding school" in Montana. This entire time throughout my journey, I was unaware of what I was destined for and when this hell would end. This is truly what is so hard for me to even be able to describe, the feeling of having absolutely no control of anything in your life. The boarding school was border line abusive and emotionally/mentally affected me in many ways. These effects still leave me devastated at times and have caused me to struggle with making friends with other people in college. Although I am a pretty average, normal, smart, good looking female, I feel as if I will always feel like a bit of an outsider or at a different stage of life from those in my age group. This experience has also cost me my relationship with the guy I love more than anything. It plagues me at times because I do have some emotional effects from this experience that I cannot really describe. This is why I am actually writing this post. I thought it would hopefully in a way be therapeutic for me.

To summarize the rest of my tale- after attending the boarding school for 19 months- I finally left. This place had no phones, no computers, no sense of any normalcy of regular life. Just as before like in the wilderness experience, there was no set duration of stay- you never knew how much longer you were going to be there for. There were very strict rules at the school, yet in contrast to the prior place, nothing was straight forward at boarding school. They manipulated us by not allowing for the rules to be written down (the number one rule was that there was no rules- by living there you agreed to everything!). This meant that at the drop of a pin, the word of a staff, or the change of one persons mind, something, anything, and everything became against the rules. We could not read, we could not listen to normal music, no tv, no radio. All of letters to parents were read, we were told what our problems were and had to accept it and work on these things or we were told we were in denial.

I am now a year and a few months out from this terrible ordeal. I know I am a normal human being, I've just had to deal with a very difficult situation and compared to most I think I live an incredibly normal and functional life. I feel like most would have fallen apart or would not be standing in the place that I am in today. It was an incredibly rough situation, but despite the negative impact it has left on my life, it has also changed my life and me for the better in many ways.



Source:
The original testimony on Reddit

book: Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began

This book is about a girl who come out to parents explaining what the sex of her future partner should be.

She is put into controversial gay conversion therapy.

It is not about a specific program. It seems that a family should see to that she was fixed.


Source:
Link to a page where the book can be ordered (Amazon.com)

Book: Reform at Victory

We were happy to learn that the school that once was named Victory Christian Academy and housed the now deceased author Michele Ulriksen is closing. For many too late. For decades this school and the people behind it had made life miserable for the girls who happened to be captured inside it.

The book "Reform at Victory" is the story about how the author lived through the difficult years when she was forced to live locked up on the campus of the school.

The school was placed in California until an accident killed one of the girls and the authorities forbade the management from ever running a school in California again. They moved to Florida where religious school could do whatever they liked until the free and independent press decided to investigate the boarding school business in Florida and found evilness which forced the authorities into action. Being put under pressure the management decided to close their school before they could be forced to do it.

Sadly Michele Ulriksen is no longer among us. The past she the school gave her was a heavy luggage to carry through life despite her actions to write it down and put it on paper.

She would have been happy to learn that the school is closing. We can only hope that she is happy where she is now.


Sources:

• Reform at Victory (Homepage of the book)
• Michele Ulriksen (Red room)
• Christian girls' reform home closes after Times investigation (Tampa Bay Times)

Book: The Discarded Ones: A Novel Based on a True Story

This novel by James Tipper explore the CEDU schools as they are seen through the eyes of the student Charlie Hoff. Boarding schools where you are not free to leave. Endless marathon therapy sessions looking more like psychodrama rather than healing therapy.

A reader named Thomas J. Cray writes the following review:

Nailed it!

James Tipper wrote the book that every student who graduated The C.E.D.U. School would like to write. I was happily surprised that no hidden agenda skewed his honest descriptions of that time and place that we have all tried to share with our family, friends, spouses, children. His memories are spot-on. He dug deep and was able to paint a complete picture that honestly depicted student and staff, for better or for worse. He also showed his exceptional writing skills - "The Discarded Ones" is a page turner!

Source:
The Discarded Ones: A Novel Based on a True Story (Amazon book store)

Book: Dead, Insane or in Jail: A CEDU Memoir

This book by Zack Bonnie tells the story about how to be forced to attend a CEDU bording school.

All the CEDU schools closed around 2005 after a number of lawsuits were issued by parents and former students.

Also several students disappeared never to be found again. Some of the children were most likely murdered by a serial killer James Lee Crummel who had unrestricted accesss to one of the campuses. To this day there are families out there looking for their relatives.

CEDU was founded in 1967 by an owner of a furniture business, who after a brief stint at Synanon created the first school in California where the main tool for transforming the children into the products their parents ordered were attack therapy.

The founder died in 2002. The school were sold but closed only some few years later due to the lawsuits.

The book provides a good insight into how it was to be a student in these special schools. After the original schools closed the concept were transferred into other schools where some are open even today.

Sources:

• Website about the book
• Article on Goodreads

Arkansas stops use of torture device, but across state lines it is another story

The State Juvenile Ombudsman Scott Tanner has ordered stop of the use of the WRAP restraint system in the states juvenile prisons.

However the unregulated youth transport industry can continue to use the system when they move teenagers around other states.

We find that the lack of federal guidelines may endanger the teenagers and urge the politicians to work for introduction of the federal legislation covering this area.

No teenager should travel for hours in restraints without courtorder. The mental results of being forcefully removed from will haunt the teenagers for the rest of their lives.

Please approach your local politicians and urge them to interfere.


Source:
State Urges Arkansas Juvenile Detention to Stop Using WRAP Restraint (Ozarks First)

Epileptic girl could be at danger in a wilderness program

A recent plea from a step-parent was found on the Internet and it is quiet alarming. A girl suffering from epilepsy was put in a stressful situation far away from health services which are needed to help her overcome a possible seizure.

I looking for anyone who has good information on SUWS of the Carolinas.

My step-daughter is being held there. She was "escorted" there by a transport service 23 days ago. We are trying to get her released and need more information on the conditions of the camp.

She has epilepsy which is a concern, because her seizures are triggered by emotional stress (psychosomatic). We have had a phone conference with the Judge to request her release into our care. The judge doesn't seem to have an issue with awarding us custody of her, as our state says that any child over 14 can request a modification of custody. (Her mother is currently the custodial parent.)

The trouble we are facing is that the judge does not want to release her in the middle of a "therapeutic program" for fear of causing psychological harm. We are looking for good evidence to support that keeping her there would cause more harm than good. We submitted a letter from her psychiatrist that says removing her should not cause harm, but he is not convinced. We have a full hearing set for November 26th.

I am looking to paint a picture for the Judge of what the conditions at SUWS are really like because he just doesn't get it.

If anyone is willing, I need good information on living conditions, hygiene practices, meals, restrictions, pack weights, etc.

Can you help me, please?

That is quiet alarming. People with epilepsy are at an increased risk of death. This increase is between 1.6 and 4.1 fold greater than that of the general population. One of the key issues is stress. Being removed in handcuffs and leg restraints will cause stress. While people suffering from epilepsy are recommended to wear dark glasses being hooded to prevent the participants in wilderness programs to see where they are taken will be a huge risk provoking a seizure.

If a seizure occurs in a wooden area like the one SUWS of the Carolina, the paramedics could face difficulties to land their helicopter and save her life.

We know that a judge will have to rule in this case. Please release this girl now, so she doesn’t end up dying from a seizure far away from the emergency services which could save her life.



Sources:

• The meassage on Reddit
• About the illness on Wikipedia

Age of consent does mean something if you get the chance to alarm the authorities

Several states disallow involuntary treatment of teenagers aged 16 and 17. One such state is South Carolina. Here teenagers age 17 can prevent involuntary treatment by alarming the authorities. Then a court has to decide whether treatment is needed securing the teenager minimum human rights.

Some parents are not aware of these laws when they hire youth transport firms to transport their children out of state to a place where there are fewer human rights for the teenagers. If the teenager becomes aware of the transport the teenager can seek legal protection by the authorities. If the teenager is discovered and liberated by the police during the transport, the teenager can sue the parents and the youth transport firm for unlawful arrest.

However many youth transport firms restrain the teenager and prevent them from alerting anyone because they operate during the night and the teenager is prevented from using any kind of communication devices before it is too late and the teenager has left the case.

In other cases the teenager is lured out of the state as part of a disguised holiday. On the Internet one such case found was the disappearance of Miss Parker from Corvallis. The family returned from a holiday without the teenager.

The friends were alarmed but the damage had been done. The legal protection the teenager might had got inside Oregon was not in place in Arizona which is a state were both boot camps, boarding schools and wilderness programs operates and children have lost their lives while they were involuntary placed in such a place.

The laws must be altered so the authorities can order a teenager returned to the home state for a hearing as soon as it is discovered that a teenager is missing. Otherwise the legal protection is of no or little use.


Sources:

• South Carolina Code of Laws Unannotated Current through the end of the 2013 Session
• Facebook group regarding the Corvallis case

How to Avoid Abduction (From: TeenLiberty.org)

TeenLiberty has provide 3 good advices to use if you are put in a situation where two strangers wake you at night to take you to some unknown "treatment" program:

1. JUST CRY RAPE. If you are taken from home, school, or on the street, by "bounty hunters" or so-called "escorts" and find yourself in a public place, such as an airport, just cry RAPE! The authorities will act first to protect you, and ask questions later. You're heading for private incarceration by your parents. Tell the authorities your Right to Due-Process has been violated and ask for a lawyer to represent you. Meet with the lawyer. Sign papers that permit the lawyer to represent you.
   
   
2. FILE EMANCIPATION PAPERS. If you are of the age of EMANCIPATION in your state, pay a lawyer to file Emancipation papers for you. This may be a very simple procedure. It may require that you show that you are able to support yourself. In some states, the legal age is 16. -- One teen who was diagnosed as ADHD hired a medical professional to conduct another test. This "second opinion" showed he was not ADHD. Fearing that he would be "disappeared" by his parents, he paid a lawyer to emancipate him, at age 16. -- He was given a job by friends and moved across the country. "Now," he writes, "I'm living 3,000 miles away from my parents and we're closer than ever!"
   
   
3. NOTIFY THE POLICE. If you fear that you will be sent away against your will, legal experts advise another option: write a statement saying that if you are sent away ("disappeared") it will be done against your will and you will fight to protect yourself and to prevent this from happening. This is not assault and battery. You are defending your life. You have a right to defend yourself from harm. The document should be sent, or hand-delivered, to your local police or county sheriff's department. A copy should be given to a trusted friend and if possible, a lawyer. It should also include all contact information, including your name, telephone number, home address, and city. Parents are often advised by the behavior modification camps and boarding schools to let things calm down.... to catch you off guard. Stay alert. Maintain contact with your local child protection authorities. They will keep a file and record your concerns and fears. This may become part of a future Court hearing that will support your point-of-view.

Source:
The original website

Movie: Fix my kid

A movie is being made about one of the most damaging drug rehab programs which have ever existed:

Straight Incorporated and the copies named Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center (AARC) in Canada, Kids of Bergen County, KIDS of North Jersey, KIDS of El Paso, Kids of Greater Salt Lake, Kids Helping Kids, Pathway Family Center, LIFE Inc., Kids of Southern California, Phoenix Institute, Turnabout/Stillwater Academy, STEP Inc., Growing Together, Inc., Possibilities Unlimited, Life Line Inc., SAFE (Substance Abuse Family Education Inc.), ACE, Proctor Advocate, Yes Families, Second Chance, Operation Re-Entry all used variations of a 4 level system where the teenagers in the system were locked inside warehouses and homes of foster families until they had advanced enough through the system. And the methods used were bullying of those who were on the lower levels by those who had advanced in the system.

It is no surprise that the suicide rate among those who came in connection with this so-called drug treatment program is alarming high. The text below was found of the webpage of the movie.

A Letter From The Executive Producer

In 1983, when I was 13 years old, my parents made the decision to place my 15 year old brother Steve into a program called Straight Incorporated in Springfield Virginia. Straight Inc. was a “family treatment center” that was dedicated to preventing teenagers from using drugs and alcohol.

In the two and half years Steve was in the program, he lived in our house for no more than a total of two months. He stayed on first phase for the majority of his program, which meant while he wasn't in the Straight Inc. warehouse from 7am to midnight every day, he was sleeping at someone else's home -- we weren't allowed to know where he was being kept. At the time, that's all the information I was given about my brother.

Steve ran away from Straight seven times. He was brought back against his will each and every time. Finally, on his 18th birthday in September of 1985, he withdrew himself from the program. Steve was now homeless; neither parent would allow him to come home. He stayed on couches and in an abandoned apartment for the next 8 months. In June of 1986, he checked into a hotel in Springfield and jumped to his death from his 4th floor room. Confused and heartbroken, I was told it was because of his drug use (the same thing I had been told over and over again for the last 3 years before his death).

The years passed; then in 2001, I decided to Google "Straight Incorporated." Browsing the webpages I read stories of torture and abuse, even finding a couple of different websites that mentioned my brother. It was difficult enough to lose Steve, but to relive it all knowing he went through such horror was devastating. This was the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life.

After more research, I came to find out that not only did places like Straight still exist, but many other abusive programs had popped up. It had become an industry.

My first thought was to put up a website about my brother's story to enlighten parents so they wouldn't make the same mistake. Then came the silver lining: I started getting emails from survivors of Straight who had known my brother. People who had amazing things to say about his courage, his strength, and his kindness. How he would stand up for people, knowing he would probably get hell for it. This was very bitter sweet, but I was glad to at least get to know my brother through the eyes of those who were being held captive with him. I also found out by talking to my brother's old friends that while my brother liked to party (like plenty of teens), he was in no way an addict (like I was told), and we had been lied to.

Prior to going into Straight I thought we had a happy family; 3 years later my father had gone, and my brother was dead.

Over the next few years, I met hundreds of survivors and have made some life long friends. During that time, myself, and my friends and fellow survivors Todd, and Alex, began talking about making a documentary about Straight. Fast forward several years, and here we are.

It is our hope that this film will not only promote healing among survivors, but will be used as a tool to educate both parents and professionals about the truth of this industry, as well as to encourage people to speak out and help put a stop to the needless abuse and torture children are experiencing every day in this country and around the world.

-Kelly Matthews

Source:
The webpage of the movie

Movie: Just the Right Amount of Violence

The movie directed by Danish Jon Bang Carlsen provides us with a rare insight in the modern lives of idyllic, peaceful middle-class existence families.

We are shown how real-life transport firms works. The drama which in the future will result in trauma and broken child-parent relationships.

Source:
Just the Right Amount of Violence (Internet Movie Database)

Petition: Outlaw the use of private "escorts" to transport minors to residential treatment centers

Text from the petition page:

Before dawn when I was 14 years old, three large men burst into my room while I was sleeping. As my parents watched, they pulled me from my bed, forced me to get dressed, handcuffed me, and dragged me from my house.

I had committed no crime; these men were not law enforcement agents. Nor was this a kidnapping. My parents had hired these men at the suggestion of a private residential treatment center for the purpose of transporting me to the facility by surprise. These men were professional "escorts", making a living legally abducting minors at their parents request, often transporting them across state lines, as happened to me. I was taken from my home in Florida by plane to Georgia, and then to Texas, on to Nevada, and finally by car to a facility in Utah, where I stayed temporarily before then being transported out of the United States altogether to a facility in another country. This traumatic and dangerous practice continues today, and untold thousands of children are transported in this way every year to facilities across the U.S. and in other countries.

The U.S. Congress has the power and a moral obligation to outlaw this practice. The Commerce Clause of the U. S. Constitution grants Congress the power to outlaw the use of "escorts" specifically and the interstate transportation of minors for psychiatric or behavioral treatment generally, and Congress ought to do so. This practice is dangerous. In many cases, children are tasered, pepper-sprayed, or "restrained" during transport, which can and often does result in broken bones or other serious injuries. Even in cases where children are not physically harmed, this kind of trauma often causes psychiatric issues such as PTSD- issues that can affect these kids for the rest of their lives and hamper the abilities to be healthy and contributing members of society. If parents need help getting noncompliant children into treatment facilities, this function ought to be carried out by trained law enforcement professionals who will be accountable for injuries or mistreatment, and the facility the children are taken to should be located in their own home state.

A society can be fairly judged by how well it protects its most vulnerable members. Our children are our most important and greatest national resource, and ought to be treated as such. Protect our children. Outlaw private "escorts" and the interstate transportation of minors NOW.


Source:
The original petition (Change.org)

Aftermath of having been transported

This testimony has been pieced together by taking 3 statements on Reddit from the same person who had been sent to Northwest Behavioral Healthcare Services in Oregon and Eagle Ranch Academy in Utah.

From the "CALO for troubled teens" thread:

Exactly. That physical and mental "takedown" - so to speak - is nothing that can be noticed by parents touring a property, either, which is why it's so easy to rope them in to the idea of it bettering patients.

I was taken on two separate occasions by transporters - the first program was inpatient therapy and was actually really good, the second was residential therapy and was horrible. My relationship with my parents practically was nonexistent once I got out. I moved out before I turned 18 to try and escape the nightmare I returned to at home but maintaining any contact with them caused me to fear being sent away again, no matter how good my behavior stayed. Once I turned 18 and couldn't be sent again, it got a bit better, but I still resent them for all the awful things I experienced and the year or so of my life I lost in confinement.

Extract from the "What's your experience with programs for "troubled teens"?" thread:

The second place I attended was awful. I was driven from Oregon to St. George, Utah in the back of a cramped car, not fed or taken to a bathroom the entire trip, and teased and mocked the duration of the ride. When I got there, I was so dehydrated and disoriented, that when they asked me to urinate for the drug test, I could not. I was then made to stand in front of my "pod" - group, team, whatever - and drink bottles of water repeatedly while the other students and staff mocked me until I was able to provide a sample for the test. I was threatened that, if I didn't produce urine when I finally had to go to the bathroom, the staff member taking me to test would beat me until I passed out in a puddle of my own piss - a great first day, right?

Question and answer on the "Parents who expect you to look on your time in these facilities as a good thing?" thread:

Qestion:
I went through the book: "Janice's journey" a couple of months ago. I was astounded that transporters like those are allowed. The book is not best english work I have written but the author is also an European who lived most of her life abroad. Did they use restraints on you during the transport. WWASP related transport firms often do that.
http://www.movellas.com/da/book/read/201305181400212959
Answer:
Yes, restraints, they carried tazers, and seemed to very much enjoy roughing me up. It's insane that parents pay for these goons to come and kidnap their kids.

Sources:

• CALO for troubled teens (Reddit)
• What's your experience with programs for "troubled teens"? (Reddit)
• Parents who expect you to look on your time in these facilities as a good thing? (Reddit)
• Factsheet about Eagle Ranch Academy (Fornits Wiki)

Father and son sues teen transport firm and wilderness program

An article in Court House News describe how a boy was sent to a wilderness program against the wish of his father. He was eventually freed due to the intervention and legal actions of his father.

From the article:

Andrew Decter was living with his mother in Manhasset, and was about to enter his senior year, where he played tuba in the high school band and was a technical director of the theater program at his high school, his father says in the complaint.

"Andrew has no criminal record and no history of disciplinary problems in school," the complaint states. "Andrew has never had a problem with drugs or alcohol."

But at 5 a.m. on June 20, 2012, Andrew was awakened by three large men - two of them standing over his bed and the other blocking the door to Andrew's bedroom, according to the complaint.

Andrew tried to escape, but "defendants told Andrew his attempts to leave would be fruitless," the complaint states. "The employees, servants and/or agents of the defendants told Andrew they were taking him into custody and taking him out of his home in New York and to the airport so they could transport him to Utah.

"The defendants told Andrew that they would stop any attempt by him to escape.

"Andrew was terrified and feared for his life

It was a normal reaction the boy experienced. The emotional scars from such a transport can take the rest of the boys life to heal.


Sources:

• The original article (Court House News)
• About Second Nature (Fornits Wiki)

Film-project: Kidnapped for Christ

This movie is about a boy who is sent to a remote Christian Boot Camp because he is gay. The movie follows the attempt to get him out.

The boot camp closed down in 2012 and is now marketed by a different company. It remains unknown if the program still is run in a similar matter.



Sources:

• Homepage of the movie
• Factsheet of the closed facility (Fornits Wiki)
• About the movie (Internet Movie Database)