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Human Earth Animal Liberation
126 SW 148th St Ste C100-422 Seattle, WA 98166-1984
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HEAL HEAL’S MISSION STATEMENT HEAL is an egalitarian network of activists self-empowered to plan events, create change, and make the world a better place for all life. Our goals include the liberation of humans, nonhuman animals, and the earth! We work in cooperation with like-minded organizations that put compassion in action! |
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| Prison Reform | Human Liberation | Earth Liberation | Animal Liberation | |||
CINNAMON HILLS YOUTH CRISIS CENTER LOCATION:
ST. GEORGE, UTAH This program is confirmedly abusive. Below are multiple statements regarding atrocious abuses at this facility. Please do not send your child to this program. If your child is currently enrolled at Cinnamon Hills, rescue them immediately. Here are the statements regarding abuse. ONE GRANDMOTHER’S STORYBy
Helen Daniels My
grandson spent 7 months in 2002 at Cinnamon Hills in Utah. He is
mentally disabled. His
family and he lived in California and it was an 11 hour drive to go see
him. Cinnamon Hills told us that even if we had driven all that way, if
he misbehaved while we were in route, we would be turned away without a
visit with him. On several
occasions when we visited him, he would have bruises up and down his
spine from being restrained. the restraining could come from something
as minor as kicking his bed. If
his did the least little thing, he would be put in a room for punishment
and not allowed to come out till he was ready to "behave".
My daughter went once for a visit with her son and he was missing
a tooth. she inquired about and was told "he fell in the shower.”
She asked if they had taken him to a dentist and they told her
"not until he starts to behave". My daughter got very upset and told them that even prisoners
get medical attention. My
grandson stuck to the story about falling in the shower until another
boy from Cinnamon Hills was a patient of my daughters and he recognized
her and told her that the staff was restraining her son and he was
having trouble breathing (he has asthma) the only defence he had was to
try and bite the one restraining him, upon that the staff member shoved
his head to the ground so hard and broke the tooth. These
people who are staff members are built like gorillas and my grandson
weighed maybe a 100 pounds at that time.
These kids were not allowed to look at members of the opposite
sex or they were punished, had to keep their heads down when a woman or
girl was present. My
grandson was forced to wear girls sneakers and we could not bring him
anything different. We were
not allowed to take his picture or use our own cell phones and let him
call and talk to his siblings at home.
No one other that this boys Mom was allowed to phone him and that
was once a week and could only talk to him for 5 or 10 min and the calls
were always monitored from staff. My grandson also had a fungus on his feet that was even on the tops of his feet and we were not allowed to bring in medicine for it, they would take care of it but never did. I would hope that anyone reading this to not, n o matter how desperate, put their child in Cinnamon Hills. I
give my permission to HEAL to use our story regarding Cinnamon Hills.
Everything is true to the best of my knowledge and experience. ONE AUNT’S STORYBy Bonnie SivyerI was not abused at Cinnamon Hills but my nephew was. You may have already heard from other members of my family who've found your site but I wanted to put in my two-cents worth just in case. My nephew spent over a year at this facility. His mother and grandparents live in California so driving to Utah to visit him was a long drive. The staff at Cinnamon Hills can deny visitation at any time and did so on several occasions, only notifying family members when they arrived that he had 'misbehaved' and was being denied the visit from his family. This was much more like a prison than a Behavior Modification Center! One can only imagine the frustration of driving for days only to be told at the last minute that you cannot see your child. This policy gives the facility a prime opportunity for abuse since parents are only allowed access to their children at the facility's discretion. During one visit my sister noticed that her son's front tooth was missing. She asked why he had not seen a dentist and they told her it was because he had not behaved and therefore could not leave the facility to see the dentist. Denying medical care should not be a consequence of one's behavior! My sister is very proactive in her son's care programs and is used to being very involved in his treatment. This system was new to her and since he was in another state he was out of her local jurisdiction and she was completely at a loss as to how to deal with this situation. She was ultimately able to retrieve her son from Cinnamon Hills but she did not retrieve the same son that she had left there. He was now afraid of people and behaved like an animal that had suffered abuse; hunkering down when approached, and other fearful behavior. He refused to speak about his tooth and what had happened. She had been told by Cinnamon Hills that he had slipped in the bathroom but he would not comment on it. After his release my sister, who worked in a hospital, received a patient one day that was a prior resident of Cinnamon Hills. This patient recognized her from her visits with her son and asked her if she knew what happened to her son's tooth. This person claimed to have witnessed the entire event. It seems the staff had 'restrained' him for what they arbitrarily deemed unacceptable behavior. Several staff members participated in this restraint effort which makes no sense to me as this child can't weigh more than 90 pounds soaking wet! Apparently they got 'a little rough' during the restraint which resulted in knocking out my nephew's tooth.
My sister returned home and told her son that she knew what had happened to his tooth but didn't tell him what she knew. She assured him he was safe and asked him to tell her the truth. She did not lead him in his response...only created a feeling of safety in revealing the truth. His first response was "I misbehaved"...when prodded further he told the exact story the witness had provided. His family was never told of this and was in fact denied visitation until his mouth had healed enough for him to be seen by them.... Meanwhile they concocted the story and used fear to persuade him to go along with their made up stories about how this had happened. This is the way I recall it being told to me at the time. I plan to forward this site to my sister so that she can write her own version, which would be straight from the horse's mouth. I advise anyone who is considering long or even short term placement of their children in ANY facility, regardless of the state, to first investigate the facility and make absolutely certain that you, the parent, have the right to have regular visitation and access to your child regardless of the child's behavior. Contact with parents is ESSENTIAL to any behavior modification program and taking away that right from a child is emotionally abusive!! I
would also recommend that you ensure the facility is governed by
state and local laws and that a patient advocate for the
governing bodies is available to investigate any concerns parents
may have regarding the care of their child. PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO BE PLACED IN CINNAMON HILLS!! IT SHOULD BE LISTED AS A CONFIRMED ABUSIVE FACILITY AND NO CHILD IS SAFE IN THEIR CARE! Thanks for hearing me out. I give permission to HEAL to use our story regarding
Cinnamon Hills. Everything
in my statement is true to the best of my knowledge and experience. ONE
MOTHER'S STORY By
Mary S. I
am writing on behalf of my Daughter. She is a resident of Cinnamon
Hills. She is a victim of Child Abuse from her Father and when she
began to get in trouble she was sent to A Wilderness Camp in
Pennsylvania, and when that didn't work, the Judge sent her to Cinnamon
Hills in Utah. She was only soposta be there for 9-12 months.
She has been there for 2 years now. She is scheduled to come home
shortly, but I'll believe it when I see it. Every time she gets
close to coming home they come up with another reason why she can't.
They have placed her on a medication called Effexor XR for depression,
which in turn caused side effects such as insomnia, weight gain,
constipation, headaches, & aggravation so they in turn placed her on
sleeping pills. She was bullied by another pier to give her the
sleeping pill and when she just couldn't take it anymore, she
caved in and gave the pill to the girl. My Daughter was
scheduled to come home the following week but because of that she
received a two month suspension. I had already purchased he
airline ticket to come home, which was going to be reimbursed, but that
didn't happen. She gets in trouble if she can't sleep but when I
tell them to stop her medication, which is causing the sleeplessness
they just argue with me, and give me a run a round about signing papers
to have that done, but I never get the papers to sign. Another problem
is, (and I have witnessed this first hand when I was out there to visit)
is that she was not allowed to go to the bathroom when she asked to.
There is always a waiting list which takes twenty minutes or more to go.
Just last week, they ordered her to start drinking more water for her
constipation and when she did, and had to go to the bathroom, and had to
wait so long before they would let her, she wound up wetting herself. This
has been going on now for a few weeks. I am sure that did wonders
for the self esteem of a sixteen year old girl. Also while I was
out there visiting, I asked about what kind of qualifications and
experience that the staff had ,but they just ignored me and I was told
that I just had a chip on my shoulder. They go through staff like
crazy.. Can't seem to keep them. They are always advertising for
help. She is getting off
her suspension Nov. 2 and now they want to send her to a Group Home for
another six months. There isn't a bed available at the place they
want to send her so she will have to wait another month to leave. She
is not an alcoholic or drug user. She just had the misfortune of
having a Father who was a Child Abuser. I live sixty miles
away from her Father, and they want to send her to a place that is
closer to him than to me. She needs to be home with me in a loving
and nurturing environment, and not with more strangers with more
problems. She is a straight A student and needs to get on with her
life and school. I have written to the Judge, and the head of
Probation, and Congressmen and anyone who will listen, but it doesn't
seem to do any good. If anyone can help me get my Daughter home,
please help me. She is a good kid, but the system is going to ruin
her. "Everything in my statement is true. I give HEAL
permission to use my statement." SURVIVOR REPORT #1 By
Jolene M. (You may e-mail
questions for Jolene by clicking
here.
*Abusive/Offensive Messages will NOT be FWD'd.) Hello
my name is Jolene Morgan, my statements are true and correct. I
give HEAL full permission to use the statement as follows: First
of all I would like to say that I am now 25 yrs old. A
MARRIED mother of 3 beautiful wonderful little boys. I have NEVER
used drugs or alcohol even now. What is done is done, and in the
past I am writing as part of a healing process since there was never
real closure when I left I never got to voice my opinions or feelings or
thoughts and now it is my turn as an adult to let them know the damage
that they caused to so many I choose not to continue to be a victim I
hope you choose the same for your child. I "lived" at Cinnamon Hills for 11 months in
98-99. The abuse that was suffered by several people myself included is
beyond belief in some cases, There
are so many instances of abuse that it's hard to keep an accurate
account for all of them for after awhile they all seemed to blend
together in a monotony of repetition. Several occasions I can recall
are: 1.)
One night in the beginning of December, 4 girls (I will not say who)
were made to strip down to their underwear and lay face down on the cold floor.
While the "staff" opened all windows and doors to let in the
"night breeze". They sat there till almost 4 in the
morning the next day they were not allowed breakfast or lunch. Their
crime?? Talking after bedtime 2.) Two girls
were taken to the gym and told to stand against a wall while the
"staff" threw basketballs at them if they moved they where
made to run 2 laps around the gym. Then were put back in their place.
One of them happened to be my roommate when she came in (at 5
in the morning) she had a bloody nose and was crying. They told her
unless she wanted to do it again tomorrow she had better shut up and go
to sleep. She then over slept by 10 minutes and was jerked out of bed
and made to stand on her tip toes in the corner until we were all
dressed to go to breakfast. Then she was lead to the sink and made to
brush her teeth over and over until we came back from breakfast. Her
offence?? Saying she was tired of looking like a hick with the wrangler
jeans and prison shirts. She wanted her clothes. Her and her friend then
were talking about their favorite outfits they had at home and it was
considered "war stories" 3.)
One girl was constantly harassed by the "staff" about her
weight (given she weighed almost 400 lbs) they would say thing like
*Becky you eat last, we have to make sure there is some for everyone
else sometimes they wouldn't even let her go to lunch making her stay in
the g2 girls unit (lowest rooms) and do school work. Then they would
bring her back HALF of what we got and tell her to not complain they
were doing her a favor. I will NEVER forget the time ONARAY (a
staff member) said "you fat, tub of lard bitch you stink go wash
your cooch before I hose you down myself".... we all sat in stunned
silence as Becky got up and went to the bathroom while Onaray WATCHED to
make sure she scrubbed her privates. 4.)
Of course there were the favorites of the treatment center,
the ONLY ones allowed to make it to all star (top rank of CH)
I think we only had 5 at one time out of 40-60 girls or more. If
you stepped out of line for even a second you were quickly "narked
on" by these girls not that they were to blame what little
privileges they were given would have been stripped if they were even in
the same room with the offender and did not say anything to a staff
member about the alleged crime there were several instances where people
did it just to be vindictive and powerful. (erhmmm APRIL) 5.)
I was accused of a "runaway" plan with 2 of my friends it
was true enough we had talked about it BUT they claimed to have
evidence (which we were never allowed to see) they claimed that it was
found during a "raid" of our room though none of us to
this day had any evidence at all written down it was all in our mind. I
was told that I flushed the rough draft down the toilet and was made to
sit with my head in the ring for 4 hours the whole time denying the
offence when I wouldn't give in they brought in April (an ALL STAR) who
then claimed that she SAW me throw it in the toilet (a total
impossibility since there is only barley room for one in there and I
ALWAYS had the bathroom door closed for what little privacy I could get)
not to mention the event never occurred in the first place. She swore up
and down and that's all they needed to punish me. Me and the 2 other
girls were then put on "belt status" where we were led around
the complex at ALL times buy an extended belt I was actually humiliated
in front of the boys in our choir performance when the "staffer"
Erin made me bark the whole first chorus to colors of the wind. 6.)
I was never allowed visits from my family ONLY All Star and G1 girls had
that privilege though I made it to g1 status there were
"hidden" ranks within the ranks. The ones who did make it
either KNEW they would never get a family visit since they would never
be an All Star or knew they could kiss enough rear end to get
maybe just one. I only got to G1 (still on belt status) for my personally
damaging very detailed speech I had to give on my rape when I was
14 yrs old. My therapist at the time was Garcia. (He has since died)
said I had to include all details and then made me read it over and over
to him every session he also hung a sign around the necks of his girls
with their "problems" several "problems" he claimed
I suffered from a combination of the following: Emotionally unstable, Borderline
personality traits, Sociopath, Chronic liar and Attention seeker as well
as Sexually confused and Nymphomaniac. Well when I came home all of
these traits and problems seemed to disappear. I have not once had an
issue with any of these (now or before or ever.) 7.)
On Christmas day there were supposed to be enough presents for all of us
(2 each) but when we got to the gym to open them 2 people were
presentless they were told Santa said maybe next year so as a joke a
staff member went out and wrapped tampons and pads and some soap and
gave it to the girls while others got camera's walkmans and batteries
for our rec time (2 hours on Friday night IF you had no incident
reports) and of course almost everyone had at least 1. The presents
where not to be used traded or otherwise handled w/o permission. We then
went back to our rooms and went to bed. Life
was very hard there among other things there were fights among the girls
and humiliating confrontations with staff and don't even get me started
on swimming in the green pool. I find it exhausting to complain anymore
about people I don't find worth my time. But I wrote this all out for
you guys hopefully you will see the truth and stop them before any more
people get abused unnecessarily. 8.)
When I first got there they ONLY had Samoan people as staff... gradually
we got white black and Hispanic staffers. But it was only after we made
complaints daily if the abuse some days we were actually sat on for
talking back and these people were not light in the smallest since.
People were made to hold their legs straight out for hours at a time
anytime someone would mess up everyone started over we were not
allowed to sing or would have our mouths washed out with soap we
were not allowed to talk to our families if we did not give a full
list of the things we could and could not talk about BEFORE we were
allowed to use the phone. We were allowed 10 minute calls and ONLY our
parents were allowed to talk to us if there was a person change
even if it was not our fault we were restricted from phone usage
indefinitely. People
that had no history of drug or alcohol abuse were still made to
participate in AA and NA meetings and told to associate their lives with
the meetings basically find SOMETHING wrong with yourself and point it
out to the group for evaluation and "help" again as I said
there was so much abuse its hard to talk about it all these are things
that just stick out from memory. SURVIVOR
REPORT #2 By
Rebecca Gensel
If you would like to submit a report on Cinnamon Hills to HEAL, click here. |
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