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HEAL

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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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THE REAL NEWS

This site is dedicated to passing on and reporting the real news. The real news is that which is often neglected by mainstream media and that which you must know to be an informed citizen. We have organized the news by subject. Links to complete reports are in blue. Please scroll down to view the stories or choose from the menu below:

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TEEN LIBERTY/TEEN TORTURE INDUSTRY NEWS

Miss. juvenile detention case near end--June 26th, 2009--A preliminary agreement has been reached in a federal lawsuit that claims youth were abused at a south Mississippi juvenile detention center and forced to live in squalid conditions. For complete story, click here.

Supreme Court Says Child's Rights Violated by Strip Search --But if the student had been suspected of having illegal drugs that could have posed a far greater danger to herself and other students, the strip search might have been justified, the majority said. 26 Jun 2009 In a ruling of interest to educators, parents and students across the country, the Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, on Thursday that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking for prescription-strength drugs violated her constitutional rights. The officials in Safford, Ariz., would have been justified in 2003 had they limited their search to the backpack and outer clothing of Savana Redding, who was in the eighth grade at the time, the court ruled. [Needless to say, GOPedophile Clarence Thomas thinks it's a good idea to strip thirteen-year-olds.] For complete story, click here.

Can Wilderness Camps Kill Your Kid?--June 22nd, 2009--It's an industry that preys on desperation. If your teenager has emotional issues, abuses drugs, or is promiscuous, help is just a phone call away. Wilderness intervention programs promise to "fix" bad behavior by teaching your child life skills and building self-esteem. These facilities offer a beacon of hope for parents like Crystal Manganaro, who sent her son, Matthew, to a wilderness camp outside of Houston. But what Crystal didn't realize was that the camp she entrusted with her son's life would so carelessly take it away. For complete story, click here.

Are Troubled Teens Tortured?--June 23rd, 2009--Yesterday, we brought you the story of Matthew Meyer, a troubled teen who died at a wilderness camp. Today, we bring you the story of Nick Gaglia.

Gina Kaysen Fernandes: Imagine a world where your child is locked away for years, spending days at a time in a windowless room. Communication is shut off and you have no way of knowing about their treatment, which may include being physically restrained for hours on end. This horrifying scenario isn't prison -- it's a voluntary program aimed at treating troubled teenagers.

It's a place where Nick Gaglia spent two and a half years, because "my life was spinning out of control." The residential treatment program known as "Kids of North Jersey" in Secaucus, New Jersey, "seemed like a great fit," says Nick, who was abusing drugs and alcohol at the age of 13. Nick's parents saw advertisements for the program on television and soon enrolled their son. They hoped professionals would get Nick clean and sober so he could put his life back on track. But instead of giving Nick the coping skills he'd need in the outside world, he became a prisoner subjected to verbal abuse, psychological torment, and physical restraint. "I would call it torture and abuse," says Nick, who shared his harrowing ordeal with momlogic. For complete story, click here.

ADHD Drugs Linked to Sudden Death--June 15th, 2009--On that morning, the 54-year-old mother of two living in McAllen, Texas, was preparing to take her eldest son to school. She had an early appointment, so her husband, Rick Hohmann, would be dropping off younger son, 14-year-old Matthew, at his school that day.

About a month earlier, Matthew had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. And like an estimated 2.5 million other children in the United States, he was taking medication for the condition.

It was Ann Hohmann who gave Matthew his Adderall XR pill that morning with a glass of water. But it was her husband who later found him after he had collapsed on the bathroom floor.

"To me, he seemed fine," she recalled. "My husband had seen him walking around, brushing his teeth. Then he walked in and found him flat down on the floor in the bathroom.

"When he turned him over, his lips were blue," Hohmann said.

She said that her husband called her first, and then he called 911. He performed CPR until the ambulance arrived. But it was too late.

"They worked on him for a while, but he was dead," she said. For complete story, click here.

Special Report from VERACARE: How the Pharmaceutical (DRUG) Industry and US Government Promote Chemical Assault of American Children!--June 12th, 2009--This has been a grim week for anyone who cares about the precautionary principle guiding civilized medicine and the welfare of children.

If anything, the Obama administration seems to be pushing the radical pharmacological envelope even further than the Bush administration----at the very least, nothing has changed for the better in the government-assisted determined push to control / engineer America's children.

On Wednesday, an FDA advisory committee gave the FDA a green light to expand the marketing license of three toxic antipsychotic drugs--Seroquel, Geodon, and Zyprexa--for use in children. Such approval gives manufacturers a shield
from liability--for illegally promoting the drugs for off-label use. And such approval ensures increased use of these drugs. Manufacturers and mental health providers will profit while children's physical and mental health will be sacrificed. These drugs pose severely disabling, potentially lethal hazards--including diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease.

The body of evidence showing these drugs to be harmful is irrefutable: it is documented in FDA's postmarketing database, and in secret internal company documents uncovered during litigation.

Did the FDA provide the advisory panel members with the evidence ? And if not, why not?

See, Evelyn Pringle's report, "FDA Throws Lifeline to Antipsychotic Pushers"
http://www.counterpunch.org/pringle06122009.html

An article in TIME magazine http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1903873_1903871_1
903857,00.html gives credence to a not yet released report commissioned under the Bush Administration by a panel convened by the National Academies of Science.

The report, "Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities" (2009) re-iterates the earlier national mental health policy directive under President Bush: The President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2002)--which promoted universal mental screening and the expanded use of patented psychoactive drugs (those listed in industry-initiated, TMAP algorithm prescription guides).

See the report brief to policymakers issued, March 2009: http://www.bocyf.org/prevention_policymakers_brief.pdf

The NAS report also recommends aggressive screening and pharmacologic intervention with toxic psychoactive drugs for children. The provocative, unsubstantiated premise is that mental illness can be detected through genetic screening--a la eugenics rationale--and that they can be prevented.

"Hundreds of studies that have appeared in just the past decade collectively suggest that the brain isn't so different from, say, the arm: it doesn't simply break on its own. In fact, many mental illnesses - even those like schizophrenia that have demonstrable genetic origins - can be stopped or at least contained before they start."

"This isn't wishful thinking but hard science." If the consequences of psychiatry's delusions weren't so serious, that statement is laughable. As every real medical scientist knows, psychiatry lacks even the rudimentary objective, scientifically verifiable tools of science, much less, "hard science."

The TIME reporter is impressed with NAS report weight in pagination: "a 500-page report, nearly two years in the making, on how to prevent mental, emotional and behavioral disorders."

"The [NAS] report concludes that pre-empting such disorders requires two kinds of interventions: first, because genes play so important a role in mental illness, we need to ensure that close relatives (particularly children) of those with mental disorders have access to rigorous screening programs. Second, we must offer treatment to people who have already shown symptoms of illness (say, a tendency to brood and see the world without optimism) but don't meet the
diagnostic criteria for a full-scale mental illness (in this case, depression)....."

According to TIME, the authors of the NAS report recognize but rationalize the reality that mental screens will mislabel healthy individuals as mentally ill:

"Early-detection programs will identify as candidates for mental illness some people who are merely persnickety or shy or eccentric."

Indeed, a responsible reason NOT to screen is the high false-positive rate of mental screens. For example, the false-positive rate of TeenScreen, the mental health dragnet of school children, is as high as 84%.

TIME reports that that the invalid screening tools did not deter the NAS authors from recommending mental screening--even acknowledging that those mislabeled may be prescribed toxic antidepressants and/ or antipsychotics:

"Some prevention programs even prescribe psychiatric medications, including antipsychotics and antidepressants, to people who aren't technically psychotic or depressed....But those who contributed to the National Academies report say preventing the suffering of people with mental illness is worth the risk of some false positives, partly because of the enormous cost of treating mental illness after it's struck."

The NAS report is available online in its unedited version--it has not yet been released. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12480

Former teen counselor gets jail time--June 9th, 2009--A former counselor for troubled teens who was accused of having sex with one of her students has accepted a plea negotiation with prosecutors after turning down a similar deal last year.

Cathleen Crowley, 30, of Rye was sent to the Cheshire County jail in Westmoreland for a month as part of the deal that was finalized last week.

Crowley withdrew her first guilty plea connected to the student’s accusations during a hearing last November in Cheshire County Superior Court.

The plea Crowley and her attorney, Gary S. Lenehan of Manchester, first negotiated with prosecutors would have kept her out of jail.

Judge Brian T. Tucker was expected to hand down suspended, one-year jail sentences on misdemeanor charges of sexual assault and giving alcohol to a minor.

But after hearing the case against Crowley — she was accused of giving the student alcohol and engaging in sex acts with him in her van and a hotel in Keene in 2007 — Tucker said he would reject the deal she made with prosecutors and hand down a six-month jail sentence....The state Division for Children, Youth and Families has substantiated an abuse finding tied to the student’s allegations against Crowley, Assistant Cheshire County Attorney John S. Webb said.

The finding appears on Crowley’s permanent state record and should [but, probably won't] prevent her from working again as a youth counselor or in a similar position, he said. For complete story, click here.

'Orwellian language' in schools turns pupils into 'customers', finds damning report 09 Jun 2009 Schools using the 'Orwellian language of performance management' are undermining teenagers' education by turning them into 'customers' rather than students, a landmark report says today. Teachers who are forced to use phrases such as 'performance indicator' and 'curriculum delivery' lack enthusiasm for the job, the six-year investigation found. For complete story, click here.

Police recruits to be trained at Tranquility Bay--June 4th, 2009--The Tranquility Bay facility at Treasure Beach which was previously used as an offshore reform school for rebellious children, mostly from the United States, will now be used to train police recruits for at least the next two years.

At a meeting Tuesday with Treasure Beach residents and in subsequent response to journalists' questions, Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of administration, Jevene Bent said training "operations" would begin "somewhere in the middle of the month".

The complex sited on two and a half acres of beach front land, referred to by locals as Old Whard, was controversially used for 12 years by the United States group, World Wide Association of Speciality Programmes and Schools (WWASP) as a 'boot camp' for teenagers. It was closed in January.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force's two-year lease on the privately-owned facility begun on June 1. For complete story, click here.

Juvenile safety feared--June 2nd, 2009--Seven juveniles have attempted suicide at Hinds County's youth detention center since January, according to a report obtained by The Clarion-Ledger. For complete story, click here.

Family: Utah too far [and corrupt and evil] to send troubled teen for treatment--June 1st, 2009--The family of a troubled Cole Harbour boy is going to court today to keep authorities from sending him to a youth facility in Utah.

"He’s gonna come back, we’re all (going to be) distant, we’re all (going to be) strangers here," his grandmother said. "We know we love each other. He knows we’re mom and dad, . . . but it ain’t gonna be the same. There’s a distance there."

The 14-year-old boy, raised by his maternal grandparents since he was four, is at a short-term treatment centre in the temporary care of the Community Services Department. If the family isn’t successful, he will be sent to Cinnamon Hills Youth Crisis Center for an undetermined time. For complete story, click here. (To learn more about Cinnamon Hills and abuse, click here.)

Brianna Turnbull Pleads No Contest--June 1st, 2009--A North Platte woman pled no contest to charges she helped a teenage boy escape from state custody and hide for three months. Two felonies were reduced to misdemeanors against Brianna Turnbull. The 23-year-old pled no contest to charges of attempted violation of custody order; attempted juvenile escape, and contributing to the delinquency of a child. Turnbull is the daughter of a Lincoln County Judge. The case is behind handled by a special prosecutor Charles Brewster of...Turnbull worked at the Salvation Army's Quinn Wilcox house in North Platte when she met Kaden Clark-Guthrie of Trenton. For complete story, click here.

Congressional Hearing on Death/Abuse in Schools and Programs Using Physical Restraint--May 19th, 2009-- Click here for the online video from C-Span.

Teacher's aide in Maryland Heights convicted in sex case--May 21st, 2009--A teacher's aide at a school for troubled teens in Maryland Heights was convicted late Wednesday of having sexual contact with two students. Bruce Germany, 55, was convicted on 14 felony counts of sexual contact with a student by a teacher between September 2006 and April 2007. The charges involve two 15-year-old girls who attended Lakeside Center for Troubled Youth at 13044 Marine Drive. For complete story, click here.

Thousands beaten, raped in Irish reform schools--May 20th, 2009--DUBLIN – A fiercely debated, long-delayed investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls in workhouse-style schools for decades — and government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rapes and humiliation.

Nine years in the making, Wednesday's 2,600-page report sides almost completely with the horrific reports of abuse from former students sent to more than 250 church-run, mostly residential institutions. But victims' leaders said it didn't go far enough — particularly because none of their abusers were identified by name.

The report concluded that church officials always shielded their orders' pedophiles from arrest to protect their own reputations and, according to documents uncovered in the Vatican, knew that many pedophiles were serial attackers.

The investigators said overwhelming, consistent testimony from still-traumatized men and women, now in their 50s to 80s, had demonstrated beyond a doubt that the entire system treated children more like prison inmates and slaves than people with legal rights and human potential. For complete story, click here. (Webmaster note: Switch out Irish for American and you will understand America's teen "help" industry.)

Feds end 11-year oversight of Ga. juvenile facilities--May 18th, 2009--Georgia’s juvenile justice system has been released from federal oversight, 11 years after the U.S. Justice Department investigated reports of overcrowding and abuse at the state’s youth detention facilities, the governor said Monday. For complete story, click here.

Counselor accused of sex with teen--May 15th, 2009--A man accused of carrying on a monthslong sexual relationship last fall with a teenager in a school for troubled girls is in Tooele County jail facing seven felony charges.

Kaysville resident Jonathan Carver, 29, and his wife were both working as live-in counselors at the Alpine Academy in Erda during the man's alleged relationship with a 17-year-old female student starting in October 2008. For complete story, click here.

State investigating ab slapping of teen boys--May 12th, 2009--A controversial video appears to show a juvenile justice official in Seminole County striking adolescent detainees in their abdomens.

But although physical contact between officials and detainees is mostly prohibited, the state Department of Juvenile Justice says the boys may have volunteered for the military-style treatment at the Seminole County Juvenile Detention Center.

"There has been speculation that it was used for training purposes," said Frank Penela, a spokesman for the department, who has not yet seen the video.

Nonetheless, the department, which has been stung in recent years by the death of one detainee at a boot-camp-style facility and as well as the discovery of a graveyard containing unidentified graves near another, is investigating the incident. For complete story, click here.

Group Home Employee Accused Of Molesting Teens--May 8th, 2009--A Sacramento man who helped troubled teens at a group home is under arrest and accused of molesting girls while on the job.

In a place where people are watching your every move, Sacramento County authorities say Jeffrey Caldwell was able to make major inappropriate moves this past February while working at the Sacramento County Assessment Center. For complete story, click here.

Government wants the military to run state schools -- Right then, fall into line you 'orrible little pupils! 08 May 2009 The Armed Forces will be drafted in to run state schools under plans to drive up discipline and respect in classrooms. Ministers are in talks with defence chiefs about taking over a handful of schools and turning them into military academies. Alongside daily lessons, pupils would be expected to take part in activities such as drills, uniformed parades, weapons handling and adventure training. For complete story, click here.

Gardasil Linked to Nerve Disorder --Cervical Cancer Vaccine May Raise Risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome 30 Apr 2009 Girls and women who receive the Gardasil [Gardakill] vaccine to prevent cervical cancer may be at increased risk of a rare but serious disorder of the nervous system [Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS)] in the first few weeks after getting their shots, researchers report. For complete story, click here.

America's Tough Love Habit--May, 2009--We are, famously, blasé about our acts of torture overseas. But why? The laser-like focus on fixing the economy, wanting to avoid more political divisiveness, the diminishment of watchdog journalism—are all part of the explanation. But there's another overlooked reason as well.

Americans tend to valorize tough love—at times, even tough love that verges on torture—in prisons, mental hospitals, drug rehabs, and teen boot camps. We aren't squeamish about the psychological aspects of torture. We might even admire them.

Thousands of troubled children, for instance, now attend tough "wilderness programs" "emotional growth boarding schools" and other "tough love" camps where they face conditions like total isolation, sleep deprivation, food deprivation, and daily emotional attacks. For complete story, click here.

Director at youth camp fired--May 2nd, 2009--SILVER SPRINGS - A program director accused of using older boys to threaten younger ones at a camp for troubled youth was fired Thursday, state officials said Friday.

Frank Penela, a spokesman with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, said the state agency received a letter from Eckerd Youth Alternatives confirming that Eckerd fired Emeka Virgo, a program director at Camp E-Ke-Etu in the Ocala National Forest off East State Road 40. Eckerd, a private company, runs the camp under a contract with the state.

Eckerd officials did not return phone calls Friday.

Virgo joins two camp counselors - Roscoe Watts, 30, and Dana Valentino, 32 - who were also fired Thursday for unspecified violations of company policies. For complete story, click here.

Broward child's suicide raises questions about medication--April 21st, 2009--

Weeks before his death, Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old Broward boy who hanged himself in the shower of his foster home, had been prescribed a powerful mind-altering drug linked by federal regulators to an increased risk of suicide in children.

In all, Gabriel had been prescribed four psychiatric drugs, two or three of which he was taking at the time of his death, said Jack Moss, Broward chief of the state Department of Children & Families. Moss said he is not sure which medications the boy was taking because Margate police took the foster home's medication log as part of an investigation into Gabriel's death last week.

Three of the psychotropic drugs carry U.S. Food and Drug Administration ''black box'' label warnings for children's safety, the strongest advisory the federal agency issues. Three of the medications are not approved for use with young children, though they are widely prescribed to youngsters ''off label'' -- meaning doctors can prescribe the drug even if not formally approved for that use.

In 2005 -- reacting to a series of stories in The Miami Herald that as many as one in four foster children were prescribed potentially dangerous mind-altering drugs -- state lawmakers approved a law aimed at curbing their use. Children's advocates now question whether the law is being ignored. For complete story, click here.

Suit claims abuse, filth at juvenile detention center--April 20th, 2009--

CNN) -- Juveniles held in a Mississippi detention center are subject to "horrific physical and mental abuse" at an insect-ridden, filthy facility, alleges a federal lawsuit filed Monday.

The suit, filed by the Mississippi Youth Justice Project and Mississippi Protection and Advocacy Inc., accuses staff at the privately-managed Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center of "punitive shackling, staff-on-youth assaults, 23-hour-a-day lock-down in filthy jail cells, unsanitary conditions resulting in widespread contraction of scabies and staph infections, dangerous overcrowding that forces many youth to sleep on the concrete floor, and inadequate mental health care."

The facility is is operated by Mississippi Security Police, a private security corporation based in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The company is paid $1.6 million yearly by Harrison County to manage the juvenile center, according to the lawsuit, which names the county as a defendant. For complete story, click here.

Do Lap Dances and Humiliation Treat ADHD -- and Should Public Schools Pay?--April 17th, 2009--...

Mount Bachelor is part of Aspen Education -- believed to be the largest chain of teen residential programs in the U.S. Aspen, as part of CRC Health, which is owned by Bain Capital, was seen by advocates as much more sedate and less given to wacky practices than clearly "out there" programs like those associated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP or WWASPS). At one WWASP school, for example, teens were kept in outdoor dog cages.

The stories of psychological abuse coming out of Mount Bachelor -- a few of which are included in my Time piece -- are every bit as bad as I have heard from teens and parents at chains of programs that have far worse reputations. For complete story, click here.

An Oregon School for Troubled Teens Is Under Scrutiny--April 17th, 2009--...A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) declined to discuss the details of the ongoing investigations, which include a second inquiry based on possible licensing violations. But according to 10 students, two separate parents and a part-time employee interviewed by TIME — some of whom are involved in the inquiry — Mount Bachelor Academy regularly uses intensely humiliating tactics as treatment. For instance, in required seminars that the school calls Lifesteps, students say staff members of the residential program have instructed girls, some of whom say they have been victims of rape or sexual abuse, to dress in provocative clothing — fishnet stockings, high heels and miniskirts — and perform lap dances for male students as therapy. For complete story, click here.

State conducts two investigations of Mount Bachelor Academy near Prineville--April 6th, 2009--SALEM -- The state is investigating reports of child abuse at a private school for troubled teens in central Oregon.

Mount Bachelor Academy near Prineville takes in students from around the country. The academy is licensed by the Oregon Department of Human Services, which confirmed it has launched two concurrent investigations.

The first investigation centers on reported abuse and the second on possible licensing violations. State officials would not discuss details of either investigation Monday.

"We cannot comment on the details or timeline of the assessments while they are ongoing. When they are concluded, there may be information that can be shared," Gene Evans, a department spokesman, said in a written statement.

Former students have posted on MySpace and Facebook numerous complaints about the school, ranging from what they characterized as humiliating group therapy sessions to sleep deprivation. Judson DeVries, who left the school in 2007, told The Oregonian he was forced into "very embarrassing" role-playing games. For complete story, click here.

Discerning the difference between sadness and depression and then getting your teen help quickly is key--April 5th, 2009--Parents of teenagers get accustomed to riding the teeter-totter of their offsprings' emotional highs and lows, but sometimes the moodiness signals a deeper problem.

Barbara Deiotte, a social worker at Munster's Wilbur Wright Middle School, has seen an uptick in teenage depression.

"My personal thoughts are that today's lifestyle is more stressful -- everything is kind of fast," Deiotte said, referring to possible reasons for the increase.

"Or maybe we're more aware (of depression)."

With teens, "depression can be a very temporary response" to stress associated with hormones or conflict with parents, she said. "That will come and go. It's normal adolescent angst. Please read complete story, click here.

2 Teens Arrested, County Juvenile Program Under Investigation--March 27th, 2009--PENN HILLS, Pa. -- The arrest of two teens charged with harassment prompts an investigation at the Allegheny County juvenile probation division.

Two 17-year-old boys were arrested and charged with harassment after allegedly showing up at a Penn Hills house and threatening another 17-year-old boy. The mother of the threatened boy said she believes that her son was threatened because he blew the whistle on alleged extortion going on in the Homewood Community Intervention Supervision Program.

The boy and his mother were not being identified by police with an ongoing investigation into the program. For complete story, click here.

Clean Slates for Youths Sentenced Fraudulently--March 26th, 2009--The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Thursday ordered the slate cleaned for hundreds of youths who had been sentenced by a corrupt judge. For complete story, click here.

Michigan 15-year-old dies after police Taser him--March 22nd, 2009--

BAY CITY, Mich. – Police in Michigan say a 15-year-old boy has died after being Tasered by officers who were trying to break up a fight.

Police didn't release his name and say state police are investigating.

A Bay City police news release says officers answered a report of an early morning fight on Sunday. The statement says two males were arguing in an apartment, and one of them "attempted to fight the officers."

Police say officers Tasered him, and his reaction led them to immediately call for emergency medical help. He was pronounced dead at Bay Regional Medical Center.

Deputy Chief Thomas Pletzke tells WNEM-TV police placed one officer on administrative leave. For complete story, click here.

Hawthorne Cedar Knolls teen accused of sexually abusing another boy on campus--March 16th,2009--HAWTHORNE - A 17-year-old boy at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls was accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-boy in his residence Saturday night, three days after five teens there were accused of assaulting a fellow resident, police said.

Efrain Castillo, who lives at the residential treatment center for troubled youngsters, was charged with sexual misconduct, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors, Mount Pleasant Police Chief Louis Alagno said. He is being held on $10,000 bail at the Westchester County jail in Valhalla. The victim was treated at the Westchester Medical Center. For complete story, click here.

Darrington closes doors--March 2nd, 2009--Darrington Academy, a private school for troubled teens in Blue Ridge, closed its doors Friday, a move that owner and headmaster Richard Darrington says is due to the current state of the economy. For complete story, click here.

Academy at Ivy Ridge to close this weekend--March 12th, 2009--

The troubled Academy at Ivy Ridge is reportedly closing its doors for good this weekend.

The Ogdensburg private academy, which was geared toward troubled teens will close this weekend and transfer the remaining students to a facility in South Carolina, according to the Daily Courier-Observer this morning. For complete story, click here.

Camp E-Tu-Nake falls victim to state budget cuts--March 10th, 2009--BLAKELY, GA (WALB) - A youth alternative camp in Blakely is closing because of state budget cuts. Camp E-Tu-Nake will close March 27th. For complete story, click here.

Group Home Operates Without License--March 10th, 2009--LaVERGNE, Tenn. -- A group home for foster children in LaVergne is known around town as a hot spot for trouble, and the home has been operating for almost a year without a business license...Police said 43 percent of the trouble calls from LaVergne High School was associated with kids at the Rock of Refuge.

"We did have some pretty rough kids over at LaVergne High," said Usinger.

The LaVergne Records Department said the home's business license expired in June 2008. Usinger denies the home is trying to expand, but issues with the business branching out have been raised.

"A lot of questions have been raised," said Boyd.

In the large neighborhood, it's hard to tell which houses the Rock of Refuge call home, but neighbors have complained since almost the start of the business... For complete story, click here.

Troubled teen beaten down by system--March 9th, 2009--

Most people are scared to die. It can't be any worse than living a life like mine. Being dead I think would just suit me fine ...

People say there's nothing wrong with me. Honestly, I think they need to f--- off because they don't know what goes on in my head. When I used to try to hang myself I was just messing around trying to make them care and pay attention. Now it's different ...

I went to court yesterday and I thought he was going to send me to adult! Time is running out. My chances are getting fewer and fewer. F---. I give up! I'm done trying.

– Excerpt from Ashley Smith's journal, Sept. 4, 2006

A month later, the 18-year-old was indeed transferred to an adult closed security facility. That's prison, in plain language, despite her youth status.

She would be repeatedly Tasered (seven times in 26 days), pepper sprayed, locked down in solitary for 23 hours a day, forcibly medicated and placed in the hideous WRAP restraint: bound head to toe, unable to budge, hockey helmet jammed over her head lest she topple over or try to bite.

New Brunswick's Ombudsman and Child and Youth Advocate would later write: "I challenge anyone with a sane mind to live in conditions similar to the ones described ... for half the time Ashley had to endure ...'' And: "Surely, there is a better way.''

If so, not in time to save Ashley Smith, who committed suicide – whether she actually meant to die or not – before the review of custodial conditions in N.B., and her own specific case, was completed.

On Oct. 18, 2007 – having been transferred 17 times in the previous 11 1/2 months between three federal penitentiaries, two treatment facilities, two external hospitals and one provincial correctional facility – the teenager tied a ligature around her neck while on suicide watch at Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener.

Correctional staff, who had been watching, did not intervene for nearly 30 minutes – and "this failure cost Ms. Smith her life,'' as stated in a report released last week, "A Preventable Death," by the Correctional Investigator of Canada.

In the days after the report was publicized, attention and misgivings were focused on systemic problems, the lack of mental health services for youth – Ashley was never sent for a formal psychological evaluation while in federal custody – and poor co-ordination among correctional authorities. But a closer reading of the file, the reviews of her early custodial years in N.B., suggest strongly that, while Ashley was an angry young girl from the age of 12, it was the rigid and punitive correctional system that made her nuts – despairing, endlessly confrontational and ultimately self-destructive, even as she clearly called out for help with acts of self-harm.

In page after page of analysis, she is described as defiant, combative, unyielding to rules, refusing to conform; an obstinate and powerful personality, the proverbial square peg being forced to fit into a round hole, a juvenile iconoclast who fought tooth and nail in hanging on to a personality others deemed "oppositional'' and "narcissistic'' and "disrespectful.''

Ashley would probably have been better off if all those who did intervene, who sought to alter her behaviour, so often in cruel ways, had just left the girl alone, said: Go. Fend for yourself. You've heard of "black while driving'' or "Muslim while flying'' – externally imposed perceptions that pre-emptively stigmatize, even criminalize, behaviour. Ashley was incorrigible while incarcerated. For complete story, click here.

70 Youths Sue Former Judges in Detention Kickback Case--February 27th, 2009--More than 70 juveniles and their families filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against two former judges who pleaded guilty this month in a scheme that involved their taking kickbacks to put young offenders in privately run detention centers. For complete story, click here.

Luzerne County Courthouse Corruption Probe Expands--March 2nd, 2009--WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- The federal probe into corruption at the Luzerne County courthouse is widening. The I-Team has learned that federal investigators are expanding their investigation.

Sources close to the case tell the I-Team that "target letters" have been sent to several lawyers in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties. Those letters reportedly say they will be questioned about information they may have about corruption within the Luzerne County legal system.

The I-Team has also learned that at least one district justice from Luzerne County has been questioned by federal agents.

All of this comes in the aftermath of the arrest of four high ranking Luzerne County officials. Suspended Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan pled guilty to taking millions in kickbacks in connection with a juvenile detention center in Pittston Township.

Also busted was former Court Administrator William Sharkey, Sr. He admits to stealing $70,000 in seized gambling money. And Sandy Brulo, a Probation Supervisor, is accused of tampering with public records.

The U.S. Attorney's Office will not comment on our information. For complete story, click here.

Youth boot camps proven to fail--March 3rd, 2009--Clinical psychologists have joined the chorus of disapproval of the Government's planned `boot camps', saying punishment as a deterrent does not work.

The Government is planning to widen the powers of the Youth Court with a range of new sentencing options including sending the worst repeat offenders to military-style camps run by the army.

Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft has already put the boot in to boot camps for young offenders.

He said last week that sentencing youthful offenders to boot camp was "arguably the least successful sentence in the Western world". For complete story, click here.

What We Lost When We Lost Rocky -- Paper First Exposed Teen Torture--March 3rd, 2009--When people talk in the abstract about what we lose when we lose newspapers, it's often hard to drum up much concern. Yeah, people are losing their jobs--that's what happened to the buggy makers when the car took over. Yeah, news is important--but hey, we've got the web now. And the MSM blew it on Iraq, so who needs them anyway? We've got twitter.

Just last week, Denver lost the Rocky Mountain News and before its website disappears, I wanted to share an example of just how much newspapers matter.

This series--Desperate Measures--was the first to comprehensively take on the multi-million teen abuse empire variously known as WWASP, WWASPS and Teen Help. Please take the time to read it--once you start, it's hard to turn away. (And sadly, though WWASP has lost a few rounds lately, it's still operating).

Expensive to conduct, extensive, well-written and well-reported, this journalism helped inspire a generation of activists, as well as my book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids, which is the first book length investigation of the billion dollar business.

In the series, Pulitzer-prize winner Lou Kilzer and photographer Dennis Schroeder make abundantly clear that the programs affiliated with WWASP are harsh, abusive and wildly popular--and they get a top WWASP official to admit that their staff is untrained and its methods completely untested:

"These people are basically a bunch of untrained people who work for this organization," Ken Kay told the Denver Rocky Mountain News in an interview before he rejoined Teen Help as a vice president. "So they don't have credentials of any kind. ...

"We could be leading these kids to long-term problems that we don't have a clue about because we're not going about it in the proper way. ...

"How in the hell can you call yourself a behavior modification program -- and that's one of the ways it's marketed -- when nobody has the expertise to determine: Is this good, is this bad?"

Kilzer shows that WWASP's contract with parents allows the programs to "use handcuffs, mechanical restraints, electrical disabler, Mace or pepper spray in order to restrain the student." Parents could not sue the program for "liability or damages resulting from restraint procedures." for complete story, click here.

Crime of punishment?--March 1st, 2009--

At age 14, the Wilkes-Barre youth had been declared a juvenile delinquent and sent away for treatment, first to a wilderness-style juvenile detention camp and later to a reformatory school.

His crime? He and a friend entered several open cars in Ashley and stole some change, a pre-paid cell phone and a portable music player, he and his mother, Amy, said.

Suddenly the once carefree, basketball-playing teen found himself locked up for 10 months. Each day he struggled to control the rage that was building inside as he worked to earn his release.

What he could not control, he and his mother said, is the sense of helplessness and anger that still haunts him today as he tries to comprehend why he was put away for a misdemeanor crime that, if committed by an adult, likely would have resulted in probation and a fine.

It’s a question thousands of other juveniles and their parents asked during the 12 years now-disgraced Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. presided over Luzerne County’s juvenile court.

People such as Kimberly Bryk of Exeter Township and her daughter, Jamie, who spent more than a year lodged in juvenile detention facilities for a fist fight with another girl, and Sandy Fonzo of Wilkes-Barre and her son, Ed, who bounced in and out of several detention facilities after he violated probation on an initial charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Today those parents and their children think they may have an answer:

Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to accepting more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that favored the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care juvenile detention centers formerly co-owned by Butler Township attorney Robert Powell. For complete story, click here.

U.S. House passes wilderness camp restrictions--February 24th, 2009--Washington » The U.S. House signed off on legislation Monday that seeks to end abuse in programs for troubled teens, such as the wilderness camps operating throughout Utah.

The bill passed on a vote of 295 to 102. Utah Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson voted for the bill. Republican Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz voted against it.

Proponents of the legislation say it will help keep kids safe as they participate in boot-camp style activities. The bill prohibits any punishment that denies food, water, clothing, shelter or medical care. It would limit forcible restraints and allow the children access to a telephone.

The legislation also would set up a Web site allowing parents to see which programs have faced substantiated abuse claims. The bill follows a government audit that found more than 1,000 cases of abuse in such programs since the early 1990s, including cases where a child has died in Utah. For complete story, click here.

'Boot camp' closed--February 22nd, 2009--TREASURE BEACH, St Elizabeth - Tranquility Bay, the controversial offshore reform school for rebellious children, mostly from the United States, closed its doors last month as a result of a fallout in business. The last 'inmate' reportedly left the island on January 5. For complete story, click here.

Pennsylvania rocked by 'jailing kids for cash' scandal--February 23rd, 2009--CNN) -- At a friend's sleepover more than a year ago, 14-year-old Phillip Swartley pocketed change from unlocked vehicles in the neighborhood to buy chips and soft drinks. The cops caught him.

There was no need for an attorney, said Phillip's mother, Amy Swartley, who thought at most, the judge would slap her son with a fine or community service.

But she was shocked to find her eighth-grader handcuffed and shackled in the courtroom and sentenced to a youth detention center. Then, he was shipped to a boarding school for troubled teens for nine months.

"Yes, my son made a mistake, but I didn't think he was going to be taken away from me," said Swartley, a 41-year-old single mother raising two boys in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

CNN does not usually identify minors accused of crimes. But Swartley and others agreed to be named to bring public attention to the issue.

As scandals from Wall Street to Washington roil the public trust, the justice system in Luzerne County, in the heart of Pennsylvania's struggling coal country, has also fallen prey to corruption. The county has been rocked by a kickback scandal involving two elected judges who essentially jailed kids for cash. Many of the children had appeared before judges without a lawyer.

The nonprofit Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia said Phillip is one of at least 5,000 children over the past five years who appeared before former Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella.

Ciavarella pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal criminal charges of fraud and other tax charges, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Former Luzerne County Senior Judge Michael Conahan also pleaded guilty to the same charges. The two secretly received more than $2.6 million, prosecutors said. For complete story, click here.

Kansas shuts down center for troubled teens--February 20th, 2009--ESBON, Kan. | The state is shutting down a northern Kansas treatment center for troubled adolescents after inspectors found emergency exit doors locked on three occasions.

The White Rock Academy in Esbon on Thursday was ordered closed after state officials twice told operators to remove the locks, which violate the state fire and safety code. The academy has until Monday to make other arrangements for its 24 residents.

The state suspended the center's license, citing a need to protect youths at the facility from physical abuse or threats to their safety. For complete story, click here.

Facility For Troubled Teens In Ephrata To Close--February 19th, 2009--EPHRATA, Pa. -- Summit Quest, a facility for troubled teens in Ephrata, is in the process of closing. They still have a small group of teens to place in alternative treatment before they can shut their doors. For complete story, click here.

NYPD okays Velcro handcuffs for use on unruly children 14 Feb 2009 Cops trying to restrain children will have a softer alternative than metal handcuffs under a new program the NYPD is testing in nearly two dozen schools. Starting next month, officers will use Velcro handcuffs instead of the tougher steel model to subdue disturbed or unruly children in 22 schools in northern Queens, according to a draft NYPD operations order obtained by the Daily News. For complete story, click here.

Vision for Youth had multiple problems, managed teen felons--February 15th, 2009--Springfield, Ohio — Vision for Youth, Inc. maintained four facilities in Springfield and at one time had teens from the foster care system and juvenile felons, ages 13 to 18, from as many as ten counties enrolled in its boot-camp-style program.

Vision had a history of problems, according to state records, but by all accounts the home's child-care staff managed a difficult population — children that were hard to place anywhere else because of criminal records and emotional problems, said Brian Harter, a spokesman for Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services.

"You look at these kids' backgrounds...(they) have a lot of issues, and they have situations that require special attention," Harter said. "It's not an easy situation for the staff to deal with on a day-to-day basis. But that's not to condone anything."

Harter said that while state law allows staff at group homes to physically restrain minors, staff are prohibited from administering physical discipline. Punching a juvenile, for instance — which happened at a Vision facility — is grounds for revocation of the home's license.

On at least three occasions, licensing specialists investigating complaints about Vision recommended its license be revoked, but the home was allowed to continue operating. For complete story, click here.

House panel wants to crack down on wilderness camps--February 11th, 2009--Washington » A House panel approved a bill Wednesday that would boost federal regulations on residential programs for troubled teens, including the wilderness therapy camps that have thrived in Utah's deserts.

The bill is in reaction to a two-year federal audit that found thousands of cases of abuse in residential treatment programs nationwide since the early 1990s, along with misleading marketing practices and uneven state oversight.

"It is past time to bring these programs to a level of basic safety," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., one of the sponsors of the legislation. The House Education and Labor Committee approved the bill on a vote of 32 to 10.

The proposal is almost identical to a bill pushed last year. That version passed the full House by a wide margin, but did not come up for a vote in the Senate. With a new Congress, the legislation had to be reintroduced. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, a member of the committee, opposed it last year and opposed it again Wednesday. For complete story, click here. (The problems with HR 911 are the same as with HR 6358, learn more.)

Report: Abuse Found At Chicago Public Schools, www.wbbm780.com, February 10, 2009--For complete story, click here.

Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash--February 11th, 2009--WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.

The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.

In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers. For complete story, click here.

SJC: Juvenile offenders cannot be held beyond 18--February 10th, 2009--The state's highest court today struck down a law that allowed the state to keep juvenile offenders in custody for three years after they turned 18, if officials believed they would be "physically dangerous to the public."

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the law, which was challenged by three juvenile offenders who had been ordered held until they were 21, "does not comport with substantive due process requirements and is constitutionally infirm." For complete story, click here.

Juvenile Justice System Failing Ohio's Children, Investigation Finds--February 10th, 2009--COLUMBUS, OH – The Ohio juvenile justice system is failing the state's children by permitting children to be routinely shackled, mandating that children accused of certain crimes be charged as adults and by not ensuring that all children accused of crimes get lawyers. The findings, detailed in a report card released today, are the result of an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Ohio, the Children's Law Center, Inc. and the Office of the Ohio Public Defender. The investigation has also revealed that Ohio detains and incarcerates a greater percentage of its children than
most other states in the nation and that a disproportionate number of those incarcerated are children of color.
"Rushing to criminalize and unnecessarily incarcerate kids is just bad policy," said Robin Dahlberg, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. "It has a scarring impact on our children and only serves to push them deeper into the criminal justice system and inhibit their ability to become healthy, productive adults." For complete story, click here.

3 fired from Parmadale in teen's death--February 7th, 2009--Tom Mullen, the president of the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Cleveland, says the three were fired Friday following the release of a state agency report that said the workers didn't follow the center's own policies on how to restrain unruly youngsters.

Faith Finley, 17, of Barberton, died Dec. 13 at Parmadale Family Services in suburban Cleveland while being restrained in a face-down position.

The Cuyahoga County coroner's office ruled Finley's death a homicide last month, saying she choked on vomit and suffocated. For complete story, click here.

Father: Son mistreated at rehab center--February 6th, 2009--INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - I-Team 8 has learned a formal complaint has been filed with the state attorney general against an Indianapolis teen rehab center. At issue: a father who claims his son is being mistreated inside Pathway Family Center in Castleton.

In his complaint, Mark West states what happened to his 17-year-old son inside Pathway has him "gravely concerned for his son's welfare both physically and emotionally."

What West calls isolation, other parents call lifesaving for their drug-addicted teenagers. Pathway allowed 24-Hour News 8 inside the facility and provided a group of parents for I-Team 8 to speak with.

The complaint, filed late Friday afternoon with the Indiana Attorney General?s Office, alleges "substandard housing and care" including kids sleeping in locked rooms with windows bolted shut and no lights. One allegation is that at least one 17-year-old missed a complete year of school.

The complaint goes on to allege continual sleep deprivation and isolation. It alleges kids are not allowed privacy at any time and that other kids who've been in the program longer are then assigned to go with them while bathing or using the bathroom.

The complaint also says kids are cut off from family, no phone calls or letters allowed, so there is no way to address grievances or mistreatment.

Two other Pathway facilities have closed in recent months in Detroit and Cincinnati, Ohio amid protests from parents and former students. But director Terri Nissley said they closed due to the bad economy and that the Pathway program is being confused with another program that was shut down two years ago in Ohio. For complete story, click here.

Outcry Over Drug Center Closing--February 5th, 2009--When Kids Helping Kids, also known as Pathway Family Center, closed its doors in suburban Milford in Clermont County, a group of parents and former clients cheered, saying the program's controversial methods scarred them for life. For complete story, click here.

NICK GAGLIA STANDS UP FOR TROUBLED TEENS--February 5th, 2009--Independent filmmaker Nick Gaglia is a man on a mission: using the power of cinema to expose those who prey on troubled young adults. His critically-acclaimed 2007 feature film debut, “Over the GW,” was based on his own experiences as a drug-addicted teen who underwent physical and psychological abuse at a cult-like, tough love rehab center. His next film, currently in post-production, is the biopic “Aaron Bacon,” which details the tragic 1994 death of a troubled 16-year-old who died as a result of blatant malpractice in a tough love drug rehab camp.

Film Threat caught up with Gaglia at his New York office to talk about his cinematic crusade to expose the exploiters of troubled teenagers. For complete story, click here.

Covenant House folding its operation here--February 5th, 2009--STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Covenant House thrived from humble beginnings and later rose from the ashes of scandal, but it's no match for the putrid economy.

The charity that specifically serves at-risk youth and had been scouting new quarters after it was priced out of its longtime home at 70 Bay St. in St. George, has elected to abandon the borough altogether amid a decrease in donations and worries about future revenue, a spokesman confirmed yesterday. For complete story, click here.

Juvenile Cases May Get New Look Following Kickback Charges Against Former Judges--February 3rd, 2009--

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appears ready to reconsider a request to review hundreds of Luzerne County juvenile court cases in the wake of charges that two former judges accepted kickbacks from the owners of a private juvenile detention center.

The court, on Jan. 8, denied a petition by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center to look at more than 250 cases in which juvenile offenders were allegedly adjudicated and sent to detention centers without lawyers.

On Monday, the justices issued a one-line order vacating their previous denial of that petition, pending further action by the court.

"We see this as a very positive sign that the court is going to take a fresh look at our application for relief," said Bob Schwartz, JLC's executive director. "Beyond that, it's hard to read into this. It's pretty clear that they want to go deeper. There's no reason to do this if they're not going to grant relief down the line or at least figure out a way to provide relief to the kids of Luzerne County."

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Jan. 22 that former President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan had conditionally agreed to plead guilty to honest service wire fraud charges. For complete story, click here.

Good News: Bad Economy Killing Abusive Teen Programs--January 30th, 2009--

There is a silver lining to this bleak economy: Abusive and ineffective "tough love" programs for teens are failing right and left.

In just the last few weeks, the notorious Tranquility Bay program in Jamaica, Spring Creek Lodge in Montana, and Pathway Family Center in Detroit and Ohio have all been shuttered.

Tranquility Bay was known for making kids kneel on concrete for days and using "restraint" so harsh that it broke bones. Both Tranquility Bay and Spring Creek Lodge were part of a network called the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASP or WWASPS)--and the group's philosophy involves constant use of emotional attacks and humiliation in a rigid, structured day in order to break teens' spirits.

Spring Creek was notorious for a frigid, small isolation room called "the Hobbit"--sometimes teens were left there for months.

From Pathway--which was descended from the infamously abusive Straight Inc.--I received two separate accounts of suicide attempts by girls which were not reported to their parents, and many stories of the usual attack therapy and humiliation. Unfortunately, neither WWASP nor Pathway is completely dead yet: WWASP still has centers operating in the US and abroad, and Pathway has sites in Indiana: Porter and Indianapolis.

The media tends to present these closures as sad examples of needed services being cut--but in fact, teens are better off with no treatment than with treatment that often divides families and has characteristics known to produce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Family support tends to be crucial to long term recovery--and PTSD doubles the odds that a drug problem will become a lasting addiction.

Troubled teen programs were yet another sign of the bubble economy. Many were financed by mortgage and home equity loans because they cost thousands of dollars a month and because insurers, quite correctly, don't usually pay for programs that aren't proven to help.

Since there are proven alternatives for teens with drug and other problems that do not carry the risks of "tough love," we should greet the closings of these centers with glee. For complete story, click here.

Three Rivers Montana to close--January 31st, 2009--Three Rivers Montana, a Belgrade-based wilderness program for troubled teens, plans to close Feb. 28, laying off its 37 employees, executive director Marylis Filipovich said Thursday.

“Normally, January is a very big admissions month for us and we didn’t get any admissions,” she said.

Three Rivers opened five years ago and has served more than 400 kids from across the nation. Teens experiencing difficulties at home or school could stay at the mental-health facility for a few weeks or months, earning high-school credits and receive treatment.

The nonprofit depended on admission fees, often funded by health-insurance reimbursements, donations and fundraising. Discounts were offered for low-income families.

“In this economy, many of our potential families cannot afford the cost of outdoor behavioral healthcare,” Mark Parlett, director of programs and development for Three Rivers, wrote in an e-mail to the Chronicle.

Families often took out loans to send their kids to Three Rivers and the tightened credit market has hurt enrollment, Filipovich said.

“Our families tended to be middle-class, and with the economy like it is, they can’t get loans,” she said. For complete story, click here.

Connecticut Junior Republic to close campus for troubled teens--January 31, 2009--LITCHFIELD — Connecticut Junior Republic will end a 105-year tradition of sheltering and educating troubled teens here in April.

On Friday, 107 teachers, counselors, and support staff were told they will not have a job when the campus, except for the administration building, shuts down April 2.

The nonprofit organization, founded with a 1904 bequest from landowner Mary Buel but funded primarily by taxpayers, has suffered in recent years from changes in how the state treats juveniles in trouble. Over the past decade, CJR expanded and updated its campus, with a $5 million education center in 1997 and a $1.4 million family and student services center that opened in 2003.

But in 2008, CJR's number of beds was cut from 84 to 60 in response to shrinking demand; only 38 teenage boys, most referred from the court system, live on campus today.

"That does provide a sense of how quickly things have changed," said Director of Development Hedy L. Barton.

Increasingly, the state refers troubled teens to community and home-based programs rather than residential facilities now reserved only for those teens who demonstrate the highest risk behavior. For complete story, click here.

Dyller eyes potential lawsuits--January 28th, 2009--WILKES-BARRE – A local attorney who specializes in civil rights cases said he believes some of the juveniles who were incarcerated under juvenile Judge Mark Ciavarella’s tenure have a strong basis to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for emotional and financial harm. I’m looking at this and see so many civil claims based on so many potential civil rights violations, it’s shocking,” said Barry Dyller of Wilkes-Barre. For complete story, click here.

Pathway Family Center Loses Michigan and Ohio Locations!--

Kids Helping Kids presented itself as the treatment of last resort when the I-Team got an unprecedented look inside four years ago. No cameras had been allowed before. The treatment the I-Team saw called for complete isolation of newcomers, who don't go to their home or to school for months, sometimes longer. They aren't allowed to listen to music or TV. They can't talk to each other, and must get permission to speak at all.

The executive director of the facility in Milford, Ohio told us in 2005, there's a reason for this tough love. Penny Walker said, "We deal with difficult kids and sometimes difficult families, and we're not going to please everybody." Walker no longer works for Kids Helping Kids.

The I-Team investigated the program after former clients and some parents called it a brainwashing cult. They cited day-long rap sessions in which teens were forced to repeating gestures and words in order to advance in the program and win a chance to go to their homes at night.

But some parents of clients in treatment at the time strongly supported the tactics. Parent Martha Logan told the I-Team she believes the program saved her son's life. She said, "There was no place else to turn."

After our report, protesters picketed regularly outside the center in Milford. This continued even after the center became affiliated with a chain called Pathway Family Center.

Now the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services confirms that Pathway has turned in its state certificate allowing it to operate.

A property search shows Pathway still owns the building. It still lists its address on Branch Hill Guinea Road on its paperwork, and the local phone number still leads to voice mail. But a visit to the building found no one there in the middle of business hours. The facility looks deserted, but files and keys still sit on desks. Inside, the rooms once full of troubled teens sit empty and silent.

Mark West says he knows what happened to the roughly two dozen kids who were here when the place shut its doors to treatment. He says they were moved to other Pathway facilities, including Indianapolis, where his son is enrolled. He opposes the program, but his ex-wife, who has custody, supports it.

West says the Milford location closed because of, "Bad publicity, not just bad publicity but actually the truth started getting out. I think community pressure closed it down."

The I-Team tried to reach Pathway through calls and e-mails not only to its Milford location, but also its other treatment centers in Michigan and Indianapolis. The day of this report, a spokeswoman finally called back. She said it wasn't community pressure, but economic realities that shut the center in Ohio. As of Thursday, January 29, 2009, she says the Michigan facility in the Detroit suburb of Southfield also has shut its doors. For complete story, click here.

Troubled Miami-Dade reform school may be forced to close main campus--January 24th, 2009--A Miami-Dade reform school for troubled teens, once considered a national model, could be forced to shut its 16-year-old main campus. State administrators have yanked the school's contract, citing escapes, allegations of abuse and neglect, and other chronic problems.

In a letter dated Jan. 7, the Department of Juvenile Justice's South Florida chief said Bay Point Schools in South Dade will lose state funding March 1, and that admissions to the 157-bed campus have been frozen. Youths already are being transferred to similar programs or being released.

Budget problems triggered the decision -- the department has to cut $5 million this year and will save $2 million by closing Bay Point's Kennedy campus -- but the school has been beset by critical lapses, said agency Assistant Secretary Darryl Olson.

''They have consistently failed to comply with DJJ standards,'' Olson said. ``We haven't been getting the kind of return on investment we would like.''

Added DJJ spokesman Frank Penela: ``In the budget times we're in, we can't afford to do that anymore.'' For complete story, click here.

Civil suit filed in camp death--January 23rd, 2009--SALT LAKE CITY — The mother of Utah teen Caleb Jensen filed suit Thursday against those she believes were responsible for his untimely death at 15.

Caleb was attending an Alternative Youth Adventures outing for at-risk youth in rural Montrose County in 2007. He died of a staph infection May 2 of that year.

The state acted quickly, suspending AYA’s license for residential and therapeutical childcare. AYA later surrendered the license, which it had originally hoped to renew.

In July 2007 came the indictments against AYA, its former parent company Community Education Centers of New Jersey; camp director James Omer; camp EMT Ben Askins and Utah physician Keith Hooker.

The criminal complaints alleged the infection that claimed Jensen’s life produced visible signs, which the defendants failed to act on. Charges included manslaughter and child abuse resulting in death, but by last December, only CEC remained as a criminal defendant. For complete story, click here. For more info, click here.

Trainer charged with abusing teen girls--January 23rd, 2009--A Colorado horse trainer has been charged with sexually abusing teenage girls, including one that he took to Alabama for marriage.

Donald Lane Betts, 33, was arrested in December when he returned to Kiowa with his 16-year-old bride, the Rocky Mountain News reported. Investigators say he lied about her age in Alabama because minors must have parental permission to marry.

Mark Wilson, an investigator with the Elbert County Sheriff's Office, said Betts may have victimized other teens. Wilson charged that Betts targeted troubled girls, including three runaways.

We have a strong belief that there are other victims out there, Wilson said. We stand ready to get them the help that they need.

Betts faces a long list of charges, including second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault on a child, harboring a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is also charged with obstruction of a peace officer for locking himself in his house when police arrived to arrest him. For complete story, click here.

Teachers in Martinique sentenced for abusing teens--January 22nd, 2009--A judge in Martinique has prohibited seven teachers from working with minors again after they were found guilty of physically abusing juvenile delinquents.

The teachers also have received suspended sentences ranging from 14 to 24 months.

Prosecutors had alleged that eight teachers made 16- and 17-year-old students kneel on rocks and hold cinder blocks in outstretched arms during work trips to Haiti and Brazil. The juveniles were part of a program funded by the Paris-based Groupe SOS that works with troubled teens, drug addicts and homeless people.

The nine victims will receive between $2,000 to $9,000 in damages, along with $1,300 each for attorney fees.

The teachers were sentenced late Wednesday. For complete story, click here.

DEA, Florida 'Honor' Abusive Rehab Founder, Wife of Republican Financier--January 16th, 2009--Imagine if Wall Street were to honor Bernie Madoff for his skills as an investor ten years from now. The equivalent just happened in Florida, where Betty Sembler--co-founder of the abusive Straight, Inc. rehab chain--has been named by Governor Charlie Crist to its "Women's Hall of Fame" for her work fighting drugs. Last year, the DEA gave her a lifetime achievement award.

You may know Betty Sembler as wife of mall magnate Mel Sembler (another co-founder of Straight). He's the guy who headed the Scooter Libby Defense Fund, chaired finances for the Republicans during the first election of the second Bush, and served as ambassador to Italy, naming a building he acquired for the embassy for himself, in the process.

Straight--which at its peak had centers in seven states and claims to have treated 50,000 teens--has long been discredited for not only being ineffective, but harmful. Its policy of using confrontation, humiliation and physical punishment led to dozens of lawsuits, with plaintiffs winning hundreds of thousands of dollars for kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and emotional abuse.

Some of the more notorious cases involved kids being gagged with Kotex, being restrained by fellow students until they wet or even soiled themselves, and frequent use of sexually degrading and homophobic slurs. Many survivors have since been diagnosed with PTSD; there have also been numerous suicides.

Research conducted on confrontation has found that the more it is used, the more likely patients are to drink or take drugs and drop out of treatment.

"With all the available evidence-based treatments with proven effects, it's hard to understand a desire to support things that fly in the face of evidence," says addiction expert Tom McLellan, PhD, who is CEO of the Treatment Research Institute and a professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.

Regarding Straight's tactics, McLellan says, "They're counterproductive. It's hard to even conceive of a therapeutic relationship based on confrontation, bullying and frankly, meanness." For complete story, click here.

Report Reveals Severe Cases of Abuse and Neglect of Schoolchildren--January 13th, 2009--WASHINGTON, D.C. – Schoolchildren around the country have been subject to abusive – and in some cases fatal – uses of seclusion and restraint by school administrators, teachers and staff, according to a new report released today by the National Disability Rights Network. The report, the first national effort to examine these practices in both public and private schools identified hundreds of cases where the abusive and negligent use of seclusion and restraint injured or traumatized students, many of whom were disabled. In several cases, students died.

In light of this report, U.S. Rep. George Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, announced the committee will hold a hearing on these abuses.

“These abuses are a shocking and disturbing betrayal of the trust that families and communities place in our schools. School administrators and teachers are tasked with providing not just productive and encouraging learning environments for students, but with keeping them safe. It is wholly unacceptable for children to be locked up in closets or for any staff member to use overwhelming – and in some cases deadly – force against their students.

“This report raises serious questions about the treatment of schoolchildren, the qualifications and training of staff, and what actions have been taken to address these unconscionable practices. No child should be at risk or in danger while at school, no matter what the circumstances. Our committee will hold a hearing to look at how we can address and hopefully end these horrific acts."

The report, “School is not supposed to hurt: An investigative report on abusive seclusion and restraint in schools,” provides an unprecedented look at the tactics used to isolate or restrain students. In one case, a seven-year old girl was killed in a special day program when four adult staff pinned her small body face down. The student had been blowing bubbles in her milk and would not follow directions to sit still. In another example, a thirteen year old boy committed suicide in a locked concrete seclusion room, hanging himself with a cord provided by staff to hold up his pants, after pleading with his teachers that he could not withstand the isolation in the small room for hours at a time. For complete story, click here.

Senator Chris Dodd Reports on Restraint and Seclusion , See Video:

Eugene, Ore., high-school students' good intentions misunderstood--December 20th, 2008--EUGENE, Ore. — All they wanted to do was change the world, one random act of kindness at a time. Instead, they were met with furrowed brows, questioned by Eugene police and ousted by Valley River Center security officers.

"People can't accept the fact that there are other people who just want to be nice," says Sheldon High School senior Kelsey Hertel, who founded the school's new Random Acts of Kindness Club. "People don't trust each other. They think everyone's out to get them."

Ironically, that's exactly why Hertel founded the club in the first place. "Our community isn't giving enough," she says. "So we thought by doing random acts of kindness, we could totally change someone's day or life. And they could pay it forward to someone else. And one person at a time, we could make the world better." For complete story, click here.

Gay kids' health: Family role cited--December 29th, 2008--SAN FRANCISCO — Young gay people whose parents or guardians responded negatively when they revealed their sexual orientation were more likely to attempt suicide, experience severe depression and use drugs than those whose families accepted the news, according to a new study.

The way in which parents or guardians respond to a youth's sexual orientation profoundly influences the child's mental health as an adult, say researchers at San Francisco State University, whose findings appear in today's journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Parents love their children and want the best for them," said lead researcher Caitlin Ryan, a social worker who directs the university's Family Acceptance Project. "Now that we have measured all these behaviors, we can see that some of them put youth at extremely high risk and others are wellness-promoting."

Among other findings, the study showed that teens who experienced negative feedback were more than eight times as likely to have attempted suicide, nearly six times as vulnerable to severe depression and more than three times at risk of drug use.

More significantly, Ryan said, ongoing work at San Francisco State suggests parents who take even baby steps to respond with equanimity instead of rejection can dramatically improve a gay youth's mental-health outlook.

One of the most startling findings was that being forbidden to associate with gay peers was as damaging as being physically beaten or verbally abused by their parents in terms of negative feedback, Ryan said. For complete story, click here.

Ruling expands legal rights of truant students--January 13th, 2009--Juveniles accused of chronically cutting class in public schools are entitled to a lawyer in their first court hearing, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Washington Court of Appeals has ruled.

Reversing a King County Superior Court ruling and an earlier Court of Appeals finding on different issues, the panel found Monday that denying a juvenile the right to a lawyer from the outset violated constitutional requirements.

In her opinion, Judge Anne Ellington wrote the decision was the first to consider due-process rights of juveniles in initial proceedings under the truancy law enacted in 1995. For complete story, click here.

Some Civil Rights Groups Mark Today as 3rd Anniversary in Teen Bootcamp Death--January 6th, 2009--

Three years ago Monday marks the death of Martin Lee Anderson.

The 14-year-old Bay County Teenager was admitted to Bay Medical Center, and then transferred to the ICU in Pensacola Hospital where he died.

That death set off a chain of events that in no way has come to an end.

Some civil rights groups will mark the third anniversary of Martin Lee Anderson’s death Monday, in a graveside ceremony.

The case is still a divisive issue in the community and the nation.

If you remember-- the teen collapsed during a physical assessment in his first day at the old Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp.

Drill instructors initially believe Anderson was faking an illness and used what some considered to be physical abuse to make him complete the work-out.

In the first autopsy, then-medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert found Anderson died as a result of sickle cell trait.

A second autopsy found the drill instructors suffocated the teen.

Two state entities settled with Anderson’s family for a combined 7-million dollars.

But when the 7-drill instructors and the camp nurse were acquitted of aggravated manslaughter during the criminal trial, Anderson supporters called for a u-s justice department investigation.

More than a year later that investigation is still underway. For complete story, click here.

Teen's death in Parma is ruled homicide-- January 6th, 2009--The death of a Barberton teenager at a Parma treatment facility last month has been ruled a homicide, the Cuyahoga County coroner said Monday.

Faith Finley, 17, suffocated and choked to death on her own vomit while being restrained by staff members, the coroner determined.

Finley died Dec. 13 at Parmadale Family Services, a Catholic Charities-run facility that treats youths with severe behavioral health and developmental problems. She was in the custody of Summit County Children Services at the time and had been placed there by the agency.

''For this kind of an outcome to occur is deeply, deeply concerning and frankly painful,'' Children Services Executive Director John Saros said after learning about the ruling. ''This was a beautiful young woman who was sent there to receive treatment services. For complete story, click here. Click here for more info.

Removing boys from that Blount County program where abuse is alleged was the right move at the right time.--December 1, 2008--THE ISSUE: Removing boys from that Blount County program after allegations of abuse was the right move at the right time.

Torture. Beatings. Severe abuse.

These are serious accusations, to be sure. They are the kind we have made against our enemies during war. The kind of accusations made against us, where Abu Ghraib and Gitmo are concerned. For complete story, click here.

Troubled children centers closing--December 27, 2008--Adrian Training Center will be shuttered Jan. 24 to help close a $540 million shortfall in Michigan's budget -- but the plan also signals the end of an era in how troubled children are treated in the state.

The institution was in operation for nearly 130 years and cost taxpayers $7.8 million annually for the treatment of 31 wayward girls. But in Michigan and nationwide, experts are moving away from institutionalizing children -- a trend that affects not only juvenile delinquents but other children with severe emotional or behavioral problems placed in long-term residential treatment centers, where they often remain for years.

Instead, the state is shifting resources to keep children at home or in foster homes, reflecting today's belief among child welfare experts that institutions are outmoded, expensive and ineffective. But some child advocates say severely ill children cared for in the community often aren't getting the services they need to be successful. And many in law enforcement complain delinquents can be a danger to their communities. For complete story, click here.

More Programs Closing--Abusive programs are losing funding and many juvenile courts are choosing to revert back to conventional juvenile detention. Whether it is due to lack of money or new regulations, this is good news. For more details, click here.

Report Reveals Unwarranted Detention Of Massachusetts Youth--December 18, 2008--BOSTON – Massachusetts police and probation officers are unnecessarily incarcerating youth who are arrested when juvenile court is typically closed, according to a report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts. Many have been arrested for minor infractions and pose no obvious risk of flight or danger to the community.

The report, "A Looming Crisis: The Secure Detention of Youth After Arrest and Before Arraignment in Facilities Administered by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security," reveals that youth securely detained after being arrested in the late afternoons, evenings or over a weekend are frequently denied access to bail and subjected to conditions that do not meet state regulations.

"Far too many kids are being locked up and detained in substandard conditions for no good reason," said Robin Dahlberg, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program and the primary author of the report. "Unnecessary detention has a dramatic and negative impact on our children by pushing them deeper into the criminal justice system." For complete story, click here.

Alldredge Academy Closing!--December 16, 2008--Alldrege Academy is closing as of December 31, 2008! Another one down! Keep the pressure on! For complete story, click here.

Oregon slow to deal with troubled facilities for troubled kids--December 20, 2008--SALEM -- Authorities knew of problems at two institutions that house Oregon's most troubled children: Kids getting the wrong medication; workers with criminal records; a teen with a broken collarbone after a fight with staff; and unsupervised mentally ill youths.

But instead of closing the institutions, state licensing officials spent several months warning the Kirkland Institute near Burns and the Pendleton Academies in eastern Oregon.

It was only after authorities feared that children were in danger that they cracked down and blocked new admissions. At Kirkland, for instance, another teen in state protective custody was taken to the emergency room after a run-in with staff. At Pendleton, a 17-year-old was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl. For complete story, click here.

Father pleads guilty to rape charges--December 18, 2008--SPOKANE — A man who raped his daughter and posted videos of the abuse online before fleeing the country pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court and likely faces the rest of his life in prison.

Kenneth John Freeman, 46 — described by law-enforcement officers as "one of the most heinous" pedophiles — pleaded guilty to production of child pornography and interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity.

His agreement with federal prosecutors calls for a sentence of 50 years in prison, plus three years of probation, when Freeman is sentenced March 25.

"A 50-year sentence is going to be a life sentence," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister, who prosecuted the case. Freeman would serve some 42 years before he could be considered for parole.

He also pleaded guilty to three Benton County charges of child rape during an appearance in Spokane County Superior Court, in exchange for an expected sentence of 20 years, to run concurrently with the federal time. He will be held in a federal prison. For complete story, click here.

See the Trailer for "Aaron Bacon"--A new film to be released in 2009 is the dramatic telling of the true story of the death of Aaron Bacon at the hands of the teen torture industry. See the trailer at: http://jonfordham.com/aaron_bacon_teaser_f23_acv-235.html

DSHS settles case of boy's death; lawyer asks how state lost track--December 17, 2008--This is a story that's been told countless times on these pages. Sadly, it needs to be told again. It's about the death of a boy who spent most of his life in foster care.

Robley Carr Jr., according to his lawyer, was a victim of the state Department of Social and Health Services' (DSHS) mistakes. He was a victim not once, but twice. In 2003, state and federal authorities paid $5 million to settle claims that Robley and three siblings were horribly abused in foster care.

Now, the state has agreed to pay an additional $320,000 to settle a claim that it failed to protect Robley even after that. He died at age 15.

"How did they lose track of him again?" asks Tim Tesh, the Seattle lawyer who filed both legal claims. "It's a hard question to answer."

The state said only this:

"All I can tell you is that DSHS regrets the unfortunate death of this young man," said agency spokesman Steve Williams. "We believe the $320,000 award is a fair and just settlement."

One might say that Robley began life well short of the starting gate.

His parents were troubled. According to an official review of Robley's 2006 death, Child Protective Services (CPS) in Alaska investigated abuse and neglect complaints involving the family in the early 1990s. The children were removed from the home, but Robley's mother later fled with them to Washington state, after she "left a treatment program against medical advice," the review said.

It didn't take long for CPS here to get involved. Robley had some 15 or 20 placements by the time he was 9, according to the recent legal claim. His two sisters and one brother had similar experiences, bouncing from home to home.

Robley, whose parents are Native American, was recognized by the Nooksack and the Hoonah tribes. That put his case under jurisdiction of tribal authorities and DSHS — or, as his lawsuit alleged, neither.

The children were repeatedly beaten in one foster home on the Nooksack reservation, according to the lawsuit Tesh filed. Even when the state heard the children were being abused, it didn't investigate, the suit said. The youngest almost died from a ruptured bowel and suffered a broken shoulder, Tesh said in a 2003 interview. The foster mother's teenage son beat him, sometimes jumping on the younger child's stomach. Then he beat the child again when he vomited blood or cried. Another sibling, Tesh said, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. For complete story, click here.

Georgia 8th-grader’s suicide spurs lawsuit--August 15, 2008 (Received 12/19/08)--Jonathan King told teachers at his north Georgia alternate public school that he couldn’t stand being locked within the four concrete walls of a small seclusion room.

In 2004, just weeks after threatening suicide, the 13-year-old eighth-grader hanged himself in the room, using a cord a teacher provided him to hold up his pants, court records show.

Now, four years later, as the Alpine Program in Gainesville starts its new school year, Jonathan’s parents are suing the program and the agency that oversees it. Don and Tina King of Murrayville, just outside Gainesville, say the treatment their son received at the school was unconstitutional and the school failed to protect him from self-harm. A north Georgia judge is expected to decide soon whether the King’s case should be dismissed or sent to a jury trial. For complete story, click here.

Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms--December 17, 2008--MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out."

"We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called "our baby ... a good kid."

But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper.

Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants. Watch Jonathan's parents on their son's death »

An attorney representing the school has denied any wrongdoing.

Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan, many mentally disabled and autistic children have been injured or traumatized.

Few states have laws on using seclusion rooms, though 24 states have written guidelines, according to a 2007 study conducted by a Clemson University researcher.

Texas, which was included in that study, has stopped using seclusion and restraint. Georgia has just begun to draft guidelines, four years after Jonathan's death. For complete story, click here.

Boys school probe stirs painful memories--December 15, 2008--MARIANNA, Florida (CNN) -- Leaning against his cane, Bryant Middleton shuffled toward the makeshift cemetery. Tears welled in his eyes as he leaned down to touch one of the crosses.

"This shouldn't be," he said. "This shouldn't be."

Thirty-one crosses made of tubular steel and painted white line up unevenly in the grass and weeds of what used to be the grounds of a reform school in Marianna, Florida. The anonymous crosses are rusting away but their secrets may soon be exposed.

When boys disappeared from the school, administrators explained it away, said former student Roger Kiser.

They'd say, "Well, he ran away and the swamp got him," Kiser recalled. Or, "The gators got him." Or, 'Water moccasins got him."

Kiser and other former students believe authorities will soon find the remains of children and teens sent to the Florida School for Boys half a century ago. (Webmaster Note: Many programs in existence today use the same excuses to cover up murders of children in their care.) For complete story, click here.

'White House Boys' win inquiry of reform school graves--December 10, 2008--MARIANNA, Florida (CNN) -- Four men, now in their 60s, met over the Internet, shared stories about the darkest days of their pasts and spurred an investigation into 32 graves at a reform school.

Roger Kiser, Michael McCarthy, Bryant Middleton and Dick Colon talked about whippings and beatings and other boys who disappeared.

They discussed the 32 crosses marking the graves of persons unknown on the grounds of the former Florida Industrial School for Boys.

They called their group the White House Boys, taking the name from the single story concrete building where, they say, boys were beaten and tortured decades ago. For complete story, click here.

Judge Orders Nun to Serve Full Sentence--MILWAUKEE - A judge in Milwaukee County today ordered an elderly nun to serve out her jail sentence. Sister Norma Giannini has serve eight months of a year long sentence for a conviction on charges that she sexually assaulted boys while attending St. Patrick's School in Milwaukee during the 1960s. For complete story, click here.

Facility to end Conn. contract for troubled youth--December 11, 2008--NORTH STONINGTON, Conn. - A North Stonington facility is ending its contract to treat adolescents in state custody who have drug problems or mental illness.

Stonington Institute cited a lack of demand for the inpatient programs, resulting from the state's increasing preference to send those youths to community-based programs.

This week's decision comes two months after reports that employees forcibly injected medications into out-of-control teen boys last spring to restrain them.

That news prompted criticism over whether the state Department of Children and Families adequately monitors facilities that care for adolescents in state custody. For complete story, click here.

Ramstad's Earmark Problem--Andy Birkey, a reporter for the CIM sister group the Minnesota Independent, has an interesting article about Jim Ramstad, the Minnesota Republican who is being considered for two positions in the Obama administration, either head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) or head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Looks like Ramstad has a pretty serious problem with one earmark he requested.

Earlier this year, Ramstad sponsored a $235,000 earmark for the Minnesota Teen Challenge (MNTC), an Assemblies of God drug treatment center with a history of controversial therapies and overt religious indoctrination.

MNTC is part of a national network of drug treatment and "discipleship training" centers called Teen Challenge. For complete story, click here.

Appeals court blasts juvenile judge--December 11th, 2008--An appeals court has ruled that a Miami-Dade juvenile judge improperly sent a youth to jail for missing his court dates.

On Wednesday, the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami reversed Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Lester Langer for ordering "an uncooperative juvenile" into Miami's juvenile lockup without the authority to do so.

This was the 12th case the court has reversed for the veteran judge, who has presided in juvenile court since 1999. The previous 11 cases all occurred within the last three years.

Langer declined to discuss the appeals court ruling. Miami-Dade courts spokeswoman Eunice Sigler said Langer had read the opinion "and he will comply with it." For complete story, click here.

Human rights violations in our own backyard--December 10th, 2008--Dec. 10 marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As we call on our global leaders to renew our commitments to universal justice and dignity, Californians must examine how we treat our youth. For complete story, click here.

Lack of skills creates problems with teens--December 7th, 2008--It’s much easier for kids to get into trouble today than it was when he was a child, said Dr. Henry Petree.
“It is very difficult out there to be a kid, and it is very difficult out there to be the parent of a kid,” Petree said.
A lot of those kids in trouble have parents who don’t have the basic skills needed to deal with the problems their children have, he said.
Petree is one of two counselors trying to intervene with troubled teens coming through the Community Intervention Center at the Muskogee County/City Detention Facility.
He’s asked the parents to come in for free counseling sessions.
“A lot of them don’t have any parenting skills, they didn’t inherit any,” Petree said. “They’re short on ‘What do I do,’ and they are so frustrated that it’s unreal.”
What he sees has led Petree to write a yet unpublished book on parenting, “In Perspective.” It is a series of columns giving parents advice. He is offering it to newspapers and churches to publish one article at a time.
He said he compiled the articles after seeing parents asking, “What can I do? We’re completely over our heads here.”
“Muskogee County has got some really good parents, and I’ve met some of those, but I’ve met an awful lot of them who just don’t have the skills,” he said. “Is it their fault? No. Nobody taught them. Their parents didn’t have very good parenting skills.”
He said he sees two particular skills lacking: Communication and conflict resolution.
“Oftentimes, they have difficulty communicating with not only teenagers, but with spouses and the community in general,” Petree said. “Now we have a teenager and a parent yelling at each other — not a good way to communicate — and now that we’ve started this yelling, it just cycles,” he said.
Conflict resolution skills come in at a close second, Petree said.
“If we can’t communicate, we can’t resolve the conflict once we get it,” he said. “That’s when we call the police, and the young person ends up in jail or in counseling with me. It’s not something people plan to do, it’s just something that happens.”
He would like to teach both skills to parents and teens, Petree said.
“Having those skills goes a long way in having a home that’s not so full of turmoil and chaos and screaming and cussing and everything that goes on there,” he said. “Unfortunately, they don’t teach us those skills in school. We might graduate at the top of our class and not know how to communicate and when we have conflict, not know how to resolve it. So folks get divorces over that, and kids go to jail.” For complete story, click here.

Worker faces rap in Manhattan Family Court building sex attacks--December 2nd, 2008--

A city worker who supervised troubled teens raped and sexually abused underage girls inside the Manhattan Family Court building, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Tony Simmons, 45, of the Bronx, pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges Tuesday after four victims picked him out of a lineup.

"It's outrageous," said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. "Here somebody who was supposed to be protecting them - helping them - is sexually abusing them. It's as bad as it gets."

City Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn, whose office referred the case to Manhattan prosecutors, called the case a "shocking abuse of the public trust."

Prosecutors said Simmons raped a 15-year-old in a courthouse elevator in September 2005 and sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl two months later in a courthouse pantry.

Simmons, who was being held on $250,000 bail, was nabbed after authorities found out about an assault in July of a 15-year-old girl behind a locker in a waiting area.

"Who the heck was supervising him?" Morgenthau wondered.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Amir Vonsover said the three girls involved in Tuesday's criminal complaint are "just the tip of the iceberg."

He said a fourth victim told detectives that Simmons sexually abused her in 2000, but he was not charged in that case because it happened more than five years ago.

Hearn said Simmons, who has worked for the city Department of Juvenile Justice for 16 years, was suspended without pay from his $37,391-a-year job for one month this summer before being put on desk duty away from children.

Because prosecutors fear there could be more victims, they set up a hotline. Anyone with information relevant to the case should call (212) 335-9373. For complete story, click here.

Teen's troubled life--December 3rd, 2008--

TRACY - "Nothing resembles normalcy or sanity" in the case of the 17-year-old boy who told authorities he was shackled and held captive in a Tracy home for a year, city spokesman Matt Robinson said.

Police began searching Tuesday for a third suspect - possibly the boy's aunt - who lived in the home that was his alleged prison, Robinson announced at a morning news conference.

The terrified teen was not attending school and had not been in contact with any other family members in more than a year, Robinson said. Yet the married couple - the wife a Girl Scout leader - and their four children also lived in the home. Neighbors reported what seemed to be a normal family and recalled purchasing Girl Scout cookies from the oldest daughter. And one neighbor said she frequently saw the teen outside the family home.

But "nothing resembles normalcy or sanity in this case," Robinson said.

A woman who might be the boy's aunt, Caren Ramirez, 43, took custody of the teen in early 2007 after he was removed from his parents' home, Robinson said. Not long after she took custody, however, Ramirez was arrested on and still carries a felony warrant for child abuse charges. The boy was returned to the care of Child Protective Services, which put him in a Sacramento group home.

"At some point after that, the teen and Ramirez reunited," Robinson said. "We're not sure when."

Investigators said Tuesday that Ramirez may have been headed to the East Bay on BART. Ramirez is described as black, 5 feet tall with short brown hair and brown eyes. She often wears a bandanna on her head.

When captured, Ramirez will face the same five charges as the couple who were arrested: torture, kidnapping, child endangerment, corporal injury to a child and false imprisonment, officials said.

The case came to light Monday afternoon when the terrified and bloodied boy ran into a fitness center wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a heavy chain wrapped tightly around his ankle. Covered in soot and blood, he told gym staffers that he had been held captive in a home on Tracy's Tennis Lane for a year. He begged them to help him hide.

"It wasn't something I thought was real," said Raelynn Lagadon, 24, a personal trainer at In-Shape Sport who gave the boy some food and water. "It was like something you'd see in a horror film or 'CSI.' Who would do that to somebody?" (Webmaster Note: Most, if not all, behavior modification programs would and likely have done this to many. Shut them down!)

Police arrested the adults who lived in the nearby home - Michael Schumacher, 34, and Kelly Schumacher, 30, who also might have gone by the name of Kelly Layne Lau. The Schumachers are each being held in lieu of $1.2million bail. A subsequent search of their home found further evidence implicating them, said Robinson, who would not describe what officers found. For complete story, click here.

Greenacres teen minister charged with having sex with girl, 16--November 24th, 2008--The president of a Greenacres Christian teen center had a sexual relationship for more than a year with a 16-year-old he was counseling, authorities say.

A judge Sunday ordered Brent Gabriel Edwards, 33, held in lieu of $100,000 bond, charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a jail clerk said.

Edwards posted the bond Sunday and will be on house arrest. He was booked early Saturday.

According to its Web page, Edwards is president of Extreme Revolution Youth Ministries, which operates the Oasis Teen Center.

His wife Christy is listed as vice president.

The ministry, founded in 2005, is listed as a federally-approved "501(c)(3)" non-profit charity.

The center lists among its missions "to provide a safe environment where teens can have fun."

A call to the center at midday today went to a recording. The telephone listed for Edwards' home was disconnected.

The Oasis operates at the Community Life Center, 3812 Jog Road.

A clerk at Church of the Palms said it owns the center and rents it out to various organizations, including Oasis, but is not affiliated with it or Extreme Revolution.

According to a Palm Beach County sheriff's report, Edwards had sex with the girl two to three times a week, before or after school or after youth group functions, from July 2007 until the end of August of this year.

The girl and her family, who knew Edwards from various church and youth groups, had gone to Edwards and his wife for counseling for emotional issues because the girl had been cutting herself, the report said.

The girl said that soon after the sessions got under way, her relationship with Edwards became physical. For complete story, click here.

Troubled teens ranch raided after abuse allegations--November 24th, 2008--Authorities in Blount County raided "The Reclamation Ranch” on Saturday, taking eleven teens into state custody after allegations of abuse and torture. Investigators would not talk on camera but told FOX6 News the situation is very serious.

The main allegation where Blount county authorities were alerted involved a 17-year-old at the ranch who claimed he was severely beaten and tortured. Investigators said they had enough probable cause to execute a search warrant.

The director of the ranch Dr. Jack Patterson said the way he and his kids were treated was unnecessary and he says he has done nothing wrong. Seventeen boys were taken into state custody; several girls were questioned then released.

Dr. Patterson said the sting operation was over the top. (Webmaster Note: HEAL says, the "sting operation" was just right or perhaps didn't go far enough. Close it down!) (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.myfoxal.com Date: November 24, 2008)

Ex-Supervisor at Teen Rehab Center Allegedly Raped Patient--November 21st, 2008--JOPLIN, Mo. — A woman who briefly supervised teens at a southwest Missouri drug and alcohol treatment center is charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old boy at the center.

Police say they're investigating similar allegations concerning Jana Carter, 45, and three other teens who lived at the male-only dormitory at Scott Greening Dependency Center in Joplin. Two of the boys are 16 and the third is 14. No charges had been filed in those allegations as of Friday.

A probable cause statement filed in Jasper County Circuit Court alleges that Carter had consensual sexual contact with the 16-year-old at least twice last month at the center. Their alleged encounters occurred while Carter, a residential supervisor at the time, was working her shift.

Joplin police spokesman Cpl. Chuck Niess told The Associated Press on Friday that Carter is now in custody. Niess said she turned herself in Thursday in McDonald County, south of Jasper County, and was to be transferred to a jail in Jasper County.

Larry Black, director of the Scott Greening Dependency Center, was out of the office Friday and could not be reached by the AP. But he told The Joplin Globe that Carter was hired about a month before the alleged incidents happened. According to court records, she had sexual contact with the 16-year-old from Oct. 10 to Oct. 19. For complete story, click here.

Pendleton Academies may face closure--November 19th, 2008--The Oregon Department of Human Services-Addictions and Mental Health Division (AMH) on Tuesday notified the Pendleton Academies' board of directors of their intention to revoke the treatment facility's certificate of approval to operate as a provider of psychiatric residential treatment services and psychiatric day treatment services for children.

On Aug. 20, AMH placed conditions on Pendleton Academies' certificate of approval to operate. At that time, the board appointed Interim Executive Director Terry Edvalson, who has been working with Pendleton Academies' staff to meet the standards required by AMH. Since then, Pendleton Academies has continued to care for clients, but has not been permitted to admit new clients to the program.

As recently as late October, AMH indicated they would lift the restrictions on Pendleton Academies and allow the admission of new clients, according to a statement released by the Pendleton Academies board Tuesday afternoon.

Given Pendleton Academies' efforts and progress in meeting AMH requirements, said the news release, Edvalson and the board were surprised by AMH's most recent action, the statement said.

The board plans to investigate its appeal rights and will be meeting again this Friday when more information is available, according to the statement. (Webmaster Note: Just shut it down.) (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.eastoregonian.info Date: November 19, 2008)

Changing times close children's home--November 1st, 2008--GROSSE POINTE WOODS -- A Grosse Pointe Woods children's home that has provided treatment for troubled children for 172 years will be shuttered at the end of November, a result of the state's shifting priorities for residential treatment of children and the economy.

The board of trustees of the Children's Home of Detroit voted Thursday to shutter the facility, which houses 5-to-17-year-olds in cottages on a 13-acre country-like campus. The home can house about 90 children; it has 28 children in residence, said Executive Director William Steele.

The state is placing fewer children in residential treatment settings partly because of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by the New York City-based child advocacy group Children's Rights. The group sued Michigan over poor treatment of children in foster care that resulted in several deaths.

"It's no different than the stories you're hearing about businesses that have to downsize or go out of business," Steele said. "The economy has certainly drained some of those resources we had available for operations.

"That, coupled with the low occupancy and the uncertainty about the direction of care for children, has combined to make it necessary for us to close."

Under terms of the lawsuit settlement, which took effect Oct. 24, the state Department of Human Services agreed to place children in the least restrictive setting possible, said Jack Kresnak, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Michigan's Children. (Webmater Note: Good. Hopefully this is a growing trend.) For complete story, click here.

Boot Camp Nurse Criticized - Gives Up State License--November 6th, 2008--Kristen Schmidt, the former Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp nurse at the center of the Martin Lee Anderson case, will no longer be able to practice in the state of Florida. She's voluntarily relinquished her nursing license to State Board of Nursing.

The board filed the final order with the Florida Department of Health Tuesday afternoon.

Schmidt was a central figure in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson at the Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp on January 5th, 2006. Schmidt was the nurse on-duty that day, which was Anderson's first day at the facility.

Anderson collapsed during a physical assessment run in the recreation yard. At first drill instructors believed Anderson was faking illness to get out of running. For 20-minutes they tried to get him back on his feet.
But during the process, the drill instructors used some arm strikes and take-downs, as well as ammonia capsules to revive the teenager.

You can see Schmidt hovering over Anderson and the drill instructors the entire time, but not doing much more than observing.

Paramedics eventually took Anderson to a local hospital, then he was transferred to a Pensacola hospital where he died about 12-hours later. The cause of his death is still a controversy.

Former Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert ruled it accidental due to Sickle Cell Trait.

A second autopsy found death by suffocation, due to the ammonia capsules held under Anderson's nose.

Schmidt and 7-drill instructors were later acquitted at trial on aggravated manslaughter charges.

The State Board of Nursing, in its investigation of Kristen Schmidt, cited Schmidt's conduct as unprofessional and negligent that day.
* The board found Schmidt failed to adequately assess Anderson's condition.
* She improperly distributed ammonia capsules to the drill instructors, without them having the proper knowledge about how to use the capsules.
* She failed to provide the paramedics with the complete information about what had transpired on the exercise field.
* Schmidt failed to perform any emergency treatment on Anderson at any time during the incident.
* And she failed to accurately record the incident in her nursing notes.
Schmidt agreed to voluntarily surrender her license, and never reapply in Florida in exchange for an end to the case against her. .

And it is possible we could see more activity in the Anderson case, from the U-S Attorney's office. The Department of Justice is investigating whether or not the drill instructors and Schmidt violated Anderson's civil rights.

Once Barack Obama takes office, the U-S Attorneys typically hand-in their resignation letters for the new president to accept or reject. If Obama selects a new U-S Attorney for this region, that person could push the Anderson case to the top of the priority list. For complete story, click here.

Medication Nation--November 20th, 2008--Video on how bad it is to drug your children. See: http://www.foxnews.com/video-search/m/21485444/medication_nation.htm?q=douglas+kennedy

Someone else’s sacrifice--November 19th, 2008--...America is heading ever deeper into a dire financial situation. With every passing week, more institutions seem to get dragged into the mess. A recent victim is the Hampton Roads Youth Center, a worthy organization focused on turning around the troubled lives of troubled youth and their families. In five years of service, the nonprofit agency served more than 75 families throughout Hampton Roads by providing residential, educational and counseling services from its location on Kenyon Road. Less than a week ago, the organization announced via a letter on its Web site that it is closing its residential program. Members of its governing board wrote that the group had been a victim of factors ranging from changing regulations and licensing standards to a trend against using residential facilities to treat troubled teens... (Webmaster Note: At least the financial crisis is good for something! Shut them all down!) For complete story, click here.

I-Team: Lawyers Question Medical Tests on Foster Kids--November 15th, 2008--This is a story about an eight-year-old boy in foster care. A boy we've never met. He exists for us only as a name on a letter questioning his mental health treatment. But his lawyer Janice Wolf wants us to remember Nathaniel is real.

"Some of the things our kids have gone through, you and I could only imagine in our dreams, or nightmares."

Nathaniel described vivid nightmares according psychiatric records obtained by the I-Team. During his first of two hospitalizations at Montevista, Dr. Mark Collins ordered a procedure called a brain spect. It requires the injection of radioactive material to illuminate blood flow in the brain.

Read the legal complaint

In a report to the family court, Collins writes the scan confirms Nathaniel has "severe bipolar disorder."

"I think my concern is that our foster kids are getting not just the best psychiatric care, but proper psychiatric care -- that they're not being mistreated, or experimented on, or used as investigational tools," said Wolf.

The American Psychiatric Association does not accept the use of brain imaging for the clinical diagnosis of children, in part, according to its literature, because of children's sensitivity to radiation and to risk of radiation-induced cancer.

Read a statement from the county about the procedures

Dr. Collins likens the exposure to a common CT scan, "To not look at a child's brain who's had multiple treatments and is not getting better, it would be like if you had a heart attack and I'm saying, ‘you know what, you've had a heart attack before. We know you have a bad heart. I'm not going to do an electrocardiogram on you.'"

Collins argues the scans are a valuable tool to aid in the diagnosis of his sickest patients and insists not everybody gets a spec scan.

A recent Medicaid review by the Nevada State Department of Health and Human Services identified 96 Montevista patients who underwent brain imaging. The majority, according to the state, were kids in the juvenile justice or child welfare systems.

"I've been doing enough of them I see the utility in this. I see how important it is to take a look at these kid's brains. If I was not seeing the benefit, I would not continue to do it," said Dr. Collins.

Wolf however questions the benefit and again points to Nathaniel. A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of the eight-year-old challenged Collins' diagnosis and noted, "Spect scanning is not yet an accepted diagnostic method. Although it is interesting, it is not yet reliable."

Read a statement from Nevada Medicaid

"We are hoping that at least by raising the concern and raising the issue that others will look also, that people responsible for our kids will take a look at what it is and hopefully support us," said Wolf.

And support kids like Nathaniel whose stories come to life from the pages of a foster care case file.

Only a caseworker stands between a child and a controversial procedure. Collins insists he receives no payment related to the scans. He insists brain imaging will soon be accepted by the psychiatric community. There is certainly evidence he may be right but for now, it remains investigational.

Medicaid does not cover investigational procedures, like brain specs. However these claims slipped through to the tune of more than $33,000. The state has not yet decided whether to seek repayment and has issued a memo reiterating its policy. For complete story, click here.

Ex-school owners OK $450,000 settlement--November 19th, 2008--The former operators of a Nephi school for troubled youths agreed to a $450,000 settlement to eight former students who alleged they were abused and hazed while there.

Mark and Cheryl Sudweeks, the former owners and operators of the now failed Whitmore Academy, came under fire in 2005 when several students accused them of various types of abuse that led to criminal charges being filed against Cheryl Sudweeks.

A 4th District Court civil suit seeking damages in the case was settled Monday.

"We are happy to get it behind us," said Susan Schacherer, a plaintiff whose granddaughter attended Whitmore.

"Does it undo the damage that caused us to bring the lawsuit to begin with? No. The window of opportunity to help these kids was lost. The money can't replace that."

The complaint filed in Juab County said that the Whitmore Academy, which was advertised as a facility for "teens looking to accelerate their education intellectually, emotionally and spiritually," was actually nothing of the sort.

The complaint alleges that some students enrolled at the Whitmore Academy were physically bound with plastic handcuffs for several hours, others were forced to spend periods of time outside without any clothing on, and some were forced to sleep in a space referred to as the "shelf room."

The shelf room was a small, enclosed area where students could neither sit up, fully stretch out, and was located 10 feet off the ground, according to the complaint. The Sudweeks were also accused of recruiting students and encouraging the students to use violence against other youths to enforce the rules.

There were also accusations of "environmental abuse" due to problems with the sewage system. Students were asked to not flush used toilet paper down the toilet, and the complaint states that "soiled toilet paper was stored in open trash bags that were left in the bathrooms." There was also an apparent problem with mouse feces and rodents, among other accusations.

Schacherer said that when she and her daughter visited the Whitmore Academy, they had no idea that these types of things were happening and that apparently they were duped.

Schacherer's granddaughter now lives in Texas with her mother and still harbors animosity toward the people she believes mistreated her.

"I don't think that she feels like the settlement was justified for what she went through," Schacherer said. "She realized this was the best we could do and that is the way it is. She still has bitter feelings."

In September of 2006, Cheryl Sudweeks pleaded no contest to four class C misdemeanor counts of hazing and agreed to meet all court-ordered requirements and pay a fee. For complete story, click here.

Dozen juveniles held at Guantanamo Bay --Pentagon revises upward number of children imprisoned at Guantanamo 16 Nov 2008 The number of juveniles held at Guantanamo Bay was revised upwards by US military officials. Twelve juvenile prisoners have been held at the US camp on Cuba, up from eight reported in May to a United Nations committee on child rights, the Pentagon said. For complete story, click here.

Troubled teens were banished to the Monarch Center wilderness program. Then their troubles really started--November 12th, 2008--

...While some teenagers wake up to find a Monarch staffer by their bedside, ready to rip them from the life they know and whisk them to the mountains of Colorado — an extreme, boot-camp tactic that enforces the seriousness of what the student is about to go through — Chris went to Monarch voluntarily, escorted by his parents.

Right away, Harry noticed a few things that worried him. He found it odd that his son was going to be in a coed group camping in the woods. He also wondered if the cheap, plastic fishing-tackle box stuffed to the brim with the different medications of Monarch students was sufficiently secure. But he'd heard that Monarch was such an amazing place, he let those concerns go.

Out in the field, though, Chris found his daily routine a far cry from the glitzy, biking/white-water rafting/mountain-climbing Colorado experience that Monarch had advertised.

"Basically we'd wake up early, eat breakfast that consisted of powdered milk and cereal, and then we'd hike for miles," Chris remembers. "We'd stop for lunch, then keep hiking for a few more hours, and then we'd camp. We'd sit around the fire and shoot the shit for a little bit at night, but it wasn't therapy; it was just talking. Then the next day we'd do it again. It got to be really, really boring."

And worse. Early on, Chris lost the spoon he'd been assigned for his meals, so he had to consume his meager rations with a stick. An informational pamphlet handed out at orientation had informed students that they were to practice a leave-no-trace style of mountaineering, with each camper issued six squares of toilet paper, but Chris didn't even get that. "They made me wipe my ass with rocks and pinecones," he says. "They never had toilet paper. That six squares thing? That was just bullshit. The girls were made to drip dry."

Each camper carried a thermos. At streams, they'd fill up — and then counselors would purify each thermos with a few drops from an eye-dropper full of chlorine bleach. Sometimes, Chris says, they would just drop the bleach directly into the stream and then tell the kids to fill up. Chris was soon suffering from severe diarrhea.

Monarch typically takes students out into the field for two weeks at a time, then brings them back to Georgetown for a week of family therapy. When the Haneys arrived from Fort Worth, where Harry owns a company that manufactures highway safety equipment, Chris smelled so bad that he had to shower twice before they could take him out for a meal, Harry remembers.

At their first family session, Chris complained about conditions at Monarch. But his parents figured it was just normal bitching about "bad kids' camp," and they sent him back into the field.

The second time Harry came up for family week, he could see in his son's eyes that something wasn't right.

"He said, 'Dad, you have to get me out of here; they just want me for the money,'" Harry remembers... For complete story, click here.

Teen compacted in Wis. garbage truck survives--November 5th, 2008--

MILWAUKEE — Police in Milwaukee say a teenage boy has survived after being accidentally dumped into the back of a recycling truck and compacted.

Police say the 14-year-old ran away from a boot camp-style school for teens Monday and hid in a recycling bin filled with cardboard.

The bin was picked up by a Waste Management truck and dumped into the vehicle's rear compactor.

Waste Management spokeswoman Lynn Morgan says the truck continued on its collection route, compacting cardboard several times.

The boy wasn't discovered until the truck dumped its load at a recycling processing center.

He was semiconscious and was taken to a hospital, but police say his injuries aren't life-threatening. (Webmaster Note: This is a tragedy. Please don't subject children to programs that by their very nature cause a flight or fight response and put children at risk.) For complete story, click here.

Troubled Teens: Advice About Teen Boot Camps--November 6th, 2008--

Hi Vanessa,

My son has been acting out and I have read about parents sending their kids away to boot camps and wilderness adventure camps. Do you think this is is a good idea? Are they safe? –Worried Mom, Austin, TX

Hi Worried Mom,

Parents often choose boot camps as an absolute last resort and are at the end of their rope by the time they need to contact a wilderness facility. If you have a troubled teen or your teen is acting out, try these solutions before thinking about camp:

• Consistency and Routine: Often times, teens rebel because of hormones or undesired change. Therefore, the more habits, systems and routines you have in the house the more consistency the teen will have in his/her life and the more likely they will find comfort in ‘normalcy.’

• Family and Community Involvement: Family time and involving your teen or child in community activities with religious groups, community service or at YMCA’s can help a teen find other outlets for anger or fear.

• Break from bad friends: Certain teens have ‘bad’ behavior because of negative influence from friends. Try to encourage activities in the community rather than hanging out with negative enablers. Or take a family trip to get away from these kids. Often times, sending teens to grandparents, aunt’s or uncle’s houses can be a sufficient break away from influencers.

• Empowerment, love and support: Some teens thrive off of any kind of attention, this means that punishments and arguments simply feed their need. So make sure to give them positive attention, tell them you have faith in them, that they are smart, and have a good future, show them you are there for them no matter what. Even if this does work immediately, as seen with my friend above, they will remember that you were there for them after this hard stage.

If you reach the end of your rope:

• Family camps are better than boot camps: There are many camps, especially church and temple camps that are for entire families. This is where all family members have activities together and separate and can be a good break and a time where you can bond away from the home, bad friends and trigger points.

• Send them to a relative: As mentioned above, sending teens to a relative’s house for the summer or for a school break can help keep them out of trouble when there is no school and give them a chance to connect in a different community.

• Do your research: If you must, there are some good ‘correction’ camps out there. Stear away from ‘tough love’ camps and make sure there are therapists working at the facility. Get referrals and do plenty of research and surprise visits, remember what camps want to show you, they will, and what they do not want to show you, they won’t.

If you are having a hard time with your teen remember that the relationship comes in cycles and do not be afraid to get outside help with a therapist, counselor or at their schools. For complete story, click here.

Residential Children's Programs Target Of Legislation--November 4th, 2008--Oct. 17, a group of former students of a local boarding school for girls stood outside the Kosciusko County Courthouse demonstrating against physical, emotional and mental abuse they allege they suffered.

With them stood several members of a local task force formed to pursue a change in state law to require more accountability for residential programs for children. The local task force members are not the only ones looking for such a law change.

Congress also is eyeing a bill aimed at preventing child abuse in residential programs, public or private, nationwide.

The bill is called HR 6358. It passed the House of Representatives June 25 and is currently in the Senate. HR 6358 calls for more public accountability. If the bill is passed in its current form, the school that former students were demonstrating against, Hephzibah House, and similar organizations may fall under its jurisdiction. Hephzibah House is a "private Christian boarding school for teenage girls," according to the school's Web site.

According to the bill, covered programs would include public or private organizations, which operate residential environments including boot camps, therapeutic boarding schools and behavior modification programs, which operate with a focus on serving children with emotional, behavioral or mental problems or disorders or problems with alcohol or substance abuse. The bill would not cover hospitals licensed by the state or foster family homes which are licensed and regulated by the state and in which children are placed by the state.

The bill would prohibit disciplinary techniques or other practices that involve the withholding of essential food, water, clothing, shelter or medical care necessary to maintain physical health, mental health and general safety; physical and mechanical restraints and seclusion. The bill also would prohibit acts designed to humiliate, degrade or undermine a child's self-respect. Residential facilities covered by the bill would be required to provide "reasonable access for making and receiving phone calls with as much privacy as possible and shall have access to the appropriate state or local child abuse reporting hotline number and the national hotline number."

The bill would establish penalties for facilities cited with violations, including fines. Enforcement measures would be established including unannounced inspections, licensing requirements and new databases.

HR 6358 passed through the House with a vote of 318 ayes to 103 nays, with 13 present not voting. Of the nine Indiana Representatives who voted on the bill, six voted for it and three against it. Local Dist. 3 Representative Mark Souder voted against the bill.

"I believe these things should be worked through at the state and local level," said Souder. "I voted for the Republican alternative both in committee and elsewhere that would increase state regulation."

Souder said the alternative proposal did not include increased federal oversight.

"Obviously, I believe there needs to be some additional controls, particularly for those who abuse kids, it's a terrible tragedy," he said. "We need also better enforcement. But, I do not favor the federal government taking over something I believe can be regulated at the state and local level."

Souder said he could get behind increasing federal oversight if state regulations could not be stiffened or in cases dealing with multiple states, but he said increasing federal regulations is a last resort. "I don't think we're there yet," Souder said.

Becky Moreno, victim's assistance advocate with the Warsaw Police Department, organized the local task force seeking change in Indiana law. Moreno said she supports HR 6358.

"I think this bill is an excellent step toward preventing child abuse and bringing about some accountability that is otherwise lacking," Moreno said. "Child abuse is a national problem. Anything that could be done to prevent this problem everywhere would be the best-case scenario."

The bill is currently under review in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

For information on HR 6358, visit www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6358 (Webmaster Note: See HEAL's Position Statement Calling for Revision of HR 6358) For complete story, click here.

Be calm, be controlled -- and listen--November 2nd, 2008--

QWe have a 15-year-old son who has zero respect for us and is constantly getting into trouble. Is there any hope?

AThere is always hope. But you can't address his behaviour until you improve your relationship with him. Keeping in mind you have to give respect to get it, go through the following steps in a calm and controlled manner:

n Tell him you are sorry for making mistakes in the past but you want to improve.

n Ask him for suggestions on how you can become a better parent. He'll probably give you a huge list of everything you've done wrong. That's OK; let him get it out of his system.

n Repeat what he's told you -- but you don't have to agree. This is all about listening.

Now it's time to validate and negotiate. You may say, "I agree that I nag you about cleaning up your room but if I promise to stop doing that, will you stop calling me foul names?"

Work your way up to the bigger issues over time. Thank him for his help. This process takes patience and understanding but it's a great start.

Focus on the positives

Parenting troubled teens isn't about taking blame; it's about taking responsibility for the solution. Rather than focusing on your teen's bad behaviour, start focusing on the positives. Praise him or her for keeping a clean bedroom, putting dishes in the dishwasher or getting an A in math. OK, OK, your teen is doing none of those things. You may have to dig deep to find the positives, but they're there. Focusing on the positives opens the door to discussing and working on the negatives. For complete story, click here.

Teacher ordered to stand trial over charges he abused teen--October 29th, 2008--Is she a troubled teen who fabricated a story about sexual encounters with a teacher, or the victim of a predator who coerced her into a sexual relationship? Both sides of that question were argued during a Tuesday preliminary hearing for a West High School teacher accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old student. Jose Fanjul, 45, is charged in 3rd District Court with five counts of first-degree forcible sodomy and five counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse in connection with allegedly having sex with the girl inside his classroom and at other locations. After listening to testimony, Judge Ann Boyden ordered Fanjul to stand trial on the abuse allegations, saying prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to advance the case. She set a Nov. 10 arraignment. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.sltrib.com Date: October 29, 2008)

Oppositional and Defiant or Critical Thinker?--September 12th, 2008--

I’m working on a piece about undergraduate academic freedom that relates changes in campus culture to changes in the culture of schools. One area of particular interest is the medicalization of youth relations with authority. AlterNet’s Bruce Levine, a clinical psychologist, argues that “teenage rebellion has become a medical illness” with the 1980 introduction to the DSM IV of “Oppositional Defiant Disorder” (ODD):

Many talk-show hosts think I’m kidding when I mention oppositional defiant disorder. After I assure them that ODD is in fact an official mental illness—an increasingly popular diagnosis for children and teenagers—they often guess that ODD is simply a new term for juvenile delinquency. But that is not the case. Young people diagnosed with ODD, by definition, are doing nothing illegal (illegal behaviors are a symptom of another mental illness called conduct disorder). In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) created oppositional defiant disorder, defining it as “a pattern of negativistic, hostile and defiant behavior.” The official symptoms of ODD include “often actively defies or refuses to comply with adult requests or rules” and “often argues with adults.”

A diagnosis of ODD can result in medication with powerful tranquilizers like Risperdal and Zyprexa. Numerous experts have worried about overdiagnosis and overmedication of young people, and critical educators frequently worry that the problem is not lack of compliance by American youth but its precise opposite, an epidemic of compliance.

Norm Diamond, for instance, argues that many of the so-called defiant “symptoms” are in many cases “part of establishing independence and developing critical thinking. Equipping children to argue back is part of good parenting and good teaching.” Nonetheless a massive therapeutic industry of behavior modification, including pharmaceutical companies, now targets parents, promising cures for “defiant children.”

One of the most pervasive ad campaigns draws on the rhetoric of homeland security to label youth defiance “The War at Home,” urging a corrections mentality on the family: “The focus of treatment should be on compliance and coping skills, not on self-esteem or personality. ODD is not a self-esteem issue; it’s a problem-solving issue.”

Responding to Big Pharma ads for ODD medications targeting parents in his Portland media market, Diamond created a parody description of what he argues is the real social malaise, “Compliance Acquiescent Disorder,” which played locally in both radio and print versions. (An unexpected result of the parody was that outlets publishing them received calls from readers and listeners seeking treatment for their compliance disorder!)

Noting that “ODD-diagnosed young people are obnoxious with adults they don’t respect [but] can be a delight with adults they do respect,” Levine suggests that in many cases the symptoms of ODD are rational resistance to authoritarian abuses and “rebellion against an oppressive environment,” explanations rarely considered by educators or mental health professionals. Levine speculates that the willingness to medicate rebellion and nonconformity emerges in the social psychology of medical professionals, including a sense of shame for “their own excessive compliance”:

It is my experience that many mental-health professionals are unaware of how extremely obedient they are to authorities. Acceptance into medical school and graduate school and achieving a Ph.D. or M.D. means jumping through many meaningless hoops, all of which require much behavioral, attentional, and emotional compliance to authorities—even disrespected ones. When compliant M.D.‘s and Ph.D.‘s begin seeing noncompliant patients, many of these doctors become anxious, sometimes even ashamed of their own excessive compliance, and this anxiety and shame can be fuel for diseasing normal human reactions.

Of course, Levine’s observations would seem to hold for educators as well, many of whom welcome the diagnosis of ODD and other conduct-related disorders as “classroom management tools.” (On the other hand, the vast majority of teachers discussing “defiant” students on fora like ProTeacher.com are exchanging non-medical tips, often involving massive extra-curricular, non-instructional effort and expense on their part, voluntarily taking on the role of therapist and parent as well as instructor.)

“Finally, a cure for the class struggle,” wryly observed one of the Alternet discussion threads in response to Levine’s piece. “Is there a pill for megalomania and warmongering?” wondered another. For complete story, click here.

Certain antipsychotics are leaving legions of children and elderly in chemical straightjackets for treatment of conditions they didn't even have.--October 19th, 2008--

Some state legislators are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

They've seen state outlays for controversial antipsychotics like Zyprexa grow as much as twelvefold since 2000, with a corresponding growth in side effects like weight gain, blood sugar changes and cholesterol problems.

In March, Alaska won a $15 million settlement from Eli Lilly in a suit to recoup medical costs generated by Medicaid patients who developed diabetes while taking Zyprexa.

Last year Bristol-Myers Squibb settled a federal suit for $515 million charging that it illegally hawked the antipsychotic Abilify to children and the elderly, bilking taxpayers.

Now Idaho, Washington, Montana, Connecticut, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Arkansas and Texas are taking pharma to court over its antipsychotic prescrib-athon that has left the poor and mentally ill in even worse health and legions of children and elderly in chemical straightjackets for treatment of conditions they didn't even have.

The atypical antipsychotics Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquel, Abilify and Geodon can be thought of as the credit swaps of the pharmaceutical world.

New with no track record, risky, barely understood and capable of making a lot of money before their long-term effects are apparent, atypical antipsychotics, like credit swaps, could only be sold with friends in high regulatory places and the help of the U.S. taxpayer.

Though atypical antipsychotics were developed to treat schizophrenia and later approved for bipolar disorder (Risperdal is also approved for autism-related irritability in children), pharma lost no time in marketing them for non-FDA-approved uses like ADHD and conduct disorders, dementia, sleep disorders, depression and simple mood swings, netting $8,000 a year per person, usually from state coffers.

When the second-generation atypical antipsychotics debuted in the 1990s, they seemed to lack the "typical" side effects of first-generation antipsychotics like Thorazine and Haldol, such as the movement disorder tardive dyskinesia. But soon further "clinical testing," known as selling it to the public while the patent is hot, revealed that atypicals cause the same side effects as first-generation antipsychotics and more: increased mortality in elderly patients, suicide risk, hyperglycemia, diabetes mellitus and the hematological disorders leukopenia, neutropenia and agranulocytosis.

In fact, Seroquel and Abilify have not one black box warning but two.

Nor do the atypical antipsychotics work better than predecessors.

A National Institute of Mental Health study of 119 children ages 8 to 19 with psychotic symptoms published in September found Risperdal and Zyprexa were no more effective than the older antipsychotic Moban -- but caused such obesity that a safety panel ordered the children off the drugs.

In just eight weeks, children on Risperdal gained 9 pounds while those on Zyprexa gained 13; children on Moban gained less than a pound.

"Kids at school were making fun of me," study participant Brandon Constantineau, 18, of Wilmington, N.C., told the New York Times. Constantineau put on 35 pounds on Risperdal.

Other studies -- like one on Risperdal in the Jan. 4, 2008, issue of Lancet and one on Zyprexa, Seroquel and Risperdal in Alzheimer's patients in the Oct. 12, 2006, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine -- find that atypicals work no better than a placebo.

But it gets worse.

A study of Seroquel in the Feb. 19, 2005, issue of the British Medical Journal found the drug ineffective in relieving agitation in Alzheimer's patients -- a non-FDA-approved use that JP Morgan analysts say constitutes 29 percent of all Seroquel sales (hello? regulators?) -- but "was associated with significantly greater cognitive decline" than a placebo. Oops.

Whatever happened to first no harm?

But it was Eli Lilly's own discovery of elevated stroke and death numbers in five of its Zyprexa clinical trials and subsequent letter to doctors in 2004 that led the FDA to impose a black-box warning of "increased mortality in elderly patients with dementia" on atypical antipsychotics in 2005 after reviewing 17 clinical studies with four different drugs.

"The problem with these drugs are that we know that they are being used extensively off-label in nursing homes to sedate elderly patients with dementia and other types of disorders," testified FDA safety expert Dr. David "Vioxx" Graham last year at a congressional hearing. "But the fact is, is that it increases mortality perhaps by 100 percent. It doubles mortality. So I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation on this, and you have probably got 15,000 elderly people in nursing homes dying each year from the off-label use of antipsychotic medications. ... With every pill that gets dispensed in a nursing home, the drug company is laughing all the way to the bank."

No kidding.

A third of the nation's estimated 2.5 million nursing home patients have taken atypical antipsychotics, estimates the New York Times, and the overall atypical antipsychotic tab for Medicare and Medicaid -- including children -- in the United States is $2 billion a year.

In 12 states, the pharmaceutical industry has actually written the guidelines that specify atypicals for schizophrenia and discourage older drugs. And two dozen states have hired the Lilly-backed Comprehensive Neuroscience to show them how to, not a joke, lower their drug costs.

That sounds like Wall Street too. For complete story, click here.

Judge convicts three in Hope Youth Ranch teen's death--October 15th, 2008--MINDEN – Three former employees of Hope Youth Ranch were convicted this afternoon of negligent homicide and cruelty to a juvenile in connection with the September 2005 death of a Haughton teen who was in their care. For complete story, click here.

Former Hephzibah House Students Demonstrate, Advocate For Change--October 18th, 2008--Eight women sat in the lobby of a local hotel Friday morning, swapping stories of common experiences they say occurred when they were students at Hephzibah House, a Warsaw boarding school for girls. The women come from several different states, and the stories they tell are stories of physical, emotional and mental abuse. For complete story, click here.

Center's Troubled Teens 'Assaulted With Needles,' Officials Say--October 18th, 2008--Teens being treated for drug abuse and mental illness at Stonington Institute have been involuntarily injected with medication to restrain them in what the state attorney general and child advocate Friday called another example of poor supervision by the Department of Children and Families.

At least five boys aged about 16 received such involuntary injections, while aides held them immobile, at the DCF-licensed private residential facility in North Stonington during a two-month period this past spring, state Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein said Friday after she and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent a letter filled with criticism to DCF.

Milstein said the youths were considered "out of control" at the time that they were injected.

If DCF had been properly overseeing what goes on at Stonington, "the practice of involuntary intramuscular medication would have been discovered sooner and fewer children assaulted with needles," Milstein and Blumenthal wrote to DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.courant.com Date: October 18, 2008)

Former Hephzibah students attract support--October 17th, 2008--

A group of protestors sent a message today.

They're not going away and they're gaining more support.

You may have seen them in front of the Kosciusko County Courthouse, today.

Fox 28's Traci Capellman has been following the allegations against Hephzibah House for several months now and has the latest.

Warsaw has seen some of these protestors before, a group of former students from Hephzibah House. It's a religious boarding school for troubled teen girls.

But today, they were joined by alot of new faces. A group of students from Grace College, and community members were showing their support by handing out fliers.

We introduced you to these former students back in June. They were there at the school at different times, but have similar allegations. They say they were severely beaten, strip searched, in some cases starved, and isolated from their families.

The former students and protestors would like to see a change in Indiana law holding residential care facilities for children more accountable. And a local task force of concerned community members has formed to offer their support.

These students are also seeing support from former students of other schools across the country. Students like Suzanne Pucket who came from Ohio and Tony Connelly who came from Kentucky. They went to different boarding schools for at-risk kids, schools they say used similar tactics.

Tony Connelly who was supporting the protestors says, "I really just hope the truth comes out. I want the public to be aware of what is actually truthfully happening inside these programs because I believe if the public really knew what happened inside these programs instead of believing the lies told by these organizations, they wouldn't stand for it." (Quote amended for accuracy by HEAL Team)

Likewise, Susanne Puckett says, "Alot of these places try to silence their victims voices and we're here to let them know, we're not gonna be silenced anymore."

In another new development, the former Hephzibah students tell Fox 28 they have requested their medical records from the school. While the school hasn't complied, yet, they are trying to see if there is a link between health issues many of them have experienced. "Girls that have had reproductive problems, female problems, children with birth defects, difficulty conceiving. So, we're just finding compared to the general population, we have a much higher precentage of problems."

We placed calls to both Hephzibah House and their attorney, but they haven't returned our phone calls.

Fox 28 will continue to bring you the very latest. (Also see: http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/31185769.html ) For complete story, click here.

Pathway Family Center Protest--October 15th, 2008--

On Friday, September 26th a group of people gathered outside of a nondescript building in Miami Township to protest Pathway Family Center. Some of the protesters are local but some drove from out of town to demonstrate their concerns.

Pathway Family Center has a sordid past, started by a former STRAIGHT Incorporated parent and reported by recent clients to be using techniques that were once used in that facility. A reasonable effort has been made on several occasions to create a dialogue with program executives to no avail. We are repeatedly told to “go home and get a life”.

This has been the 14th protest in a row at this program over the course of a year and there is always some type of interaction by those in support of the program and those opposing Institutionalized child abuse. So far, I would estimate that the police have been called five times and not one time was anyone arrested, charged or convicted of anything. In fact, I don’t recall anyone committing any crime or breaking any law. It would seem that those calling the police are trying to intimidate our group by using the local police as hired guns.

Bill HR 6358 is a bill directly concerning our efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of privately-owned, residential treatment programs. Its title, “Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008” speaks for itself and adds critical facts of confirmed abuse and deaths in these programs, according to Greg Kutz of the Government Accountability Office. What is most troubling to me is that there have been two hearings on this subject and the bill has passed the committee and the house of Representatives without any major media attention about the content of the findings. American teenagers are confirmedly abused and dying in these programs due to neglect and a façade of regulatory oversight. What some have been alleging for years is finally proven and it is not reported to the American people.

Unfortunately this seems to be a partisan issue. After checking to see the status of the bill and voting record of each Representative I noticed an alarming pattern. One Hundred and Three Republicans voted against this bill and Zero Democrats voted against it. Yes, that is correct, more than half of the Republican House voted against a bill to stop child abuse. I immediately went to the courthouse and changed my party registration which just happened to be Republican prior to this fascinating find.

There is big money to be made according to recent reports that suggest, it costs parents Sixty Five thousand dollars to enroll their child into the Pathway program. What’s more is that the kids stay in host homes overnight which begs the question, “where is all of the money going”? I can’t say with any certainty but I might theorize that some of that money is making its way to the Republicans in the House of Representatives. This could very well turn into a very large scandal for some in high positions of authority.

One of the biggest problems with the abuse in the program in the past has been that parents are forbidden to communicate with their child until the executive program staff decide that the child has earned the privilege to do so. While I was being psychologically tortured as a teenager, this was the single most damaging aspect to my being abused. If I had been able to complain to anyone in the outside world, I would have had a chance to convey the tragedy occurring. I have received several reports by both program staff and recent clients that this restriction of communication is still being implemented. This is very troubling to me.

As I study programs for teens and the similarities between them, I realize that what was done to me was nothing unique or isolated. This type of Institutionalized abuse is a widespread problem in this country. I also have been studying the phenomenon of cults. The strange thing about this is, I was never interested in studying cults but little did I know, I had been entered into one against my will as a teenager. Once I recognized all of the methods that cults use and that all of those techniques were used when I was in the program, something began to emerge for me. I can now clearly see that the program I was entered into was a damaging mind control cult.

Kids Helping Kids, Pathway Family Center, SAFE, Possibilities Unlimited and several other (self proclaimed) drug rehabilitation programs for teens can be linked to individuals who were involved directly with STRAIGHT Incorporated.

When former program parents are asked their opinion, they state that the parents don’t really see all that goes on inside of the program and that anything questionable is explained away in some form or another. The parents seem to be bullied by the program as well as the parents around them to just relax and that everything is taken care of. If anyone starts to ask too many questions, the group of parents turns on them and uses a mob mentality to stop that parent from asking questions. The immense social force in the program is said to be enough to silence most and intimidate all.

After this last protest it is evident to me that victims who were abused in programs and parents alike must come together to speak out about this mistreatment. In the last year we have seen a large increase in those willing to communicate what happened with their program experience and I believe it is only a matter of time before these programs will be forced to answer for their actions or be closed down completely. (Webmaster Note: This article was written by Tony Connelly--HEAL KY Coordinator.) For complete story, click here.

Federal officials looking into San Jose's EHC LifeBuilders--October 16th, 2008--A routine inquiry begun a year ago at a youth shelter run by Santa Clara County's most prominent homeless-services agency has now progressed into an investigation of possible fraud.

Concerns first arose in October 2007, when a federal official monitoring millions of dollars in government spending on shelters for runaway youths paid a visit to EHC LifeBuilders in downtown San Jose. Alarmed that children and teens fleeing the streets were being cared for in an unlicensed facility, she alerted the state's community care division, and the shelter known as Our House was forced to shut its doors the next day.

Now the agency is receiving more unexpected federal scrutiny — this time, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for digging out fraud, waste and abuse of public funds. The new investigation comes as EHC has abandoned long-held plans to reopen the 14-year-old shelter; the group announced last week that it is shifting its youth shelter program to serve young adults, for whom licensing is not required. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.mercurynews.com Date: October 16, 2008)

Michigan, Iowa teens left by families in Nebraska--October 14th, 2008--

Imagine being a teenager, taken by your family to another state and dropped off at a hospital -- so someone else would take responsibility for you.

It's happened twice over the last week in Nebraska.

In one case, a 13 year old Michigan boy got in a car with his mom, who drove over 700 miles to Omaha to leave him at a medical center in the middle of the night.

In another case, a 14 year old Iowa girl was deposited by her grandparents at Omaha's Creighton University Medical Center.

Both families were relinquishing responsibility for the teens under Nebraska's controversial safe haven law, the only in the U.S. that allows families to leave children of any age at a hospital.

No one expected the outcome: most of the 19 kids dropped off at hospitals to date have been teens or pre-teens.

Certainly, no one expected that distraught parents or grandparents from other states would come to Nebraska to hand over their kids -- the newest development.

Much has been written about the problems that can lead families to relinquish children, whether in Nebraska or elsewhere. In particular, the lack of supports for families dealing with extremely troubled kids -- especially, insufficient mental health services -- can be devastating.

Many readers of this blog have applauded Nebraska for offering an alternative for children who might otherwise be subjected to abuse from overwhelmed parents. If the only alternative is giving children up, it's better than seeing kids neglected or subject to violence, you've said.

But think of the children, especially teenagers who face the reality of abandonment.

"You could imagine being a child and your parent asks you to go to a hospital and they just drive away, what feelings that would create for the children," said Gene Klein, executive director of Project Harmony in Omaha, quoted by KPTM 42 News.

State officials are concerned that the spirit of Nebraska's safe haven law is being violated. "I certainly recognize and can commiserate and empathize with families across our state and across the country who are obviously struggling with parenting issues, but this is not the appropriate way of dealing with them," said Todd Landry, head of Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services, quoted in a report by BBC News. (Webmaster Note: Todd Landry is right. Abandoning your child to institutionalization is not appropriate.) For complete story, click here.

School founder kills self instead of going to prison--January 17th, 2008 (Just received on October 15th 2008)

The founder of a Christian school for troubled boys who had pleaded guilty to financial fraud and deception in its operation appears to have fatally shot himself days after he was supposed to report to prison.

Robert Serge Gluhareff pleaded guilty in April to two counts of bank fraud, one count of tax fraud, and one count of mail fraud in connection with the Wellspring Academy outside South Boston, Va. The school had many students from Raleigh when it was open. A federal judge sentenced Gluhareff to 30 months, and Gluhareff was to begin the sentence Jan. 8, but he didn't appear.

Person County Sheriff Dewey Jones said that on Friday, Gluhareff left his home in South Boston and said he was going to meet a client. When he didn't return, family members started a search.

On Sunday, Jones said, a Person County deputy came across Gluhareff's truck on the side of a rural road. Witnesses told deputies the truck had been there since at least 8 p.m. Friday. Deputies searched nearby woods and found Gluhareff's body and a .38-caliber handgun.

Gluhareff started the Wellspring Academy in the 1980s, first recruiting students from the Triangle and later enrolling students from across the country. It began as a coeducational facility but was converted to a boys school. Parents whose sons had behavioral and other problems paid tuitions of more than $40,000 per year for the residential program. Gluhareff promised a structured setting with academics, religion and individual counseling on a 510-acre farm. For complete story, click here.

Despite state acquittals, federal charges possible in death of teen at Florida boot camp--October 13th, 2008--

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) _ A looming federal investigation and possible trial is making it difficult for seven juvenile Florida boot camp guards and a nurse acquitted last year of state charges in the death of a 14-year-old boy to move on with their lives, their attorneys said.

The eight left a Panama City courthouse with their jubilant families one year ago on Oct. 12, 2007, after jurors found them not guilty in the beating death of Martin Lee Anderson. The death and verdict prompted protests and Florida's juvenile boot camps were abolished. The eight employees were fired from the Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp.

"All of their lives have changed. They are no longer doing what was their first choice in life to do," said Hoot Crawford, attorney for former camp guard Henry Dickens, who is now a hotel security guard. Dickens had wanted to dedicate his life to reforming juvenile offenders but "now he is doing something very different," Crawford said.

The federal inquiry remains open, said Karen Rhew, a Tallahassee-based assistant U.S. attorney. She declined to give other details or a timeframe for a decision on whether or not there will be a second trial.

Attorneys for the eight said their clients did not want to talk publicly about the verdict because of the federal investigation.

Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, a day after being hit and kicked by the guards as the nurse watched. He had just been assigned to the camp. He was caught trespassing at a school, which violated his probation imposed after he was convicted of helping his cousins steal their grandmother's car.

A video of the 30-minute altercation showed the seven men punching him and using knee strikes against him, pushing ammonia capsules into his nose and dragging his limp body around the yard. The video also showed the nurse doing nothing to help Anderson or stop the men.

A coroner initially determined Anderson fatally hemorrhaged because he had an undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a condition which can cause red cells to change shape and not carry oxygen when the body is under extreme stress.

A second autopsy, completed when then-Gov. Jeb Bush ordered an independent prosecutor take over the case, determined the guards killed Anderson by depriving him of oxygen when they pushed the ammonia tablets into his nose, covered his mouth and didn't give him time to recover his breath. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.amny.com Date: October 13, 2008)

Youth treatment center to close--October 9th, 2008--A 43-bed youth treatment center in Marriottsville will be closing next month as the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services transitions more youths away from residential facilities to community-based treatment programs.

The Thomas O’Farrell Youth Center is scheduled to close Nov. 30, said Tammy Brown, a spokeswoman for the Department of Juvenile Services. Of the close to 30 nonviolent youth offenders now at the center, 10 will be transferred to other residential facilities and the rest will be sent home to continue treatment in their communities, she said.

“There’s a big push for kids to be treated in the community and in their homes with their families,” Brown said.

Brown said department staff had been discussing the transition with North American Family Institute, the organization that runs the O’Farrell center, since May. NAFI, which runs several treatment programs throughout the Northeast, will also be transitioning to offer community-based treatment in Baltimore and Baltimore County.

NAFI will be offering a new MultiSystemic Therapies Program starting in January, according to a press release by the Department of Juvenile Services. This approach works with youths in their homes and family environments to look at all factors that influence the youth’s behavior, and addresses some of the systemic problems, Brown said.

For example, if a youth referred to the department is living with parents with a drug abuse problem, that is something the therapy program would address to help both the youth and the entire family, she said.

The closing of the O’Farrell center comes a year and a half after Bowling Brook Preparatory School in Middleburg closed in March of 2007, following the death of a student at the school.

Nevada-based company Rite of Passage has submitted a proposal to the Governor’s Office of Children to restart a youth treatment program at the school, Brown said, but so far the application has not been forwarded to the Department of Juvenile Services.

The closing of the O’Farrell center has nothing to do with recent developments on the future of Bowling Brook, Brown said. (Webmaster Note: We are also pleased to announce that Excel Academy in Conroe, TX is closed/closing as of this month!) For complete story, click here.

Martin Lee Anniversary--October 10th, 2008--Sunday is the one year anniversary of the not guilty verdict in the boot camp death of 14 year-old Martin Lee Anderson. The teen was kicked and kneed by guards as a nurse watched during the first hour of his stay in the Panama City boot camp. The state later settled for 5 million dollars with his parents. Mother Gina Jones said her life hasn’t been the same since the death, and nothing has changed her or her attorney’s mind that that guards got away with murder. The NAACP asked for a federal investigation into whether the guards violated Martin’s civil rights. There has been no inquiry or investigation. The family is hoping a new administration may reopen the case. (Webmater Note: Martin Lee Anderson's death should be a large wake-up call to America that we need to begin protecting our children.) For complete story, click here.

Detectives seek additional victims in sex-crimes case--October 8th, 2008--

Detectives are looking for additional victims of a former Marine accused of having sex with a 15-year-old in 2007 and of committing lewd acts on a 13-year-old in 2006.

Authorities said Ross Jay Curtis, 23, met the older girl at the now-defunct JROTC program at Pioneer High in Whittier while the younger teen was in an at-risk boot camp program at a Hawaiian Gardens middle school, which they wouldn't name.

Curtis also volunteered at camps attended by Bellflower students, according to Detective Rudy Acevedo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau.

"He would put himself in a position to be around kids and in that type of environment," Acevedo said.

He said Curtis used his military background to befriend the people running the programs. He said Curtis would also talk to the students about the Marines and the benefits of a career in the military.

A flier looking for additional victims was distributed in Sacramento and San Diego, where Curtis lived.

"He may have volunteered in schools in San Diego," Acevedo said.

Prosecutors charged Curtis with lewd acts upon a child, sending by electronic mail harmful matter with the intent of seducing a minor, sexual penetration by a foreign object and oral copulation of a minor. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.whittierdailynews.com Date: October 8, 2008)

Teenage boys violently attack youth facility members--October 6th, 2008--(10/06/2008) By Jeniffer Berry - Two teenagers were behind bars as of Monday night accused of attacking 3 people at a youth treatment facility in Kearney. Among the injured are 2 employees and a Kearney Police Officer.

It was a violent attack.

Authorities said 2 teenage boys took a ball from a pool table and put it in sock. It was a makeshift weapon used to beat 2 staff members.

It happened just after 11:00 Sunday night at the Youth Rehabilitation Treatment Center in Kearney. It is a place for troubled boys - many with criminal backgrounds.

The State Patrol said 2 of them, both 16 year olds, tried escaping.
They lured a 72 year old staffer into a common area where authorities said they used the pool ball in the sock to beat him in the face.

"Causing some fractured bones in the face and he called out for help," said State Patrol Lt. Dennis Leonard.

Another staffer responded - a 64 year old man. He was also attacked.

At some point, somebody managed to call police. When they arrived they too were ambushed. One police officer was punched in the head multiple times, before the boys were eventually arrested.

"The degree of the injuries and the force that they used an object to inflict these injuries is technically a felony in itself," said Leonard.

The teens were in the Buffalo County Jail Monday night facing charges of second degree assault, use of a weapon to commit a felony and attempted assault on a police officer.

All are felonies.

The officer punched in the head did not have to be taken to the hospital. The two staff members did. One has a fractured eye socket and the other needed stitches on his head.

The State Patrol said it has responded to problems here before, but nothing like this. For complete story, click here.

Proposed eastern Idaho haven for troubled teens loses grant--October 4th, 2008--IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) - The Idaho Department of Commerce has pulled a $500,000 grant that would have helped pay for the construction of a group home for troubled teens after losing confidence in the project.

Ammon city officials were awarded the federal community development block grant in 2006, and intended to pass the money on to Family Care Center to use in the construction of the proposed $7.5 million Pearl House. The Department of Commerce was holding the money in trust until construction began.

But construction on the project has been delayed for years because Family Care Center hasn't been able to sell $5 million in bonds.

Commerce department spokeswoman Bibiana Nertney says the department decided it would not be in the state's interest to be a financing partner in the project.

Family Care Center Board Chairman Ron Carlson says the loss of the grant means the group will have to try to make up the $500,000 in bonds. (Webmaster Note: Good, projects like these should be canceled, not funded. ) For complete story, click here.

Putnam mental-health company sues to stay open, keep licenses--October 3rd, 2008--

CARMEL - A private, for-profit mental health company in jeopardy of losing its state operating licenses for alleged violations of patients' rights and state mental-health laws has filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court to reverse the revocation ruling.

SLS Residential Inc., which treats teens and young adults with psychological and behavioral problems, filed the action in Putnam County last week, asking the court to intervene in the state's decision, which would shut its residential treatment facilities in Southeast.SLS argues that the state Office of Mental Health acted arbitrarily when it revoked SLS' operating permits in late August. The revocations came after OMH fined SLS $110,000 in November 2006 involving 11 specific violations of health laws.

Dr. Joseph Santoro, co-owner and chief operating officer of SLS, said in a statement that the company had to appeal.

"We cannot allow OMH to disregard the interests of hundreds of satisfied patients and those to come," he said. "We are compelled by principle to challenge this arbitrary and capricious bureaucratic failure to understand our time-tested and effective treatment methodologies."

Among the allegations were that SLS used illegal restraints on patients long after being told not to, that it administered sedatives to patients when they refused to take their medications and that it failed to report troubling incidents to the state, including patients behaving suicidal and complaining of abuse by staff.

In the statement, SLS accused state officials of not helping the company correct the alleged violations.

"Rather than working with SLS in a transparent manner to resolve any question or regulation infraction, OMH has been harassing the facility - and now threatening to put them out of business," the statement reads. "It is vindictive and contrary to the best interest of the community."

SLS said the state acted on "unfounded conclusions" and "flawed and arbitrary procedures."

OMH spokeswoman Jill Daniels said the agency has worked repeatedly with SLS in an effort to correct the violations.

"It is well documented that the Office of Mental Health worked with SLS for more than two years to help bring its programs into compliance with regulations before deciding to revoke its operating licenses," Daniels said. "The revocation decision was motivated by the need to ensure that the people being served by SLS received safe and appropriate care and treatment."

Daniels said that OMH is reviewing the SLS lawsuit and that it has "every confidence that OMH will prevail."

The litigation to keep its operating licenses is the latest effort by SLS to fight the state's negative findings. After being fined for the alleged violations in November 2006, SLS hired one of the nation's largest law firms, Proskauer Rose, to represent it at a hearing that began in July 2007 and lasted more than 20 days through September 2007. Most such hearings conclude in a week or less.

When state OMH Commissioner Michael F. Hogan in July of this year adopted the hearing officer's decision to uphold the fines, SLS appealed in Putnam County Court. That case is pending the outcome of the most recent court action. SLS has yet to pay any fines or cease operating.

Among the reasons OMH cited for revoking SLS' licenses is that it continues to use physical restraints on patients and that SLS officials either misled or lied to state officials. The state said that Santoro and Dr. Shawn Pritchard, SLS' clinical director, testified falsely in several instances at the administrative hearing.

Santoro testified that an SLS patient, Evan Marshall, was not receiving services from SLS in August 2006 while on a weekend pass to his mother's Long Island home. During that visit, Marshall killed one of his mother's neighbors and drove around with the woman's severed head. Marshall, 32, is serving 29 years to life. Documents showed that Marshall was under SLS' care at the time of the murder.

In a recent interview, Santoro said the state never provided a clear definition of an illegal restraint, and that neither patients' insurance companies nor their families would tolerate the actions of which SLS stands accused. He likened his company's fight against the OMH to the biblical battle of David and Goliath.

SLS is also a defendant in a multimillion-dollar federal class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of several former patients who claim they were mistreated. Last week, a federal judge in that case fined SLS $35,000 for trying to scare former patients away from participating in the lawsuit.

Glen Feinberg, a Pleasantville lawyer who went to court to win the right to protest outside SLS sites over the poor treatment he felt his son got there in 2001 and 2002, defended OMH. He said that the SLS appeal is based on three premises: that the OMH has a vendetta against it, that SLS does not have to follow rules that similar companies do, and that the evidence was not sufficient to revoke the licenses.

"The first two arguments are absurd," Feinberg said. "As for the third, there are hundreds of pages of testimony, much of it from SLS employees and documents, that support the finding of truth. SLS has no credibility at all." (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.lohud.com Date: October 3, 2008)

Parents use abandonment law to shed teens--October 2nd, 2008--

OMAHA — The abandonments began on Sept. 1, when a mother left her 14-year-old son in a police station here.

By Sept. 23, two more boys and one girl, ages 11 to 14, had been abandoned in hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln. Then a 15-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl were left.

The biggest shock to public officials came last week, when a single father walked into an Omaha hospital and surrendered nine of his 10 children, ages 1 to 17, saying that his wife had died and he could no longer cope with the burden of raising them.

In total last month, 15 older children in Nebraska were dropped off by a beleaguered parent or custodial aunt or grandmother who said the children were unmanageable.

Officials have called the abandonments a misuse of a new law that was mainly intended to prevent so-called Dumpster babies — the abandonment of newborns by young, terrified mothers — but instead has been used to hand off out-of-control teenagers or, in the case of the father of 10, to escape financial and personal despair.

The spate of abandonments has prompted an outcry about parental irresponsibility and pledges to change the state law. But it has also cast a spotlight on the hidden extent of family turmoil around the country and what many experts say is a shortage of respite care, counseling and especially psychiatric services to help parents in dire need.

Some who work with troubled children add that economic conditions, like stagnant low-end wages and the epidemic of foreclosures, may make the situation worse, adding layers of worry and conflict. For complete story, click here.

Visions for Youth program probed--September 29th, 2008--

Springfield, Ohio — Authorities are investigating a Clark County program for troubled teens after a video showing what appears to be abuse by a staff member was leaked to the media last month.

The boot-camp-style program called Visions for Youth operates four facilities in the county and at one time served as many as ten counties, housing teens ages 13 to 18. Following allegations of abuse and the release of the video, most counties have pulled their kids from the program.

In the video, reportedly footage taken by a hidden security surveillance camera at the Inside-Out Community Center on August 2, a Visions for Youth staff member is seen body-slamming a 16-year-old boy in a hallway and then holding him down.

William Stout, a pastor with the Community Christian Church, one of three churches that meet in the building, said the counselor – later identified as Dante Smith – had found the teen sleeping during a Saturday night church service.

The teen is seen in the hallway holding his neck because Smith woke him up by striking him in the throat, Stout said.

"We have hidden cameras in there for security purposes, and I guess their staff didn't realize they were on camera," Stout said. "The kid didn't do anything."

As of Sept. 11, the Clark County Children services, along with law enforcement and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, has been investigating the program, which faces possible the revocation of its license and criminal prosecution of its employees. (Webmaster Note: Let's film all such programs 24/7 with independent third-party oversight!) For complete story, click here.

Parents Warned: Don't Use Ritalin--Sept. 24th, 2008--The drug should not be prescribed to children under five and used for older children only when they have severe ADHD or as a last resort, the guidance says. Instead, parents should be taught psychological techniques for changing the behaviour of unruly youngsters diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The guidelines were issued by the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health. The directive says parent training and education programmes should be offered as a first-line treatment for ADHD, both for pre-school and school-age children. The programmes show parents how to create a structured home environment, encourage attentiveness and concentration, and better manage misbehaviour. Research has shown they can be highly effective, helping children do better at school and lead more normal lives. Teachers should also be involved in the management of school age children, says the guidance. For complete story, click here.

Five teens have (reportedly) died in programs since 1990--Sept. 12th, 2008--Since 1990, five teens have died while in the care of Utah-based wilderness therapy programs.

Michelle Sutton, 15, of California, died May 9, 1990, from altitude sickness, dehydration and heat exhaustion while hiking with Summit Quest of St. George. No charges were filed. Her parents sued the program, physicians and a psychologist. Summit Quest settled in 1992 for its remaining insurance policy funds -- $345,000 -- and a judge dismissed claims against the others.

Kristen Chase, 16, of Florida, died June 27, 1990, of heatstroke on a hike in Kane County with the Challenger Foundation program of Escalante. Owner Stephen Cartisano was charged with negligent homicide and child abuse related to other students in the program. A jury acquitted him, but state officials banned him from working with child-treatment programs in Utah. Chase's parents sued Challenger and Cartisano, settling in 1994 for $260,000 in insurance funds.

Aaron Bacon, 16, of Arizona, died March 31, 1994, of peritonitis and a perforated ulcer, while on a wilderness trek in Garfield County with North Star Expeditions of Escalante. Staff members were charged with felony neglect and abuse of a disabled child. A jury convicted supervising counselor Craig Fisher, who was sentenced to a year in jail. Others pleaded guilty to reduced charges. The program closed before a licensing hearing was held.

Katie Lank, 16, of Virginia, died Jan. 13, 2002, after she was injured while hiking with Redrock Ranch Academy of St. George. She fell about 70 feet into a crevasse and died in a hospital three weeks later. No charges were filed. Her parents sued the program and two staff members and settled for a confidential amount. The program closed.

Ian August, 14, of Texas, died July 13, 2002, of the hyperthermia (heat illness) while hiking with Skyline Journey of Nephi. Program supervisor Mark Wardle and a counselor were charged with child abuse homicide. The charges against the counselor were dropped after she testified for prosecutors and a judge found there was not enough evidence against Wardle to take the case to trial. Later, an administrative law judge found evidence of licensing violations. The program was closed in 2003. Wardle and his father have since opened another wilderness camp: Distant Drums Beginnings in Nephi. (Webmaster Note: More children have been killed in programs since 1990 than listed here. This is an incomplete account of death and murder at behavior modification programs in the US.)

(Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.sltrib.com Date: September 12, 2008)

Mother and son question whether camp helped--Sept. 12th, 2008--Awakened at 4 a.m. by escorts with handcuffs, 17-year-old Michael Lawton Jenkins was swept from his Florida home to Red Cliff Ascent in southern Utah. He refused to sign a program contract and was blindfolded, taken to an isolated camp, stripped of his shoes and assigned menial tasks, such as making a backpack out of rope and a tarp in under five minutes. Once he agreed to cooperate, his progress was measured by the fires he built and the holes he dug. "I just felt stripped of all my rights," Jenkins said. "You can't call anyone, you can't leave ... it just didn't feel right." Jenkins felt camp was a punishment that didn't fit his transgressions - slipping grades, hanging out with a bad crowd and dabbling in drugs. But he worked up to the elite level and was allowed to have a knife. Now 19 and enrolled in a Florida community college, Jenkins said he achieved that by "telling them what they wanted to hear so I could go home." Back in Florida after camp, "it was even more hard to relate to people my age," he said. He had trouble sleeping, afraid he would be "kidnapped." He dropped out of school, but later earned his GED. His mother, Diane Jenkins, said the 11-week, $50,000 stay was a last resort for her and her ex-husband. She fears her son is still a "lost soul" and is uncertain the wilderness therapy helped. "I don't think I'll really know until he's 30 years old," she said. "Would I do it again? No. I'm still so unsure it was the right thing." (Webmaster Note: It was the wrong thing. See parenting guide.) (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.sltrib.com Date: September 12, 2008)

Mother Claims Son Was Abused At S. Fla. School--Sept. 12th, 2008--FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A South Florida mother is outraged, saying her son was abused at an elite school in Fort Lauderdale at the hands of his drill sergeant. Marilyn Johnson-Smith said she is haunted by her decision to send her son, Donald Hutchinson, to a school she thought was a private institution, a place where he would learn and be safe from altercations with other students. "I was looking for a school with a small setting to help him," Hutchinson said. "But it's not a private school. It's an abuse school with boot camp." Johnson-Smith said her son, a fifth-grader, was abused at the hands of a drill sergeant at Fort Lauderdale's Elite Leadership Academy. "My son told me they forced him to the ground -- he forced him to the ground -- which gave him this scar on his face," Johnson-Smith said. Hutchinson said the drill sergeant assaulted him after an altercation over a canteen, tossing him to the ground and digging his knee into the child's back. Is this a case of abuse or simply standard procedure? Elite's executive director, Veronica Ruiz-Ashwal, said the school makes no pretense of its purpose, billing itself as a "behavior modification" program for students who have had problems in other schools. "Whenever a drill instructor takes a child down, it's simply because the child is a safety threat to themselves or to someone else," Ruiz-Ashwal said. It is not just the physical aspects of the academy that Johnson-Smith said she wants investigated. She said she did not know that the academy took a tough-love approach with students. She is angry that her son did not wear a uniform but instead a green jumpsuit issued upon arrival. Ruiz-Ashwal said all students wear the jumpsuit for the first two weeks of the program. Johnson-Smith has hired an attorney. Her lawyer said his client had no idea that Elite was designed for troubled students and is demanding that the school and the drill sergeant be investigated. For complete story, click here.

Two camp employees arrested--Sept. 12th, 2008--CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. - Two camp employees were arrested after one of them is accused of sitting on a teen for hours. Police arrested Director Arthur Dagg for child neglect and Counselor Carl Hochstettler for child cruelty. A police report says Hochstettler sat on a 15-year-old boy for three hours to discipline him. The alleged crime happened at the Gator's Wilderness Boy's Camp in Punta Gorda in August. It’s a camp for troubled boys. Police say the boy's arm was swollen and he started throwing up and that he wasn't taken to the hospital for days. The two men are out of jail. They’re due back in court in October. For complete story, click here.

Risks Found for Youths in New Antipsychotics--Sept. 15th, 2008--A new government study published Monday has found that the medicines most often prescribed for schizophrenia in children and adolescents are no more
effective than older, less expensive drugs and are more likely to cause some harmful side effects. The standards for treating the disorder should be changed to include some older medications that have fallen out of use, the
study's authors said.

The results, being published online by The American Journal of Psychiatry, are likely to alter treatment for an estimated one million children and teenagers with schizophrenia and to intensify a broader controversy in child
psychiatry over the newer medications, experts said.

Prescription rates for the newer drugs, called atypical antipsychotics, have increased more than fivefold for children over the past decades and a half, and doctors now use them to settle outbursts and aggression in children with
a wide variety of diagnoses, despite serious side effects. For complete story, click here.

Area native's book details broken system--September 14th, 2008--

Brownsville native Ron Howard pursued a degree in psychology and started working in residential treatment to help troubled teens; what he found was a system even more troubled than the children it was meant to help.

Howard has documented some of the problems he has observed in a novel, "Children on Layaway, It's All About the Money $$$," a fictional account of life in a residential treatment facility based on real stories. Howard noted the recent passage of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives designed to prevent abuse in residential treatment facilities as an indication that the problem is systemic, not limited to a single facility.

"The picture is pretty grim, in my opinion," Howard said. "The majority of the time these kids spend with staff is with people who have a high school diploma. They are paying these people to be security guards."

Howard said 70 percent of the children placed in residential treatment enter the system with mental health problems the staff is unqualified to handle. Howard said he would like to see a requirement for the youth counselors to have at least a bachelor's degree in psychology or sociology or a related field.

"If you talk to any child who has been in a residential treatment program, I'd bet they'd say they've been subject to emotional or physical abuse," Howard said. "The kids may report the child abuse, but it's easier to sweep the case under the rug than it is to replace the staff because this is a high-turnover field. Something simply has to be done about it because these companies are literally making millions."

Howard writes about children being beaten or having fingers and wrists broken by staff members supposedly restraining the children in dangerous situations in his fictional account.

"Even my editor said these stories couldn't be 100 percent true. I'm sure there are even worse stories," Howard said.

The nonfiction accounts of abuse can be found in the testimony attached to H.R 6358, which in June was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Testimony from the director for Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues paints a bleak picture in which physical and sexual abuse occur without management intervention.

"Abuse, neglect and civil rights violations documented in all types of residential facilities -government and private, licensed and unlicensed - show that the current federal-state oversight structure is inadequate to protect youth from maltreatment," GAO Director Kay E. Brown wrote in her concluding remarks.

A former resident of a residential treatment facility in New York describes restraints using blankets and duct tape, as well as other abuses.

"While I had been fortunate enough to miss out on most of the horrors personally, I unfortunately gave many tours to prospective parents, always omitting the details of restraints, punishments and lack of any sort of communication or safeguards against the abuses that took place," Jon Martin-Crawford testified. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.heraldstandard.com Date: September 14, 2008)

Youth worker charged with dealing crack--September 9th, 2008--Federal agents have arrested an employee of the Knox County schools and a home for troubled teens on charges of dealing crack cocaine, but their methods are drawing criticism from the agency that runs the group home.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency arrested Fred Bennett outside Cooper House, a group home for teen boys in the Fourth and Gill neighborhood. Bennett is under a federal indictment with two other men for distributing and possessing with intent to distribute crack. For complete story, click here.

Utah doctor indicted in therapy camp death--Sept. 6th, 2008--A prominent Utah County physician stands accused of negligent homicide in connection with the death of a Salt Lake City teen in a southwest Colorado wilderness therapy program.
    But Keith R. Hooker, who has worked in the emergency department at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center since 1970, says he is innocent. And the indictment, which also accuses him of child abuse, contains no allegations about what he is alleged to have done or failed to do.
    Caleb Jensen, 15, died May 2, 2007, from a staphylococcus infection, which Colorado prosecutors contend went untreated despite glaring symptoms. The boy spent the last week of his life lying in his own urine and feces, in a remote field camp operated by Alternative Youth Adventures in Montrose County, Colo., court documents allege.
    Jensen had been sent to the camp by Utah juvenile justice officials. Colorado authorities shut AYA down two months after Jensen's death.
    Hooker, who served as the program's medical adviser, was indicted in July and related documents were unsealed Aug. 25. He was arraigned in a Montrose, Colo., court last week and pleaded not guilty. His next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
    Reached at his Mapleton residence Friday, Hooker declined comment. His Provo lawyer, Mike Esplin, said he has not seen testimony given before the grand jury, but he believes there is insufficient evidence to support the charges.
    "Doctor Hooker never examined Caleb. His role is an adviser to the program. We think it's an overshot," Esplin said. "He didn't give [AYA] any advice concerning this incident. We are in the dark. [Investigators] never talked to him."
    Montrose County District Attorney Myrl Serra did not return phone calls.
    Also charged are camp emergency medical technician Ben Askins, who faces a more serious charge of manslaughter; program director Jim Omer and the businesses, Alternative Youth Adventures of Colorado and its corporate parent, Community Education Centers Inc.
    The New Jersey-based company provides treatment to 6,000 juvenile and adult offenders a year, in seven states. A corporate spokesman said the company was in the process of closing AYA at the time of Jensen's death, but declined to comment further.
    No charges were filed against field counselors who tended to Jensen and later spoke to investigators.
    Jensen was admitted to AYA's 60-day program on March 28, 2007. He had undergone an initial medical exam in Utah, but the exam did not reveal any illness, court documents said. His symptoms began April 23 when "it was noted that Caleb had a small blister located on his right ankle," the indictment said.
    The teen wrote in his journal the next day that he was "burning up, vomiting and having trouble hiking."
    Suspecting Jensen of "faking" his illness, camp staff separated him from the group until he died eight days later, the charges allege. Staff ordered him to wear diapers and put him on suicide watch, but allegedly did nothing to treat the fatal infection. For complete story, click here.

Former federal prosecutor on trial for allegedly molesting six teens--Sept. 5th, 2008--Clayton — Onetime federal prosecutor Eric Tolen lured under-age boys by offering small jobs at his home and then traded gifts such as dirt bikes, liquor or cigarettes for sexual favors, a St. Louis County jury was told Thursday.

Prosecutor Kathi Alizadeh said the six victims — ages 11 to 15 at the time — had to perform sex acts on Tolen, or allow him to perform acts on them, to get what they wanted.

Tolen, 47, is charged with 38 counts of criminal conduct. He steadfastly has denied any wrongdoing. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney who more recently had a general law practice in Overland. His past clients included a mayor of Overland and St. Charles city councilmen.

He lived in Town and Country, where officials allege that many of the crimes occurred. For complete story, click here.

Audit: Hempstead nonprofit used money for beer--Sept. 5th, 2008--A Hempstead agency that housed troubled teens allegedly used public money to buy beer and violent video games, and to pay $47,865 in bonuses to its workers in violation of its contract with the county, according to a Nassau County audit released yesterday.

It also billed other counties for the use of beds that Nassau County had already paid for, in what amounted to $834,000 in overcharges, Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman said in the audit.

The audit sketched out a broad pattern of wasteful and inappropriate spending by the Leadership Training Institute that Weitzman said was the worst case of fiscal abuse he had ever seen by a nonprofit agency. (Unable to locate story at time of archiving. Source: www.newsday.com Date: September 5, 2008)

New Report Calls to End Beating of Children in Public Schools--Read the report, A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools. A shocking report illuminates the state of disturbing forms of discipline in U.S. schools. Released last week by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, the report finds that more than 200,000 public school students in the U.S. were punished by beatings during the 2006-2007 school year. Further, minorities and students with mental and physical disabilities are punished at disproportionately higher rates in the 13 states that corporally punished more than 1,000 students per year -- despite no evidence that these students commit disciplinary infraction at such disproportionate rates.

The report, A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools, found that children ranging in age from 3 to 19 years old in Texas and Mississippi are routinely physically punished for minor infractions such as chewing gum, talking back to a teacher, or violating the dress code, as well as for more serious transgressions such as fighting.

Corporal punishment, legal in 21 states, typically takes the form of "paddling," during which an administrator or teacher hits a child repeatedly on the buttocks with a long wooden board. The report shows that, as a result of paddling, many children are left injured, degraded, and disengaged from school.

"Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence and it doesn't stop bad behavior," said Alice Farmer, Aryeh Neier Fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, and author of the report. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."

The ACLU and Human Rights Watch call upon the U.S. government to prohibit corporal punishment in all public schools and urge state governments, school boards, superintendents, and administrators to eliminate physical punishment in their schools. >> Learn more, and read the report. For complete story, click here.

Miss. man accused in Medicaid scam--August 1st, 2008--COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) - The founder of an organization dedicated to helping troubled teens stay out of jail is himself behind bars, facing felony charges stemming from an alleged Medicaid scam.

Aaron Ray Pulsifer of Columbus is former executive director of the Youth Challenge Program. He was being held Thursday at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.

Prosecutors accuse the 31-year-old Pulsifer of using the organization to aid in a nearly 3-year scheme in which he illegally received more than $1.1 million.

Court documents say Pulsifer stole the identity of a woman, then made false reports to the state Division of Medicaid claiming she had provided diagnostic and counseling services for dozens of program Youth Challenge participants. For complete story, click here.

Children as Big Pharma Guinea Pigs: 98 Percent of Drug Trials on Children Have no Safety Checks--August 18th, 2008--(NaturalNews) Fewer than 2 percent of drug trials conducted on children have independent safety advisory boards, a review published in the journal Acta Paediatrica has found.

Researchers from Nottingham University reviewed reports on 739 international drug trials that had been published between 1996 and 2002. They found that although 74 percent of studies described their safety monitoring procedures,
less than 2 percent included an independent safety review committee.

Such committees are composed of independent health experts who can review the study data as it comes out and warn if the drug appears to be placing study participants at risk.

"It is invaluable to have an independent monitor who can swiftly question any adverse drug reactions or differences in illness and death rates between groups taking part in the clinical trials," said lead researcher Helen Sammons. "Parents also need to be made aware of the risks of adverse drug reactions when a child takes any medicine so that they can make informed decisions that balance those risks against the possible benefits the drug
may provide their child."

The Nottingham University review also suggests that independent committees lead to more rigorous safety standards. Of the 13 studies with independent review committees, six were halted early due to highly toxic drug effects.

None of the studies without independent committees were stopped early.

Although the researchers looked only at studies conducted on children, they said the statistics for adult trials are probably similar. For complete story, click here.

Sentencing Children to Die in Prison--August 18th, 2008--Ian Manuel was 13-years-old when he participated in a robbery attempt in Florida, leaving the victim with a nonfatal gunshot injury. Ian turned himself in to police, and his attorney told him he would receive a 15-year sentence if he pled guilty. Instead, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Ian's is one of several stories told in the Equal Justice Initiative's (EJI) new report, Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison (pdf). The Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama is a private, nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners. The EJI study found 73 cases in the United States where 13- and 14- year-olds have been sentenced to life without parole--in other words,
sentenced to die in prison. EJI argues that giving this harsh sentence to young teenagers violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and is also counter to international conventions. The United States is almost alone in the world in imposing life sentences without parole for crimes committed by children at such a young age. EJI notes that giving such sentences to juveniles has been condemned in a number of international agreements, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This appalling pattern of injustice has prompted a nationwide litigation campaign to challenge these harsh penalties and have the children considered for parole-eligible sentences as soon as possible. For complete story, click here.

Police Say Cult Starved Toddler--August 12th, 2008--A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia this spring was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after meals, police said.

Ria Ramkissoon, 21, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged Sunday with first-degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said Monday that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder.

Members did not seek medical care for Javon when he stopped breathing, and the boy died in his mother's arms, according to court documents that described police interviews with a confidential informant and two children. He would have been about 19 months old when police say adults stopped feeding him in December 2006. For complete story, click here.

Federal agency: Shoreline schools excluded children with disabilities--August 7th, 2008--The Shoreline School District discriminated against students with disabilities, a federal civil-rights investigation has found.

The 15-month investigation centered on the district's February 2007 decision to exclude from its classrooms children newly placed at the Fircrest School, a state residential facility in Shoreline for people with disabilities. As a result of that decision, the investigation found, 11 Fircrest youths didn't go to school at all, some for as long as three months. Others received an inadequate education.

The records of 23 youths at Fircrest were reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). All but one had attended public school before going to Fircrest.

"I think what the investigation confirms is that public schools are for every child," said Stacy Gillett, who filed the complaint as a board member of the Arc of Washington, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities.

Shoreline officials didn't return repeated calls seeking comment.

While it did not admit wrongdoing, the district entered into a settlement agreement with OCR that requires it to revise its policies and practices. Kids with disabilities will not be excluded from public school and will have opportunities to participate with other children. An independent team of professionals, along with OCR, will oversee Shoreline's progress. For complete story, click here.

State Senator Wants Juvenile Prison Shut Down--August 7th, 2008--SPRINGDALE - If Sen. Sue Madison had her way, the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center in Alexander would be closed and bulldozed.

She called the juvenile prison in southwest Pulaski County a "grim" place while discussing child welfare issues during a meeting of the Arkansas Kids Count Coalition on Thursday.

It's a place where the state is "warehousing juveniles because someone is mad at them, either the juvenile judge or school officials," Madison said.

The state's challenge is finding the money to replace the treatment programs with community-based programs that are more effective, she said.

Reform of Arkansas' juvenile justice system is one of a laundry list of issues the Coalition supports to improve the welfare of children across the state, said Paul Kelly, a senior policy analyst with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

The juvenile justice system relies too heavily on confined incarceration of children who may have family or mental health issues rather than criminal behavior.

The Kids Count Coalition recommends greater attention on preventive measures, placing children in smaller therapeutic environments and expanded community services to better serve children rather than shipping them off to secure confinement, away from their schools or families. For complete story, click here.

Teen Screen Lawsuit Advances: Federal Court Affirms Family's Rightto Sue School for Subjecting Teen to Mental Health Test Without Parental Consent--August 6th, 2008--SOUTH BEND, Ind. A federal court has given the green light to a civil rights lawsuit filed by Rutherford Institute attorneys in defense of a 15-year-old Indiana student who was subjected by school officials to a controversial mental health examination without the knowledge or consent of her parents. In ruling that the lawsuit filed on behalf of Chelsea Rhoades and her parents, Michael and Teresa Rhoades, may proceed to trial, the U.S.

District Court for the Northern District of Indiana upheld the claims that the local school district deprived the Rhoades family of their federal constitutional rights to family integrity and privacy when it subjected Chelsea to the "TeenScreen" examination. A copy of the lawsuit is available here: http://www.rutherford.org/PDF/Filed_Complaint.pdf. For complete story, click here.

Straight, Inc. and KHK survivors protest locally--July 15th, 2008--Numerous Straight, Inc. and Kids Helping Kids survivors, along with other concerned activists, traveled from 5 different states and the Greater Cincinnati area to participate in the July 11, 2008 protest in Milford, Ohio. The group protested Kids Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center (aka Pathway Family Center, PFC and/or KHK), a behavior modification teen treatment facility which is not only the current renamed version of Straight, Inc, it also still uses the STRAIGHT, Inc. treatment modality.

The protesters’ mission was to express opposition and to educate local residents about the “treatment methods” used by PFC, methods which this group believes pose a substantial risk of harm to children. Specifically, the protesters strongly object to, among other things, the use of coercive thought reform, isolation from parents, peers and society, unlicensed host homes, unqualified peer staff, unnecessary and/or disproportionate punishments, and the denial of basic human rights such as total bathroom privacy. Additionally, the demonstrators are extremely concerned about children having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other serious mental health issues caused by their ordeal in Pathway. Repeated reports to state agencies of systematic abuse and other improprieties have also been ignored for years.

This protest comes on the heels of the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming approval of H.R. 6358, The Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008. Recent congressional investigations uncovered thousands of allegations of abuse, neglect and youth deaths in private teen behavior modification facilities in the United States. This legislation aims to protect youth in all private treatment facilities, including Pathway Family Center.

The rocky start of the protest itself did not deter the determined activists from sharing their message. One Pathway official (Monica Mertens, according to Pathway insiders who spoke with protesters) displayed unprofessional conduct by confiscating one of the protestor’s signs. PFC officials also summoned Miami Township police twice. The first time was to remove protesters from the far side of the driveway who occasionally crossed it without blocking incoming traffic. The second time, participants were later told, was an attempt to stop protesters from videotaping the public event. Demonstrators did comply with law enforcement’s request to stay off to the sides of Pathway’s entrance but were never asked to stop filming. In spite of these incidents, the peaceful protest resumed without further confrontation.

At the demonstration itself, protesters carried and displayed numerous signs including “Coercive Thought Reform is Not Treatment,” “KHK Tortured Me,” and “Close PFC Now”. Many drivers showed solidarity either by honking, giving the thumbs up or by shouting “Thank you! My friend (or relative) was in there. This place stinks!” In addition, many passersby stopped, took literature and were given the free DVD set of the congressional hearings and KHK news footage. Even former clients of Straight and KHK, with no previous knowledge of our protests, no prior contact with activist survivors, saw the protest and stopped to speak with survivors. Both supported our efforts.

As the event was winding down, current PFC peer staff/graduates initiated peaceful discussions. At times the talks became a bit heated and emotional. Certainly there was much disagreement. But for the most part, both sides remained civil.

At the end of the day, the exhausted survivors unanimously agreed that this event was nothing less than a smashing success and felt rejuvenated by the interest from the community. All participants vowed to continue their quest to educate the community about the harmful Straight Inc treatment model used by Kids Helping Kids, a Pathway Family Center. Their mission is to protect children from these harmful treatment methods. (Webmaster Note: This protest was organized in large part by HEAL-KY. Want to join in taking action to protect children from torture, contact us now!) For complete story, click here.

Charges filed in teen's death at boot camp--July 15th, 2008--A Montrose County grand jury Tuesday handed up a raft of charges against operators and staff of a youth-rehabilitation camp in connection with the death of a 15-year-old Utah boy who died in their care. Caleb Jensen died in May 2007 from an untreated staph infection at a court-ordered wilderness camp run by Alternative Youth Adventures in Montrose. The program was shuttered after his death and surrendered its state license. The grand jury filed various charges of negligent homicide, child abuse resulting in death and manslaughter against the staff and management, as well as Keith Hooker, the camp's medical director. For complete story, click here.

US school rebuked for ibuprofen strip search--July 12th, 2008--A divided US appeals court has ruled an Arizona school violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old student by conducting a strip search for ibuprofen.

Suspecting that a student had violated a policy against prescription or over-the-counter drugs without permission, public school officials in Safford, Arizona, ordered a search of Savana Redding.

A school nurse had her remove her clothes, including her bra, and shake her underwear to see if Ms Redding was hiding anything.

The 2003 search, prompted by a tip from another girl, did not find ibuprofen, which is found in common medications like Advil and Motrin to treat pain like cramps and headaches.

Higher doses require a prescription.

Previous court decisions ruled the school did not violate the US Constitution's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures because officials have a legitimate interest in protecting students from prescription drugs.

The 6-5 ruling by a panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned an earlier decision, setting out its reasoning in an extensive 75-page ruling with many details on the complications of eighth grade life.

"Directing a 13-year-old girl to remove her clothes, partially revealing her breasts and pelvic area, for allegedly possessing ibuprofen, an infraction that poses an imminent danger to no one, and which could be handled by

keeping her in the principal's office until a parent arrived or simply sending her home, was excessively intrusive," Justice Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the majority. For complete story, click here.

Memories of Casa by the Sea--July 10th, 2008--I'm not sure if your organization publishes e-mails, but you have my permission to publish mine. Yes, my name is Ramey Smith. I read some of the articles on your web site and found a few about a place called Casa by the Sea in Ensenada, Mexico. I spent almost one year there, from January to November in 1999. On my first day at Casa, I was pulled off my bed, which was the top bunk, and fell to the concrete floor busting my face and nose . As I lay there bleeding, I thought these people are going to kill me.

I was in fear for my life at Casa, so I played along with the program the best I could . I made it to level four in the Bold Family. That is how they identified us. They put us in a group, gave it a name, and called it a "family." Anyway, I finally got out of there when my mother's terminal cancer got so bad my father pulled me from Casa by the Sea. I spent the last 2 1/2 months of my mothers life at her bed side.

In my opinion, WWASP are a bunch of criminals who manipulate parents. But they did teach me one valuable lesson which I can pass on to troubled youth. Watch out. Your parents can send you to a foreign prison over night and there is nothing you can do about it. You have two choices. You can resist and get beat up, or you can play along until you get out.

I'm glad they finally closed down Casa by the Sea. That place was crazy. Sometimes I actually started to think I was going crazy.

WWASP does have a wonderful program for brain washing or pain washing children to make them behave. But I'll tell you what. It doesn't last. I ran in to one of the upper level kids that graduated from the program. We were at a Taco Cabana at like 2:30 am and he and some other kids came stumbling in drunk. He didn't change. Not for long, at least.

Like in Mexico, where Room Restriction (R&R) consisted of lying on your face, chin pressed on the hard tile floor, and your hands behind your back. They might as well have hog tied us because if you didn't hold that position on your own for 4 to 6 to 12 hours, they had plenty of un-educated idiots to make you wish you had. I heard so many times kids screaming for help, screaming to there parents, screaming for mommy or daddy, screaming out to God to help them. What could we do? If we tried to help, we would be in the same boat. We'd lose our few privileges, get demoted to Level One and spend 2 to 4 weeks in R&R with our chins on the floor.

I wish we had been strong enough and organized enough to take that place over by force. I remember thinking about it all the time when I began my captivity there. We out-numbered the staff by at least 20 or 30 of us to 1 staff member. I would have enjoyed hog tying those bastards up and letting them enjoy some Room Restriction, and feed them rotten fish and other horrible things like they fed us. I won't even go into how bad the food was. Well, that's why they wouldn't let us talk without permission, or speak English. They knew if we had gotten organized, we would have overrun the place.

I had dreams about it after I left that godforsaken crap hole. I would wake up in the middle of the night and run into the hallway of my house for formation.

I learned a lot of Spanish while I was in Mexico because I had no choice. But I still can't stand it. I had a dream of going back there one day and liberating all the children whose parents are paying top dollar to have them victimized. For complete story, click here.

PRISON NEWS

Innocents Lost--June 21st, 2009--A MAJORITY OF the Supreme Court ruled last week that prisoners do not have a constitutional right to post-conviction DNA testing. The decision was based in large part on the assertion that federal judicial intervention was unnecessary because the great majority of state legislatures already had passed laws to give prisoners adequate access to the revolutionary technology. The majority's argument has merit, but the decision in District Attorney's Office v. Osborne was nonetheless wrong.

The decision sprang from the case of William G. Osborne, who was convicted of the brutal 1993 kidnapping, rape and assault of an Alaska woman. A rudimentary DNA test performed on semen found at the crime scene excluded two suspects but not Mr. Osborne. Mr. Osborne's trial lawyer declined a more advanced DNA test for fear that the results could definitively implicate her client.

On appeal, Alaskan courts denied Mr. Osborne's request for further DNA testing, concluding that eyewitness accounts and other evidence against him were so strong that DNA tests would likely not be dispositive. A federal appeals court ultimately ruled that Mr. Osborne was entitled to further testing; the Supreme Court by a 5 to 4 majority overturned this decision last week. For complete story, click here.

Keystone Cops at the Police Lab--June 18th, 2009--When CSI became the most popular drama on television earlier this decade, forensic scientists employed by police departments emerged from anonymity. Discerning viewers seemed to understand that real- life police laboratory personnel (filling a job description officially known as "criminalist") do not solve murders and rapes within an hour. Still, the glamorization generated by television drama had begun, increasing exponentially with the spinoff shows CSI: Miami and CSI: New York.

Many criminalists indeed serve justice well, conscientiously analyzing evidence found at crime scenes, including blood, fingerprints, scrapings from beneath fingernails, hair, dirt, shoe impressions, tire tracks, hard copy documents, computer messages and more. The good ones keep up with new forensic techniques, write objective reports, consult openly with defense attorneys as well as prosecutors, testify truthfully in court and never lose sight of the
ultimate goal — convicting the guilty while excluding the innocent from the pool of suspects.

But as it becomes increasingly evident that wrongful convictions constitute a cancer within the criminal justice system, it becomes simultaneously obvious that numerous criminalists are part of the problem. One incompetent or dishonest criminalist can infect hundreds of cases in a crime laboratory, with some of those cases mutating
into wrongful convictions. For complete story, click here.

Elusive Justice Overdue In the Case of Political Prisoner Paul Minor--June 18th, 2009--It is time for the Obama Justice Department to reverse one of the most egregiously political persecutions of the Bush era - Paul Minor's bogus conviction on trumped up charges of public corruption "bribery" despite a total lack of evidence that his role as the top
funder of Democratic candidates in Mississippi netted him anything other than misery and a harsh prison sentence.

Attorney General Eric Holder stated recently that "elections have consequences." That premise should apply not just to President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court and appointment of new U.S. Attorneys, as Holder mentioned. It should compel a swift review of the unjust prosecutions of prominent Democrats targeted by the Bush Justice Department.

Paul Minor's case is Exhibit A.

Paul Minor's attorneys recently filed a straightforward, compelling brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals outlining the multiple errors the prosecution made in convicting Minor for bribery despite the government not being required to prove a quid pro quo. In such cases, crystal clear case law requires the presiding judge to instruct the jury that they can only convict a campaign fundraiser of bribing public officials if clear "this for that" evidence exists of a quid pro quo agreement leading to a specific official act by the recipient in exchange for the campaign contributions. For complete story,