Chris Landre did not commit suicide. He was in no danger of being returned to the program. His parents pulled him because they could not AFFORD the program.
Corey Murphy had several suicide attempts and one serious suicide attempt that landed him in Sterling Reg Med Center emergency room when he was just 13 years old. He was committed to psychiatric wards on "suicide lockdown" on atleast 2 occassions before the suicide attempt in Sterling, CO. Once in Columbus, GA at the age of 10.
Before he was sent to Samoa he was permanently expelled from school in Sterling and arrested several times for everything from truancy to posession of a gun. His mother sought help from both the psychiatric hospital and the Sterling School District and was told that there was nothing that could be done by either organisation.
Corey Murphy spent time in the care of MANY therapists, psychologists, teachers and mental health professionals from the time he was 8 years old. Medications did not help him, doctors did not help him and hospitals did not help him. How can we really blame the WWASP solely for not helping him???
The months before his suicide (and after his stint in Samoa and Spring Creek Lodge) Corey was involved in drugs and arrested several times. He stole a car, was caught in posession of cocaine more than once, was arrested for shoplifting, and had moved out of the family home several times. The police were also called to his mothers El Paso home several times because he was violent and physically assaulted his own sister.
Corey Murphy was not some poor helpless kid who did nothing to deserve being sent away and developed spontaneous suicidal feelings while in the care of the WWASP. He was a deeply troubled young man who was suicidal at a very young age and he could not keep himself out of trouble for more than a few weeks.
Also, Corey Murphy's father, who had no involvement in the program and has been quoted calling it a "cult" in the Rocky Mountain News committed suicide in the same manner as Corey in 2005: a gun to the head. Can we lay THAT on the WWASP? Mitch Humason also allegedly had a brother who committed suicide in Washington State in 2002. Perhaps Corey and his father were genetically predisposed to suicide?
Frankly, I think you are all a bit off base trying to pin a suicide on anyone... People commit suicide in psychiatric hospitals all the time. The medical community maintains that suicide is not the fault of the doctor, the family, or anyone who is caring for that person.
No one is trying to hold the psychiatric hospital that cared for Corey Murphy in Columbus, GA responsible for his subsequent suicide attempts or his death. The psych ward on suicide lock-down was very much the same procedure as those used in the WWASP. (ie: no jewelry, supervision at all times, asking permission to speak, being watched in the restrooom, etc.)
I think you should all do more research on the students you profess to be "victims" of WWASP. Some of the students (like the one who murdered his parents) were not only out of control, but also predatory. If the parents knew that the child was going to kill them, I'd say it would have reinforced their decision to send him away. These children victimized their own families NOT vice-versa.
Also, a slightly elevated suicide or death rate amung program students/graduates should not be too suprising when you consider that these are young people who are known to engage in high risk behavior such as drugs, un-protected sex and violent crimes and many of them have a long history of depression and suicidal behavior. Of COURSE they are more likely to die, they are the ones who were more likely to die to begin with!
