Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Troubled Teen Industry

Narvin Lichfield owner of Dundee Ranch arrested!

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Antigen:
All I know about Costa Rica is that it's famous for having the most Libertarian government on the planet at the moment and that a good friend of mine just loves the place for vacations cause it's so laid back.

One theory among Libertarians has been that if we get law enforcement and the judiciary out of the business of snooping into people's private affairs they can be more effective at their primary role in going after serious criminals.

This story tends to bear that out, don't you think?

Yeay Costa Rica! I bet real estate there is way out of our price range, just as it is in New Hampshire.

Time is running out. The Indians' botanical knowledge is disappearing even faster than the plants themselves.

--Richard Schultes, Harvard University educator, authority on medicinal plants
--- End quote ---

Anonymous:
What about the States? We all know these "requirements" are not being met for other WWASP run facilities here in the US


The Child Welfare Office's (PANI) report listed 15 problems Dundee needs to fix in the next 30 days in order to get legal and remain open:

1. Inadequate facilities: not enough ventilation or lighting in the dorms, and no privacy.

2. Inadequate food and meal portions.

3. Communication between students and their families too restricted.

4. Staff unqualified to attend to needs of children.

5. Immigration status of students not clear.

6. Some punishments qualify as physical and psychological abuse.

7. Academy overcrowded.

8. Cleaning facility should not be students' responsibility.

9. Academy has no permit from Education Ministry.

10. No guaranteed comprehensive health-care.

11. Many students held at Dundee against their will.

12. Dundee's investments in academy not directly benefiting students.

13. Management and leadership of program not professional.

14. Academic structure not clear: no lessons taught.

15. Some parents have complained that academy does not really offer what it advertises.

Anonymous:
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com


"Owner of Private Discipline Academy in Costa Rica Is Arrested
By TIM WEINER


MEXICO CITY, May 23 ? The owner of an American behavior modification program in Costa Rica housing nearly 200 American youths was jailed today after accusations that students had been deprived of their civil liberties.

The owner, Narvin Lichfield, was detained pending a judge's review of allegations brought by a local prosecutor. Those allegations include charges that children were held against their will and physically abused at the Academy at Dundee Ranch, in rural Costa Rica, according to Adilia Caravaca, a Costa Rican lawyer representing the mother of a child at Dundee.
 
 
A 14-year-old California girl who fled the academy on Thursday and returned home with the help of United States Embassy officials said by telephone today that Dundee Ranch staff members had beaten and physically restrained children who tried to leave the academy.

The girl, whose mother insisted that her name be withheld, said staff members "tried to make us sign a contract saying we didn't want anything to change and told us we had to sign the contract or we would be sent to Jamaica."

Dundee Ranch and a similar behavior modification program in Jamaica, Tranquility Bay, are affiliated with a Utah organization, the World Wide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools, known as Wwasps. About 30 children were sent from Costa Rica to Jamaica this week after child welfare officials visited Dundee Ranch on Tuesday and told youths there that they did not have to stay, officials said.

The Costa Rican authorities said punishments at the academy included emotional abuse, isolation and physical restraints.

Mr. Lichfield is a brother of Wwasps's founder, Robert Lichfield. The association operates 11 behavior modification centers that house 2,200 youths, about half of them in Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica, and half in the United States. Previous investigations have led to closings of Wwasps-affiliated programs in Mexico and the Czech Republic.

The arrest may spell the end of the academy, several parents of children at Dundee Ranch said. Some said in e-mail messages that they had faith in the program despite the charges. Others were desperately trying to contact their children to bring them home, but without success.

One, Yumiko Huffer, of Nashville, said her 17-year-old son had complained of mistreatment and had begged her to be sent home. "I sold my home to pay the tuition," more than $30,000 a year, she said in a telephone interview.

A Costa Rican security official, Ana Chacón, said it was likely that the children would eventually be returned to their parents or legal guardians."

NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com

Anonymous:
Anyone have current info on Narvin Lichfield, still in jail, did he post bail??

Anonymous:
Poor Narvin, how does it feel? To bad Bob ain't with you.

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