Utah-link to Iraqi prisoner abuse

[cherish wisdom]

No the Attorney General did not tour or investigate the facility - documents were reviewed and that is how the decision was made. The Attorney General and other officials in Utah are obviously protecting the interests of the teen programs. I personally asked the AG to give me the codes and laws which were used to base that decision on and my request has been ignored. In fact - I have reported this to every legislator in the entire State and only one has replied. Mr. Clark from St.George had no answers just wanted to know if any other legislator had replied. Something is seriously wrong in Utah. From what I've heard stripping is comonplace at the facility my child was in - Provo Canyon School. This practice has also been reportedly used in Utah prisons and at some WWASP facilities overseas.

He who laughs lasts
--Crazy Mac

[Anonymous]

CW - What does DHS say about this?  Weren't they involved in the investigation?  What were their findings? From what I can tell from other postings, your daughter is not the only child alleged to have been seriously maltreated at this facility. In fact, it appears there are many others. Have these people also run into a brick wall??

[Deborah]

I'd like to hear from other parents. My son was strip searched after visits home at the high-dollar, east coast facility. I assumed most if not all programs do this. They justify it by saying they are 'looking for drugs'. This procedure, btw, was not mentioned in the parent manual. A parent will not know it's happening unless the child reports it. It wasn't done publicly, but it's still humiliating.

My older son was forced to strip and walk down the middle of the hallway while the other teens lined the hallway and made sarcastic comments. This was at a military academy.

I've read many accounts of this happening with wilderness participants. First step, strip and get searched.

It's also a pretty standard procedure for people who are being committed to mental wards.

[cherish wisdom]

Reply to Deborah:

My daughter was also stripped searched and we had no idea either. She and I asked questions for at least two hours and this procedure was never mentioned.

Reply to ANON re Utah DHS: ARE YOU SERIOUS - It is run by Ken Stettler who promotes these teen programs.  I did hear from a reporter who is gathering information for a story that DHS did find some minor violations and asked Provo Canyon to correct them. This is all that they do.  Here is a copy of the letter that  was sent:

Dear ...:
Thank you for sharing your concens ab out UHS Provo Canyon School, a program licensed by the Department of Human Services to provide Residential Services to children. The complaint and all appropritate data and interviews have been completed. At this time, if there is any action to be taken, the Office of Licensing will work with the provider to resolve any issues or violations. If you desire to know the results of the investigation, you may file a GRAMA request with the Office of Licensing by contacting Jan Bohi, Office Technician, at 801-538-4242.
Sincerely, Kelly C. Husbands, MSW
Licensing Specialist, Nephi, Utah.  
Cc: LJ Dustman, Supervisor and Criag Gillman, Director Provo Canyon School.

So, that's it.  I also received reply from AT Gen indicating that they had concluded that no criminal charges could be filed based on the documents that were reviewed.  I spent at least 40 hours of my time on all of this for what?  All we received was two letters with three sentences.  

It's no wonder people don't report and follow through on these things - it's just not worth the stress of the fight.  

What's happening is truly disgusting. Unfortunately we don't have videos and photos of these things being done.  These facilities are involved in human torture and degradation and those who have been elected and hired to protect the children are turning a blind eye and deaf ear to reports of abuse.  The laws that have been enacted to protect children in these facilities are being ignored by the facilities, staff and local government.  

Innocence implies the ability to restrain from the initiation of aggression, and to question those who don't.
http://www.MisesRomania.org' target='_new'>Sorin Cucerai

[spots]

I'm just flying off the top of my head here, because I don't have time to research and anotate the following, BUT I remember:

Kelly Husbands is a fellow ward member of the same LDS church that Ken Stettler belongs to.  They have been long-time friends.  I seem to recall that she has recently left the department.  Her departure had something to do with the "closeness" of her relationship with her boss, in that she could not serve as an appropriate investigator due to her strong allegiance to the status quo (Stattler).

It's interesting that, should you have a further complaint, you're asked to forward it to the secretary (office technician) from whence it will disappear swiftly.

[cherish wisdom]

Spots - I've talked to Kelly Husbands - she is a HE.  He lives in Nephi Utah and Ken Stettler is in Salt Lake City - so they are not in the same LDS ward.  
Kelly Husbands resigned soon after Anson Arnett died and soon after his investigation of Provo Canyon School. I don't know if either had anything to do with it. But I personally told him everything that was going on there and gave him documents to prove it.  He seemed to side with the program regardless.  Kelly Husbands was also the only positive witness for the defence of the program where Ian August was tortured, and denied life saving medical intervention.  Kelly is no longer working for the government. It would be interesting to know if he is working for the teen industry - since he is a MSW (Master of Social Work).  Does anyone know?  

"Now, I'm a walking dead man," ... "And what bothers me is that I'm dead because I tried to help the kids. And it's all the fault of all those people over there at the DEA." [Dead Man Talking]


--Ben Guillory

[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2004-06-15 18:56 ]

[Anonymous]

Excerpt:

The hearing is scheduled to resume today with the testimony of Kelly Husbands, the licensing specialist who conducted the initial investigation into August's death. The administrative law judge is also scheduled to hearing closing arguments.

Source:  
http://www.teenadvocatesusa.homestead.c ... erapy.html

See "A QUESTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY"
in the Death of Ian August

FYI - Kelly Husbands was in the same LDS ward as the owner of Skyline Journey (Wardle).

 :roll:

[cherish wisdom]

Stand Corrected - Kelly Husbands was a witness for the defence of those who were responsible for the negligent, torture death of  Ian August. He did not testify in favor of those responsible for the negligent, starvation and torture death of Aaron Bacon.

I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard was not what I meant.



---Richard Nixon

[Anonymous]

PCS has a troubled past, as do most of these programs.  Common sense should prevail when considering private placement ... the more restrictive and custodial the facility, the greater the potential for abuse.  Second, parents often make the mistake of equating an expensive program with the quality of care and treatment when in reality, programs are only as good as the people running them.

[Anonymous]

On 2004-06-14 10:02:00, spots wrote:

"I'm just flying off the top of my head here, because I don't have time to research and anotate the following, BUT I remember:



Kelly Husbands is a fellow ward member of the same LDS church that Ken Stettler belongs to.  They have been long-time friends.  I seem to recall that she has recently left the department.  Her departure had something to do with the "closeness" of her relationship with her boss, in that she could not serve as an appropriate investigator due to her strong allegiance to the status quo (Stattler).



It's interesting that, should you have a further complaint, you're asked to forward it to the secretary (office technician) from whence it will disappear swiftly.  "

This is inaccurate, Kelly Husbands is a member of the same LDS ward that the former owner of Skyline Journey belongs to.  Husbands was the DHS licensor for SJ but Stettler was uncomfortable with Husbands/Wardle being members of the same ward and as such, assigned someone else to monitor SJ while awaiting the results of the administrative hearing.

[cherish wisdom]

Just heard about some horrific female-prisoner abuse from a nurse I know who worked in a New Mexico prison. According to her - the female prisoners were constantly sexually abused by the prison guards. They were forced to give sexual favors for privalages. There were beatings and strippings and other abuses that she witnessed. I've encouraged her to notify authorities for what it's worth. From my experience the authorities do little to nothing.  

WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION  
-- Ethiopian Proverb

[Anonymous]

It Happened Here First: Exporting America's Most Notorious Prison Officials to Abu Ghraib

Democracy Now
June 2nd, 2004
 
 
One man ran a prison system in Utah where a 29-year-old schizophrenic died after he was stripped naked and strapped to a restraining chair for 16 hours.

Another man ran the system in Arizona where 14 women were raped, sodomized or assaulted by prison guards.


Another ran Connecticut's prison system where at least two people died after being severely beaten.

All of the men who ran these prison systems were forced out by lawsuits or political controversy. But rather than being sent to prison themselves, these men were sent to Iraq by the US government to set up the prisons there. Actually, one prison - Abu Ghraib. {includes rush transcript]

In the weeks since the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib grabbed national headlines here in the US and around the world, the Bush administration and the Pentagon have attempted to put forth a consistent story: that the abuses were the work of individual soldiers, acting on their own and that there was no systematic program of abuse at the prison.

But over the past few weeks, this version of events has been shot down by veteran correspondent Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker. Contrary to the Administration's claims, Hersh revealed that the torture at Abu Ghraib was part of a Pentagon-approved Black Ops program authorized by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Today, on Democracy Now!, we are going to look extensively at the four-man team of correctional advisers dispatched by the US government to Iraq shortly after the occupation began. Their job was to get the notorious Abu Ghraib prison up and running for the US occupation forces.

For people or governments concerned with human rights, their resumes and records read like warning labels for who not to have running a prison--especially in a country where the US claims to be building democracy.

The four men are:

Lane McCotter: A former warden of the U.S. military prison at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, former cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Corrections Department and the former director for the Texas Department of Corrections. He now runs the private prison-company: Management and Training Corporation.

- Read 36-page Justice Department report documenting inhumane conditions at Santa Fe County Adult Detention Center in New Mexico under McCotter: [Download pdf]

John Armstrong: the former director of the Connecticut Department of Corrections. Terrry Stewart, former director of the Arizona Department of Corrections and his top deputy Chuck Ryan.

[cherish wisdom]

It looks like there have been terrible abuses in all of the prison systems where these men were in leadership positions - Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.  
Prisoner abuse is happening right here in the USA.

Sacred cows make the best hamburger.  
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=circlofmiamithem&keyword=mark+twain&mode=books' target='_new'> Mark Twain

[Anonymous]

CW - Prisons in America are notorious for abusing the human and civil right of inmates. Why everybody is suddenly in an uproar about prison abuse in Iraq has more to do with politics than it does humanitarian concerns.  Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is the sorry truth.

[Nihilanthic]

I love this hypocritical world.

Europe is just digging a deeper hole for everyone when they don't care unless they can use it politically for their benefit. I'd be eternally grateful if they found out about what we do to our kids - and not shut up about it. Sure, they'd just be doing it for feel-good self rightousness, but at least those poor kids could get out.

Whats funny, is it all comes down to what the USA choses to do. Period. Europe, the middle east, Asia, none of them can make us do squat. Its going to be up to US to make or break this world.

So, how do we tell america about this?