Personal Story of Kelly who had a brother in Straight Inc.
My brother, Steve (click here and here to view some pictures) had such a beautiful spirit. He was extremely talented, could sing, draw. Very artistic and introspective. He started messing with drugs as a young kid with his friends. My parents tried putting him in Military school and that didn't work. They got wind of GREEDY ASS STRAIGHT (only $12,000 a year, my brother was there for 3 years) and looked into it. Mind you Straight didn't advertise it's evil ways. I still have propaganda from them which I will post later.
My parents decided to put him in Straight. This is a very intensive, family program. Meaning the family is involved as well, heavily. I had to go to what they call "Open Meetings" every Monday and Friday and then sibling meetings on Saturday. Can't say I enjoyed it. When kids get put into straight they are on phase 1. On phase 1 you stay at someone else's house. You are stripped of all your rights, you can wear no shoes, or belt and are led around by the back of your pants where ever you go. Can't even SHIT or SHOWER alone. While on first phase you can earn "Talks" with your family that occur after the open meetings. I think it took my brother over 3 months to earn his first one. When he did it was extremely emotional for all of us.
Straight had this philosophy that 90% of all teenagers were druggies or potential, eventual, druggies. All druggies who started with pot or mild drugs would eventually turn to more extreme drugs. All druggies would be unsuccessful and probably wind up dead. Mind you I did drugs, mostly pot, never went more extreme and consider myself VERY successful today, no thanks to straight. My brother is dead and it wasn't drugs that killed him. It's possible straight is responsible for more deaths by suicide then death by ODing. They convinced parents their kid would die without help and they were good at it. Even Hitler was a great speaker and could mesmorize his ignorant audience.
2nd phase you get the privilege to come home. EVERY DAY (unless in school) from about 7am until about 9pm at night you are at the straight building. During that time you could NOT talk to anyone else, nor make contact with anyone, other than who was talking. If you were caught day dreaming or even thinking about something else and not paying attention you could easily be set back a phase or even body slammed to the ground. Imagine a kid with A.D.D. in this program. You are taken out of school and/or any job you held. Once you get to 3rd phase you get to go back to school and 4th phase you can hold a job. On 5th phase you actually can go out on an outing with friends like a movie, WOW. Finally comes graduation, something my brother never saw. There were kids who had never done drugs in this program (they signed a confession eventually after hours and hours of mental abuse), kids with mental problems and eating disorders, and I am sure this experience helped them *cough*.
My brother was in the program for 3 years (from 15 to 18) and ran away SEVEN TIMES! (that should be a hint). Now before I go further let me say I lay no blame on my mom she was ignorant as to what was happening. Only recently have I told her what Steve went through, and I know it is and was hard for her to hear. She ultimately feels responsible. For 15 years I was pissed off at my brother for taking his life and leaving his family. Then I learned the truth, and to be honest I can't say I wouldn't have done the same. I don't know if I could have handled 3 years in that place. Let me give you some examples of the abuse he had to suffer.
Nightly they had to write "Moral Inventories", better known as MI's. My mom saved these and recently I asked her if I could have them. I put them all in order and started reading. On his 60th day in straight he stated that he was very proud because he finally had a day where he wasn't physically restrained. Mind you, one got physically restrained for not raising their hand. It's not like he was trying to beat people up or run away on a daily basis, he just wasn't complying. That's my brother, he was a fighter. And when I say restrained, imagine four big guys or girls, throwing you to the ground and sitting on you so you could hardly breath for 30 - 60 minutes. People got broken fingers, hands, arms, ribs, etc, often.
They were told to make a list of all the bad "sexual" things they did when they were young. Many kids hadn't really done anything yet but they were hounded so severely kids actually made things up. And then of course it was used against them as ammunition to remind them what sluts and whores they all were. Druggies were losers, and people who went back to using drugs were useless losers who would never succeed. Yeah that's the way to cure someone, make them feel like total shit about themselves for a problem they may or may not have. They were not allowed to talk about anything much beyond themselves. Meaning if there were severe family problems going on, that might even have attributed to the drug use, so what. The problem was drugs, not that "you were molested as a child". These kids were severely brainwashed into thinking they were complete losers and everything was their fault. A very popular phrase "SPIT THERAPY" comes from this program too... think about it.
Before my brother could come home on phase 2, Straight told my dad he had to get rid of the alcohol in the house, because it would be tempting. That made sense to me. My mom and some friends thought it might be a good idea to have an intervention for my alcoholic father (he is a true blue alkie). Again that made sense to me. They had it at straight, no they didn't plan on putting them in there, the intervention just took place there. Of course in an intervention you feel cornered and will usually back down and comply because of all the "friends and family" that are there. My dad agreed to go into a 3 week program at Fairfax Hospital to stop drinking.
As we all know you won't stop abusing until YOU are ready, my dad wasn't. He left the program and came up with the GREAT idea that he would move out so my brother could come home. NICE! So now my brother sees my dad as choosing his BOTTLE over him. Again my dad had to be ready to quit but DAMN what a slap in the face that was for me and my brother. My dad cared more about getting his buzz on then his own god damned family. I still harbor resentment today about it. Having a hard time even writing this.
Then while in straight we found out my dad had cheated on my mom with MANY different women and had another child about 7 years before. My brother got wind of this in straight. Of course straight TOLD him, they just wouldn't let him talk about it. EVERY TIME he tried to talk about it they would tell him to focus on HIS problem. As if DRUGS are EVER the problem. Something is always behind it. So basically they told him just to FUCK with him, not to help him. It breaks my heart that my brother was put through this. He was made to think he was worthless and useless and had nothing going for him. Every time he ran away he was brought back FORCEFULLY to straight. Even punched a window out in hopes of severing his hand so he could go to the hospital instead of straight, no such luck.
I was around a few times when they got him at our house, it was always VERY physical (my brother was 6'3"), with friends and neighbors helping to restrain him. Granted none of them knew of the horrors of straight, but the one problem I do have is that if a kid runs away 7 times then the PROGRAM ISN'T WORKING, move on! Get him OUT! But that didn't happen.
The sibling side of straight was odd as well. We would go to sibling meetings and have to talk and share (yuck) but I got into it at the time, as if I had a choice, if you don't go then they warn your parents you are probably on drugs too. I actually had an interview 2 years into straight because a straightling saw me try snuff in school and reported me. They thought I was on drugs, thank GOD I wasn't put in there. Many kids who never TOUCHED drugs went into that program and the parents were of course told they were druggies since the counselors grilled them enough to admit it in writing.
In siblings we had to write MI's too, we had to sing these stupid mother fucking songs, although I preferred that to sharing. When we wanted to talk we have to MOTIVATE. Meaning raising both your hands in the air and shaking them like a god damned gorilla or something. The kids in the program would get restrained for not doing this. Straight was very "God" oriented *how fucking hypocritical*, they were against ROCK music and premarital sex. I still remember friends of mine in siblings that were just BLASTED for going to a rock concert or having sex at the age of 17. I mean BLASTED. Oh it makes me sick to think about. And that was NOTHING compared to what went on INSIDE straight.
My brother turned 18 in September of 1985 and withdrew himself from straight. He asked my mom if he could come live at home and she said only if he goes to AA. At the time I didn't understand why he said no. But now I do. He had been a prisoner with NO rights for 3 years (keep in mind he was on FIRST PHASE for 2 1/2 of those 3 years) and wasn't about to be told what to do. He left straight homeless and alone. He still was in contact with his highschool buddy Corey, who I recently contacted. Corey was probably his only TRUE friend, him and Craig and Bubba *grin*. I saw my brother once before he died working at the Mobil gas station. He looked good but sad, I wanted to cry, wanted to go give him a big hug, but even our relationship had been affected, we had hardly seen each other in 3 1/2 years. I could tell he was happy to see me but didn't know how to react. Finally on June 30th 1986 my brother checked himself into the Econo Lodge in Springfield Virginia. Wrote a note to Corey, took some cocaine for courage, and jumped from the 4th story window. He hit his head on the concrete. He was without oxygen to the brain for over 10 minutes, which of course caused his brain to die. He was put in the hospital and kept on life support until July 3rd when we decided to pull the plug.
I never ever dealt with his death the first 15 years, hardly cried and rarely spoke of it. One day, about a year ago, I decided to do some research on the net about Straight. Oh my god the shit I found blew my mind. It goes so much deeper then what I express in this note. Being that I was not with my brother in straight I could only share things that he went through that others shared with me. But if you visit some of the links below you can gain an even better understanding of what really occurred. It was absolutely horrific and still is being that these programs STILL EXIST TODAY. I will never forget in 1986 Nancy Reagan and Princess Diana came to Straight in Northern Virginia, I was in the open meeting that they came to. And then afterward publicly gave their support to the program, completely CLUELESS as to it's horrors and treatment of these kids. I was told there were certain "trouble makers" who were taken to back rooms and gagged so they wouldn't make a peep while the first lady and the Princess were there. That breaks my heart. Many people I have since talked with are just NOW (10-15 years later) coming to terms with this abuse. Many completely lost themselves and their personality and have had to rebuild. Brainwashing is REAL and no joke. Definitely a Clockwork Orange meets Full Metal Jacket type situation, and very very sickening to me.
Thank you for letting me share. I feel it's extremely important to get this information out. Parents have NO EXCUSES anymore when it comes to sending their kids to these programs. The information is out there for them to gain FREELY, if they only do the research.
Here is a quote by Kevin Yriondo who killed him self in 2000. He was only in straight 1 week, imagine enduring this for 3 years:
In just one week there I had some horrible experiences, like being screamed at in front of 120 people for 6 hours -- people who spit in my face, insulted me, etc. I broke the nose of one counselor (a tall guy) . . . I remember the hymns, the rituals, the swarming of hands in the air, the people who were restrained to the point they could barely inhale air, the door alarms at night, the beds pushed against the door to prevent escape, the bars on the windows, and the extreme psychological abuse. . . I remember them taking my food (a taco shell and a banana) because I "ate like a 'druggie'" -- I am a vegetarian and that's all they served that I could eat! I am NOT violent, but I was fighting for my mind, as I'd expect anyone would do. I saw people admitted on the same day break under the stress.
Below are a list of other suicides and there are plenty of links on the LINKS page like I mentioned earlier. Feel free to leave any comments about this. You may keep them anonymous. Feel free to read what others have said.
Straight Suicides: (to see detailed explanations behind these go here. This is only a handful of people who killed themselves, many others TRIED as well.)