Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS)

Dundee Ranch Academy AKA Pillars of Hope

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ConstentGardener:
Excerpts:

When my birthday came I had a meeting with the Director of Finances. He told me they didn?t have to do anything for me I said ?I want to leave. I want a plane ticket to Massachusetts.? He responded with ?Where will you stay. You don?t want to burn any bridges with my parents



and Everyday was the same unless there was a seminar going on. Seminars lasted about three days and usually meant if a student passed they would go up in status or level. The other possibility of a day being any different is if a student was sent to O.P. or sent on a work project. Students who misbehaved were sent to O.P. or if they had lost all their merits until a supervising staff decided otherwise. I have seen kids sent there who definitely deserved to be placed there and a few who didn?t. I visited O.P. a couple times which I did not deserve.



My first time in there I got restrained because I fell asleep. I had been suffering from insomnia for about two or three years and was so exhausted that I could not help myself. I tried to explain it to the staff. They didn?t ever understand me since a miniscule amount could speak English and no one knew how to explain it when translating. The one man that restrained me the times I had been was Mr. Bailey. Now this guy knew ?hard love?, I consider myself a good judge of character and something that I often perceived was how he would do what he wanted when angered.



Another time I woke up and was asked to go to O.P. since I had no points. I went to O.P. and took the position they always had us take. It was like an Indian sitting style but on your knees. Out of no where Mr. Bailey grabbed my arm and jacked up all the way behind my neck and pushed his full body against my slamming me against the wall. He ended up bruising my left upper arm and left it so sore that I couldn?t lift with it for a week. I did not ever attempt to retaliate, even though a few of my peers encouraged me to do so.



The last time Bailey restrained me I was on the ground and he did a knee drop into my back leaving a large bruise for three weeks. I cannot remember if I had done something to deserve it I?m sure I hadn?t considering my very passive personality. These kinds of things would happen simply for no cooperating to their standards. I remember hearing of other cruelty such as what happened to a boy named David just months prior to my arrival. He had been kicked in the mouth and lost a tooth. I remember he certainly was not a violent type at all, perhaps he was just mouthing off to a staff.



Many other things that disturbed me were the living conditions all the students were forced to endure such as the bathrooms. None of which ever had any sanitizing material or simply soap. The only way a student could wash there hands after using the bathroom was if they brought their own. None of us had pockets until new uniforms were purchased two months after I arrived.



One time I had to clean a bathroom using only a scrub brush and bleach in a bottle, not even a spray bottle a regular old bottle. I cleaned the wall, mirror, toilet, shower everything was done with this which was extremely hazardous considering I almost black out three times from the fumes and malnutrition. I attempted to explain to the staff on hand that I was choking and need a fresh air break but he just disregarded me.



Narvin instructed the staff to do everything and I mean everything the student body built half of the compound. The labor was just to much for the younger kids and most of the day I would get a headache and have no energy while working from simply  lack of food. I remember one time hearing that it was unlawful to have more than nine children per bedroom. The thing was a lot of rooms had up to twelve students.



I suffered more mental abuse then anything else. I knew that I was a whole different case considering that my eighteenth birthday was three months away from the time I arrived there. They used that against me on my birthday they were telling me tried to hustle me into signing a statement making me their property.?



I refused so they took it upon themselves and messed with these facts for forty more days after my birthday until the time I actually left Costa Rica. I see it as just a way to get a few more thousand dollars from my parents and a waste of time. My parents wasted over ten thousand dollars on this whole venture. Many unlawful practices took place at the Academy at Dundee Ranch that would not of gone unnoticed in the United States. This makes me see Narvin and his Associates as International criminals.

ConstentGardener:
It?s been years since
but its still in my mind.
Its in my face.
The truth can be traced.
But if proof got erased
the truth can be lied
by the rules they decide.

Jump off the roof of this place
or stay quite and refined
what ever riot's in your mind
But don't try it in line.

Like a pilot Flying blind
Write my brail to recite
my rhyme; My fingers fail, it?s hard to find
And when they read my mail
its line for line.

I was there two months and they hardly knew my name.
But I pulled stupid stunts so was the one to blame.
But when I got up to share
they hung heads in shame.
Guess you know I play dirty Just the same.
Don't care if I'm thirty
Cause not then or now are you worthy
to squeal my name.

In a concrete tomb.
Three days and Four others to share
I sat with my nose on a wall till noon.
Don't suppose there a small meal soon?

When the OP guard twisted my hand backwards up my head
I got a clue.
Truth is: I aint hungry and fuck food.

I'd rather sit in pain and stare at a wall
than deal with you dude.

Understand in this place
(his answer don't confuse you)
Think of yourself as a dog
its, no, sit boy, then
He'll abuse you.

Eat off the floor like an animal.
Get used to it.
'Cause Mr. Bailey gets amused when you do it.
See, Mr. Bailey gets fused, when you go threw it.

B, K and C (the Jamaicans entire)
tell me I'm wrecked and I'm scared.
I know I'm wrecked
But I'm still admired.
'Cause I got my needs met
and I got my respect.
And I'm not a liar.

Spoon

ConstentGardener:
Academy at Dundee Ranch Statement F: From a Former Student
[from the ISAC report]

I arrived at Dundee on January 14th, 2002. I knew I was coming, but what I had expected was something totally different from what I got. I watched a sappy video of teary-eyed parents expressing their devotion to the program, and how it has changed their life so much and they would recommend anyone to the program.

It looked nice, like there were a ot of things to do and see. I chose Costa Rica because I like the culture, and I wanted to visit the country. Well, I didn?t get to see much of anything but the facility while I was there. I didn?t leave for the first 7 months I was there. Not one foot stepped out of those gates.

The first 5 months were the hardest. I quickly fell into a deep depression in which I felt absolutely no hope for anything. The staff and students seemed cold, and unwelcoming, and I had no one to talk to about my feelings and what I was going through.

I distinctly remember several occasions in which I felt so lonely, hopeless and sad that I would search through my things, looking for something I might try to kill myself with.

I was denied contact with my parents other than one letter a week. Many times my letters were lost, or would take 2 to 3 weeks to get to my parents. My parents were told that anything I said that was negative about the program was manipulation and I was just trying to get them to take me home. They lied to my parents.

They taught us themselves that not telling the whole truth is considered lying. Maybe they should practice what they preach. Hey, what has happened now is just the universe holding them accountable for their actions. It will always come back on you.

Anyways, while trudging through my depression there was so much going on around me, I didn?t know how to respond to it all. Rules were changed daily, disgruntled staff would take out their frustration on students by giving them unnecessary corrections, which docked points and set them back.

We were not allowed to speak to each other unless it was during a very strict and limited time, usually never more than a half an hour at the most a day. The rest of the time we had to be absolutely silent, making no gestures or visual communication whatsoever.

Sanitary conditions were terrible. We were made to sleep in rooms of 6-9 girls in one small room. If there was one person who got sick in a room, then everyone would get sick. We would have triple bunk beds with so little room you could not sit up, move around, or even get on or off easily.

Many times there would not be water, so we could not shower, brush our teeth, was our faces etc. We also lacked necessary hygiene supplies like toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste. I remember times when there was no toilet paper for days, and we would have to use notebook paper, or when we would not get items from the storage so we had very little shampoo left.

We also had no laundry soap on several occasions. We had to wash our own clothes by hand, but several times, we would use shampoo to wash our clothes with because there was no laundry soap. Then, when everyone was running out of shampoo, and the scrubbing brushes had lost all of their bristles, I remember having to wash my clothes with conditioner and an old toothbrush.

Then there was OP and Worksheets. OP was a place you went when you broke a category 4 or 5 rule. You could do this by simply having a map of something, by speaking in English to someone, or wearing too many articles of clothing etc. In OP you usually had to lie down on your stomach with your hands behind your back and your chin on the floor. I was in OP a few times. You cannot move, talk, look, itch?nothing.

Sometimes you had to do hours and hours of exercises. Once I had to run with only my flip-flops. I asked several times to get my tennis shoes but they kept saying, no, keep running, you can get them later.

We would also not be allowed to fill up our water bottles when we needed it. Maybe once we were allowed to go and refill our bottles. Kids could spend days weeks or months in OP.

 In worksheets you had to write a certain number of words. The number of works you had to write depended on what category rule violation you got. I believe I wrote somewhere around 130,000 to 150,000 words while I was there. I remember at least 2 occasions when I had around 50,000-60,000 words to write, which took me from 1 ½ to 2 weeks to do. Other times I would have anywhere from 16,000 to 30,000 words to write. I have around 30,000 words that I kept and brought home.

 We would not have tables to write on, and the rooms were dark to I would have to bend down and write on my lap which would give me terrible back and neck pains for up to 3 days.

School was something that was out of control. When I got there, there were NO teachers NO school administrators, and there were students correcting work and giving credit.

They lost my transcripts when I first got there, and I didn?t know what to do, so for several months I did nothing in school.

Another concern was the Family Representative turnover. I had 9 family reps. In 11 months of being there. Family reps. were our only connection to our parents, and it was hard when they kept leaving about every month because I would just get to know them and then they would leave, and we?d have to deal with the new one and have to get to know them all over again. It was a never-ending cycle.

My overall time at Dundee Ranch Academy was negative experience. I have since done much better at home though, and I have been working hard at school, so maybe just the experience scared me straight. I wouldn?t wish Dundee Ranch on my worst enemy.

ConstentGardener:
NOW - lets talk some about Accountability.

CCM girl 1989:
Reading all this, brings back so many memories. Even though I was at Cross Creek.....and more then 15 years ago........it's just amazing how similiar the feelings are between the new releases, and myself.

I'm not sure how they are going to get Narvin Lichfield to show up to court? I mean, isn't he in the states now?

I think that eventually things will catch up with WWASP. They need to take some responsibility. It's been a long time coming. The more I read, the sicker I get.

It's tough, who do you believe?!! The kids? The Lichfields, Kays, or Hintons of the world? I know who I believe. The kids. They've needed to make changes in their programs for a while now. I think they grow more abusive by the day. I would think they would improve them, but they don't.

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