Michelle Sutton
Kristen Chase
Aaron Bacon
Outside magazine, June 1995
What Happened Out Here?
A death in the wilderness raises disturbing questions about boot camps for troubled teens
By Christopher Smith
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When a Utah judge raps his gavel on May 22 to begin a preliminary criminal hearing into the death of 16-year-old Aaron Bacon, the key evidence for the prosecution will come from the waifish, longhaired teen himself. A rebellious kid who smoked a little marijuana and brought home too many C's and D's, Bacon was enrolled last winter by his parents, Robert and Sally Bacon of Phoenix, Arizona, in a Utah-based wilderness therapy program called North Star Expeditions. The couple's hope, like that of thousands of parents in the United States who send their kids to the 115 or so such private boot camps--or "Hoods in the Woods" programs, as they're sometimes called--was that North Star would teach their son hard lessons about discipline and survival and that through the experience he'd grow in self-esteem, give up drugs, and return home a healthier and happier teenager.
Instead, after only a few days in the stark and beautiful Escalante River Basin, Bacon felt his life slipping away. He didn't know it, but he'd somehow developed a bleeding ulcer, and as the energy drained slowly from his body, the aspiring poet documented his final days with ever more faint and tortured scrawls in a notebook. They were days spent hiking and camping in the slickrock and scrub-pine backcountry, but they were also days spent in emotional and physical distress as North Star staff allegedly ignored his pleas for medical attention and continued to march him farther from civilization.
"I am in terrible condition here," Bacon wrote ten days before his death. "I feel like I'm losing control of my body."
The journal is heartrending, but exactly what happened and who is to blame are still unclear. In the upcoming proceedings, the state of Utah hopes to prove that North Star's two directors and seven of its employees should be tried on felony charges of abusing and neglecting a medically disabled child. Also, the Bacons have filed a civil suit against North Star, claiming wrongful death and seeking an unspecified sum; that suit is scheduled for trial later this summer.
Bacon is the third teenager to die in this country while participating in so-called wilderness therapy. The two other deaths also occurred in Utah, in 1990. In both cases Utah authorities concluded that neglect by program staff may have occurred, but there have been no criminal convictions. Meanwhile, a growing number of observers are left wondering whether something about these programs--some designed for hardened criminals-to-be, and others, like North Star Expeditions, for basically "good" kids with a few behavior problems--is inherently flawed.
Founded in 1990 by Bill Henry, a career camp counselor, and Lance Jagger, a former air force officer, North Star advertises itself as a tough-love solution to teens' problems. An 11-day "acclimation" period is followed by 52 days in the desert, during which the boys and girls make long hikes between caches of food and occasionally go without food for up to two days at a time. Hikes are supplemented with fervent lectures about getting one's life in order. By the winter of 1993-1994 the Bacons were ready for such radical steps, and after Sally Bacon made a few inquiring calls, Bob Bacon wrote a $13,900 check to the camp. Then one morning Jagger appeared at the Bacon home and took Aaron from his bed. It was the last time the Bacons saw their child alive.
Nevertheless, North Star's Henry, who has no college-level training in teen counseling, maintains that his staff had no way of detecting the ulcer. "The medical examiner said we would not have seen these symptoms," he says, adding that Bacon passed a physical exam on March 1. Indeed, state officials initially cleared North Star of any wrongdoing in Bacon's death. It wasn't until the diaries of Bacon and others in his group were made available to investigators last fall that the question of criminal neglect was raised.
According to affidavits filed in court by prosecutors, based on these journals and sworn testimony of some 50 witnesses, there's reason to believe that Bacon's death could have been prevented. The documents say that on March 11, Bacon, eight other teenagers, and three counselors, Jeff Hohenstein, Sonny Duncan, and Craig Fisher, set out from Escalante, Utah, on a six-week backcountry hike. On the second day Bacon became dizzy and fell. He fell again a few days later, striking his head on a rock. Soon thereafter, he began suffering from nosebleeds and wrote that he constantly felt cold. He told the counselors that he wasn't strong enough to lift his pack, but this, according to Bacon's diary, prompted counselor Brent Brewer to lecture the boy to work harder. As punishment for being uncooperative, Bacon's sleeping bag was taken away. As time went on, Bacon pleaded with his counselors that he needed a doctor, but they responded that he was "faking."
By March 31, Bacon was unable to take a step and had become incontinent. Finally, counselor Mike Hill, who has not been charged in the case, radioed base camp for someone to come get Bacon. A truck arrived and Bacon was helped into the cab. Soon after that, his heart stopped beating.
The ulcer had eaten a hole in Bacon's large intestine, leaking its contents into his abdominal cavity. According to his journals, he'd gone without food, except for prickly pear cactus and pine needle tea, for 11 of his last 20 days. In a month his weight had dropped from 135 pounds to 105. "He looked like a prisoner of war," says Sally Bacon, describing a photograph of Aaron taken two days before his death.
North Star has shut its doors temporarily. But even if the camp and its employees are cleared of charges, it may never lead another hike. The Utah Department of Human Services denies an operating license to any program targeted with significant allegations of abuse or neglect, regardless of criminal conviction, and that irks Henry. "The Bacons knew their boy was a heavy, heavy drug user," he says. "Their son died of natural causes, and now they're pissed off at us."
Meanwhile, the Bacons are crusading for tougher licensing of the multimillion-dollar wilderness therapy industry. Partly in response, 50 or so camps have joined to form a National Association of Therapeutic Wilderness Camps and have written guidelines for members to follow. Still, things may get worse before they get better. "Besides parents looking for a place to put their kids, you've now got the government looking into government-run boot camps," says the association's founder, Archie Buie, of recent and much-publicized proposals in Congress. "But the whole idea could blow up in its face. As long as people have the urge to punish, some camps are going to fail."
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I posted some more information
I found an article written about Aaron Bacon and his death at the wilderness program North Star Expeditions. It gives some insight into the wilderness industry and many of it's problems. You must read this article if you want an informed view on the issue of abuse and neglect in troubled teen programs.
Loving Them To Death
In response to this Isabelle,
I looked over your website. I looked at the deaths you have listed many sound like accidents. Accidents DO happen. It seems that you may be against restraints. I know restraints can be dangerous. However, on occasion they are necessary. If they are done incorrectly they can be fatal. So, lets crusade for more money so these programs can teach staff members how to restrain correctly. If AYA gets their license back and if there is NO neglect found, you should REMOVE Caleb from your site. Reporting the truth is very important. It is very important to the integrity of your cause. Thanks for your time.
-Herman
I posted the following
I'm sure Martin Lee Anderson's death would have been ruled an accident had there not been a tape showing his brutal beating. Do note that the first autopsy of Anderson ruled that his death was a result of a rare sickle cell trait. After much outrage a second autopsy reveled that his death was due to asphyxiation.
If you look at all of the reported deaths you will find that each program claimed that it was a tragic accident. I don't buy it, if these counselors could not spot a staph infection why were they leading a wilderness program? What is the level of medical training these staff receive? It seems that a boy who suffered with staph infections would (1) Not be court ordered to a less then sanitary wilderness program (2) Would have known that he had one and complained.
If the staff didn't have the level of training to spot the infection in a kid who had been treated 3 times while in the custody of the state for staph infections, the program and state are to blame because they put a sick kid in the incompetent hands of untrained staff
If the staff did have the level of medical training to spot this infections they are to blame for medical neglect. This is common in troubled teen programs, many survivors have similar stories of being denied proper medical care while in program. It's only after a kid dies that the state takes this kind of abuse seriously.
I'm sorry but after reading the same story again and again it leads me to believe that we have a culture of abuse and neglect in the troubled teen industry. And how could we not when the point is to make these kids suffer to the point of being reformed. How many more deaths will it take before this ends?
If you doubt that we have a problem spend sometime looking into this issue, this very old issue. The truth of it all is absolutely disgusting.......
Link to following information
Angellika Arndt was just 7 years old when she died at Rice Lake Day Treatment Center in Wisconsin.
In just one month, staff members at the facility had restrained Angellika at least 9 times.
On the day she died, Angellika was placed in a face-down "control hold" for blowing bubbles with her milk.
The coroner ruled her death a homicide.
Willie Durden, age 17, died at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Corrections Center in Citrus County, Florida.
Willie had no pulse when guards found him in his cell.
They did not call for help right away because they thought he was "faking."
An autopsy showed Willie had an enlarged heart.
Alex Harris, age 12, died after being forced to run as punishment at Hope Youth Ranch in Louisiana.
Staff members observed the boy from an air-conditioned truck.
After Alex collapsed, another child picked him up, but dropped Alex when he began vomiting.
Alex died of dehydration and head trauma.
8 staff members have been charged with negligent homicide.
The district attorney has promised them no prison time in exchange for a guilty plea.
13 year-old Travis Parker died after being restrained at Appalachian Wilderness Camp in Cleveland, Georgia.
Travis was held in a face-down restraint by 3 staff members for approximately 90 minutes.
During the restraint, Travis complained of breathing problems and asked for his asthma rescue inhaler.
Staff members refused.
Staff members finally realized something was wrong after Travis went limp and stopped breathing.
According to the autopsy, Travis' heart stopped during the restraint.
His death was ruled a homicide.
The staff members involved have since been charged with murder.
The director of the facility was fired after refusing to take a lie-detector test.
Lakeisha Brown collapsed and died at Alexander Youth Services in Arkansas.
Lakeisha had been complaining of back pain and difficulty breathing for an extended period of time, however nurses at the facility ignored her complaints.
A doctor at the center described Lakeisha's repeated requests for medical help as "manipulative."
An autopsy determined that Lakeisha died due to a blood clot that had traveled to her lungs.
She was just 17 years-old.
Orlena Parker, 15, died at Devereux Cleo Wallace Center, Colorado.
Orlena stopped breathing while she was being physically restrained by 7 staff members.
The El Paso County Coroner listed Orlena's cause of death as "undetermined."
Roberto Reyes, age 15, died at Thayer Learning Center in Missouri.
Roberto was covered with "unexplained" bruises, but the coroner attributed his death to a spider bite.
A state investigation revealed that Roberto was very ill for several days, but received no medical attention.
Investigators also concluded that records from the facility may have been falsified.
Roberto's family filed a wrongful death suit against Thayer Learning Center, but no criminal charges have been filed in connection with his death.
Corey Baines died while in the care of Catherine Freer Wilderness Expeditions in Oregon.
A tree limb fell on his tent as he slept.
Corey was the third child to die at the program in one year.
Another child was severely injured in 2005.
The state of Oregon continues to license the program.
Mikie Garcia, age 12, suffocated to death while being restrained at Star Ranch in Texas.
A grand jury ruled there was no wrongdoing in connection with Mikie's death.
16 year-old Giovanni Aletriz died after being restrained at Summit Quest in Pennsylvania.
The coroner ruled that Giovanni had an enlarged heart and died from "natural" causes.
However, the state Department of Public Welfare placed Summit Quest on a six-month provisional license after an investigation revealed significant health and safety concerns for the children at the facility.
James White, age 17, also died at Summit Quest in Pennsylvania.
The coroner ruled that James, like Giovanni, had an enlarged heart and died from "natural" causes.
If you folks can provide more information or your own personal testimony it would help. I don't believe these folks know very much about the issue, thus Ignorance+Knowledge=outrage
