"The fourth and final phase is 24 hours of complete isolation, and encompasses the self-sufficiency skills acquired throughout the course. It is also a time for the teenager to reflect on the personal changes made throughout their stay and to get ready to return home."
That is the final cruelty -- telling the kid for 53 days to work the program, express his feelings and all that -- only to find out later that he's not really going home. Hardly anyone goes home -- the vast majority go straight from wilderness to a teen prison that is euphemistically referred to as a "boarding school" or "treatment center."
As bad an experience as wilderness can be, the TBS or RTC can be so much worse that some kids actually try to get themselves sent back to wilderness.
The good news is eventually mom & dad will be completely broke, and as soon as the checks stop coming, the kid is immediately declared "cured" and released. He or she may no longer have a home to go back to (mortgage foreclosure and all that), but at least he/she is no longer imprisoned without a trial or determination of guilt.