The following is an interview I conducted with a former Casa by the Sea student graduate:
I have also included the interview in PDF format that is a little easier to read. I will conduct the interview in video format in the near future, and I would like to conduct more interviews from other behavior modification programs. So if you are able and willing to tell your story to anyone web browsing let me know.
What is your full name?
Rey (middle and last name edited out)
How old are you?
24
Where were you raised?
Chino Hills, California
How was your home life?
It started off very normal: my parents stayed together, I had 2 brothers.
Things didn't start getting hard for me until I was in 6th grade.
In what way did things start to get hard for you?
My family dynamic .. My older brother was my mom's from a previous marriage. She always went the extra mile to make him feel a part of the new family. My father and my little brother always got along so I had what some would call middle child syndrome.
How did you end up being sent to a behavior modification facility?
My dad's friend had sent his child to a program in Jamaica with mediocre results, so my dad asked him about the program and found a similiar one in Ensenada, Mexico. My parents had lied to me and told me that we were going to go to Mexico to look at summer houses
Were there any particular events that led to your father searching for a program?
To be honest, I can't remember if there were any specific events, I don't remember what my parents knew about me before I went to the program. I use to cut myself, I was dating a person that was twice my age (I was 14), so I really wouldn't call it dating. I was anorexic, unhappy.
What was the name of the facility you were sent to?
Casa by the Sea
When did you arrive at Casa by the Sea?
I believe it was Feb. 28th 1999.
How long were you there?
22 months
Was there an initial time frame that your parents expected you to remain there?
The people at the program first told my parents that I could graduate in 8 or 9 months. To my knowledge, outside of people turning 18 while they were there, that has never been done in such a short time
What was the food at Casa by the Sea like?
At first it was actually pretty good for the first 2 to 4 months, after that the facility got much bigger so the food got much worse. My first few months I was there the menu would change monthly; after the 5th month it did not change the whole time I was there.
Going back to age for a moment; how old were you when you first arrived at Casa? How old were you when you left?
I was 14 when I first got there. I was 16 when I left.
In what way was the food at Casa bad?
For one we would have the same protein three days out of the week, for example they would
make chicken say on Wednesday, on Friday we would have chicken soup with bones and ligaments then on Sunday we would have chicken salad. In fact one time about 90 percent of the facility got food poisoning from the food. Picture 300 kids in a large seminar room on mattresses vomiting and crapping themselves .
Were there other cases of food poisoning while you were at Casa?
I'm sure there were. I had stomach problems so I was one of the lucky few that got switched to a vegetarian
diet, which saved me from a lot of sickness.
Where was the food served?
There was a dining area that had a bunch of benches.
Inside or outside?
It was inside, the only time I remember eating outside was during holidays, like Thanksgiving.
Was food ever denied?
To some people yes, they had this thing called room restriction, it's where they would send kids that went AWOL. They would get a small bowl of soup and a scoop of rice.
How long did this room restriction last?
Well, anywhere from a day to months at a time. The kids in R and R ((room restriction )) would have to lay flat on their stomachs, chin on a tiled floor, hands behind their backs for most of the day while they were there.
Were you ever put on room restriction?
No I was not, I did have to go to worksheets a few times, which was like detention. But I never escalated to R and R, but I did have to supervise it a few times.
For those that you supervised that were on room restriction do you know why they were placed on it?
There were a lot of reasons: sometimes new kids would have a nervous breakdown, some people would get caught masturbating, some kids tried to run away
There were punishments for masturbation?
Yes, it was a category 4 consequence, the demerit system was set up with category 1s all the way to cat 5s depending on the severity. Cat 4 and above were usually automatic R and R.
Were any educational classes provided? If so, what was the classroom support like?
Schooling was all done through independent studies. There were about 3 or 4 teachers that were there if you needed help. You would go to the library and check out a book, read the book, take tests and advance to the next book.
Were the teachers helpful?
Some were: there was one math teacher who definitely knew the subject and was willing to help us.
Others kind of had power trips and would give out consequences for the tiniest things.
Can you give an example?
Off the top of my head no, but a lot of the staff was that way. I don't know if they got some sort of satisfaction by telling kids what to do and knowing there was nothing we could do to retaliate.
How were basic necessities provided? Items such as clothing etc.?
Clothing was the first 4 levels were given to each student. I believe it was 3 shirts, 3 pairs of sweatpants, a pair of sandals, and a jacket. Other stuff such as deodorant and toothpaste were sold at the commissary store. Our parents would pay an extra 100 dollars a month which out of that we probably only were allowed to spend 25 dollars of it.
What were the qualifications for staff as far as training and education?
Lol, I don't think there were any, to be honest. I would assume the only one that had any training
was the nurse, and she was not that good of a nurse. Her usual remedy was that it would heal on its own.
Some of the staff did go through the same seminars we went through.
How were basic medications such as basic pain relievers provided?
I don't remember basic pain relievers ever being provided. Other medicines would get distributed normally around meal time.
Was medication or medical care ever denied?
Yes.
Can you remember any occurrences where either was denied?
Yes. I was lower levels so I really did not know the severity but one of the kids that had just gotten there had jumped through a window. His back was cut up pretty bad. To my knowledge he was never taken to a doctor. They had his mattress put out in the hallway for observation.
Any other occurrences you can recall?
One of the people in my family (we called the groups we were in families) was sick for probably about a month or two with a really bad cough. They kept just prescribing him over-the-counter cough medicine.
When he finally was able to see a doctor he had prescribed a very strong cough medicine with codeine. The doctor was very clear he was just to have a small teaspoon of it.
The lady that passed out the meds gave him a rather large dosage, he insisted that it was not the right amount but she was threatening to take him to detention. So he ended up drinking the whole thing and he started to act like he was drunk, he ended up kneeing the director in the butt and falling over in laughter, it was rather odd.
So medicine was delivered in that instance, but not by a professional; he's lucky there wasn't any harm from the incident.
Were you allowed to send mail unopened or have any unmonitored phone calls with family?
No, all the mail was screened, and when we finally did get a phone call our family rep sat right next to us and warned us we would be dropped levels if we told any "lies".
What qualified as lies?
Anything to try and get our parents to bring us home.
We were not allowed to talk bad about the facility even if it was true.
Were you allowed to associate and communicate freely and/or privately with persons of your choice such as other students?
No, we were only allowed to talk Spanish. We had to get permission on the lower levels to talk to anybody. And we were NEVER allowed to be anywhere with just one other person.
What about for those that did not speak Spanish? Were you and other students allowed to speak English to ask for things such as medication?
The ones that did not speak Spanish had to learn. I knew no Spanish when I first got there. If it was an emergency we were allowed to speak in English. Also if we wanted to have a serious heart to heart with another student with a staff member listening we could talk English only if the staff member knew English.
Going back earlier you mentioned seminars, what were they like?
They were a monthly occurrence. It was the only time we were allowed to talk to girls. Each seminar had different things to teach, in one seminar after a 15 minute or so visualization exercise a wrapped up towel was placed next to you while you were on the floor curled up in a fetal position. The seminar facilitator would have you think of people that had hurt you in your life, get people to start crying, than we were instructed to pick up the towel and start beating the floor. The lights were dimmed. Try to imagine 80-90 kids beating the floor with towels yelling every obscenity you can think of, it was kind of scary.
Another seminar would have all the overtly macho guys shave their legs and dance around in tutus like ballerinas
Did staff have to participate in such seminars as part of their training? Or were they in separate seminars?
They were in separate seminars. So I have no idea what their seminars were like and I don't know if they were mandatory. I don't think they were, because if it was mandatory there would have been no one watching the students.
How long did people usually stay in the program?
I believe the average was about 17 to 22 months.
What was the best thing about your stay at Casa?
I had A LOT of time to read books
What was the worst part of your stay?
That's a tough one. Probably not being able to do anything without permission.
Knowing that I was completely helpless.
How is your relationship with your family now?
It is better. They still think sending me there saved my life.
I don't know if I will ever fully trust them again, though.
Did you tell them what happened while you were there?
Yes. It's either they don't believe me or don't want to hear about it.
Is there anything you want to add?
Yes: the effects the program has had on me post.
I still have nightmares about that place, 8 years later. I have problems trusting people in relationships.
I think the whole masturbating thing being a consequence has given me (intimacy) problems as well.
I think that's about it
Well I am out of questions at this time
This concludes the interview, thank you for your time Rey
Thank you for listening and hopefully whatever you put together can really make parents think twice about sending their kids afar.
