Q: What is your full name?
A: Lillian (middle name edited) Speerbrecker
Q: How old are you?
A: 20
Q: How was your upbringing?
A: I had a lot of family problems just about all of my life which reflected back on me.
Q: Anything that sticks out in your mind?
A: My parents getting divorced... my mom, aunt, and brother going to prison, my brother being put up for adoption... my dad hitting me. My mom also drank a lot and pretty must let me do whatever I wanted.
Q: For the most part where did you grow up?
A: Lansing area...in Michigan, but I moved around a lot. But I always ended up back in Lansing.
Q: How did you end up being sent to a behavior modification facility?
A: Pretty much this was what happened.... my dad didn’t really show me any attention only when I was doing something bad... so I started getting into trouble.... skipping school, running away, doing drugs and drinking.
Q: What was the name of the facility you were sent to?
A: I was sent to Casa by the Sea... and Midwest Academy.
Q: Which one did you go to first?
A: Casa.
Q: When did you arrive at Casa by the Sea?
A: It was May 31st 2004.
Q: How old were you at the time?
A: I was fifteen.
Q: How long did you stay at Casa? How old were you when you left?
A: I stayed at casa for three months; it was shut down for abuse when I was there. I was fifteen when I left.
Q: How did you arrive at Casa? Did your parents take you?
A: No, I was picked up by those people that take you from your house in the middle of the night.
Q: Could you please elaborate for those that are not familiar with escort services?
A: Sure... parents pay these people to come and take their child out of their homes and take them to the programs for them. I think it is because this way the child is least expecting it.
Q: Do you remember the name of the escort service?
A: I just remember their shirts saying something about troubled teens.
Q: How many escort personnel were there? Were they all male?
A: There were two; it was a male and a female.
Q: How did they treat you?
A: At first they were very rude to me. They handcuffed me hard enough to leave handcuff bruises for two weeks, but they calmed down after I did when they told me I wouldn’t have to take out my gage earrings and that the food was good and how it was "SO nice" in Mexico.
Q: Did both your parents decide to send you to Casa?
A: No, my father sent me to the program while my mother was in prison so she could have no say in sending me away because she wouldn’t let it happen.
Q: How long were you told you would be at Casa?
A: Until I graduated... if I didn’t I couldn’t come home. That’s what my dad said.
Q: How was the environment at Casa when you arrived?
A: It was so unbelievably hot. Being from Michigan I’m used to the colder weather. I hated the humidity, everything seemed very dirty. I could tell I was not going to be happy there.
Q: What was the food at Casa by the Sea like?
A: There were good days and bad days. The fish was always nasty... tortillas were very good though. We would mix our food up to make it taste better. I used to chop up my banana and put it in my strawberry yogurt that we got i think once a month.
Q: Where was the food served?
A: They called it the corridor; it was like a mess hall.
Q: Was food ever denied?
A: They did put me on a diet when I was there... they would give me a whole hamburger and tell me I could only eat half.... that to me mentally messes with your mind. But they never denied me food.
Q: Were there education services at Casa?
A: Yeah, if you want to call it that.
Q: What was the classroom setting like?
They just had big long tables that you sat at and read from school textbooks. they did upgrade to computers while i was there, which the schooling program on the computers had a lot to do with god... which made me really mad because it wasn’t my religion and I don’t think you should be forced to learn about a religion that you don’t want to know about let alone having it in your school work.
Q: Were the teachers helpful?
A: Ha, ha, ha, ha no, not to me at least; I never got any help in school work.
Q: Can you give an example?
A: There was one teacher and he never did anything. Then when the computers came it was like he wasn’t even there anymore, he did nothing.
Q: How was Casa structured? What were the rules there?
A: If you where a level one or two you could talk to any other level one’s or two’s. You could talk to level three’s only if you had another level three or higher level listening to you. You always had to have a third while talking. You had to walk in lines. you couldn’t where your hair down, you couldn’t pop any pimples, let alone shave your legs until you got to level three then you only got to shave like once a month. If you where a level three then you had to have someone watch you while you shaved.
Q: How many levels were there in this system?
A: Six.
Q: How long did it take to get to higher levels?
A: Well you made it to level two when you got two-hundred points. After that you had to vote up... which meant if the staff or the other people in your group didn’t think you deserved it yet you wouldn’t be allowed to go to your next level... I only made it to level two in Casa.
Q: How long did it take usually to reach level six?
A: Well basically when you hit level six you went home. I think it was two weeks later. So basically it depends on the person.
Q: So from level one to level six takes about six months?
A: No, as you go through the program you earn points, and then if you do something bad you lose them. I have seen people in the program that have been there for three years, it depends on if you work hard to be voted up fast or not. I was told I could get out in twelve months if I tried hard enough. But I have never seen anyone do it.
Q: I have been told that masturbation was against the rules, is this true?
A: Yes.
Q: What level of violation was it?
A: I’m not sure... I just never did it so I never got it trouble for it to know. It was high up there though, I think a cat 3 or higher I think it was a cat 4.
Q: How were basic necessities provided? Items such as clothing etc.?
A: They were given to us. We got clean clothes every other day. For stuff like shampoo we had this store I guess you could say. We could get what we needed from pens to tampons to deodorant.
Q: How were basic medications such as basic pain relievers provided?
A: Well to even get them you had to talk to the nurse which took a month in itself. You had to go to a building and you would tell them your name and they would give them to you. I only got aspirin when I was there and I was never on any medication.
Q: Was medication or medical care ever denied?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you remember any occurrences where either was denied?
A: Well, I have horrible knees, and they made my family (the group of girls that I was in) run sixty basketball courts and my knees where going to give out. I didn’t get anything, no aspirin, no knee brace, nothing. They told me that my knees hurt because I was getting fat. I had knee problems before I went into the program.
Q: Any other occurrences you can recall?
A: I was sick and they told me just to lie in bed and they put a cold rag on my head and one on my stomach. They didn’t give me anything for a headache which I had, other than that no, not for me at least. I didn’t pay attention to a lot of the other girls; I stayed to myself to stay out of trouble.
Q: Were you allowed to send mail unopened or have any unmonitored phone calls with family?
A: Oh no, they would read you mail, they actually took stuff out of the letters that my dad sent to me (he would email them to my family rep) I never had a phone call with my parents. You had to be a level three to talk on the phone, but I know that you never had a phone call by yourself.
Q: Were you allowed to associate and communicate freely and/or privately with persons of your choice such as other students?
A: No, if you talked without permission it was a cat3.
Q: What was a typical category 3 punishment?
A: You got fifty points taken from you.
Q: How many points did it take to get to level three?
A: I think it was one-thousand.
Q: How many points could you earn in a week?
A: It depends, on if you were good or not, you could only give yourself between zero to three points and I think the five categories they gave you. But if you gave yourself too many threes’ they would take away points from you for lying.
Q: So, up to three points a week then?
A: No, you got to give yourself points every day at the most if you gave yourself all threes’ you would get one-hundred and five points but no one ever got that.
Q: I have been told that every student at Casa had to speak in Spanish, is this true?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you speak Spanish well before you arrived at Casa?
A: No, I didn’t speak any Spanish.
Q: How well did you learn Spanish during your time at Casa?
A: I learned what I needed to, to get by, now I can ask to stand for the milk. Ask to get out of line for my water bottle, just little stuff like that.
Q: 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?
A: Only to staff; if they spoke English if they didn’t they asked an upper level to translate what you where saying.
Q: What were the qualifications for staff as far as training and education?
A: I don’t think that there were any. I swear some of them were told that we were nothing but bad kids who lie and steal, because some of the staff treated us like dirt.
Q: Other students have said that they attended seminars while at Casa, what were they like?
A: They were something else.... it seemed to me like it was a way for them to try and either brainwash or reprogram you, like telling you everything you did was bad... in fact I was told in a seminar that when I was raped it was my fault.
Q: How often were these seminars held?
A: Once a month, you also had to go through seminars to be able to vote up to your next level.
Q: Were you told that when you were raped it was your fault each time?
A: Yeah.
Q: What was the best thing about your stay at Casa?
A: The lifelong friends I made. We were all there for some reason, but the thing was we where there together, they went through what you went through, they understood you. I still talk to some of the girls I was in there with.
Q: What was the worst part of your stay?
A: Not being able to talk to people, regardless of whom. Your friends that where in there with you, your family, not being able to hug the person that sleeps in the next bed over, it was very lonely in there.
Q: How did Casa come to be shutdown while you were there?
A: They shut down for abusing the children. I was never abused and I didn’t see any, I heard a lot of it took place on the boys’ side.
Q: What do you classify as abuse?
A: To me... anything emotionally, mentally, or physically; well, to be honest, for them to say that it was my fault that I got raped, that to me is a form of abuse. That is mental and emotional abuse.
Q: What kinds of abuse did you hear or see on the boys’ side at Casa?
A: We couldn’t look at the boys. If we went on the boys’ side at all we had to look at the back of the persons head in front of us. I never seen any abuse on the boys’ side, we rarely went over there only to go to the library and to go to seminars.
Tell me about the day Casa was shutdown.
Q: When did you know something was going on?
A: In the morning... when we went to breakfast, they served us hot breakfast. I was there for three months; we never got hot breakfast when I was there. We always had cereal; also in the corridor, there was always this big trail of ants that went from one side to the other traveling up one wall over the ceiling and down the other wall (I used to joke and call it the ant highway) but when we went in there it was gone. It was there for two out of the three months that I was there.
Q: What agency came in that day?
A: I don’t know... I just remember guys with bullet proof vests with guns standing around looking mean. It shut down the day they were having a seminar.
Q: When did you find out they were there to shut the place down?
A: That night, they tried to keep everything quiet until they were sure I guess.
Q: How did everyone take the news?
A: Lol, there was a riot. To say we were happy is an extreme understatement.
Q: Were your parents notified?
A: Yeah, my dad told me they called him at like 10 at night and told him that "he had to come and get his kid."
Q: Did the authorities or facility staff tell him why he had to pick you up?
A: The staff, that’s what he told me at least.
Q: I have read that Casa was shutdown not only for abuses but also health code violations, is that true? If so was your father told that it was the reason he had to come there to get you?
A: No, he was never told why; I didn’t know about the health code I believe it though, that place was nasty.
Q: How did the reunion between you and your father go when he arrived at Casa?
A: Good, until he told me he was sending me to Midwest.
Q: After Casa was shut down by authorities he wanted to send you to another WWASP facility?
A: Yes.
Q: Did he say why he wanted to send you to Midwest Academy?
A: I was told I wasn’t ready to come home.
Q: How long were you supposed to stay at Midwest?
A: Until I graduated if I didn’t I had to sit there until I was eighteen.
Q: How long did you stay at Midwest?
A: Five months I think.
Q: How was the environment at Midwest?
A: It was a lot stricter but a lot cleaner than Casa.
Q: Was there a level system?
A: Yes, the same one.
Q: What was the food like at Midwest?
A: Not that good, it was very processed. I guess you could say it was like bad school food.
Q: How and where was the food at Midwest served?
A: In the cafeteria, we had to be in line to get it. You never wanted to be the last girl in line or by the time you got there your food was cold and you only had thirty minutes to eat.
Q: Was food ever denied?
A: Not that I recall.
Q: How was the school environment at Midwest?
A: It was better, they had the computer system, but the teachers where nice and they helped you when you needed it.
Q: What were the qualifications for staff as far as training and education at Midwest?
A: I know at least one of them at least had training. Other than her though I don’t think they had any qualifications.
Q: How were basic necessities provided, items such as clothing etc.?
A: Just about the same way but instead of you going to get your stuff they brought you a check list and they would bring you what you needed.
Q: Were there seminars held at Midwest as well?
A: Yes.
Q: How did they go at Midwest?
A: They were the same seminars that they had in Casa. They have staff that travel across the country that run the seminars.
Q: Were they the same staff members that blamed you for being raped?
A: No, these people where different
Q: So did the seminars held at Midwest blame you for being raped?
A: Yeah, they said it was my fault that I put myself in that situation, or because I was dressed a skanky way. Yes I where low cut shirts, but I never dressed skanky. I never wore skirts too short or shirts that showed my belly but to the program I was still dressing like a skank.
Q: While at Midwest were you allowed to send mail unopened or have any unmonitored phone calls with family?
A: Nope, but they wouldn’t change the letters like they did in Casa.
Q: Did the staff at Midwest censor mail in any way?
A: Not that I know of. In the United States it’s against federal law to do so. So I don’t think that they did. My dad would have told me that I was answering one of his questions and I would have known.
Q: What about phone calls?
I only made it to level 2 in Midwest lol; I never had a phone call, but you couldn’t have a phone call alone.
Q: What was the best thing about your stay at Midwest?
A: That some of my friends from casa got transferred to Midwest; actually my best friend from Casa got transferred there. Oh and intervention, that was a lot of fun!
Q: What was intervention?
A: Intervention in Midwest is isolation; it’s where you go when you’re in BIG trouble
Q: How long did isolation usually last?
A: It depends they would say "on how long you want to be there" I was in there for three weeks before I got kicked out of the program.
Q: Was the isolation constant? Were you given any breaks?
A: You only got out to use the bathroom and then they told you when your bathroom breaks where, and to shower. Other than that you stayed in the room, you sat there all day by yourself, you ate by yourself, and you slept in that room. There were other isolation rooms right next to mine, and there was another girl that I was in casa with and we goofed off all the time.
Q: So you enjoyed your time in isolation because you and your friend could communicate since you were so close?
Q: Or was it because you were away from facility staff and activities or was it a bit of both?
A: Yes, we had a lot of fun, the staff tried to get us to shut up all the time, I had one staff member step on my fingers when I was in there, and I know she did it on purpose. You always had staff watching you, we had cameras on us 24/7.
Q: What was the worst thing about your stay at Midwest?
A: Some of the staff when i was in intervention, a staff member Mr. Ben hit me with the door to my room. The woman staff member stepped on my fingers, one staff member told me if I didn’t give her my socks I couldn’t shower until I did.
Q: How is your relationship with your family now?
A: It took four years for me to forgive my dad, now we are finally talking again.
Q: Did he believe you when you told him what happened at Casa and Midwest?
No, not at all.
Q: What about now?
We just don’t talk about it... I know he feels bad about sending me away.
Q: Is there anything you want to add?
A: Can I say something to the parents that are thinking of sending their child away?
Certainly
A: Think twice before you send your child to a place like the ones I just talked about. You don’t know these people; they don’t know your kids. To them they are just bad kids who have no hope, and your children get treated like that. Take it from me, I have had many problems in my life but once I was sent to the program everything got worse. I now have horrible abandonment issues, I can’t be alone, I was made to feel useless, and I was told it was my fault I was raped. Do you want your children to go through that? This is not the solution for your problems, just try listening to your child, or go to normal therapy, anything but these programs. Please take my advice; it took me almost five years after the program to get over just some of my problems.
