Wild Pony: I find it odd that you are not identifying yourself if you are indeed a reporter for one of the newspapers. I myself would be happy to discuss things with you if you were a reporter and if I knew which magazine or newpapers you were reporting for. I've seen posts from other journalists and authors and all have identified themselves. For all we know you are an informant for Provo Canyon School.
There have been many who have reported their abuse and the abuse they witnessed to the authorities. I can say from experience that they treat these reports with disdain, contempt and ridicule. The authorities routinely ignor reports of abuse at Provo Canyon School and other programs. Provo happens to be one of the largest and most expensive. The rate for private incarceration is $12,500 if you have insurance and $8,000 if you do not. Of course they negotiate depending on their capacity.
The state also pays Provo for keeping juvenile offenders who are court-ordered there. One of the reasons the agencies and licensing boards ignor and minimize these reports is because the state itself could be held liable for sending children there. It would also become a political issue if the media reported this to the public. Here is an abusive program - where children have no access to the outside - and the taxpayers of Utah are essentially funding this. Now even in Utah, some feathers would be ruffled if they knew about this.
Provo is also listed as a hospital on the Utah.gov site. I discovered this one day when I searched - Utah Valley Hospital Provo Canyon School. Authorities had told me that it was a "residential facility" and that state and federal mental health codes did not apply. When I went back and actually showed them that PCS was listed on their own government's web-site with a copy write to the state of Utah - there was SILENCE. No one has replied. No one has answered this simple question: Provo Canyon School is listed on the Utah.Gov site as a hospital - Is it a hospital or is it a residential facility?
This is an important issue - because if it is a hospital then they are in violation of many more codes, laws and statutes. If it is a residential facility they must abide by Utah "core rules" these are rules that set limits for isolation and other punishments. One of the rules states that they must treat the patients with dignity. If they are put in isolation it can not be for more than four hours. If they are put in isolation it can't interfere with bedtime. The list goes on - but there are far fewer laws that they must abide by. They must notify parents if isolation is used on their child within 24 hours.
These rules are routinely broken. They get away with it by telling the authorities that the children are liars, fakers and manipulators. They also routinely deprive children of necessary medical care. They get away with all of this because Ken Stettler is at the helm and he promotes these facilities. They are a bread and butter industry in Utah.
Wildpony - just look at the core rules they can be found on the utah.gov site under residential programs core rules.
I have documents showing that Provo is in violation of most of these. I have given these docs to the authorities who have refused to do anything about it. They obviously let these programs violate rules constantly. Unfortunately for Anson Arnett, Ian August, Aaron Bacon, Michelle Sutton and many others - this policy has proven deadly.
Utah allows programs to continue to operate even thought they flagrantly and consistantly violate rules, laws and statutes.
It is my opinion that the State of Utah is as much to blame for all of this toruture, death and child abuse as the actual facilities.
Provo Canyon School has been abusing children for a long time. It is where the founder of the WWASP programs learned the ropes of abusive behavior modification. WWASP programs implement the same types of punishments and punitive measures. The facilities in other countries are even more abusive.
something should be done - it is an outrage - the authorities in Utah are obviously doing absolutely nothing when they receive reports of abuse. It doesn't matter if the report comes from a parent or a child.
If Wild pony wants to expose this and is truly a reporter like he claims - then he would be doing the public a great service.
I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
-- A. Whitney Brown
