Mexico Shuts Tough-Love Center
September 26, 2004
By TIM WEINER
A behavior-modification program for American adolescents is
back in business in Jamaica after its 300 teenagers there
were evacuated in the teeth of a hurricane.
But the president of the association overseeing the program, Ken Kay, said he remained mystified federal officials' decision to shut down an affiliated center, Casa by the Sea, in Ensenada, Mexico, with about 550 youths.
Mr. Kay, president of the World Wide Association of
Specialty Programs and Schools, said a raid on Casa two
weeks ago was unjustified.
The authorities have said that the children in the
behavior-modification program, overwhelmingly Americans,
were in Mexico in violation of immigration statutes, that
the program was improperly dispensing pharmaceuticals and
that four children showed signs of abuse.
Mr. Kay said that "there were no substantiated cases of
abuse," immigration violations or major problems with
pharmaceuticals.
The programs had more than 2,200 children enrolled in
Mexico, Jamaica and the United States before the raid, and
are among the fastest-growing private behavior-modification
programs in the world.
Many parents and children praise the group's standards,
which can include prolonged isolation and, by many
accounts, tough physical and psychological treatment. But
it also has many critics.
The program in Jamaica, called Tranquility Bay, is run by
Mr. Kay's son, Jay Kay. Housed in a converted hotel on the
island's southern shore, it sustained several hundred
thousand dollars of damage when Hurricane Ivan hit it two
weeks ago, a spokesman said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/inter ... d6e6d8f4deMy question is; if this is so:
The program in Jamaica, called Tranquility Bay, is run by Mr. Kay's son, Jay Kay. Housed in a converted hotel on the island's southern shore, it sustained several hundred thousand dollars of damage when Hurricane Ivan hit it two weeks ago, a spokesman said.
Then how can the place be fit to occupy?
