Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => News Items => Topic started by: wdtony on December 28, 2008, 02:09:20 AM
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Cash-strapped states cut juvenile justice programs
By JIM DAVENPORT,
Fri Dec 26, 12:39 pm ET
COLUMBIA, S.C. – State budget cuts are forcing some of the nation's youngest criminals out of counseling programs and group homes and into juvenile prisons in what critics contend is a shortsighted move that will eventually lead to more crime and higher costs.
Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia are among states that have slashed juvenile justice spending — in some cases more than 20 percent — because of slumping tax collections. Youth advocates say they expect the recession will bring more cuts next year in other states, hitting programs that try to rehabilitate children rather than simply locking them up.
"If you raise a child in prison, you're going to raise a convict," said South Carolina Juvenile Justice Director Bill Byars, credited with turning around a system once better known for warehousing children than counseling them and teaching them life skills.
Now, he's been asked to draw up plans to trim an additional 15 percent from a juvenile justice budget already cut $23 million, or 20 percent, since June as part of the state's effort to pare $1 billion from its $7 billion budget.
All five of the system's group homes — which generally house less-violent offenders and give them more individual attention — have been shuttered. Also gone are some intensive youth reform and after-school programs in detention facilities.
The story is similar in other states. Kentucky is nixing a boot camp-style program developed by the National Guard. Virginia is losing behavioral services staff and a facility that prepares children to go home after serving time, along with smaller camps and community programs. Juveniles in those programs will return to traditional correctional facilities.
"It's not like we're going to say, 'OK, let's close a juvenile detention center,' or something like that," said Gordon Hickey, spokesman for Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. "We have to reduce spending across the state, and the governor looked at suggestions and recommendations from all departments. He certainly realizes that all of these reductions have consequences. The idea is to limit the damage as much as possible."
Among the programs being cut in South Carolina is one that Lex Wilbanks, an 18-year-old arrested four years ago on drug and gun charges, credits with giving him back his future.
Before moving to the program run by Florida-based nonprofit Associated Marine Institute, which provides intensive counseling and wilderness camps in several states, Wilbanks spent four months in a regular juvenile detention center.
"When you did something wrong or you fight or you disrespect staff, they just throw you into lockdown," Wilbanks said. "They just throw you in and make them fight to survive. You're just making them a hardened criminal."
In South Carolina, only 22 percent of offenders who go through the institute's program later break the law, less than half the recidivism rate for juveniles in large state facilities, Byars said.
Through the program, Wilbanks worked his way to the top rank in Army Junior ROTC and earned a GED and college credits. Acting up brought meetings during which counselors "talk you through problems and how you can actually change," he said. "It gives you hope."
Florida is also axing three Associated Marine Institute programs to save $1.7 million, part of an effort to cut 4 percent, or $18 million, from the juvenile justice budget. Advocates are bracing for additional cuts as legislators go back to the Capitol in January to deal with a $2 billion state budget hole.
Florida's juvenile justice system "is going to die the death of a million 4 percent cuts," said Jacqui Colyer, who leads a state juvenile justice advisory group.
The picture isn't as bleak everywhere. In New York, where the population of jailed juveniles has declined as the state moves toward a more community-based approach, Gov. David Patterson has proposed closing six youth facilities and consolidating and downsizing others that aren't being fully used to save $12 million in 2009-10 and $14 million in 2010-11.
A court order limits the cuts California can make and Minnesota, Massachusetts and Nebraska haven't made serious cuts to their systems. Other states, including Connecticut, Oregon, New Hampshire and Utah, are making more modest cuts or delaying planned spending.
Advocates say they worry most about losing programs, such as group homes, that take children out of large facilities to give them individual attention.
Juvenile facilities see an array of major and minor criminals. Gun, drug, sex and assault offenders may share sleeping quarters and classes with teen pranksters sentenced for disrupting schools or destroying property. Terms can last weeks or, in extreme cases, until youths become adults and are transferred to adult prisons.
Generally, less violent offenders make it to the smaller group homes, and experts say social pecking orders are easier to defuse in those settings compared to prisons where gangs try to form and fight for control.
Sheila Bedi, executive director of the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute, said housing children can cost as much as $600 per child daily. But the expenses can be much higher when children emerge hardened from big youth prisons, commit more crimes and end up in adult facilities.
"The truant comes out learning how to steal a car," Bedi said. "You cannot expect a child to come out of that situation with the ability to make better life decisions."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081226/ap_ ... le_justice (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081226/ap_on_re_us/meltdown_juvenile_justice)
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Someone mentioned that TB in Jamaica was being shut down and I think I heard that they were, but then did not.
Anyone else hear about this?... have any links or specific information?
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TB (http://http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Tranquility_Bay) is up and running, but they have changed a few things.
The reason they were shut for a period was:
1) An investigation from the authorities on Jamaica. Some has held their hand over them for years (for money) but maybe a new sheriff was in town.
2) The lease on the hotel came to an end. It was not clear whether they could get a new one.
So all the kids ended up at Gulf Coast (http://http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Gulf_Coast_Academy) (The old Bethel (http://http://wiki.fornits.com/index.php?title=Bethel_Boys_Academy)) in Lucedale.
The buildings was in very poor shape after the Hurricane and because there was no ocean some of parents dropped by and was very angry with the so-called housing standard. They believed in the marketing material based on photos from the 80's. A lot of youth did also escape and the staff was not trained to deal with anything beside drinking beer on the shifts.
An informant has told be that the campus in Lucedale is almost empty. However, I have not been able to have it confirmed.
Back on Jamaica the lease went through and TB was up and running again. However the total number of kids in the WWASP system has dropped so they were in need of new customers. So Tipton/Meadowlark in Kansas are threating their detainees with TB. A couple of other non-WWASP school are doing the same. Cayman Island (http://http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1014776) has made a deal so severely troubled youth are sent to TB, so they can close their eyes and state that troubled youth are not to find in their country.
So TB is up and running.
But our work have made a difference. Now people know what TB stand for and what why people near Hillary Clinton was able to help a family with a plane so they could fly out and free a boy. From a blog (http://http://lukeford.net/blog/?p=2707):
Those involved with freeing Isaac Hersh include, Joshua Ambush, Attorney; Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, executive director of the Torah Outreach Research Center of Houston and who is also one of the foster parents for Isaac twin brother; Rabbi Avraham Wolbe, Monsey, NY, David Pelcovitz, Phd of Yeshiva University, Mr. Zvi Gluck, Hatzalah, New York, NY; Isaac Klein, Far Rockaway NY and Senator Hillary Clinton.
Unfortunately a lot of the youth in the system doesn't have as powerful friends but the tides have turned from 1990's where even celebs used the BM industry and in fact was promoting them. (Ryan O'Neal and wife used it for Redmond, The parents of Aaron and Nick Carter used it for their sister Leslie)
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Good info,
Thanks Covergaard!
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The point of the article in the OP is that in many states, public sector gulags are shutting down, and kids in trouble with the law are being sent to juvie and/or adult-level lockups instead. The juvenile justice budget is experiencing large cuts.
It was precisely the desire to keep juveniles out of the prison system that fed into the buildup of these programs in the first place. As South Carolina Juvenile Justice Director Bill Byars says, "If you raise a child in prison, you're going to raise a convict." The public sector gulags were seen as a kinder, more rehabilitative alternative.
Note that this decrease in public sector programs will probably not affect the "parent-choice" programs in the immediately foreseeable future, namely, the types of programs that are featured on Lon Woodbury's Struggling Teens site. It may even bolster their numbers, at least initially.
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Lon Woodbury is an idiot.
"Parent-choice" (I can't even type that in quotes without feeling my gorge rise) hellholes are, by and large, reliant on the government to exist. Three reasons come into play:
1. Often the exact same hellholes paid for by parents are also recipients of court-ordered victims. Knock out those ties, and revenues go down and shutdowns go up.
2. In places where 1's not the case, the same people who run one often run the other.
3. (The big one) The key reason investigative agencies refuse to do their job is because of conflicts of interest and good-old-boy-networkism. How can you shut down a hellhole that a judge referred some kid to just last week? Being able to say "well, we do that over in this other place"- even if the "we" is in another state- discourages any kind of serious investigation.
Let's say the government abandoned child torture altogether. Would the private hellholes get a surge in business? Maybe.
But then what do we have? A handful of societally isolated hellholes, vulnerable to lawsuit and even more vulnerable to investigators, under the umbrella of an organization (the National Association for Torture, Sadism, and Anal Pain, aka NATSAP) that the government does not take seriously. Ideally we get to the situation where abuse in "parent-choice" ::puke:: shitfarms is treated exactly as it would be if the parents were at home doing it. Similarly, without government backing at any level, it becomes a lot easier for a variant of Miller's bill to march through and declare this whole thing toast.
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Cut me some slack if I am wrong about this, but I wasn't under the impression that tremendous numbers of court-ordered kids are currently enrolled in these "parent-choice" hellholes. An exception might be where a kid gets into trouble with the law for a minor infraction and has to go somewhere or to juvie, and a parent negotiates a private duck farm as an alternative to the government run institutions. And well they might, given the current state of affairs (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=26479) at the latter.
Given the crappy and functionally non-existent oversight going on at the public sector gulags, do you honestly think the government is going to invest extra manpower to oversee what's going on in the private sector? The "parent-choice" alternatives are seen as country clubs by penal system diehards.
Sure, "conflicts of interest and good-old-boy-networkism" play into it, but I think the old economic bottom line plays into it a lot more than you think.
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I'm sure TSW can fill you in on more details, but Eckerds, AFAIK, had a substantial mix of both court ordered and not. And this was a privately-run institution.
Peninsula Village is another example, and I'm sure Zen and act.da and everyone else there can fill you in on that.
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=26248 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=26248)
And there's even been tales of school systems getting into the act because they think these hellholes have something to do with actual public education.
There's conflicts of interest from Idaho to Florida. It's not a time and money thing for the investigations, Ursus. Can you imagine if police claimed not to have the time or money to investigate, say... drug possession? Or speeding? Or minor-in-possession? Or people's private homes for child abuse? "We can't", nine times out of ten, means "we won't".
There is, of course, a presumable financial reason for abandoning juvenile jails for private contractors that claim to charge less and rehabilitate, but that's being abandoned in part because they don't actually do either, and in part because various officials are starting to think that they can get in trouble if they send kids to be killed (after what happened in Florida, and the Miller investigations).
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I'm sure TSW can fill you in on more details, but Eckerds, AFAIK, had a substantial mix of both court ordered and not. And this was a privately-run institution.
Sorry, but Eckerds has been a public sector gulag for over forty years. They just recently privatized three (http://http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=25946&p=316733#p316733) of their currently 21 facilities, but the other 18 or so are still public.
"Eckerd Youth Alternatives (EYA) has helped more than 70,000 youth in
public programs since they were founded by Jack and Ruth Eckerd in 1968."[/list]
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Peninsula Village is another example, and I'm sure Zen and act.da and everyone else there can fill you in on that.
viewtopic.php?f=62&t=26248 (http://www.fornits.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=26248)
Residential treatment centers are precisely where you do tend to get more court-ordered kids, due to that unique combination of lockup-capabilities plus alleged psychiatric services. Presumably the degree and/or quality of psychiatric services rendered are deemed to be greater than that available at a cheaper price. These cases are then contracted out to places like Peninsula Village. How much of PV's income is generated by such contract jobs? That I do not know.
However, my guess is that you do not get that many court-ordered cases like this at less physically restrictive programs, e.g., many of the Aspen programs, CEDU-ite, Hyde, etc...i.e., places that teach you to create the fences yourself, in your own mind. Basically most of the non-RTC programs. Maybe I'm wrong.
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There's conflicts of interest from Idaho to Florida. It's not a time and money thing for the investigations, Ursus.
I never said it was a "time and money thing," exclusively. I said:
Sure, "conflicts of interest and good-old-boy-networkism" play into it, but I think the old economic bottom line plays into it a lot more than you think.[/list]
It would appear that there is a semantic quibble here, and I'm not sure that this is really worth pursuing, but I do think downplaying economic factors during a recession is not a very realistic stance to take.
Can you imagine if police claimed not to have the time or money to investigate, say... drug possession? Or speeding? Or minor-in-possession? Or people's private homes for child abuse?
Yup, actually I can. Happens all the time. They make judgment calls as to which investigations to pursue, or pursue with greater vigor. They just won't call it that.
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There is, of course, a presumable financial reason for abandoning juvenile jails for private contractors that claim to charge less and rehabilitate, but that's being abandoned in part because they don't actually do either, and in part because various officials are starting to think that they can get in trouble if they send kids to be killed (after what happened in Florida, and the Miller investigations).
I'm not sure what you mean by this in the context of the OP:
COLUMBIA, S.C. – State budget cuts are forcing some of the nation's youngest criminals out of counseling programs and group homes and into juvenile prisons in what critics contend is a shortsighted move that will eventually lead to more crime and higher costs.
Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia are among states that have slashed juvenile justice spending — in some cases more than 20 percent — because of slumping tax collections. Youth advocates say they expect the recession will bring more cuts next year in other states, hitting programs that try to rehabilitate children rather than simply locking them up...
I'm afraid I don't see a decrease in contracting out "difficult jobs" happening any time soon. Perhaps you could enlighten me.
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I think what we're actually quibbling over is what public and private mean. When most people say "privatized", they mean that the money is going to some private organization. (Compare the use of "Private prisons" for the recent contracts-out in that department.) Eckerds may have been in the public sector, but it wasn't directly run by the state, was it?
Also, take "budget cuts caused" with a grain of salt. The real question is "Why was the budget cut?" It's not like they didn't think about the budget before they slashed it (well, one hopes they didn't). Recessions are a great time to kill off stuff you don't want around anymore, and "budget cuts" is a convenient scapegoat when the child torturers who are about to lose their jobs come to legislators asking why the flow of kids has stopped.
Youth advocates say they expect the recession will bring more cuts next year in other states, hitting programs that try to rehabilitate children rather than simply locking them up...
I'm afraid I don't see a decrease in contracting out "difficult jobs" happening any time soon.
Huh? You just quoted it. When the article says "programs that try to rehabilitate children", you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that they mean shitpits. "Simply locking them up" refers to the actual juvenile justice system. And yes, I know the latter is FUBAR.
And from the other side of the government equation: Remember who Mitt Romney's campaign finance managers were?
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I think what we're actually quibbling over is what public and private mean. When most people say "privatized", they mean that the money is going to some private organization. (Compare the use of "Private prisons" for the recent contracts-out in that department.) Eckerds may have been in the public sector, but it wasn't directly run by the state, was it?
Public sector programs have different oversight and accountability issues. The state gets to read over your books. Extreme policy changes have to be okayed, etc. etc. I'm sure that the degree to which this occurs varies from state to state.
A good rule of thumb is whether Lon will have anything to do with it. He's such a "parent-choice" elitist that anything that stinks too much of government meddling is just not capitalistic enough for him. :D
The Welfare Reform Act has a great deal to do with a number of formerly public companies going private, e.g., Abraxas (TC rehab, possibly linked to Gateway), even though functionally, very little changed. Abraxas negotiated a buy-out of itself by a private prison contractor; most key personnel kept their jobs.
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Youth advocates say they expect the recession will bring more cuts next year in other states, hitting programs that try to rehabilitate children rather than simply locking them up...
I'm afraid I don't see a decrease in contracting out "difficult jobs" happening any time soon.
Huh? You just quoted it. When the article says "programs that try to rehabilitate children", you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that they mean shitpits. "Simply locking them up" refers to the actual juvenile justice system. And yes, I know the latter is FUBAR.
When the article refers to budget cuts "hitting programs," they are talking about government-run programs that will be discontinued.
When I refer to the government "contracting out 'difficult jobs'," I refer to cases in which no juvie or community-based program is deemed appropriate (in part because of the discontinued programs), and the kid gets shipped to a privately-owned RTC like Peninsula Village, i.e., a contract job.
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Contract facilities are interchangable with juvies
I think what we're actually quibbling over is what public and private mean. When most people say "privatized", they mean that the money is going to some private organization. (Compare the use of "Private prisons" for the recent contracts-out in that department.) Eckerds may have been in the public sector, but it wasn't directly run by the state, was it?
Public sector programs have different oversight and accountability issues. The state gets to read over your books. Extreme policy changes have to be okayed, etc. etc. I'm sure that the degree to which this occurs varies from state to state.
A good rule of thumb is whether Lon will have anything to do with it. He's such a "parent-choice" elitist that anything that stinks too much of government meddling is just not capitalistic enough for him. :D
The Welfare Reform Act has a great deal to do with a number of formerly public companies going private, e.g., Abraxas (TC rehab, possibly linked to Gateway), even though functionally, very little changed. Abraxas negotiated a buy-out of itself by a private prison contractor; most key personnel kept their jobs.
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Youth advocates say they expect the recession will bring more cuts next year in other states, hitting programs that try to rehabilitate children rather than simply locking them up...
I'm afraid I don't see a decrease in contracting out "difficult jobs" happening any time soon.
Huh? You just quoted it. When the article says "programs that try to rehabilitate children", you can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that they mean shitpits. "Simply locking them up" refers to the actual juvenile justice system. And yes, I know the latter is FUBAR.
When the article refers to budget cuts "hitting programs," they are talking about government-run programs that will be discontinued.
When I refer to the government "contracting out 'difficult jobs'," I refer to cases in which no juvie or community-based program is deemed appropriate (in part because of the discontinued programs), and the kid gets shipped to a privately-owned RTC like Peninsula Village, i.e., a contract job.
I'm looking through this mess of quotes and I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
1) Eckerds, in Flordia, is a Private company that holds a state funded contract. A year or so ago it did start converting some of its state funded contract facilities to Pay for Pain facilities. Is the oversight any better in the state funded situation versus what I experience in Three Springs in Alabama that was a Pay for Pain facility?
Yes and no..
Bearing in mind that oversight tends to mean different things to different people. Oversight to state auditors tends to mean they want to know that the paperwork is caught up, the dollars are accounted for, and the regulations are being followed. To ensure this they hold yearly audits that are a week long nightmare. The other 51 weeks of the year the state tends to represent this distant motherland that still says hello every time a ship pulls into port and kicks off a new load of convicts.
Unless a rebellion breaks out that gains bad publicity the state prefers that they call you and that you don't call them.
As for policy changes?
Heh.. window dressing my friends. Remember, the state is a patriarch that believes children should only be seen and not heard. They don't really want to be arsed in dealing with these kids so they tend to pass what laws they think will shut everyone up so they can go back to gambling and whoring on their days off. If the policies actually meant something then these places wouldn't be an serious concern for anyone who cares about the welfare and safety of kids.
I'll be honest when I say I'm surprised at some of these cuts. Dollar for dollar it is cheaper to keep a kid in a contracting program than it is in a state run and staffed facility. I figured the states would start cutting their own juvies first and saved on costs by contracting. My figures are out of date and based on a conversation I had with a high level member of Eckerds Youth Alternatives many years ago, but if you adjust for inflation and all that the figures for 2000 were about 33,000 a year for a kid in Eckerds and about 45,000 a year for a kid in juvie.
12,000 a year is a decent chunk of change when you are dealing with hundreds or thousands of kids.
The rest of the hemming and hawing on this thread is a bit difficult to follow. Not sure what you guys are trying to get at so I'll take my leave and go back to sleep.
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What category would these places fall under? And does it really matter if it is a public or private torturous hell-camp?
TEXAS Drug Treatment jail alternative
Texas drug treatment options can replace jail time for first time offenders. Most Drug rehabilitation centers will help you or someone that you love seek the help the person needs instead of going to jail. Call us to discuss this option for treatment in place of unnecessary jail time. The state of Texas understands the need for drug rehabilitation and will work with select treatment facilities in and outside of Texas...................................
Source: http://www.addictionnomore.com/texas%20 ... 20alt.html (http://www.addictionnomore.com/texas%20drug%20rehab%20jail%20alt.html)
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IMHO - abuse is abuse, regardless of whether it is paid for by our tax dollars, or by personal financing. As for category...I don't know, I think I would lean more toward 'public' since the detainee would have gone to jail on the taxpayer's dime in the first place.
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Having been placed in a program and also spent a few times in jail when I was younger, I can say that Jail would be my pick every time. Jail is sooooooo much better than the damn torture center programs. When I went to jail at age 18, I was so surprised at how good it was compared to the program. Now I don't want to go to jail, but it sure is a big step up from a program.
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I'll make this as short as sweet as possible...
The true torture of a program is not so much the torture itself, it's the mindfuck that comes with it. It is the very loss of control that does the most damage to a person's psyche, not the captivity per se.
The abuse that takes place in a jail or secure juvenile detention, is different than the abuse that takes place in contract facility, is different than the abuse that takes place in a parent-choice program.
Take physical abuse for example. While you may be more likely to be physically abused in a juvenile detention, at least when you come out and claim that you were abused you're more likely to find someone who will validate that your rights were violated. You may get a "shit happens" response, but at least your reality is validated. In a parent-choice program, the abuse isn't just something that happens, it's something that's supposed to be good for you. And so everywhere you go no one takes your claims of abuse seriously and you begin to think maybe I did deserve the physical and verbal abuse.
As for the distinction itself, it is somewhat important because it effects how you tackle the abuse in each case, and helps to reveal the underlying economics as to why certain practices occur. For instance, contract facilities generally don't advertise on the web because they fill their beds to capacity with state referrals.
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I'll make this as short as sweet as possible...
The true torture of a program is not so much the torture itself, it's the mindfuck that comes with it. It is the very loss of control that does the most damage to a person's psyche, not the captivity per se.
The abuse that takes place in a jail or secure juvenile detention, is different than the abuse that takes place in contract facility, is different than the abuse that takes place in a parent-choice program.
Take physical abuse for example. While you may be more likely to be physically abused in a juvenile detention, at least when you come out and claim that you were abused you're more likely to find someone who will validate that your rights were violated. You may get a "shit happens" response, but at least your reality is validated. In a parent-choice program, the abuse isn't just something that happens, it's something that's supposed to be good for you. And so everywhere you go no one takes your claims of abuse seriously and you begin to think maybe I did deserve the physical and verbal abuse.
As for the distinction itself, it is somewhat important because it effects how you tackle the abuse in each case, and helps to reveal the underlying economics as to why certain practices occur. For instance, contract facilities generally don't advertise on the web because they fill their beds to capacity with state referrals.
well said
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PV lost the contract with TN DCS/Juvenile Court sometime in late 2007 due to an undisclosed fuck-up by the program. That's the best I can get from TN DCS. There have been kids placed at PV who were convicted as adults in other states because the parents were wealthy enough to foot the entire tuition. When PV was used as a substitute for jail in Andy Klepper's sentence, the judge described PV like it was Gitmo. In that situation, the familty therapist Jean Bolding refused to deliver a letter from a MD judge demanding Klepper's return. That's how far PV goes to protect rich, private pay patients. Klepper couldn't stay at PV because TN state officials were so disgusted with the baseball bat rapist Klepper that they refused to allow him to stay.
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PV lost the contract with TN DCS/Juvenile Court sometime in late 2007 due to an undisclosed fuck-up by the program. That's the best I can get from TN DCS. There have been kids placed at PV who were convicted as adults in other states because the parents were wealthy enough to foot the entire tuition. When PV was used as a substitute for jail in Andy Klepper's sentence, the judge described PV like it was Gitmo. In that situation, the familty therapist Jean Bolding refused to deliver a letter from a MD judge demanding Klepper's return. That's how far PV goes to protect rich, private pay patients. Klepper couldn't stay at PV because TN state officials were so disgusted with the baseball bat rapist Klepper that they refused to allow him to stay.
"baseball bat rapist"? What the hell is that about?
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PV lost the contract with TN DCS/Juvenile Court sometime in late 2007 due to an undisclosed fuck-up by the program. That's the best I can get from TN DCS. There have been kids placed at PV who were convicted as adults in other states because the parents were wealthy enough to foot the entire tuition. When PV was used as a substitute for jail in Andy Klepper's sentence, the judge described PV like it was Gitmo. In that situation, the familty therapist Jean Bolding refused to deliver a letter from a MD judge demanding Klepper's return. That's how far PV goes to protect rich, private pay patients. Klepper couldn't stay at PV because TN state officials were so disgusted with the baseball bat rapist Klepper that they refused to allow him to stay.
"baseball bat rapist"? What the hell is that about?
Teen Guilty in 2002 Sex Case Arrested on New Charge, By Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post Staff Writer,June 8 2006 (http://http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060702334.html)
From the article Klepper spent several months at a facility for troubled youths in Tennessee. Kemp and Klepper's father said in court last month that the teenager has been working and taking classes at Montgomery Community College.
but but but ..
Not only PV has a saying in this case. CEDU seemed to be involved as well (look at the comments):
Whitman students charged as adults in sexual assault case, By Robin Hernandez, Silver Chips Online, December 13 2002 (http://http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/inside.php?sid=1225)
They really messed him up. I wouldn't let any female within a mile from him.
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Man, you really pick through the media with a fine-toothed flea comb, Oscar. I'm impressed.
Andrew Klepper apparently went to CEDU High School after this incident. Was that before or after Peninsula Village?
For posterity's sake:
—•?|•?•0•?•|?•— —•?|•?•0•?•|?•— —•?|•?•0•?•|?•—
Silver Chips Online
Whitman students charged as adults in sexual assault case (http://http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/inside.php?sid=1225)
By Robin Hernandez, Page Editor
12/13/2002
Three Walt Whitman High School students have been charged with sexually assaulting a 25-year-old woman. According to the Washington Post the woman was lured to one of the students’ homes on November 8, where she was threatened with a knife and forced to undress and then assaulted with a baseball bat.
Andrew Klepper, a 15-year-old Whitman sophomore, is currently being tried as an adult. Police reports detail that Klepper contacted the woman over the Internet and offered her a job as a model for adult video productions. The woman was invited to Klepper’s home, where the three suspects allegedly took her cell phone and keys and then threatened her with a knife. The students were skipping school when the event occurred.
Klepper has been charged as an adult with first-degree sex offense, conspiracy to commit a first-degree sex offense, and armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, charges that could result with life imprisonment.
Fourteen-year-old freshman Ryan H. Baird is also charged as an adult and could face life if found guilty.
Nineteen-year-old senior Young Song, was charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and first degree assault.
According to Klepper’s Defense Attorney Paul Kemp the primary hearing was set for December 13; however, it has been postponed for a month.
Kemp is strongly opposed to charging a "15-year-old with a crime that he can get life for." Kemp is working to have Klepper charged as a juvenile. "I believe firmly that [a juvenile facility] is where he belongs," Kemp said.
According to Kemp, "adult prisons are horrible." The facilities are under funded, overcrowded, and lack proper resources for a juvenile. Kemp believes that charging juveniles as adults has become a growing trend, as a result of the belief that “juveniles have been getting breaks."
Klepper is no longer permitted to attend Whitman High School, where the administration is seeking to expel him.
For more facts and statics on adolescents sex offenders visit, http://www.focusas.com/AdolescentSexOffenders.html (http://www.focusas.com/AdolescentSexOffenders.html).
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From the Comments section:
Erica Kaplan:: [email protected]:: 07/02/2005
For the record i went to CEDU highschool with Andrew Klepper after this crime was commited... hes just a very misunderstood boy, i dont count him as a threat to society... yes, hes made ALOT of HUGE and unforgiveable mistakes in his life but that should not result in him being portrayed as some sort of monsterouse being... i am in no way excusing this horrible crime or saying not to blame him... i'm just saying that Andrew has changed, and he's doing really well and i'm proud of his turn around.
thank you for your time,
erica
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The Washington Post
Teen Guilty in 2002 Sex Case Arrested on New Charge (http://http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060702334.html)
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 8, 2006; Page B01
(http://http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/06/07/PH2006060702335.jpg)
Andrew Klepper was charged with pandering, a misdemeanor. (Montgomery County Police Dept. - Montgomery County Police Dept.)
When he was 16, high school student Andrew G. Klepper pleaded guilty to three felonies for sodomizing a female escort with a baseball bat and an ink marker at his Bethesda home.
Last month, Klepper, now 19, was charged in a case involving another female escort. This time, police say he set up an advertisement for the woman's services on a popular Web site and then drove her to a Rockville hotel to meet a "john" who was really a Montgomery County vice detective.
Klepper's attorney, Paul Kemp, said the new charge is a minor, nonviolent offense that is seldom prosecuted.
"The defendant is charged with essentially providing transportation," Kemp said during a recent court hearing. "He didn't convince someone to become a prostitute."
Prosecutors say the new charge -- pandering, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 10 years in prison -- is a serious offense considering Klepper's background. Klepper also has been charged with violating the terms of his probation. He is in jail.
Two of Klepper's classmates at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda were also charged in the November 2002 case, which drew widespread attention because of the age of the defendants and the brutality of the crime.
In the new case, Assistant State's Attorney Jeffrey T. Wennar said in court that police last month found several photographs taken in Klepper's Bethesda house that show women "in various states of dress and undress." Police also found women's undergarments packaged in small bags, Wennar said.
"There may not have been a victim per se, your honor," Wennar said in court. "But this fetish complex that he has and this entrepreneurial desire to sell these sexual items -- for a lack of a better term -- there's something going on here."
Klepper's latest brush with the law came on May 15, after Montgomery vice detective Thomas Stack logged on to Craigslist -- a free and popular Web site that allows people to advertise a wide range of items such as housing and furniture -- and clicked on an ad posted by a person identified as "Lisa" who was offering "Full Service" for $200 per hour. The ad included two cellphone numbers: Lisa's and one identified as belonging to a friend who could book appointments if she was busy.
According to a police charging document, at 6:15 p.m. the vice officer called one of the numbers and spoke with the woman. After determining the price and type of sex acts to be performed, the document said, the officer and the woman agreed to meet at the Sleep Inn at 3 Research Ct. -- a block from police headquarters in Rockville.
Once at the hotel, Stack called the woman, who police said told him to go to Room 222. Inside, Stack identified himself as a police officer, and he and other officers searched the room, where condoms, the woman's cellphone and $241 were found, the charging document said.
The woman, Melissa Brewer, told Stack that "her assistant Andrew was downstairs in the lobby," the document said. Brewer has been charged with prostitution. Her attorney did not return a phone call yesterday, and her cellphone appears to no longer be in service.
Officers said they found Klepper downstairs with a laptop computer connected to the Internet. Brewer and Klepper agreed to make written statements. They wrote that Klepper was responsible for placing the ad on Craigslist and that Brewer paid him $30 to drive her from Reston to the Rockville hotel, police said.
Wennar said in court that Klepper told detectives he had a videotape he had made at his home of "the prostitute having sex with one of the three johns'' whom he had taken to the house that day.
Klepper promised police that he would turn over the video, but days later produced a videotape that "had obviously been erased," Wennar said. The photos and women's underwear were found in a search of Klepper's home, police said.
Klepper was released on his own recognizance on the pandering charge but turned himself in later after his probation officer charged him with violating the terms of his probation. In the 2002 case, he was sentenced to a 15-year suspended sentence and five years of probation after pleading guilty to robbery, first-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense.
Klepper spent several months at a facility for troubled youths in Tennessee. Kemp and Klepper's father said in court last month that the teenager has been working and taking classes at Montgomery Community College.
"He has worked, and shown initiative and desire to do so," Martin Klepper, a lawyer at a Washington law firm who teaches at Georgetown Law School, told the judge at the May 23 hearing. "While the charges against Andrew represent a reprehensible mistake by him, I respectfully ask that you not let this misstep undermine the good that has resulted from the past three and a half years of his rehabilitation."
At the time of the latest arrest, Klepper was carrying a law enforcement badge that Wennar said appeared to have been ordered from a catalogue. Kemp said that the badge was legitimately obtained and that his client was not trying to impersonate an officer.
In his profile on the social networking Web site My Space, Klepper says he is interested in law enforcement.
"i am going to be a cop!" it says under "Andrew's general interests."
Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.
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This is one messed up situation.
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well LOOK at him!
the only girl he could get is a prostitute.
but a baseball bat... lol thats just sick.
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I'll make this as short as sweet as possible...
The true torture of a program is not so much the torture itself, it's the mindfuck that comes with it. It is the very loss of control that does the most damage to a person's psyche, not the captivity per se.
Generalizing can under mind and diminish other peoples experiences. I'd suggest avoiding it if I where you. We've seen numerous examples on fornits and on Cafety, which you'd know if you bothered to read your own forums, that details very graphic and horrific physical abuse in private parent choice programs.
The abuse that takes place in a jail or secure juvenile detention, is different than the abuse that takes place in contract facility, is different than the abuse that takes place in a parent-choice program.
A bit misinformed are you? Take Mt. Meds in Alabama to be precise. That state funded and ran program is as big as mind fuck as any private p4p facility out there.
Take physical abuse for example. While you may be more likely to be physically abused in a juvenile detention, at least when you come out and claim that you were abused you're more likely to find someone who will validate that your rights were violated. You may get a "shit happens" response, but at least your reality is validated. In a parent-choice program, the abuse isn't just something that happens, it's something that's supposed to be good for you. And so everywhere you go no one takes your claims of abuse seriously and you begin to think maybe I did deserve the physical and verbal abuse.
Are you stoned?
The state detention facilities take the same point of view and take it one step further. They rub your incarceration right in your face and never allow you to forget it. The state is the ultimate power with your parents having no say or control over it. Most claims of physical, sexual, and mental abuse are swept right under the rug.
As for the distinction itself, it is somewhat important because it effects how you tackle the abuse in each case, and helps to reveal the underlying economics as to why certain practices occur. For instance, contract facilities generally don't advertise on the web because they fill their beds to capacity with state referrals.
[/quote]
Abuse is abuse. end of thread.
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Man, you really pick through the media with a fine-toothed flea comb, Oscar. I'm impressed.
Andrew Klepper apparently went to CEDU High School after this incident. Was that before or after Peninsula Village?
After.
From the Comments section:
Erica Kaplan:: [email protected]:: 07/02/2005
For the record i went to CEDU highschool with Andrew Klepper after this crime was commited... hes just a very misunderstood boy, i dont count him as a threat to society... yes, hes made ALOT of HUGE and unforgiveable mistakes in his life but that should not result in him being portrayed as some sort of monsterouse being... i am in no way excusing this horrible crime or saying not to blame him... i'm just saying that Andrew has changed, and he's doing really well and i'm proud of his turn around.
thank you for your time,
erica
I had this exchange on Facebook with one of Klepper's former classmates in MD:
i knew that kid
he was fuckin weird
I've read that he was only "misunderstood". I don't think that quite covers Klepper's status.
dude, trust me...he had problems...and no he was very much UNDERSTOOD
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Prof. Angela Davis cites the Klepper case in her book Arbitrary Justice: The Power of the American Prosecutor[/u]...
http://books.google.com/books?id=YMZ543KzcO0C (http://books.google.com/books?id=YMZ543KzcO0C)
On page 49 she describes Andrew's opportunity to "receive rehabilitative treatment at the Tennessee facility."
I have not read the book, but the excerpts on Klepper can be previewed in the link above.
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Are you stoned?
The state detention facilities take the same point of view and take it one step further. They rub your incarceration right in your face and never allow you to forget it. The state is the ultimate power with your parents having no say or control over it. Most claims of physical, sexual, and mental abuse are swept right under the rug.
While I agree with most of your critique, most importantly the overgeneralizations in the past post, here's where I think private programs are worse than state run programs.
When it's the state that's abusing you at the very least you may still have your family to turn to for support after the fact. Since the parents have no say or control over the abuse, they are more likely to believe you when you claim to have been abused, since they don't have to deal with the guilt of being responsible of exposing you to that abuse.
When it's your parents who have contracted out abuse, who are you going to turn to for support to validate your claims other than other survivors?
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Dude...
You do realize the huge glaring hole in your argument right? For the majority of these kids in private or public programs their families aren't going to show up even if you are being pissed on by two staffers dressed in matching tutus on national television.
I think someone made a really interesting point about Martin Anderson's family. How soon was it after they were awarded 4 million dollars did one of them end up with a mouth full of golds?
meh.
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Dude...
You do realize the huge glaring hole in your argument right? For the majority of these kids in private or public programs their families aren't going to show up even if you are being pissed on by two staffers dressed in matching tutus on national television.
I think someone made a really interesting point about Martin Anderson's family. How soon was it after they were awarded 4 million dollars did one of them end up with a mouth full of golds?
meh.
Sometimes I REALLY don't get you... I mean seriously who's side are you on?... it seems like the only people you pick apart are survivors while the only ones you defend are program parents and trolls.
I will quote no one other than yourself to prove my point here.
It isn't whether he/she has a point or not. Agree or disagree that's up to you. Just don't belittle him/her for having a point of view. Save that sort of thing for those who deserve it.
:twofinger:
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Your tears are delicious. I roll in them and make a tuna sandwich out of them.
Thank you.
-Che.
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Hey,
Look at the bright side...at least he posted as himself. Many times he doesn't so you can't question his motives. That would be trickery wouldn't it?
Kudos for posting as yourself here gook, you are only a coward some of the time.
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Now now Tonster..
You have to keep in mind that I freely admit I enjoy yanking your chain. You are an easy mark. But I'm the kind of fellow who enjoys a challenge. You didn't present it to me. So just try to remember that I admit trolling you anonymously in the past. Just like you've fessed up to letting staff intimidate you at a protest and jumping in front of a tv camera to claim credit for the protest all in the same day.
So.. meh.. just remember.. I've very rarely trolled you since the last time I've I nibbled away at you over the KHK nonsense that you and deprogrammed and Rusty Goat had going. Even though I've certainly gotten a good laugh out of every time you've tried to claim its me.
Speaking of which..
You patch things up with ISAC yet?
I hope so.. ISAC has the potential of being a good influence on a fellow like you. A lot of wisdom there for you to learn if you choose to.
:beat:
I'll put up my siggie for you.
cause I love you.
I :heart: tony.
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Now now Tonster..
You have to keep in mind that I freely admit I enjoy yanking your chain. You are an easy mark. But I'm the kind of fellow who enjoys a challenge. You didn't present it to me. So just try to remember that I admit trolling you anonymously in the past. Just like you've fessed up to letting staff intimidate you at a protest and jumping in front of a tv camera to claim credit for the protest all in the same day.
So.. meh.. just remember.. I've very rarely trolled you since the last time I've I nibbled away at you over the KHK nonsense that you and deprogrammed and Rusty Goat had going. Even though I've certainly gotten a good laugh out of every time you've tried to claim its me.
Speaking of which..
You patch things up with ISAC yet?
I hope so.. ISAC has the potential of being a good influence on a fellow like you. A lot of wisdom there for you to learn if you choose to.
:beat:
I'll put up my siggie for you.
cause I love you.
I :heart: tony.
I don't think many people here realize how smart you really are. You are a clever one. I'll have to keep an eye on you.