Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Oscar on January 01, 2010, 03:28:59 PM
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This thread was originally created on another message board and the US wiki is not updated yet (It will take a couple of hours), but I feel that this board should allowed to answer whether the industry has become more deadly than ever or we are just better to dig up information in the age of Internet:
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The people who are working on the wiki has reorganized the victims pages because we are entering a new decade.
The main victim page (http://http://www.secretprisonsforteens.dk/fornitswiki/index.php/Victims) is now empty. Let us hope that it stays that way.
During this organizing I learned that they had to split up the page for 2000-10 due to the length.
There were simply too many deaths so they could be kept on one page.
The statistic for deaths during programs is:
1970-9 1
1980-9 18
1990-9 45
2000-9 37+28 = 65
It seems that the programs have become more deadly. What can we expect for the next decade?
But the development could also be explained by the simple fact that it has become more difficult to hide the circumstances around the individual death.
Not long ago the destiny of troubled teens are surround by so much shame that parents didn't want the deaths investigated. I found a description about one of them (http://http://yedda.com/questions/Connie_Munson_friend_died_curius_4955850178091/#answer627131584371939):
My name is B.J. Miller, and I was in Bethesda Home for Girls in Hattiesburg, Ms. when Connie Munson was killed. One night long after dark I believe it was in Sept. Or Oct. of 1979...Connie decided she would try to run from the home. The driveway was a red dirt road, (which is 3 miles long) from Old River Rd. in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It was dark, and Raining, and she took off like a jet, and never stopped running. She made it all the way to Highway 49 South, and she was being chased by Pami Gerhardt. Pami was a Sister in Law to the Director's Daughter (Debbie Wills)who was married to Sam Gerhardt Pami Had nowhere to live and so they put her in the girls home. (She was more or less a worker who was still a teenager in High School). Anyway Pami, and Becky Ewalt(another Girl in the home who was being groomed to be a worker) were chasing Connie Munson. When they made it to the Main Highway, Pami yelled out to Connie to Stop. Connie continued running, and Pami screamed out, "Jesus, Help Me", and lunged for Connie...knocking her down, and right into the path of the oncoming traffic which was a huge Dump truck, or Tractor trailer rig...I can't remember for sure. I just remember Connie was thrown quite a distance, and she was killed instantly.
We held a funeral service for her at Central Baptist Church, and her parents, and family were there. The service was conducted by Rev. C.R. Williams (who is now deceased).
Connie's family took her back home to Bury her. I believe that was somewhere in Michigan.
If you want to contact me...my email is
Sincerely, B.J. Miller
Some could call this manslaughter because she was pushed into traffic. But none were prosecuted as the entire community down there depended of the income of the facility and the guards were so-called good god-fearing people. It didn't even get to the newspapers as far as we have found out. Her life was simply not that important in this community because she was a troubled teenager.
We are in the process of adding her to the victim list but records are not online. Cases like this could explain why the number of teenagers who have died during a program have increased.
Can the number of deaths be lowered?
No it cannot unless fewer teenagers are sent to programs.
Deaths cannot be avoided because the industry are unable to learn. Sergey Blashchishen's death is an exact copy (http://http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2009-11-05/news/losing-erica-cynthia-clark-harvey-doesn-t-want-anyone-else-s-child-to-die-in-a-wilderness-therapy-program/) of the death of Erica Harvey 7 years ago. They both cooked to death due to various drugs in their system while the staff watched them die out in the desert. In both cases there were chances to halt the process while the effects of the drugs was wearing off but in both cases the staff insisted that they should be sent out in the desert as fast as possible far from the lifesaving hospitals.
So if the industry is unable to learn the only possible answer is to lower the number of teenagers in programs. Only with fewer in programs and it means an increased focus on parenting classes and community based solutions the need for programs can be lowered. Parents with little knowledge of the complex world of a teenager today and an unforgiving justice system which neglect the fact that a teenagers brain is not fully developed will remain to be a problem. So other solutions is needed.
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I'd say it's less deadly (as in within the program) but ultimately more harmful in the long term (which is really neither of the two options). I'm factoring in quality of life and long term after-effects of thought reform here.
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Am I reading this right? Between 1970-1979 only 1 death by program? That don't sound right. That must not include suicides or "accidents". Seems I remember stories of more than 1 seed kid jumping off the sky way bridge.(I'll look for articles).
We are so much better informed today than in the 70's-80's. We will never know half of the real truth. But I guess you have to look it per capita. There are so many more programs now, than "in the day"Of course there are going to be more problems.
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I'd say it's less deadly (as in within the program) but ultimately more harmful in the long term (which is really neither of the two options). I'm factoring in quality of life and long term after-effects of thought reform here.
It seems some programs are trying to move away from the more blatant physical abuse as it costs them too much PR. The coercive nature of said programs is not addressed, however. Which just makes it all that much harder to tease out the bullshit afterward.
I'd speculate that this might show up as increased suicide rates post-program. Which the program will never take responsibility for, of course.
Maybe this is exactly what you are saying, psy, and I am just re-phrasing you. Sorry, if that is the case! :D
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The industry, under the scrutiny of Congress and facing pending legistlation, has become far more deadly in its intent to control the damage done by negative publicity. I'd wager to say that the numbers for the death toll has as much to do with the explosion in growth for the industry during the late 90's and the last decade. More programs equals more opprotunities to kill and torture kids.
Are programs moving away from deliberate physical abuse?
I don't believe so and I base this on my own experiences with E-Kill-A-Kid (E-Kel-Etu) down in Silver Springs Florida. After the very tragic death of Michael W. the camp went into a total risk aversion mode. Finding ways to reduce the number of restraints to prevent another incident became paramount. This worked to some extent, however, there was that percentage of the population who simply observed the more liberal interpretation of the rules surrounding restraints.
E-Kill-A-Kid, at the time, had far more reason to crack down on abuse than most programs do today. The implementation of the pending legislation will take years. Back then EKE was facing an immediate shutdown. So yes programs are moving from outright acts of physical abuse, but in doing so they are becoming more deliberate in their actions and finding what wiggle room they can to put a hurting on the kids within the scope of the rules they operate.
This in itself can be far more dangerous given the difficulty of seperating the fact from fiction when it comes to sorting through incident reports. On the surface everything appears legitimate, but underneath you get a seamy underbelly of abuse that is brought about by the manipulation of the rules.