Former student alleges abuse in teen boot camps run by Utah-based alternative school program

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — A man from Washington state has become the latest to sue a Utah-based organization for troubled children, claiming he was physically and emotionally tormented during its teen boot camp programs in Mexico.

Attorneys for Carl Brown Austin, 24, of Spokane, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City against World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.

Austin spent nearly two years, starting at age 13, at the organization’s Casa by the Sea and High Impact programs. He alleged he was a “virtual prisoner” in programs that meted out primitive punishment for hours on end.

The lawsuit said Casa by the Sea in Ensenada, Mexico, was never licensed by any state regulatory authority as a “treatment center” and that High Impact in Baja, Mexico, was shut down by government edict in 2002 after complaints from parents.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/former-student-alleges-abuse-in-teen-boot-camps-run-by-utah-based-alternative-school-program/2011/06/02/AG6UWRHH_story.html

[SoapBox]

1. So Mormon's...what do you think about this ever-so-fine organization, based in the state you own?

...real fine...

*snark*

There was that story recently posted at DU, about the girl that was taken to by a UT company (same or virtually the same), to cure her of being a lesbian...I love how profanity was banned by using every "homo" hostile/bullying verbiage was A-OK.

Typical of Thugs and Bullies.

[Patiod]

2. A young friend of ours was imprisoned at Casa by the Sea

and only released when the "federales" raided it. Her bitch of a guardian then enrolled her in another of the chain's fine institutions, "Midwest Academy", which is yet another prison. The kid had never been arrested, but simply didn't get along with her aunt, who had custody after the child's single mom died.

Our friend told us that it was mostly rich kids whose parents were simply too stupid or lazy to deal with them. The aunt, an active Tea Partier (I kid you not), is both.

Needless to say, her two+ years in these prisons left her deeply damaged and almost unable to function. And, as I mentioned, she was not getting into trouble with the law at the time her aunt pretended they were going on vacation and instead had her locked into this nightmare.

[RobinA]

3. "Boot Camp"

The whole boot camp idea needs to be reexamined with an eye on research into whether it is effective. To a lot of people it sounds good, not I don't believe it is supported by research.