Category: Juvenile Boot Camps

According to an investigative report by the Tampa Bay Times, religious exemptions allow unlicensed religious homes in Florida to abuse children and go on operating for years.
State authorities have responded to at least 165 allegations of abuse and neglect in the past decade, but homes have remained open even after the state found evidence of sex abuse and physical injury.
A battle has erupted in the Orthodox Jewish community over a Brooklyn teenager sent by his prominent family to a behavior boot camp accused of terrifying abuse.
Investigators have catalogued the abuse of thousands of teenagers and the deaths of at least 10 minors at American boot camps.
Seven former Florida boot camp guards and a nurse were acquitted Friday of manslaughter in the death of a 14-year-old black boy who was hit and kicked in a videotaped altercation with the guards.
A support rally was held for Pastor Charles E. Flowers of San Antonio’s Faith Outreach Center and a Christian Boot Camp trainer, Stephanie Bassitt, both of whom have been indicted on one count each of aggravated assault.
The idea that punishment can be therapeutic is not unique to the Rotenberg Center. In fact, this notion is widespread among the hundreds of “emotional growth boarding schools,” wilderness camps, and “tough love” antidrug programs that make up the billion-dollar teen residential treatment industry. No fewer than 50 programs (though not the Rotenberg Center) can trace their treatment philosophy, directly or indirectly, to an antidrug cult called Synanon.
The director of a Christian boot camp and an employee have been indicted on aggravated assault charges for allegedly dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van after she fell behind the group during a morning run.
A San Antonio pastor and an employee of his Christian boot camp were arrested Friday on aggravated assault charges, accused of dragging a girl behind a van after she failed to keep up during a running exercise.
Troubled teens, most with serious drug problems, slept in windowless rooms, were accompanied everywhere from the kitchen to the toilet stall, were often completely cut off from parents, and were subject to physical, emotional and, sometimes, sexual abuse, Gaglia says.
Investigators are looking into other claims of abuse at unlicensed facility SAN ANGELO – Three of four adults associated with a Christian-themed youth camp were jailed in the alleged beating of a 13-year-old boy at the unlicensed facility, authorities said on Tuesday. Jason Brian Baker, 30, Robert James Kelly, 18, and James Edward Esther, 33, face one charge each of injury to a child, according to the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Department. They were arrested Saturday and remained in the county jail on Tuesday. None had attorneys. The charge relates to the beating of a 13-year-old boy at U-Turn for