I survived PCS

This testimony was found on a website called "Torture Canyon School". It tells the story about being a patient at Provo Canyon School under the old ownership.

My 1'st night there, I was thrown into obs, (observation) and because it was the Friday, I didn't get any clean clothes, or toiletries until Monday.

There forms of discipline were two extremes: They either treated us like immature children, giving us 'punishments' like, sitting on a chair facing the wall for hours on end, or, they would get extremely physical with us, calling (dial 9's) - restraints, which pretty much meant, that if a girl were to show any signs of emotional distress, all the available staff in the area, were to grab a limb, and slam her against the wall as forcefully as possible, as they drug her to obs. It was like a game to the staff. A competition to see who could leave the most bruises on a patient.

My first night, I got a dial 9, because I was upset about being there, and I was confused, but I wasn't freaking out or anything. Two guys just came out of nowhere and tackled me. The next morning I had bruises everywhere, and I 'got' to see the campus doctor. He recorded them, but just waved them off as 'routine.'

I tried to tell my parents about the form of abuse that was taking place here (it happened daily, constantly. There wasn't a day that went by, that you weren't constantly hearing over the staff radio "DIAL 9!" And the screaming. You could always hear the screaming of the girls from inside obs.) You couldn't contact your parents for the first two weeks, so I wrote them. Telling them what happened. And their reply was "'Thats a lovely story (they obviously thought I was BS-ing them, trying to get them to withdraw me) Perhaps you can write a novel when you get home." Also, since there was so access to a telephone, there was no way to contact the authorities to help the abuse issues.

There also was the food. The same menu every week. Oatmeal for breakfast. Pasta for lunch. Tacos for dinner. And, since there were so many anorexics, they were essentially ''force-feeding'' us. (we had to take everything offered (a ridiculous amount of food) and finish it all.) So, if you weren't suffering from an eating disorder, you would gain weight. Not, to mention that the food offered was ridiculously unhealthy.

I went through two therapists in my duration there. My first therapist and I never talked about anything. He mostly used our sessions to bring up my past and make me feel guilty about every little thing that I've ever done in my life. When he left, I got another one, who wasn't an upgrade. She used our sessions, to gripe about her personal life, and we stared at each other in awckward silence and read Oprah magazines. The website is very misleading. It brags about how great its school system is. But, what it doesn't say, is that it consists of a square hallway, 11 classrooms, and adults that are even barely qualified to teach the subjects they teach. The classes aren't arranged by grade, because there isn't even a system, so while the parents are under the influence their child will stay 'up to date' with their credits, they're really just being thrown into what ever class is availible, i.e a Seinor in basic algebra.

I Still vividly remember that godforsaken place.

The PCS Lingo, that all the girls used, the Staff, my Peers.

I'm haunted by memories of that place. I dream about it...could you even call those dreams?

I just hope that someday enough people will fight hard enough to liberate those that are still trapped in places like that. I don't see why anything hasn't been done yet.

In year 2000 Charter Behavioral Health Systems sold Provo Canyon School to Universal Health Services, Inc.

Sources:

• The original testimony found on a archived website (The Internet Way Back machine)
• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)

bringbackbreeches at Island View

This testimony was found on Reddit. All rights goes to the original author known as bringbackbreeches

Warning: this is gonna be long as hell.

No details on who I am or when I went, sorry, other than I was there when it was still called Island View. I'm ultra paranoid about being identified and want to distance myself from it all. I'm happy to talk via PM. One little hint I'll give out publicly is that while I attended there, someone called in a bomb threat, so we were all moved to the church down the street. Sat around for seven hours bored out of our skulls, but got to eat pizza and not go through the daily miserable routine. It was a nice reprieve, so if you're the person who called it in, thanks man. I owe you a pizza.

I graduated as a test. I spent more than a year there. I graduated having one of the most prestigious 'job' you could be assigned, and was seen as a diplomat between teams and as vastly improved by the facility. By all accounts, I seemed like the perfect success story.

A couple years later, I had a sympathetic therapist who was astonished by all of what I'd told him. He had no idea. Given, he probably didn't have the extensive education a psychologist or psychiatrist would have, but he didn't have a lot of contact with the TTI because he was mostly an adult therapist. He told me a buddy of his was an investigator for these sorts of places, and asked me if I wanted him to try to coax this investigator into giving Island View a closer look. Of course I said yes, so he told me he was going to call him up, put him on speakerphone, and pretend he was just talking to him one on one, and for me to be quiet, so we could get the response he'd give a colleague.

So he rang him up and asked him if he knew about Island View, the investigator said of course, then told him my allegations against the place. Keep in mind, I wasn't pulled from the RTC, I didn't barely graduate on impact, I was well-regarded when I graduated.

The investigator paused, and this is what he said (I'll remember this until the day I die): "That's ridiculous. I've toured that facility multiple times and can attest to the highest level of professionalism in the business. It sounds like you've got a disgruntled ex-patient on your hands trying to get some attention or sympathy."

Even typing this out now makes my heart race. I've never been quiet since then about telling people about the place, but the few times I've had friends start to rally, get angry, get motivated to make a petition or launch an investigation, I've told them not to bother.

Here's why: Anyone who stayed at Island View for a long period of time will remember the routine when they sent investigators over: we were made to double deep clean our rooms. The people who were on yellow zone or individual focus were either sequestered to their room with the door closed, or the door to the whole hallway was closed off. Anyone below an impact caught talking to the investigators could get privileges pulled and were told not to interact with them, not to look at them. At best, if you were asked a question by them, you were pressured to smile and look engaged in your schoolwork. The investigators were led around by tests, usually the team leaders. If anyone of any level said anything bad or incriminatory to the investigators, you could face serious trouble. And if my memory serves me right, which it might not because there are thankfully big great gaps missing from this period in my life, they would serve the 'good' food when these investigators rolled through. The burgers and fries and sometimes even root beers and cream sodas. They did that when parents came through too. And if I recall correctly, they mostly toured the school and only briefly strolled through the actual housing units.

This place practised conversion therapy. They practised solitary confinement. They practised gender confirmation therapy. They used excessive force when restraining non-dangerous patients. (I mean, that's why they had to sell the place.) They practised extreme social manipulation. They practised literal brainwashing! A kid killed himself there. There were multiple accounts of sexual abuse. But I was a 'disgruntled ex-patient looking for attention or sympathy'.

So yep. There's my contribution to 'these lovely human beings have all the possible cards you could imagine stacked against you' argument. If I had no soul, moral conscience, or empathy for other living beings, this whole industry has an amazing business plan.

Island View was part of the collapse of Aspen Education Group. Is was sold and renamed. It is now open under another name. It might not be so bad now if the patients can phone home from day one to family and friends perferally given their own cell-phone

Sources:

• The original testimony on Reddit
• Factsheet about Island View (Fornits Wiki)

Joice at Elan School

Today the now closed Elan is the media due to the retrial against Michael Skakel. Many teenagers who were there later committed suicide. The "confessions" made at the facility were result of extreme pressure.

My name is Joice. I also was sent to E'lan 4 in 1977. The day before my 14th birthday.

As with any new resident the next day I had to sing in front of everyone in m/m. I was there for a total of three years. stayed 2x. I was put in the ring, tried to escape with Cindy Kieth. What was I thinking. The place was sealed tighter than a fortress. The people that were declared "uncontrollable" were placed there. And forgotten about.

Elan did not give hope but rather took it. I remember Frankie. I believe he had cerebral palsy. Know for sure he was epileptic AND had a metal plate in his head. Almost everyday Peter McCann would come into the dining room and start picking out the largest guys and taking them secretly to a room. That was no secret...we all knew he was preparing a cowboy ass kicking for Frankie. Sure enough you would hear Frankie screaming and his body hitting the floor, walls and the big guys fists and feet. Frankie didn't do shit to deserve THAT.

I was always in the ring. I was the one with the head gear on covering my face with my 16 oz boxing gloves. And the spankings. There were these two huge guys. George Washington was one. Really nice guy. Everyone used to pick on him. When he spanked you (me) you knew it. I got so used to that I would start laughing. That frustrated Peter. He got this other guy. Don't know his name. His technique was the two handed spank. One would hit you the other would ricochet you off the chair. I was always a "shot-down". I was defiant. No matter what they did there was no way I was going to do it thier way. "fake it til you make it". All those tight houses. 4 was always on a tight house. I was so depressed there I just went into another realm. I was made to scrub the dumpster outside by the kitchen area with the maggots still in there. It was so fucken gross. Finally they stuck me down in the laundry room with Jeffrey Weintraub as my worker. I let Nanette Walls escape one day during cheerleading practice. She got caught, I got shot down then turned into a "nothing" doing daily's everyday.

I wanted to pretend like this part of my life never happened and I was doing really good at it. But then something made me look it up and to my JOY I see it has been closed forever. It never should have lasted as long as it did. I have also seen a couple of peoples names that I remember being there with. I hope to be able to get in touch with some people.

Elan School closed in 2011.


Sources:

• Factsheet about the facility (Fornits Wiki)
• The original testimony(Heal-online's message board)