| 71 | |
Name: | #smithson[QPQQPOOUQPPU]
([email protected])
| | Date: | 5/28/2011 9:09:19 PM | | Subject: | Hoping to make a contribution | | | Hey - I am definitely glad to discover this. great job! | | | Post Reply | | |
| 70 | |
Name: | (please keep name confidential)
(please keep email @confidential.com)
| | Date: | 5/27/2011 12:53:57 PM | | Subject: | RED ROCK CANYON SCHOOL- MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE | | | Hello, my name is ******* **** and I am 16 years old.
Orange County Mental Health and the Capistrano Unified School District recommended me to go to Red Rock Canyon School through the
courts because I was truant. On March 14th, I was arrested at court and held overnight and at 6:00 am Westfield, or Westerfield
Transporters came and picked me up and drove me out to Red Rock Canyon School. They were nice. Apparently, my mom did not sign the
papers but my father was manipulated into signing them. The courts made Red Rock out to be something much greater than it was.
Anyhow, I was told on the way there by the transporters that right when I got there I would be allowed to call my mother and my boyfriend
of almost one year. I got there, and they told me that I couldn't write letters to anyone, including my parents, or have any contact with
them whatsoever for the first 21 days I was there. Need I remind you, this is a level 14 lockdown facility. I couldn't leave. But for kids there
that do try to run and get over the fences, apparently the only requirement for staff members is that they bring the child back alive when
they go looking for them. I can recall a story that was told to me by a lady named Gina who worked there about a young girl trying to
escape, and when they got her, she did not fight back, but yet they tackled her, stepped on her face, and cracked her jaw. But back to what
I was saying, the first 21 days there were the worst hell. I had to wear these shoes they would call "Jesus Sandals", was only allowed to
have my jeans, I had to be "belt looped" everywhere I walked off the unit, and I had to be body searched before and after showers. Every
time we use the restroom we had to have the door 6 inches cracked, no less. I was on Green Unit, and my group leader was Alan Shalby.
Him and the registered nurse, Nicole, were the only nice people there. My therapists name was Carol Williams, and I later came to the
conclusion that she was a polygamist. After 21 days, you get one family therapy phone call per week, where you and your therapist talk to
your parents on the phone on speaker for 45 minutes. After my second therapy call with Carol and my mother, Carol ended up hanging up
on my mother because she was "being rude" and I was "breaking the phone rules". The phone rules were "No cussing, no bashing on staff,
no bashing the program, no guilt-loading, and no manipulating/lying". Apparently I broke them by saying that "I didn't feel my medical
needs were being met". During my first treatment team meeting, Dr. Shannon told me that my family therapy had been suspended and I
wouldn't be allowed to contact my mother for 60 days. When Carol hung up on my mother that afternoon, my mom knew something fishy
was going on. Somehow, she had a man named Kelly come to Red Rock to speak to me about what had happened. Apparently he is the
man who "gives these places licenses to operate". We spoke in Brian Pace's office. I brought up the fact that I was scared and didn't quite
know what was going on with my mother and how long I would be staying for. He replied by saying that I'm just a child and I shouldn't
know what's going on in my life as far as how long I'm supposed to be in "treatment" for, and that adults have more rights that children,
therefore I should just listen and behave myself because there's nothing I could do to get myself out of there. About the whole "not
meeting my medical needs" part, you see, I have had surgery on my spine 4 times, and to this day there is something wrong with my spine
that hasn't been fixed yet. While I was at Red Rock, whenever I asked for tylenol, they told me to "drink water". After a while, they gave me
advil, and I was coughing up blood from it. They did nothing. The following weekend, I had a fever of probably 100% or more, and a
horrible cold. I asked a lady who takes care of the "student store", Tami, if she could call my mother just to let her know I was really sick.
Tami called my mother and told her "Naomi isn't feeling well but she's being given medicine and as much rest as she needs. No worries."
My mom didn't know until she got a letter from me that I was given an allergy pill for my cold and fever, yet I have no allergies, and was
forced to go sit in the schoolroom and work on schoolwork all day long and was never given a chance to rest.
Now about the staff...well there's a lot of shadiness, and a lot of "drama" and rumors breaking confidentiality of the children. Last year, (I
was not there but certain staff members like Annie, Gina, Laura, and Alan Shalby all on Green Unit have told me this themselves) the
paramedic, Adam, had sexual relations with a young girl in the program. They brought it up to him and questioned her, but when they
came to the child, she put the attention on someone else, and he was never given a consequence. In fact he still works there. Even the days
I was there, I would see him flirting with all of the young girls, ages 12-17. In my unit, there was actually and 11 year old girl there, when
the minimum age was 12, who was placed there for "attitude problems". Anyhow, another horrible staff member was Melvin, the weekend
supervisor. He was always going around, staring inappropriately at all of the young girls. There was a girl named Sabrina who was there
while I was, and he apparently "wanted to be with her". Which is quite interesting, considering Melvin is waiting for his child to be born. The
mother of the baby is a woman who worked at the front desk, and they conceived the baby on the Red Rock campus in Melvin's office. And
Darlene Blackburn...you have her down as "Girl's Resource Room". Darlene is the IEP teacher for both girls and boys, and Tami M. is who
the boys and girls go to for resources, such as toiletries, clothes, ect. Oh, and Vincent, the PE teacher; when I told him I had back problems
so I couldn't participate in PE, he let me sit out everyday, but he would never call me by my name- he would call me "broke back", making
fun of the fact the I have rods and screws up and down my entire spinal cord. And Brent...well he is very manipulative. He is the person that
loves making sure these poor kids are becoming institutionalized, so they think that it isn't "wrong" for them to be there. Now, Oscar. Oscar
is very scary. There is a ground of four girls on Coral Unit who always physically beat up the most vulnerable girl in their unit at the time.
As a punishment, Oscar would make them all go into a small room together called "RI", or "re- investment", from 5 AM until 11 PM. They
would eat their meals in there. The RI rooms are very cold and you aren't allowed to have any of your belongings including your sweater or
shoes until you get out. Oscar would send them there daily for this amount of time. Bo Hunt is Oscar's sister, or they are related in some
kind of way. There was never a day where I didn't walk by Bo and see her screaming at a different kid each time, putting them down,
making them feel at fault about everything bad that's happened to them. Kaitlynn Robertson is the Green Unit teacher, and she is a drunk.
She'd always come into work very hungover, and very grouchy towards all of the kids. She rubs it in the children's faces that she gets to go
home at night, but we don't. Angela, the nurse, was another large problem for me. She was always very rude, and when I would ask for
help with my back pain, she would always tell me I was "drug seeking". Excuse me if I said this once before, but to kindly correct your
information, Alan Shalby is the group leader on Green Unit. Steel Unit is no longer running, but before I left they were going to open it back
up again because all of the other male units were filling up. Green Unit was very crowded. There were two bunk beds and one normal bed
in my room, which I'm sure exceeds the legal population of a tiny room in a place like this. Kasey Nelson no longer works for Red Rock
either. This place is very unhealthy and unsafe for children. I was there for fourty- something days. With barely any contact with my
mother, I prayed to God every night that he would bring a miracle my way. In the end, he answered my prayers, and my mother drove out
and picked me up and pulled me from the program out of the blue and placed me in a very nice dual diagnosis treatment center that was a
60 day program in Long Beach, CA called Center for Discovery. My therapist at Center for Discovery saw the report and told me she was
disgusted to the point of vomiting from reading all of the nasty, untrue things they wrote on the report about myself. I was released from
there on May 24 and am at home now.
I apologize for my email being so scattered, but hopefully this information will be useful. I saw my surgeon two days ago, and I'm waiting
for the CT scan to come back. The second I find out what is wrong with my spine, my family is going to be filing a lawsuit against them for
not meeting my medical needs while I was there and not meeting my therapeutic needs.
There are a few things that I left out. Sherman Habibian, the owner, is engaged to a nurse in the clinic at RRCS named Lacey. And also, they
have two potbelly pigs there at Red Rock in a pen, and the students sexually abuse the poor pigs all of the time. | | | Post Reply | | |
| 69 | |
Name: | brian schiff
([email protected])
| | Date: | 5/6/2011 11:59:31 AM | | Subject: | three springs paint rock valley | | | DECLARATION UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY
PURSUANT TO 28 USCA 1746
I, Brian Shciff, declare and state as follows:
1. Three Spring Paint Rock Valley
2. Trenton, Alabama
3. 09/07/1996 to 05/07/1999
4. I was a resident at Three Springs Paint Rock Valley program from 1996 to mid-1998. Then I was transferred to the group home until I graduated in 1999. At my time in three springs, I saw and was subjected to many degrading and horrible things. The positive aspects of the program were undone through experiences of things sometimes done both to me and others and by what I saw.
Things such as when counselors thought that the residents were getting out of control they thought that they could restrain them. This happened during the day usually handed efficiently and well. When this happened at night it usually resulted in a mass beating by other residents while being held down. I had experienced many of these attacks as result of arguing with a counselor. I had been repeatedly hit while being held down getting beaten and taking several hits to my face including having my glasses broken into my face. Other times I heard other resident going through this while they were restrained. At this program, you are divided into groups and can only talk to people in your group and your privileges are decided by members of this group as well as family service workers, the counselor, the supervisor, and the psychiatrist, privileges like going on home visits and, advancing through the program. Where your merits are supposed to decide these privileges, I had never seen this. It depended on how the counselor felt about you whereas if they liked you, how they felt on that particular day, or whether you where liked by the other group members. These people, their day to day personal emotions and general opinion of you usually resulted in if or when you got the privileges. It depended on whether you were in the group or part of the group as to how thing would go. The residents would form a group within the group usually with senior members and if you were considered an outsider according to that it would dictate how things would go for you. As disturbing as this was, there were other things such as the staff putting me on a contract that had rewards and punishments to motivate me through the program- depending on how I met the expectations of the contract. The contracts’ expectations were usually unattainable and resulted in being a sick game to the counselors which is something that they laughed at. As far as I know I was the only resident ever put on such a contract. Where I can understand how motivation can be helpful when used in a positive light, using fear of severe repercussions and holding that over my head resulted in me having a severe anxiety disorder and paranoia which drove me to almost lose my sanity. I felt I was being held hostage the contract and by the program.
Other punishments that I received were when I was made to pick up every leaf in an area half the size of a football field with my bare hands and not allowed to use any equipment on a wet cold November night. I was told to do this at dinner time and was told if I did not complete this task before fifteen minutes I would not be allowed to eat. I also was isolated from the group for a time in a punishment called refusal which is when they decide that you are declining to do a task that they thought you were refusing to complete even if you just give the opinion or thought that it was unreasonable, they would consider it wrong and enforce this penalty. This punishment entailed carrying a five gallon container of water, full at all times, and made to sit on a rock. You are not allowed to eat indoors during this punishment, but made to prepare and eat your meals outside while sitting on this rock. You had complete exposer to element like rain, cold, heat, sleet, or snow. It is somewhat difficult to prepare your meal in a rainstorm. During the time that I was on this punishment, I was told that I had run out of time to cook and was told to pull a red hot cast iron pan out of a fire. When I told them that the pan was too hot to touch, I was told that the punishment would be worsened if I did not do as I was told. Afraid to be disciplined more I did as I was told. When I did grabbed the cast-iron pan the indentation seared into my left hand. The staff knowing that I had this burn gave me a pointless task of moving a rock from one end of the field to another for a period of three hours. I was also made to run while carrying a container filled with five gallons of water in front of a car the length of the boys and girls campus twice. In addition, the water we were made to drink either had too much sulphur in it at times or too much bleach which burned your throat. At another time my group was made to climb a hill, which is relatively a small mountain, and descend it through a rocky dry river bed- at night, not allowed to use flashlights causing cuts and bruises subjecting us to possibility of attacks by rattle snakes. This was in the summer. Sleep deprivation and starvation was commonly used as punishments. By law I was told that we were supposed to be allowed four hours of sleep at the times during these punishments. We were lucky to get only one hour of sleep which doesn’t help when you are made to do manual labor as well as high energy activities all day. During my stay, I was sent to the hospital once as a result of an incident at the equine therapy. While I was on a horse that no one had any business riding, I was thrown off and the horse attempted to kick me while I was on the ground. This incident resulted in me having a bruised kidney and severe bruising on my left side. A short time after this incident, I was back at the horse barn with staff members, and there was a trainer there to whom they were giving the horse. She looked troubled and she explained to me that the horse had no business being around kids that this horse was too dangerous. Another severe punishment that I went through was a thing called “primitive” which is complete isolation except for two staff members. The punishment entailed making your own shelter outside away from and not within the sight of anyone. Materials provided for the shelter were inadequate and therefore the shelter could not provide protection from the weather and elements of nature. There were long periods of time at which I was not allowed to go home including holidays nor was I allowed to have much contact with my family. My letters to my family were screened. When I did tell my family of the things going on, they told the school of exactly what I said and the school informed them that these things were untrue and that I was lying. Also we had to various work detail. One such task included cleaning out a fire pit partially extinguished in a wind storm resulting in hot coals being blown onto me setting my jacket and shirt on fire. During my attempt to put out the fire, my group members and counselor laughed at. Thankfully, I was not seriously injured. At another time my group was sent to build a rock wall; however, the location which they picked was over a fire ant mound. When we told the staff of the ants we were instructed and ordered to still build the rock wall. This resulted in server fire ant bites to me and others in my group. When I was transferred to the group home, things got a little better, but there I had to deal with a whole new set of problems.
I had more freedom at the group home; however, the group home was run by the residents with the supervision of counselors. The senior residents and other residents who had more severe crimes or trouble with the law preyed on those that they found weaker. This involved physical attacks and humiliating pranks. It included tainting or tampering with other peoples’ food, such as putting semen into someone’s food, to attacks while you were sleeping which caused me to sleep with my hand on a Maglight under my pillow because I feared for my safety. At one point they even made the worst of them all the leader of the entire group knowing what would happen and how he would conduct himself with this authority. Thankfully this only went on for a short time, but resulted in severe attacks and humiliation for myself and a couple other residents. At one point at the group home, I fell ill with pneumonia. With a high, fever I was made to do work. While other members were concerned that my illness was not being taken seriously, I was told that I was just “milking” it. When taken finally to seek medical attention, the doctors determined that I had a fever of 104 and my lungs were partially filled with fluid- sever pneumonia. While at this program I saw that there were some decent people as well as ones who went on evil and sadistic power trips and tirades. The staff who did stand up and say something were either reprimanded, replaced, or both. On my return home finally I was so beaten down and conditioned to obey without question that I was unprepared for what real life would bring. This led to problems in my life. Where I can see if programs like this could be beneficial if run properly and staffed with proper employees, this program did not help. I had nightmares for years afterward and was jumpy when people attempted to touch me. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I have now recovered from a drug addiction. I was sent to that program not because I was a bad kid or in trouble with the law. I was just a bit rebellious at home and had trouble with my grades, like any 15 year old. I was put into that program which mixed kids like I was with people in trouble with the law and drugs. I lost my adolescence and innocents in that program and I am now happy to hear that it is being shut down.
I give HEAL permission to use this statement. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on May 6, 2011.
________________________________
Brian Schiff
1600 Granby St. #145
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 202-0501
[email protected]
SPECIAL NOTE: STATUTE DOES
NOT REQUIRE NOTARY]
| | | Post Reply | | |
| 68 | |
Name: | Brian
([email protected])
| | Date: | 5/6/2011 11:43:19 AM | | Subject: | Three Springs at Paint Rock Valley - Alabama | | | I declare that all said herein to be true and give my perission to HEAL in order to use this account of the events stated.
I was a resident at Three Springs Paint Rock Valley program from 1996 to mid-1998. Then I was transferred to the group home until I graduated in 1999. At my time in three springs, I saw and was subjected to many degrading and horrible things. The positive aspects of the program were undone through experiences of things sometimes done both to me and others and by what I saw.
Things such as when counselors thought that the residents were getting out of control they thought that they could restrain them. This happened during the day usually handed efficiently and well. When this happened at night it usually resulted in a mass beating by other residents while being held down. I had experienced many of these attacks as result of arguing with a counselor. I had been repeatedly hit while being held down getting beaten and taking several hits to my face including having my glasses broken into my face. Other times I heard other resident going through this while they were restrained. At this program, you are divided into groups and can only talk to people in your group and your privileges are decided by members of this group as well as family service workers, the counselor, the supervisor, and the psychiatrist, privileges like going on home visits and, advancing through the program. Where your merits are supposed to decide these privileges, I had never seen this. It depended on how the counselor felt about you whereas if they liked you, how they felt on that particular day, or whether you where liked by the other group members. These people, their day to day personal emotions and general opinion of you usually resulted in if or when you got the privileges. It depended on whether you were in the group or part of the group as to how thing would go. The residents would form a group within the group usually with senior members and if you were considered an outsider according to that it would dictate how things would go for you. As disturbing as this was, there were other things such as the staff putting me on a contract that had rewards and punishments to motivate me through the program- depending on how I met the expectations of the contract. The contracts’ expectations were usually unattainable and resulted in being a sick game to the counselors which is something that they laughed at. As far as I know I was the only resident ever put on such a contract. Where I can understand how motivation can be helpful when used in a positive light, using fear of severe repercussions and holding that over my head resulted in me having a severe anxiety disorder and paranoia which drove me to almost lose my sanity. I felt I was being held hostage the contract and by the program.
Other punishments that I received were when I was made to pick up every leaf in an area half the size of a football field with my bare hands and not allowed to use any equipment on a wet cold November night. I was told to do this at dinner time and was told if I did not complete this task before fifteen minutes I would not be allowed to eat. I also was isolated from the group for a time in a punishment called refusal which is when they decide that you are declining to do a task that they thought you were refusing to complete even if you just give the opinion or thought that it was unreasonable, they would consider it wrong and enforce this penalty. This punishment entailed carrying a five gallon container of water, full at all times, and made to sit on a rock. You are not allowed to eat indoors during this punishment, but made to prepare and eat your meals outside while sitting on this rock. You had complete exposer to element like rain, cold, heat, sleet, or snow. It is somewhat difficult to prepare your meal in a rainstorm. During the time that I was on this punishment, I was told that I had run out of time to cook and was told to pull a red hot cast iron pan out of a fire. When I told them that the pan was too hot to touch, I was told that the punishment would be worsened if I did not do as I was told. Afraid to be disciplined more I did as I was told. When I did grabbed the cast-iron pan the indentation seared into my left hand. The staff knowing that I had this burn gave me a pointless task of moving a rock from one end of the field to another for a period of three hours. I was also made to run while carrying a container filled with five gallons of water in front of a car the length of the boys and girls campus twice. In addition, the water we were made to drink either had too much sulphur in it at times or too much bleach which burned your throat. At another time my group was made to climb a hill, which is relatively a small mountain, and descend it through a rocky dry river bed- at night, not allowed to use flashlights causing cuts and bruises subjecting us to possibility of attacks by rattle snakes. This was in the summer. Sleep deprivation and starvation was commonly used as punishments. By law I was told that we were supposed to be allowed four hours of sleep at the times during these punishments. We were lucky to get only one hour of sleep which doesn’t help when you are made to do manual labor as well as high energy activities all day. During my stay, I was sent to the hospital once as a result of an incident at the equine therapy. While I was on a horse that no one had any business riding, I was thrown off and the horse attempted to kick me while I was on the ground. This incident resulted in me having a bruised kidney and severe bruising on my left side. A short time after this incident, I was back at the horse barn with staff members, and there was a trainer there to whom they were giving the horse. She looked troubled and she explained to me that the horse had no business being around kids that this horse was too dangerous. Another severe punishment that I went through was a thing called “primitive” which is complete isolation except for two staff members. The punishment entailed making your own shelter outside away from and not within the sight of anyone. Materials provided for the shelter were inadequate and therefore the shelter could not provide protection from the weather and elements of nature. There were long periods of time at which I was not allowed to go home including holidays nor was I allowed to have much contact with my family. My letters to my family were screened. When I did tell my family of the things going on, they told the school of exactly what I said and the school informed them that these things were untrue and that I was lying. Also we had to various work detail. One such task included cleaning out a fire pit partially extinguished in a wind storm resulting in hot coals being blown onto me setting my jacket and shirt on fire. During my attempt to put out the fire, my group members and counselor laughed at. Thankfully, I was not seriously injured. At another time my group was sent to build a rock wall; however, the location which they picked was over a fire ant mound. When we told the staff of the ants we were instructed and ordered to still build the rock wall. This resulted in server fire ant bites to me and others in my group. When I was transferred to the group home, things got a little better, but there I had to deal with a whole new set of problems.
I had more freedom at the group home; however, the group home was run by the residents with the supervision of counselors. The senior residents and other residents who had more severe crimes or trouble with the law preyed on those that they found weaker. This involved physical attacks and humiliating pranks. It included tainting or tampering with other peoples’ food, such as putting semen into someone’s food, to attacks while you were sleeping which caused me to sleep with my hand on a Maglight under my pillow because I feared for my safety. At one point they even made the worst of them all the leader of the entire group knowing what would happen and how he would conduct himself with this authority. Thankfully this only went on for a short time, but resulted in severe attacks and humiliation for myself and a couple other residents. At one point at the group home, I fell ill with pneumonia. With a high, fever I was made to do work. While other members were concerned that my illness was not being taken seriously, I was told that I was just “milking” it. When taken finally to seek medical attention, the doctors determined that I had a fever of 104 and my lungs were partially filled with fluid- sever pneumonia. While at this program I saw that there were some decent people as well as ones who went on evil and sadistic power trips and tirades. The staff who did stand up and say something were either reprimanded, replaced, or both. On my return home finally I was so beaten down and conditioned to obey without question that I was unprepared for what real life would bring. This led to problems in my life. Where I can see if programs like this could be beneficial if run properly and staffed with proper employees, this program did not help. I had nightmares for years afterward and was jumpy when people attempted to touch me. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I have now recovered from a drug addiction. I was sent to that program not because I was a bad kid or in trouble with the law. I was just a bit rebellious at home and had trouble with my grades, like any 15 year old. I was put into that program which mixed kids like I was with people in trouble with the law and drugs. I lost my adolescence and innocents in that program and I am now happy to hear that it is being shut down.
| | | Post Reply | | |
| 67 | |
Name: | Brian
([email protected])
| | Date: | 5/6/2011 11:34:20 AM | | Subject: | Three Springs at Paint Rock Valley - Alabama | | | I declare that all said herein to be true and give my perission to HEAL in order to use this account of the events stated.
I had more freedom at the group home; however, the group home was run by the residents with the supervision of counselors. The senior residents and other residents who had more severe crimes or trouble with the law preyed on those that they found weaker. This involved physical attacks and humiliating pranks. It included tainting or tampering with other peoples’ food, such as putting semen into someone’s food, to attacks while you were sleeping which caused me to sleep with my hand on a Maglight under my pillow because I feared for my safety. At one point they even made the worst of them all the leader of the entire group knowing what would happen and how he would conduct himself with this authority. Thankfully this only went on for a short time, but resulted in severe attacks and humiliation for myself and a couple other residents. At one point at the group home, I fell ill with pneumonia. With a high, fever I was made to do work. While other members were concerned that my illness was not being taken seriously, I was told that I was just “milking” it. When taken finally to seek medical attention, the doctors determined that I had a fever of 104 and my lungs were partially filled with fluid- sever pneumonia. While at this program I saw that there were some decent people as well as ones who went on evil and sadistic power trips and tirades. The staff who did stand up and say something were either reprimanded, replaced, or both. On my return home finally I was so beaten down and conditioned to obey without question that I was unprepared for what real life would bring. This led to problems in my life. Where I can see if programs like this could be beneficial if run properly and staffed with proper employees, this program did not help. I had nightmares for years afterward and was jumpy when people attempted to touch me. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I have now recovered from a drug addiction. I was sent to that program not because I was a bad kid or in trouble with the law. I was just a bit rebellious at home and had trouble with my grades, like any 15 year old. I was put into that program which mixed kids like I was with people in trouble with the law and drugs. I lost my adolescence and innocents in that program and I am now happy to hear that it is being shut down. | | | Post Reply | | |
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