Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Daggah · 06-30-2003, 07:57 PM

Jeez, this is so disgusting. I can't believe this is actually legal...

Here's the article about it.

Selected quotes:

Quote:

Were you to glance up from the deserted beach below, you might mistake Tranquility Bay for a rather exclusive hotel. The statuesque white property stands all alone on a sandy curve of southern Jamaica, feathered by palm trees, gazing out across the Caribbean Sea. You would have to look closer to see the guards at the wall. Inside, 250 foreign children are locked up. Almost all are American, but though kept prisoner, they were not sent here by a court of law. Their parents paid to have them kidnapped and flown here against their will, to be incarcerated for up to three years, sometimes even longer. They will not be released until they are judged to be respectful, polite and obedient enough to rejoin their families.

Quote:

Corporal punishment is not practised, but staff administer 'restraint'. Officially it is deployed as the name suggests, to subdue a student who is out of control. However, former students say it is issued more often as a punishment. One explains: 'It's a completely degrading, painful experience. You could get it for raising your voice or pointing your finger. You know you're going to get it when three Jamaicans walk in and say, "Take off your watch." They pin you down in a five-point formation and that's when they start twisting and pulling your limbs, grinding your ankles.'

Quote:

There is no free time, and you are never alone. At 10pm everyone is in bed for Shut Down; the lights go off, and Tranquility is silent, save for waves crashing on to the beach below. Chaperones watch you through the night. And the next day is exactly the same. As is the next, and the next.

Quote:

Tranquility is basically a private detention camp. But it differs in one important respect. When courts jail a juvenile, he has a fixed sentence and may think what he likes while serving it, whereas no child arrives at Tranquility with a release date. Students are judged ready to leave only when they have demonstrated a sincere belief that they deserved to be sent here, and that the programme has, in fact, saved their life. They must renounce their old self, espouse the programme's belief system, display gratitude for their salvation, and police fellow students who resist.

(me: ah, figures that brainwashing would be a big part of it

)

Quote:

When most children first arrive they find it difficult to believe that they have no alternative but to submit. In shock, frightened and angry, many simply refuse to obey. This is when they discover the alternative. Guards take them (if necessary by force) to a small bare room and make them (again by force if necessary) lie flat on their face, arms by their sides, on the tiled floor. Watched by a guard, they must remain lying face down, forbidden to speak or move a muscle except for 10 minutes every hour, when they may sit up and stretch before resuming the position. Modest meals are brought to them, and at night they sleep on the floor of the corridor outside under electric light and the gaze of a guard. At dawn they resume the position.

This is known officially as being 'in OP' - Observation Placement - and more casually as 'lying on your face'. Any level student can be sent to OP, and it automatically demotes them to level 1 and zero points. Every 24 hours, students in OP are reviewed by staff, and only sincere and unconditional contrition will earn their release. If they are unrepentant? 'Well, they get another 24 hours.'

One boy told me he'd spent six months in OP.

Quote:

The students all describe their pre-programme selves using the same subjective descriptions, such as 'ignorant' or 'disrespectful', as if these were neutral adjectives, like 'brown'. Their delivery, too, is disturbingly similar, for the words come out like empty envelopes, emotionally vacant.

Quote:

Points and privileges are awarded to students who tell on each other. If you don't tell on someone for breaking a rule and get found out, you lose points. 'There is zero trust,' Scott explains. 'You can't trust anyone. It's not us against them. It's everyone against you.' Scott remembers a new boy being caught with incriminating used tissues; masturbation is strictly forbidden. 'And they got him up in front of everyone right after dinner, and the upper-level kids just ripped into him, this little 13-year-old kid. It was kind of the entertainment for the night. That's what I mean about breaking kids.'

Quote:

Lindsay Cohen is nearly 19. A straight-A high-school graduate, she was heading for Harvard until an unsuitable choice of boyfriend had her sent here at the age of 17.

Yeah, real loving parents there...

Fuck this disgusts me so much...

uhcord · 06-30-2003, 08:40 PM

Sounds JUST like an Orwell society .....

Rachel · 06-30-2003, 09:02 PM

That is absolutely sickening.

Surely that treatment would qualify as some form of abuse?

Corwin · 06-30-2003, 09:05 PM

I'm not sure what the legal issues here would be. If this place was actually IN the states, it'd be shut down in a heartbeat.... unfortunately it's offshore.

The parents MIGHT still be liable for abuse.... not sure.

Jayjay · 06-30-2003, 09:10 PM

Every parent who sends his child in a camp like this should be forced to go through the program themselves, along with the staff members, psychologists, and anyone else who has anything to do with this disgusting brainwashing scheme.

Chuck · 06-30-2003, 09:20 PM

http://www.difficultteens-tranquilitybay.com/

Quote:

Students participate in a series of seminars designed specifically for Tranquility Bay. During the TASKS seminars teens work on specific issues such as: accountability, honesty, integrity, trust, choices, responsibility, anger and especially self-esteem.

How about some parental accountability here?

From the free video on the website: "We were given this great daughter, and something happened, and she hates everyone in the world."

Gee. I'm glad we're not devoting time to finding out what happened and getting on with the business of deporting her.

Quote:

Inappropriate behavior is confronted, consequented and redirected. Appropriate behavior is reinforced and rewarded.

I'm housetraining a puppy right now. I do the same thing.

This is appalling.

Chuck

Jutsuka · 06-30-2003, 09:27 PM

Is this not a clear violation of human rights? This would not be tolerated by Amnesty in any prison or goverment detention camp.

Arken · 06-30-2003, 09:35 PM

There was a similar camp like this in (I think) El Salvador which got so terrible that the kids actually revolted against the head of the camp. The parents were pretty much being kept in the dark of what the camp was like, but it sounded like a real life version of Squeers' Boarding School for Boys in Nicholas Nickleby. The kids were basically being kept as slaves. It wouldn't shock me if this camp was similar. How long before one of these goes Jonestown on us?

RevDahlia · 06-30-2003, 09:53 PM

This is just appalling. Yet another offshoot of the disgusting and popular idea that teenagers are dangerous loose cannons who must be contained. It's Victorian pedagogy all over again.

So dismaying -- the parents' tone, that implied that their kids were there to make the parents happy, and if they failed, they deserved punishment. Completely reprehensible emotional masturbation. I am too upset to make any sense.

lunachick · 06-30-2003, 09:59 PM

Wow. That is appalling.

Do authorities know about this? Amnesty International? Human Rights Watch? Advocacy groups for the Rights of Children?

I bet it's real expensive to send your kid there, too.

06-30-2003, 09:02 PM	#3
Rachel Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 24	Re: Disgusting..."Tranquility Bay"...teen re-education/concentration camp That is absolutely sickening. Surely that treatment would qualify as some form of abuse?

06-30-2003, 09:10 PM	#5
Jayjay Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Finland Posts: 6,261	My initial knee jerk reaction... Every parent who sends his child in a camp like this should be forced to go through the program themselves, along with the staff members, psychologists, and anyone else who has anything to do with this disgusting brainwashing scheme.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

06-30-2003, 08:40 PM	#2
uhcord Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Somewhere Posts: 1,158	Sounds JUST like an Orwell society .....

06-30-2003, 09:05 PM	#4
Corwin Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 4,369	I'm not sure what the legal issues here would be. If this place was actually IN the states, it'd be shut down in a heartbeat.... unfortunately it's offshore. The parents MIGHT still be liable for abuse.... not sure.

06-30-2003, 09:27 PM	#7
Jutsuka Regular Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sweden Posts: 144	Is this not a clear violation of human rights? This would not be tolerated by Amnesty in any prison or goverment detention camp.

06-30-2003, 09:35 PM	#8
Arken Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North Hollywood, CA Posts: 6,303	There was a similar camp like this in (I think) El Salvador which got so terrible that the kids actually revolted against the head of the camp. The parents were pretty much being kept in the dark of what the camp was like, but it sounded like a real life version of Squeers' Boarding School for Boys in Nicholas Nickleby. The kids were basically being kept as slaves. It wouldn't shock me if this camp was similar. How long before one of these goes Jonestown on us?

06-30-2003, 09:53 PM	#9
RevDahlia Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Austin, TX, USA Posts: 4,930	This is just appalling. Yet another offshoot of the disgusting and popular idea that teenagers are dangerous loose cannons who must be contained. It's Victorian pedagogy all over again. So dismaying -- the parents' tone, that implied that their kids were there to make the parents happy, and if they failed, they deserved punishment. Completely reprehensible emotional masturbation. I am too upset to make any sense.

06-30-2003, 09:59 PM	#10
lunachick Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: NZ Posts: 7,895	Wow. That is appalling. Do authorities know about this? Amnesty International? Human Rights Watch? Advocacy groups for the Rights of Children? I bet it's real expensive to send your kid there, too.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.