Exploited Teen (TTI) Abuse Lawyer

Troubled Teen Industry Abuse Lawsuits and Settlements

Every year, thousands of parents send their troubled teenagers to programs promising to help them overcome their struggles and turn their lives around. However, what many of these parents don’t know is that the troubled teen industry (TTI) has a dark side – a side filled with abuse, neglect, and exploitation. This shocking reality may seem far-fetched, but it’s unfortunately true.

Over the years, numerous reports and incidents have exposed the disturbing mistreatment of vulnerable teenagers in TTI facilities, leaving families devastated and seeking justice.

The legal team at the Potter Handy Law Firm is committed to exposing the abusive practices of these facilities and protecting troubled teenagers from those practices.

Our company has been working in the legal industry for more than 25 years, and we want to put our experience to use by assisting with the litigation of cases involving abuse in the industry that serves troubled teens.

We recognize how important it is to hold these facilities responsible for their actions, and we intend to do so in order to bring justice to those who have been harmed at their hands.

👉 You can report TTI abuse to our law firm and discuss your legal options in a confidential manner. Call us to discuss your case and legal options (415) 534-1911.

The Impact of Troubled Teen Programs on Modern Society

The troubled teen industry has a long history, with its roots traced back to the 1950s.

It all began with Synanon, a drug rehabilitation program founded by Charles Dederich in 1958. What started as a well-intentioned program quickly turned into a cult-like organization that dominated the troubled teen industry for decades.

Synanon’s use of attack therapy, known as the “Synanon Game”, became popularized as a form of tough love and was believed to cure addiction and misbehavior in adolescents.

Despite its eventual downfall due to financial and legal troubles, Synanon paved the way for the troubled teen industry as we know it today. The concept of using confrontation and verbal condemnation as a means of behavior modification continues to be a controversial topic that is heavily debated by professionals in the field.

How to Determine If You Are Eligible to Seek Compensation

The troubled teen industry has been plagued by scandals involving child abuse, institutional corruption, and deaths, and it is highly controversial.

Many practices used in troubled teen programs, especially punishments, have been singled out as constituting child abuse or neglect.

These include but are not limited to:

  • Restricting communication with family and peers
  • Use of physical and chemical restraint (i.e., in the form of sedative drugs)
  • Use of seclusion as punishment
  • Gay conversion therapy
  • Excessive use of strip search and cavity search
  • Denial of sleep and nutrition
  • Aversion therapy
  • Etc.

In 2007, the Government Accountability Office published a study verifying thousands of reports of abuse and death in TTI facilities dating back to 1990.

The National Disability Rights Network published a report in 2021 reporting common issues at troubled teen facilities including the aforementioned forms of abuse as well as chronic staffing shortages, deprivation of education, and unhygienic and unsafe facility conditions.

Transportation: Gooned

Aside from their controversial therapeutic practices, many former residents report being forcibly transported to troubled teen facilities by teen escort companies, a practice known among former “troubled teens” as gooning.

Many troubled teen institutions offer youth transportation through teen escort companies, in which minors are transported to their facilities against their will.

Parents who sign their children up for troubled teen camps will sign over temporary custody to the teen escort company. This transportation is a service offered in the United States and elsewhere and is a practice that has been criticized on ethical and legal grounds as being akin to kidnapping.

  • Some of the subjects report not realizing they were transported with permission of their parents until days afterward.
  • Clients have reported being ambushed in their own beds at home, or tricked into believing they are going elsewhere.
  • There have been incidents where transportation staff have impersonated government officials.

Former clients of troubled teen programs have made efforts to pursue legal recourse through civil lawsuits targeting both parents and the companies associated with these programs.

👉 You can report TTI abuse to our law firm and discuss your legal options in a confidential manner. Call us to discuss your case and legal options (415) 534-1911.

Human rights violations:

False Imprisonment

  • Fred Collins Jr., a 19-year-old, was forcefully enrolled in Straight Inc. He had initially been there to visit a family member who was enrolled in the program by his parents. Upon arrival, he was kept in a windowless room for 6+1⁄2 hours, and the staff refused to let him leave until he agreed to enroll in the program. At one program in New Mexico called Tierra Blanca Ranch, the authorities found that the adolescent clients had been shackled and handcuffed.

Forced Labor

  • Numerous troubled teen programs have been reported to engage in the practice of compelled labor, wherein program participants are required to perform physically demanding tasks such as wood chopping and horse manure shoveling.

Stress positions

  • In certain instances, troubled teen programs have employed a torture technique known as ‘stress positions’ as a form of discipline against their clients.

Strip searches

  • Many troubled teen programs conduct forced strip searches against the will of adolescent clients.

Solitary confinement

  • Numerous troubled teen programs, including the well-known Provo Canyon School, have faced allegations of employing solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure. Solitary confinement is a controversial practice that involves isolating individuals from social contact and is the subject of extensive debate regarding its ethical and psychological implications. Additionally, the now-defunct program known as Tranquility Bay, located in Jamaica, has also been reported to have utilized solitary confinement as part of its disciplinary methods. This practice has garnered considerable attention and criticism from various quarters.

Psychological abuse

  • Numerous reports have surfaced, documenting instances of psychological abuse inflicted upon clients within troubled teen programs. One particularly disturbing example of such abuse involves mock executions, wherein students were coerced into digging their own graves as part of a psychologically distressing exercise. These allegations highlight the gravity of ethical concerns within these programs and have sparked significant scrutiny and criticism from various quarters.

👉 You can report TTI abuse to our law firm and discuss your legal options in a confidential manner. Call us to discuss your case and legal options (415) 534-1911.

Regulatory Laws

Utah, California, Oregon, Montana, and Missouri have all enacted laws aimed at increasing oversight of troubled teen facilities.

Utah’s law was proposed in 2021 after noted celebrity Paris Hilton came out with her story about her experience at Provo Canyon School. Hilton’s testimony triggered a state investigation into the facility, and she later advocated for the law when it was in the process of being passed.

In the United States Congress, bills were proposed to regulate troubled teen facilities every year from 2007 to 2018.

In 2021, the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was passed by the House of Representatives.

As of July 2023, it has not been passed by the Senate.

Timeline of Troubled Teen Programs: A History of Controversy and Calls for Change

  • 1967: CEDU High School is founded by Mel Wasserman, a former Synanon member, in Running Springs, CA.
  • May 30, 1970: The Élan School is founded by Joe Ricci, a former resident of Daytop Village, in Naples, ME.
  • February 16, 1982: Nancy Reagan visits Straight, Inc. in Florida.
  • December 27, 1982: Philip Williams Jr dies in Elan School boxing ring.
  • May 26, 1983: A federal jury awards a Straight, Inc. patient $220,000 after finding said patient to have been falsely imprisoned by the foundation.
  • November 11, 1985: Princess Diana and Nancy Reagan visit Straight, Inc.
  • 1987: Scientology’s troubled teen program, called Mace-Kingsley Ranch School, opens in California.
  • January 15, 1995: Aaron Bacon dies from acute peritonitis whilst attending the North Star Wilderness Program in Utah.
  • December 21, 1996: Craig Fisher is sentenced over his role in Aaron Bacon’s death.
  • 1998: Robert Lichfield creates World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.
  • 1999: National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs is founded.
  • February 2001: 14-year-old Ryan Lewis committed suicide whilst enrolled at Alldredge Academy in West Virginia.
  • July 2001: 14-year-old Tony Haynes was forced to eat dirt before dying at a desert boot camp for teenagers.
  • July 15, 2002: Ian August dies while attending the Skyline Journey Wilderness Program in Utah.
  • December 25, 2002: A 17-year-old girl named Kiley Jaquays falls to her death while visiting the Bloomington Caves in Utah with her residential treatment center Integrity House.
  • May 23, 2003: Costa Rican government officials shut down the Academy at Dundee Ranch, a behavior modification program run by the US-based company World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools.
  • February 8, 2004: 16-year-old Daniel Yeun goes missing from CEDU High School in the state of California.
  • October 2004: Karlye Newman committed suicide at Spring Creek Lodge Academy.
  • 2006: Yang Yongxin establishes an “Internet-addiction camp” inside the Fourth Hospital of Linyi in China and begins practicing electroconvulsive therapy.
  • February 8, 2013: The hacking collective group Anonymous launches a campaign against the troubled teen industry calling it #OpTTIabuse.
  • November 2015, 10 teenagers were arrested due to a riot at Copper Hills Youth Center in Utah.
  • February 2017, 16-year-old Ben Jackson commits suicide at Montana Academy.
  • July 10, 2019: Red Rock Canyon School in Utah closes after a riot breaks out in April 2019.
  • April 2020, 16-year-old Cornelius Fredericks died whilst being restrained.
  • October 9, 2020: American socialite Paris Hilton and other former residents of Provo Canyon School lead a silent protest against the school in Provo, Utah.
  • August 31, 2022: Agape Baptist Academy is served an indictment for transporting a California teenager and violating protection order.
  • January 11, 2023: Agape Baptist Academy announces plans for permanent closure.

Seeking Compensation and Justice

Programs for troubled teenagers have come under fire for not providing evidence-based treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy or trauma- and violence-informed care.

The majority of troubled teen programs, or at least most of them, have a common ancestor that descends from Synanon and employs “the game,” which is a group attack therapy session.

Furthermore, a form of primal therapy—a discredited therapeutic approach that entails reenacting traumatic and painful events like rape—is employed by certain TTI programs.

The troubled teen industry, also known as the ‘tough love’ or ‘behavior modification’ industry, consists of a network of residential treatment centers, wilderness programs, boot camps, and other facilities that claim to help “troubled” teenagers. These programs often use coercive and abusive tactics to control and “fix” teenagers, which can result in severe emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

The legal team at the Potter Handy Law Firm is committed to exposing the abusive practices of these facilities and protecting troubled teenagers from those practices.

Our company has been working in the legal industry for more than 25 years, and we want to put our experience to use by assisting with the litigation of cases involving abuse in the industry that serves troubled teens.

We recognize how important it is to hold these facilities responsible for their actions, and we intend to do so in order to bring justice to those who have been harmed at their hands.

👉 You can report TTI abuse to our law firm and discuss your legal options in a confidential manner. Call us to discuss your case and legal options (415) 534-1911.