|
"While
I was in Orlando there was a
girl that had bleeding ulcers. I
will never forget her or how
sick she was.
She vomited blood
constantly, at first they would
make her sit in group with a
bucket (in case she had to get
sick). They eventually let her
lay down in one of the time out
rooms but they left the
door open so she could hear the
raps. Then she started having
nosebleeds. She went to the
doctor several times but
she kept getting worse.
I was her old comer once
on an out-of-town weekend when
she started vomiting a lot of
blood on Saturday. morning. The
host mom called staff and told
them that she needed to go to a
hospital. Staff told her that
this girl did this all the time
and that she would be fine until
Monday. That weekend I spent a
lot of time with
her. I can remember
her looking at me and telling me
that they were going to let her
die. Of course I told her she
would be fine, but I honestly
thought she was going to die and
I couldn't help her.
I'm not sure how it
happened but she finally got to
a hospital and was
admitted. She stayed at
least a week. Her parents stayed
with her and there was no
"Straight
supervision".
When she was released
from the hospital I was
sent to bring her back to the
building. She looked a lot
better but she was still really
sick. Her parents took her out
of Straight the next day.
I forgot to mention this
girl was 13ywars old.
| Shannon,
a former
student
at
Straight-Orlando,
from a
post on
Kathy
Martin's
Internet
forum
|
|
In
1989 200 pound, 16 year-old Rob Dell told a reporter he
was used to restrain other children at Straight-Orlando,
slamming them to the ground, hitting them as they went
down. Ron Markam, a building superintendent reports he saw them
hold a girl down while water dripped onto her face (the
Chinese water torture). /A
15 year-old girl with a green belt in karate said she
was used to restrain others for things like talking out
of turn. One day, she says, there was a rap named
"Who is garbage today?" She says they placed
garbage on a seat next to her and handed her some saying
this is your "Academy Award." She started
crying. Straight-Orlando program
administrator Michael E. Scaletta admitted that the
rap did occur, but "they didn’t use
garbage", he says, "just wadded up
paper."[1] Mr.
Scaletta had come to Straight-Orlando in June 1988
as the assistant administrator for financial
services. Just prior to Straight Mr. Scaletta had
been the business administrator for another
company. His resume prior to becoming
administrator for Straight-Orlando shows a major in
Business Administration--but does not indicate he
graduated. Before
replacing Michelle Spisak as director of Straight-Orlando
Michael Scaletta had been a pretty
big player for Straight's corporate offices and was
aware of allegations of abuses at other
Straights. It would be Mr. Scaletta who would
sign for Straight a July 6, 1990 consent agreement with
the state of Virginia which described 18 specific
elements which Straight must demonstrate compliance in,
in order for the state to withdraw its notice of intent
to renew Straight’s license for violation of human
rights. In 1991 Mr. Scaletta was on the distribution of
the McClure letter informing Straight that its’ Boston
license would not be renewed because of child abuse
violations.[2]
On December 12, 1991 Straight-Orlando’s license was
placed on a temporary status until April 1, 1992, at
which time it was reinstated. According to one published
account, while state investigators questioned
clients, Mr. Scaletta allegedly told "misbehavers"
that if they did not tell the state investigators about
the abuse at Straight-Orlando, he would give them two
days to play games after the investigation was over.[3]
On August 14, 1992
Straight-Orlando closed down. On that very day Michael
Scaletta opened Substance Abuse Family Education, Inc.
(SAFE), which uses many of the program methods developed
or perfected by Straight such as motivating. The
SAFE facility was leased from Straight. Loretta Parrish, who had been
Straight-Orlando's marketing director, joined
him. Just prior to joining Straight she had worked
in real estate and had developed Muffler Man, Inc.
A 1993 document shows her collegiate education to be
in Business Management but does not claim
she has a degree in it. Today she is the Owner and Executive Director of
SAFE.
A Florida HRS site visit report of SAFE
(a Sembler-based synanon in Orlando, Florida) conducted between July 6 - 8
and July 13 - 15, 1993 found that during the 30 day period leading up to the
state investigation there had been approximately 29 "reported"
incidents of restraint while only 1 reported incidence of restraint at all other
juvenile drug rehabs in the district combined! In 1993 HRS notified SAFE that
the state would impose fines on SAFE for violations of administrative code in
particular those revolving around excessive use of restraints. SAFE
felt it was being harassed by the state's health
inspectors and sued the state.
Subsequently, in 1994, the state of
Florida came into an agreement with SAFE which
includes, in part, the following
stipulation:
| "HRS agrees that
any of its child abuse
protective investigators who
have investigated reports of
abuse or neglect involving
clients or staff of the now
closed STRAIGHT program shall
not be assigned to investigate
allegations of abuse or neglect
at S.A.F.E. Any current
investigations involving such
HRS protective investigators
shall be reassigned to other HRS
personnel."[4]
|
On April 2, 1996
Administrative Hearing Officer Mary Clark, basing her decision in part on the
Growing Together vs HRS decision of January 22, 1994 and on Straight vs HRS in
1986 ruled in favor of SAFE.[5]
Today Florida has the infamous Marchman Act which allows for kids to be placed into
a rehab for a 90 day observation period with the force of a court order. Lucy
Moore, a former SAFE client, told this writer that she had been ordered into
SAFE under four separate Marchman Acts! SAFE has been endorsed by Florida
Governor Jeb Bush.
But then it seems like Straights and some of their descendents
have frequently been at odds with the state agencies
empowered to regulate them. See the full story at Behind
the Tallahassee Curtain.
Footnotes:
1. Orlando Sentinel, 8-13-89, p. B1.
2. Letter from Bette McClure,
Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human
Services, Director Substitute Care Licensing Program,
OFC to Debra Dragton, Straight-Boston dated May 3, 1991.
3. "American ‘Drug War’
Fallacy: Straight, Inc." by Richard Bradbury and
John Foley in Strategies for Change, New Directions
in Drug Policy by The Drug Policy Foundation Press,
p. 274.
4. Ninth Judicial Circuit Court,
Orange County, Florida, March 17, 1994, Case No. CI
94-407, paragraph 9, pp. 9 - 10.
5. Florida Division of
Administrative Hearings, case numbers 94-0093 and 95-0659RX |
