.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

  by Wesley Fager (c) 2000 

Unwarranted restraints.   According to a Floida state health inspection report done on the Sembler-based synanon SAFE in Orlando, Florida  SAFE  reported restraint rate of 29 in 1 month compared to a restraint rate of 1 in 3 months at all other juvenile residential drug treatment programs combined in the same state health district in which it operated!    Richard Bradbury, a former Straight counselor, assisted by some former Straight clients, demonstrates a chair restraint and a floor restraint  for Channel 8 News Watch, Tampa, Florida. 

A boy named Bobby by Ginger Warbis.   (Ms. Warbis is a former client of Straight-Sarasota, 1982)   Bobby was a 14 year old boy, growing fast. I'd stayed in his home as a foster sister to Bobby's sister Cathy. Bobby had recently run away and been found weeks later sleeping out in the cold in an abandoned hotel near the beach. When he was captured by former clients and returned to the program, he was half starved, fatigued and none too happy to see us. Bobby refused to concede that he needed to be in the program. And that was the one unforgivable sin. In retribution for his sin, ostensibly to save his life by bringing him to his senses, Staff ordered a line of treatment euphemistically termed "Time Out". TR (Timeout Room) meant that the client was taken out of group and placed in one of four large closets, maybe six or seven feet square. Three or more other clients were selected from the group to provide intense "confrontation" therapy. The TR upstairs just under the aluminum roof and almost out of ear-shot to the group was particularly uncomfortable in the Florida Summertime and was usually reserved for the real hard cases. This is where Bobby was taken.  Staff would hand down the sentence pretty much on a whim after having the client stand up for confrontation by the group. Staff would ask the group "Who wants to take so-and-so to TR?" It was a rhetorical question as the slightest perceived lack of enthusiasm for anything that Staff asked was tantamount to treason and might be met with swift and severe punishment. Or it might not; uncertainty is an important ingredient in this recipe. Bobby's "Time Out" was the most brutal and sadistic event that I have ever witnessed. As I recall, it lasted for two & a half to three days. During that time, Bobby was subjected to constant verbal and physical abuse at the hands of three to six other male clients, each replaced after a few hours by another client selected from the group by Staff. During TR, the client was usually forced to remain standing, often denied food, water, sleep and every human dignity up to and including the "privilege" of using the bathroom. A couple of times a day, Staff would order Bobby to be trotted out in front of the group where various other clients would be selected to "confront" him about his problem, unwillingness to "be honest" about the "objective reality" of his current stature as a worthless, filthy druggie piece of shit and his need for "rehabilitation".

The overall effect of this exercise was to re-enforce in his mind that the group was solidly behind whatever was going on inside that tiny room. The effect on the group was to re-enforce in our minds just exactly what might happen to any of us, including his big sister, should we choose to break ranks. By the middle of the second day, I'm pretty sure the effect was lost on Bobby. He was gaunt, glassy eyed, slack jawed and unable to remain standing without the assistance of the clients providing his "confrontation therapy". I don't even think he was aware of his surroundings. Over the past 17 years, Bobby's face has hung in my mind. I've often wondered what happened to him; if he ever got over the trauma, if his parents ever realized their grave error or if he even survived.

Robert and Jeff at Straight-Saint Petersburg.   On March 2, 1992 Robert Curtis D.  wrote a letter to Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) alleging  abuses at he says he received at Straight.   He reported that in June 1989 he  had worn the same shirt for three days and so requested to change it but his old comer refused. So, he claims,  he removed his old comer's hand from  his belt  loop to change the shirt anyway.   Reinforcements were called, he alleges,  and he was thrown to the floor and knocked unconscious.  He says he was carried to the hospital which did a cat scan, administered three stitches, and determined he had a concussion. This was only one of approximately five concussions Robert claims he  received and which required him to be taken to a hospital while at Straight.  Jeff Wade M. graduated Straight-Saint Petersburg  on August 25, 1989. He wrote a letter to HRS on March 3, 1992 stating he could confirm some of Robert Curtis D.'s  allegations. He wrote that one female staff member would grab her crotch or breast in front of the boys and say things like "bite this".  He reported that two girls had escaped but were returned by the police.  He alleges that a female staff member asked them probing sexual questions like, "How big were they?",  "Did you like it?",  and "Did  you get off?"  Jeff Wade reported that his family had been struggling.  That his father was recuperating from open heart surgery, his mother had been released from a treatment facility herself, and his grandmother was terminally ill in the hospital.  He reported to HRS that he was informed by a Straight official (Author: name with held by me)  that he could not progress in the program until his parents opened up their home as a host home. (Author:  the official named later helped found her own Straight-like program.) 

In  the Spring of 2000 a former Straight student named Kathy Martin created an  Internet discussion  forum for former Straight students which is currently being managed by Ginger Warbis, another former Straight student.   Thanks to the efforts of these two courageous women we now have a better understanding on just what special treatments Straight kids are subjected too.  Here are some of their stories.

Pegasus: I remember trying to run, getting caught and being put into a room with about 10 girls... a little room in a corner where extra chairs were stored..  When I came out 10 hours later, I was beaten, bloodied, bruised with a split in my head and a concussion. My sweet foster mom [called program officials] and begged them to let me see a doctor. She was told to forget what she saw. Marti:  [I was] forced to drink a gallon of water in fifteen seconds till I threw up.   Forced to watch a beating.  Fired as a Staff trainee  because I refused to beat up a first phasor.  [I saw] people tied up and gagged in back room while Ms. Reagan was there.   [Forced to] exercise till you pass out.  Had my leg broken.  Shannon: In Orlando the misbehavers were always picked up by their arms and legs and carried into one of the intake rooms. Then they would slam you on the floor as hard as possible. I don't know what happen to them in there because they would always close the door,  but I can still hear one girl screaming. Kathy:  Remember those damn "bust ass" raps. .  . Remember, summertime in St. Pete, 90 degrees minimum outside, no windows, heat blasting on the inside, non-stop "bust-ass motivating" for only God knows how long. Big commercial size trash cans in the back for people to throw up in, people hyperventilating, people passing out, people sweating all over people,  misbehaving people getting sat on etc... Crazyjane: After I got out I ran into one staff member, and there may have been more, who quit after an incident at Straight in which a guy was made to wear diapers in group. Just diapers. Shannon: 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, 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 13 years old. Jennifer: When at was in Straight at 11 years old, my twin sister was in there with me. The staff felt it was not in our best interest for our recovery "from smoking pot once" that we see, talk or touch each other. There she was sitting only feet away, and I couldn't even look at her without getting confronted. Not only did I share a bedroom with her my whole life up till then, but a womb for nine months. I would have to sit and watch her get restrained and not be able to do anything about it but get restrained with her. God, that hurt! Kathy: As usual I don't remember what the reason was . . . but I remember feeling terrible because they literally leashed him (put a rope around him for the old comer to hang on to while walking him around the building to clean their toilets) and gave him a toothbrush to scrub the bathrooms. Ginger: I remember a couple of girls with scoliosis being made to grin and bear it. People who claimed to be hypoglycemic were given about as much consideration as those who threatened suicide. But no one was ever allowed to skip exercise rap unless they were on a higher phase and had some credibility. The one time I actually hit someone I was having a severe asthma attack and she had been poking me in the back trying to make me run (I'd been complying to the best of my ability by walking). And I remember a time, don't remember who this person was, but I was on 5th phase and this girl was asking to go to the bathroom to puke and then to lie down. A PT determined that she was faking, and I pointed out that I didn't think she was faking the blue lips and pale complexion. Maybe that's why I never 7th stepped. ScottM: The ScottK kid on the video had his leg broken while I was in school.  I still have his crutches I think. He was my newcomer for a while until he finally got pulled. I always like him, the group was terrified of him because he didn't fuck around when he got restrained, he fought hard!! I saw him kick a kid's two front teeth (accidentally) THROUGH his lower lip. Al: There was a seventh stepper who would speak at parents meetings and public recruitments who was crippled. He had lost the use of one of his arms and after he had given his "introduction" at these speaking engagements, he would reveal that his infirmity was caused by nerve damage resulting from being restrained on the floor for long periods of time. Then he would claim he was grateful that Straight had cared enough to ignore the fact they were crippling him and claim if they hadn't, he would be dead, or insane etc. Kathy: My  mother's best "straight" friend only got upset one time, that was when her husband walked into the bathroom in the front office and found their son on a leash cleaning the bathroom floors with a toothbrush.   One other thing that happened to this family  the daughter was put on the infamous peanut butter diet. Staff just (supposedly) "forgot" to take her off of it. Her blood levels dropped so low that she had to be taken to the doctors. The sibling of the family, who was the youngest and the only one who never went in the program but grew up living the program . . .  ended up being the one who messed her life up the most. She grew up in Straight, then ended up a prostitute, a heroin addict and a single mother of a baby who almost starved to death. She finally went into a program for heroine addict mothers, so she could take better care of her baby. Today she is going to law school. She went into treatment voluntarily and it wasn't into Straight and it wasn't anything like Straight and lo and behold, the one who really ended up having a drug problem, got straight anyway!!! Ken:  [On students with mental problems].   It took no rocket scientist to see that these people were special, and were emotionally challenged before they even sat foot in that place.  I remember 3 of the 4 at various times urinating in their pants and to top that, they were "confronted" for their actions. I remember all 4 having limited vocabularies, and had no clue as to what was going on at all. I remember that all 4 of these people at one time to another, would be stood up to keep them from falling asleep in group.  Then there was the time that one of these 4 that stood up during lunch "rap", and threw an apple at a staff members back ( bulls eye!!! ) I might add, was "confronted" for her "bad" behavior.   God bless her. Also at some time during this individual's stay at "Straight", "Staff" had the profound idea to "freeze" this individual on her  "phases", so now that individual would stand up with her arms and legs perfectly stiff yelling "I'M FROZEN!!, I'M FROZEN!!", so the people around her gently as they could, sat her down. Pegasus: [Sue]  was from Crystal River... a very tiny, thin, petite girl with long white-blond hair and the look of a frightened deer to her.  She had only done like alcohol  and pot . . . After a few months she broke down and admitted that her father had been sexually molesting her since she was 7 (she was 15 when she came in).  I am sure you all know the routine of destroying a person there . . .  suffice to say within a couple of months she "accepted all blame for what she had done" and apologized to her father for being such a tramp and "causing" him to do that.  She was thoroughly broken . . .  I have always thought of her and hope against hope she someday got the help she so desperately needed.  Shannon: On my third day in the program the air conditioning went out. It was so hot in there. While we were in line to go home I passed out from the heat. The girl who had me belt looped let me fall flat on my face.  The next day they accused me of making myself pass out so I could go to a hospital and cop out. They never called a doctor or ambulance. I tried to explain that I am claustrophobic and being put in line like we were ( with your toes touching the heels of the person in front of you) along with the heat made me pass out. I had a nasty bruise on my cheek from falling. They always confronted me about this and told me to get honest. Scott: There were lots of "Special People" in Straight while I was there. There were also some seriously mentally ill folks. I had the unsavory responsibility of taking one to be evaluated by a psychiatrist. He was on first phase and I was on 5th. A 3rd phasor was sent to help. We were given all sorts of explicit instructions including that we were not to hold his belt loop once we were away from the building.  Once at the shrinks office we had to be in the room with the client and the shrink. We were there for hours. It was rather late at night when we got back. The building was shut down.  During the interview I remember feeling more and more afraid. The client was from the Boston area and was really whacked. He had seen a few people killed from what I remember of his rantings in between cackling and sobbing.  The next day he was gone. M. L.  did a debriefing with me and the 3rd phasor while D.M. listened and took notes on what we reported. We were then told to never speak of it again. This is the first time I have since then.   My host brother was "special." Heart of Gold and dumber than dirt. They fucked him up pretty bad too. Thea: You said I was worthless, you told me I was a liar, a druggie whore, and an addict. I am still standing here today, and I am not any of those things you tried so hard to force me to believe. But then, I never was. I am a responsible adult, mother, wife, student. Reid Martin: I also had another huge "foster-brother?" named Bob S.. He endured horrible surgery (without pain relievers) to remove a huge tattoo on his forearm. His skin was cut and peeled away from his wrist to his elbow and all he could have was antibiotics. I'll bet he's pissed now. I remember thinking how awful and painful that was for him, and how badly he must have wanted to prove himself to the staff. There was another guy with mushroom tattoos in St. Pete that always wore long sleeves, even in the summer. He spoke of having them removed, but, now I remember that no one could take any type of pain relief, regardless. Thea: I saw lots of folks sick, I mean no major illnesses but sore throats, vomiting and fevers  all of which were met with no compassion.  I can say personally that I have always had a mitral valve prolapse (heart murmur) and although it has never caused me any problems it is of crucial importance that any infections (i.e., strep throat) be treated promptly. I walked around for two weeks with a sore  throat and fever  and despite my requests to see the doctor,  I  never did. They told me I "made up" the entire heart murmur thing.  Funny, my mother swears she told them, go figure. Scott: When I was on third phase, I began throwing up. I could not keep my food down at all. I lost tons of weight and became very weak. Staff's solution was to initially put me in the back of group with a bucket. I was constantly spitting up and making other people sick too. Soon I was moved to the infirmary with the guy who had hepatitis. I had stayed with him and his family several times and since puking was part of what he did, they started telling me I probably had hepatitis. I was a little confused as to how I could have contracted it since I knew the type Mike had came from a dirty needle and I had never shot any thing. I was told I had contracted it from bong water. Soon I was put on a set back and I was confronted about allowing myself to get a disease from my drug use. When I was finally permitted to get some blood work done it was negative. I eventually stopped puking and moved on. Kathy: The other girl was a young 12 year old girl. She was a severe diabetic and used to give herself insulin shots throughout the day. She was a step-sister to a couple of girls in the program who 7-stepped but she did not complete the program. I wonder what happened to her. They always made a big issue of her diabetes and her having to "shoot up". Reid-Martin:   When I arrived at Straight in March of '82, I noticed other people digging long strings of "goop" out of there eyes. I remember thinking how gross it was. Within a few months, I had it too. That stuff has continued to discharge from my eyes for the 18 years since. . .   with the addition of an antibiotic specifically designed for staph infection, that goop is finally going away. . . The "goop" is called "terminal mucous". I have also had many recurrent bladder and Gastrointestinal infections.  Pegasus: I have been diagnosed with Migraines since I was 10, yet was never allowed medical treatment when suffering an attack. I was told that was because we should learn to solve our problems [without] using drugs. Pegasus : I vaguely remember a girl who had 7th stepped just as I entered  who had cancer but refused all treatment. She died at 17 years old, but by God, she was drug free! Pegasus:  Being punished by going for 4 months solid where the only food I was allowed was 1 cup of water, 2 slices of bread and a tablespoon of peanut butter... got that 3 times a day... and my mother thrilled because I had lost weight. Then being confronted, taunted and called names because I was caught trying to steal a bite of food off a plate being passed down. Pegasus: The constipation versus the limited bathroom time etc contributed to my being diagnosed with both Irritable Bowel and irritable Bladder Syndromes within 2 years after leaving. Ken:  I remember for instance an old comer of mine asking me if I "deserved to eat??", Fred:  Being constipated for 14+ days and having C. P.,  [a fellow student]  trying make me shove something up my ass while the other newcomers watched.   Fred: the 'bust ass' rap sessions where people passed-out and sat in their own urine Kathy: We were forced to hold it or wet ourselves. One of my worst moments was after my first open meeting, in St. Pete ('82). People who were there will remember that our open meetings, because of the huge amount of people there in group would last very, very late into the night. Then we would have those after the open meeting raps that would usually last until 2 or 3:00 in the morning. Well, even though the last time we were allowed to use the bathrooms was I believe after "dinner rap", that was it. No more going to the bathroom. Well because I had only been there for 3 days, my bladder was not yet trained to go only 2 times a day in group. So I'm trying to tell someone anyone that I have to go, and I'm not kidding. I'm on the front row in between two old comers, trying to get the fifth phasor's attention, she sees me, but shakes her head, "no". I persist in raising my hand (ya know the waving your 5 fingers in front of you) indicating, this matter is urgent. The fifth phasors are saying no, the old comers begin to look mad and give me a look and "kindly" put my waving hand down on my knees. Oh crap, I think to myself, no one is listening to me and I feel like killing this b**** who is sitting next to me, then it happens, I say oh ****! So the old comers next to me say loudly, "shhhhh!" Getting the attention of the staff (ya know the rap leaders), just in time for me to wet all over myself. Yup, that was pretty damned humiliating at 15 years old. But I guess they showed me who was in charge. I think that was their point, but who knows. Well my accident finally got a fifth phasors attention and I was finally allowed to go to the bathroom (Well, thanks a lot) She brought me to the bathroom and gave me some brown cords to wear that were about 5 sizes too big and clashed terribly with whatever shirt I had on. Nothing like advertising to the whole world (group) that I had just peed my pants. Lorraine: One time in a girl's rap, I was sharing about date rape, and was confronted and was told I needed to share the truth - that I was really a "slut", and that this was really "all my fault". I was screamed at for even attempting to blame the guy. I turned on the fake words and fake feelings to stop being confronted and get through the rest of the rap, but I was really hurt and confused by that. Raps were not for sharing feelings, but for further enforcing what scum we really were. It's just another proof to me that this was not therapy, but all about brainwashing, and beating us down.

To see additional cases of alleged child abuse at Straights and some Straight-like treatment camps by camp,  click here and then click on the  desired facility or organization  shown in the diagram.  

To see additional information on alleged abuses at Straights and some Straight-like treatment camps by newspaper articles:  click  here for newspaper montage 1 and here for newspaper montage 2.

This web page is offered as a public service and as an educational resource to those interested in learning about the potential dangers of abusive Straight-based synanons.   The page is the on-line publishing arm of the Oakton Institute for Cultic Studies.