THE INMATES RUNNING THE ASYLUM

U.S. Youths Rebel at Harsh School in Costa Rica (TIM WEINER, May 27, 2003, NY Times)

Dundee Ranch, the latest foreign outpost in a far-flung affiliation of behavior modification programs that promises to convert troubled American teenagers into straight arrows, lasted 19 months before the students rose up in revolt and overthrew their masters.

The rebellion erupted after Costa Rican officials visited the ranch--an old hotel on a rutted red-dirt road--and told the children of their rights after complaints about the program from a former director.

"They told us you have the right to speak, you have the right to speak to your parents, you have the right to leave if you feel you've been mistreated," said Hugh Maxwell, 17, of Rhode Island. "Kids heard that and they started running for the door. There was elation, cheering and clapping and chaos. People were crying."

Adults beat some of the children to quell the uprising, according to six people present. The academy's owner, Narvin Lichfield, was jailed for 30 hours, may face criminal charges and has been ordered by a judge to remain in Costa Rica. Four staff members feared by the children are being deported to Jamaica, government officials said. Most of the children are going home, many to an uncertain future. [...]

"I can't say the program did no good," said Dustin Sanow, 17, of Mississippi, "but it's pretty traumatic. Parents have no idea what's going on. I feel they manipulated my folks."

His mother, Anita Sanow, an Air Force major, did not find out that Dundee Ranch had collapsed until Sunday afternoon. "I feel that people were less than honest with me about the program," she said. "I feel they misrepresented things. I feel like the dollar mattered more than the kids."

Dustin's friend Hugh Maxwell said: "I support the program. It provides you with a chance to change. But it deprives you of so much, too. It's a last resort. It's desperation."

If it weren't traumatic is there any reason to believe it would reach the kids? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 27, 2003 8:33 AM