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1
00:00:13,535 --> 00:00:15,537
[man] Where would you all be
if you weren't here?
2
00:00:15,580 --> 00:00:16,799
Where would you end up?
3
00:00:18,322 --> 00:00:22,631
You'd either be in jail,
in a hospital or dead, okay?
4
00:00:22,674 --> 00:00:25,068
It's time to take
your life seriously.
5
00:00:25,112 --> 00:00:26,200
Get your feelings off.
6
00:00:26,243 --> 00:00:27,723
You worthless piece of shit!
7
00:00:27,766 --> 00:00:29,072
You're nobody to me!
8
00:00:29,116 --> 00:00:31,553
I'll fucking slay you, you
foreign motherfucker!
9
00:00:31,596 --> 00:00:33,207
You piece of shit!
10
00:00:33,250 --> 00:00:35,861
I'll tear your fucking limb off
and beat you fucking with it!
11
00:00:35,905 --> 00:00:38,821
Piece of shit asshole, I'll
fucking kill you!
12
00:00:38,864 --> 00:00:41,432
I don't give a fuck
who you are, you're nobody!
13
00:00:41,476 --> 00:00:44,218
You're stuck here for good,
and I'll makes sure of that!
14
00:00:44,261 --> 00:00:46,046
Fuck you!
15
00:00:57,231 --> 00:00:59,711
My parents tell me,
they're like,
16
00:00:59,755 --> 00:01:02,062
"Well, next week we're going to
look at boarding schools
17
00:01:02,105 --> 00:01:06,022
and just packing up
stuff for a week or whatever,
18
00:01:06,066 --> 00:01:09,112
and we're just going to go look
at two or three
different schools."
19
00:01:09,156 --> 00:01:10,418
So I was like, "Okay, cool."
20
00:01:12,289 --> 00:01:14,117
Called my friends, I was
like, "Oh, I'm going
to be gone for a week.
21
00:01:14,161 --> 00:01:16,380
I'll see you in like a week,
da da da da."
22
00:01:16,424 --> 00:01:18,817
Packed a bag,
took all my music with me
23
00:01:18,861 --> 00:01:20,906
because I ain't go anywhere
without my music.
24
00:01:21,646 --> 00:01:25,737
Left everything else behind,
and I'm like,
25
00:01:25,781 --> 00:01:27,696
"Well, I thought we were going
to Massachusetts."
26
00:01:27,739 --> 00:01:29,915
And my parents were like,
"The plane is going to Maine."
27
00:01:35,878 --> 00:01:37,923
[woman] I did not want to go up
to Maine.
28
00:01:37,967 --> 00:01:41,623
I'd already heard a little bit
about it ahead of time,
29
00:01:41,666 --> 00:01:46,845
and I knew it was going to
be very strict, though I didn't
know just how strict.
30
00:01:47,585 --> 00:01:51,894
It used to be that we had bad
kids who were locked away in
reform schools,
31
00:01:51,937 --> 00:01:55,245
and sick kids who were locked
away in mental hospitals,
32
00:01:55,289 --> 00:01:58,640
but in the past decade we've
been seeking an alternative.
33
00:01:59,206 --> 00:02:02,644
Instead of simply
punishing unacceptable behavior,
34
00:02:02,687 --> 00:02:05,864
we've been looking for ways to
change that behavior.
35
00:02:06,430 --> 00:02:10,478
This facility called Elan claims
to be able to do that.
36
00:02:11,566 --> 00:02:13,176
Why was I sent there?
37
00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:14,395
That's heavy, man.
38
00:02:15,222 --> 00:02:16,832
Why was I in Elan?
39
00:02:20,183 --> 00:02:22,359
[man] From a very young age
40
00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,276
things
went very badly for me.
41
00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,628
[woman] I was pretty angry and confused about a lot of things,
42
00:02:30,672 --> 00:02:34,066
and I was just constantly trying to distract myself.
43
00:02:34,110 --> 00:02:36,460
So yeah, I was... whatever drugs
I can get a hold of.
44
00:02:36,504 --> 00:02:39,289
If that was what it was, or just
not going to school.
45
00:02:39,333 --> 00:02:43,815
Freshman year I'm trying to
think, I put roaches in a girl's
purse as a prank.
46
00:02:43,859 --> 00:02:47,428
Pre-lunch, so
she'd open them and whatever.
47
00:02:47,471 --> 00:02:49,778
The school charged me with
assault for that.
48
00:02:49,821 --> 00:02:52,868
[Peter] Well, I was always in
trouble with the law
49
00:02:52,911 --> 00:02:55,479
when I was eight or
nine years old.
50
00:02:55,523 --> 00:02:58,830
If you had
something that I wanted I'd
break in your house
51
00:02:58,874 --> 00:03:00,354
when you
weren't there and take it.
52
00:03:00,397 --> 00:03:02,660
I got jumped by a couple
juniors.
53
00:03:02,704 --> 00:03:05,620
I beat the fuck out of
one kid who started it,
54
00:03:05,663 --> 00:03:08,710
and they
charged me with assault and
battery for that.
55
00:03:09,406 --> 00:03:14,324
And then just
a whole litany of bullshit like
that pretty much.
56
00:03:14,368 --> 00:03:18,154
It was all the
same like instigating a fight
or being involved in this.
57
00:03:18,198 --> 00:03:21,897
Me, I could get laid,
58
00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:24,334
smoke a
lot of bud, enjoy myself,
59
00:03:24,378 --> 00:03:27,294
have good music like the Gifts
of the Grateful Dead.
60
00:03:27,337 --> 00:03:30,732
I know for me it was pretty much
about getting as fucked up as
you could,
61
00:03:30,775 --> 00:03:34,779
dancing as hard as
you could for as long as you
could and listening to music.
62
00:03:34,823 --> 00:03:38,566
[man] Or I could go home be in
bed at 10 o'clock, get up at
6:00, go to school.
63
00:03:38,609 --> 00:03:39,828
You know.
64
00:03:39,871 --> 00:03:41,786
It was a no-brainer,
65
00:03:41,830 --> 00:03:46,269
it was just when you start at 12
they get kind of a little pissy
about it.
66
00:03:46,313 --> 00:03:48,489
[woman] I started using drugs
when I was 13.
67
00:03:48,532 --> 00:03:51,361
If you consider marijuana a
drug, I was 13.
68
00:03:51,405 --> 00:03:55,670
I snorted coke when I was 14 at
some house party I was at.
69
00:03:55,713 --> 00:03:57,454
Prior to me going to Elan,
70
00:03:57,498 --> 00:04:01,153
I was mostly
smoking pot and eating acid,
drinking occasionally.
71
00:04:01,197 --> 00:04:04,287
Drinking was getting really
dangerous and out of control.
72
00:04:04,331 --> 00:04:06,158
About a month
before I went to Elan,
73
00:04:06,202 --> 00:04:08,639
I ran away off a home pass
from a psych hospital
74
00:04:08,683 --> 00:04:11,251
and stole a bunch of beer out of
the back of a restaurant,
75
00:04:11,294 --> 00:04:13,122
and they found
me on a friend's driveway.
76
00:04:13,165 --> 00:04:14,515
I...
77
00:04:15,342 --> 00:04:18,345
While on lithium and Prozac I
drank all this beer
78
00:04:18,388 --> 00:04:21,130
and just basically
passed out on their lawn.
They thought I was dead.
79
00:04:21,173 --> 00:04:26,701
When I found out about
Peter's heroin use, I was very
scared for him.
80
00:04:26,744 --> 00:04:31,575
[Peter] My mother came in my
room, and my friend and I were
shooting up.
81
00:04:31,619 --> 00:04:35,013
[Liz] I ratted him out because
I was that scared.
82
00:04:35,057 --> 00:04:37,842
[Alec] I was going to buy Bud
for my girlfriend,
83
00:04:37,886 --> 00:04:40,497
and I was getting me
Adderall for tests and shit.
84
00:04:40,541 --> 00:04:44,980
I got pinched with that, it was
like a quarter of weed and a
couple of pills.
85
00:04:45,807 --> 00:04:49,158
And I was on probation
at the time,
86
00:04:49,811 --> 00:04:52,466
so my mother called my
probation officer,
87
00:04:52,509 --> 00:04:54,511
and I woke up
the next morning
88
00:04:54,555 --> 00:04:57,862
and he was standing at the foot
of my bed with a urine cup.
89
00:04:57,906 --> 00:05:00,822
[Alec] Possession, intent to
distribute in a school zone.
90
00:05:00,865 --> 00:05:05,566
Fucking
horrible, at 15 caught like a
class whatever and whenever,
91
00:05:05,609 --> 00:05:09,004
possession intent to distribute
charge. That's what ruined me.
92
00:05:09,047 --> 00:05:14,009
It started when I was a kid at
about eight when my dad died,
93
00:05:14,618 --> 00:05:17,360
and I got slightly out of
control with mom,
94
00:05:17,404 --> 00:05:19,841
and couldn't
handle me and all that I guess.
95
00:05:20,450 --> 00:05:22,060
And I ended up in one home.
96
00:05:22,104 --> 00:05:24,541
[woman] When they started
sending me to group homes
97
00:05:24,585 --> 00:05:26,630
and foster homes
and things like that
98
00:05:26,674 --> 00:05:30,373
is where I learned how to misbehave, and I learned about drugs.
99
00:05:30,417 --> 00:05:35,378
Because I didn't know any of
that stuff living with my mother
and my stepfather.
100
00:05:35,422 --> 00:05:38,729
I didn't run the
streets, I didn't get in
trouble, I wasn't truant,
101
00:05:38,773 --> 00:05:43,604
any of that. It took me getting
into the system to learn how to
do those things.
102
00:05:43,647 --> 00:05:45,954
Back then they really didn't
have too many rules
103
00:05:45,997 --> 00:05:50,872
about what
you could and couldn't do to
kids, so I was rather abusive.
104
00:05:50,915 --> 00:05:54,354
[man] I was in the Connecticut Junior Republic, it was a boy's home.
105
00:05:54,397 --> 00:06:00,185
I was little, I was from
Bridgeport, I didn't know them,
they didn't want to know me.
106
00:06:00,229 --> 00:06:03,624
They wanted to rape me, they
wanted to beat the shit out of
me.
107
00:06:03,667 --> 00:06:05,495
And I escaped from there.
108
00:06:05,539 --> 00:06:07,976
Then I got into some trouble
with the law and I was sent to
Long Lane.
109
00:06:08,019 --> 00:06:11,196
So a lot of bruises are showing
up on me. What do you think?
110
00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:14,504
They didn't do anything. So you
take matters in your own hand.
111
00:06:14,548 --> 00:06:16,680
You just get them all, get them
all at once.
112
00:06:16,724 --> 00:06:21,903
I barricaded the
room, I let them all go, and
that was the end of that.
113
00:06:21,946 --> 00:06:25,950
I was institutionalized from
when I was 13 until I was 18.
114
00:06:25,994 --> 00:06:28,692
There was a three-week break
that I did come home,
115
00:06:28,736 --> 00:06:32,696
but that's
when I took that overdose of
alcohol and Prozac.
116
00:06:32,740 --> 00:06:35,351
After I had been in the hospital for an overdose
117
00:06:36,483 --> 00:06:39,268
I tried to kill myself
in the hospital.
118
00:06:39,311 --> 00:06:44,839
I had broken a light bulb and
actually cut my wrists, and then
I had also run away.
119
00:06:44,882 --> 00:06:46,536
I'd been hospitalized several
times
120
00:06:46,580 --> 00:06:49,974
and pretty much ran away
from every place my parents put
me in.
121
00:06:50,018 --> 00:06:54,022
The Dead were always on tour, so
there was always somewhere else
to go.
122
00:06:54,065 --> 00:06:58,418
[Dave] The more I escaped from another place then I went to a worse place and a worse place.
123
00:06:59,114 --> 00:07:01,986
Until I
finally found myself in places
124
00:07:02,030 --> 00:07:06,730
that were more brutal than I
wanted to deal with, put it
that way.
125
00:07:06,774 --> 00:07:08,384
Adolescents are very shrewd.
126
00:07:08,428 --> 00:07:11,474
If you go into a hospital and
you don't want to stay there,
127
00:07:11,518 --> 00:07:16,305
all you have to do is make an
aggressive gesture at a nurse
and you're kicked out.
128
00:07:16,348 --> 00:07:19,917
All you have to do is light your
bed on fire and you're
kicked out.
129
00:07:19,961 --> 00:07:24,226
So consequently, kids learn how
to get out of treatment.
130
00:07:24,269 --> 00:07:26,402
They were trying to find a
school that would keep me
131
00:07:26,446 --> 00:07:28,448
no matter how many times I ran
away.
132
00:07:28,491 --> 00:07:32,016
Finally in August when I was 12 they shipped me up to Elan
133
00:07:32,060 --> 00:07:35,237
because Elan said that
they kept runaways.
134
00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,284
At Elan the first thing they
learn is you're not going to get
out of here.
135
00:07:39,328 --> 00:07:42,505
If you burn the place down we'll
sleep in a tent together.
136
00:07:42,549 --> 00:07:46,030
No matter how many
times you run away, we will go
and get you.
137
00:07:46,074 --> 00:07:50,513
Why? Because we have a
commitment to you and to
ourselves.
138
00:07:50,557 --> 00:07:55,779
What I did was wrong, they did
CAT scans on me and all that.
139
00:07:55,823 --> 00:07:57,172
And so...
140
00:07:57,215 --> 00:07:59,435
They're saying I know I went
before a judge.
141
00:07:59,479 --> 00:08:02,917
Instead of me going to Leahy
in Worcester,
142
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,397
which is like the juvenile
facility they have out here,
143
00:08:05,441 --> 00:08:10,707
they offered up a plea
for me to go to Elan instead.
144
00:08:10,751 --> 00:08:14,537
I was 12. They said you're
going away until you turn 18.
145
00:08:14,581 --> 00:08:16,670
[Alec] They were explaining that
it would be
146
00:08:17,366 --> 00:08:20,238
more intense than
juvie pretty much.
147
00:08:20,282 --> 00:08:23,328
I got on a plane,
I went to Elan.
148
00:08:23,372 --> 00:08:25,679
The court officers
149
00:08:26,549 --> 00:08:31,815
took me to an
airport where Dr. Davidson came
down on the plane.
150
00:08:31,859 --> 00:08:33,817
I had never
had a driver's license,
151
00:08:33,861 --> 00:08:37,473
so I had never paid attention to where we were going,
152
00:08:37,517 --> 00:08:42,217
and all of a sudden
I was in the middle of the
woods in Maine.
153
00:08:42,260 --> 00:08:45,133
[woman] I was like I'm in the fucking boondocks. This is nuts.
154
00:08:45,176 --> 00:08:48,919
[man] Some of the kids have
mentioned that they or their
peers were snatched.
155
00:08:48,963 --> 00:08:49,790
What does that mean?
156
00:08:51,879 --> 00:08:53,097
Yeah, I remember that night.
157
00:08:54,577 --> 00:08:57,101
Well, it's usually in the
morning you see.
158
00:08:57,841 --> 00:09:00,148
When four residents
159
00:09:00,975 --> 00:09:05,806
and generally big
people or taller and heavier,
160
00:09:05,849 --> 00:09:10,114
will show up at someone's house
161
00:09:10,158 --> 00:09:14,075
and go into a new resident's
bedroom and say,
162
00:09:14,118 --> 00:09:17,731
"Hi Johnny,
we're from Elan and we'd like
you to come with us."
163
00:09:17,774 --> 00:09:19,907
And they talk very nicely,
164
00:09:19,950 --> 00:09:25,390
but they're big and they're
strong and they're insistent and
there are four of them.
165
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:27,784
And so it happens.
166
00:09:27,828 --> 00:09:31,832
[Todd]
I was sleeping in my bed, and
probably at about 4:00 AM
167
00:09:31,875 --> 00:09:34,878
two guys came into my room,
woke me up.
168
00:09:34,922 --> 00:09:37,968
One of the guys said, "We're
taking you to your new school."
169
00:09:38,012 --> 00:09:40,405
My mom was telling me this was
for the best.
170
00:09:40,449 --> 00:09:42,407
I tried to run,
they grabbed me,
171
00:09:42,451 --> 00:09:46,107
and they threw
me in a van and drove me up to
Poland Springs, Maine.
172
00:09:46,847 --> 00:09:51,939
So I get off the plane, and
there's two kids,
173
00:09:51,982 --> 00:09:54,637
just gigantic huge kids,
174
00:09:54,681 --> 00:09:59,642
maybe a year older or
maybe two years older than me,
and two adults.
175
00:09:59,686 --> 00:10:02,210
They're like, "We're taking you to the school."
176
00:10:02,253 --> 00:10:05,387
They didn't really tell me too much about where I was going.
177
00:10:05,430 --> 00:10:09,478
So all of a sudden we're
going up this dusty dirt road.
178
00:10:09,521 --> 00:10:13,743
I just remember thinking, "God,
this place is out in the middle
of nowhere."
179
00:10:13,787 --> 00:10:17,660
[Tracy] And there's these scattered house I feel like I'm going to summer camp.
180
00:10:17,704 --> 00:10:22,665
And after you're in Long Lane
for six months anything looks
better.
181
00:10:22,709 --> 00:10:28,192
And a couple staff came
with really pretty pictures of
the lake and the property,
182
00:10:28,236 --> 00:10:30,717
and it looked really nice.
183
00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,241
And they were talking about the
horseback riding
184
00:10:33,284 --> 00:10:36,548
and canoeing and hiking
and house trips.
185
00:10:36,592 --> 00:10:40,901
I thought that I was going from complete lockup
186
00:10:40,944 --> 00:10:43,555
to summer camp paradise.
187
00:10:43,599 --> 00:10:46,428
I'm like, "Where's the swimming
pool, the horses and the tennis
courts?"
188
00:10:46,471 --> 00:10:50,345
So now when I arrived
in August of '73,
189
00:10:50,388 --> 00:10:55,698
V-J Day as a matter of
fact, I saw this white Victorian
house sitting up on the hill.
190
00:10:55,742 --> 00:10:58,005
And my parents brought me in,
191
00:10:58,048 --> 00:11:03,271
and I was taken right in to the
director's office, Joe Ricci.
192
00:11:03,314 --> 00:11:04,881
[Joseph] We don't bullshit kids.
193
00:11:04,925 --> 00:11:08,406
We don't tell kids that this is
some kind of utopia,
194
00:11:08,450 --> 00:11:10,931
that everything is
going to work out for you.
195
00:11:10,974 --> 00:11:16,023
And so they bring me into this
trailer, and we were being told
about the program.
196
00:11:16,066 --> 00:11:20,462
Looked my mother straight dead
in the eye and said, "This is
the last stop on the bus."
197
00:11:20,505 --> 00:11:26,555
Not one time did anybody say,
even hinted at what I was about
to go through.
198
00:11:26,598 --> 00:11:31,473
If you don't send your son here
he's going to be dead, you can
count on it.
199
00:11:31,516 --> 00:11:33,649
You have six minutes to say
goodbye to your parents,
200
00:11:33,693 --> 00:11:36,783
and if you say anything
disrespectful to them I'm going
to put you in a corner.
201
00:11:39,611 --> 00:11:43,441
And I just looked at
my dad and I just was shaking my
head, I started crying.
202
00:11:43,485 --> 00:11:46,706
I was like... just looked at
him, because me and my dad were
closer.
203
00:11:46,749 --> 00:11:49,447
Me and my mom always had issues,
me and my dad were very close.
204
00:11:51,188 --> 00:11:54,104
So I was getting my search to
get inside and my dad started
crying,
205
00:11:54,148 --> 00:11:57,455
and my mom was just
like, "I can't." And they left.
206
00:11:59,414 --> 00:12:01,851
[Mary] I couldn't believe they
were going to leave me there,
207
00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:06,421
but after a while they did,
you know.
208
00:12:22,002 --> 00:12:26,441
When I brought my kid today I
just cried.
209
00:12:27,703 --> 00:12:31,011
I know, and the
people in school knew that he
was coming up here to stay.
210
00:12:31,838 --> 00:12:35,276
You know that if he doesn't
change he's going to get
arrested.
211
00:12:35,319 --> 00:12:38,845
You know that sooner
or later he's going to steal
something to get money.
212
00:12:39,541 --> 00:12:41,325
I worried them a lot.
213
00:12:41,369 --> 00:12:45,112
The phone rings at 10 o'clock at
night, three o'clock in the
morning.
214
00:12:45,155 --> 00:12:49,072
They were getting calls 2:00,
3:00 in the morning from the
cops.
215
00:12:49,116 --> 00:12:52,380
You're shaking, you're
wondering, what's this call
going to mean?
216
00:12:52,423 --> 00:12:55,557
Your son's run away again. We
don't know where he is.
217
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,648
And that's the fear that we
live in. We're ready to--
218
00:13:00,127 --> 00:13:03,478
-[woman] Crack.
-Just an example,
ready to crack.
219
00:13:03,521 --> 00:13:06,176
I love him so much. I wouldn't
want to lose him.
220
00:13:06,220 --> 00:13:10,224
It's important for parents to
know that we understand all of
that.
221
00:13:10,267 --> 00:13:12,400
We're going to help your
child go through all of that
222
00:13:12,443 --> 00:13:16,839
so that you can have the kid
back that you remember, and the
one that you love.
223
00:13:16,883 --> 00:13:20,582
[Mary] I was raised by adopted parents
224
00:13:20,625 --> 00:13:25,021
who were very devout Catholics,
my mother in particular.
225
00:13:25,065 --> 00:13:29,983
And she had a bad temper, she
wasn't able to forgive me
226
00:13:30,026 --> 00:13:33,247
because I had bonded with one of the nuns at the infant home,
227
00:13:33,290 --> 00:13:36,511
and preferred
her over my adopted parents.
228
00:13:37,904 --> 00:13:41,777
I'd always had an active imagination and a fantasy life,
229
00:13:41,821 --> 00:13:45,607
but it became more intense when
I was around her.
230
00:13:46,826 --> 00:13:49,263
My father, he wasn't much help.
231
00:13:49,306 --> 00:13:52,570
Our father was never present,
232
00:13:53,745 --> 00:13:57,053
and our mother drank too much.
233
00:13:57,097 --> 00:13:58,838
Way too much.
234
00:13:58,881 --> 00:14:01,449
[Jaela] I was taken away from my
mother when I was 13.
235
00:14:01,492 --> 00:14:07,063
My mother had issues with
alcoholism, and she married an
extremely abusive man.
236
00:14:07,107 --> 00:14:10,240
Not only was he abusing my
mother, but he was hitting me.
237
00:14:10,284 --> 00:14:14,418
[Julie] I was in an abusive home
environment.
238
00:14:14,462 --> 00:14:17,857
My mother was physically
abusive, emotionally abusive.
239
00:14:17,900 --> 00:14:21,904
My mother used to tie me to the
radiator and beat the shit out
of me.
240
00:14:21,948 --> 00:14:23,993
She beat the crap out of
me on several occasions.
241
00:14:24,037 --> 00:14:27,518
Threw me in tubs with
hot scalding water.
242
00:14:27,562 --> 00:14:31,218
When I was 11 years old she told
me get the fuck out of the
house and not come back.
243
00:14:31,261 --> 00:14:32,959
I went to grab some cookie,
244
00:14:33,002 --> 00:14:36,092
she kicked the chair from
underneath me, split my head
open.
245
00:14:36,136 --> 00:14:38,703
I ran into my bedroom
and tried to hide.
246
00:14:38,747 --> 00:14:42,751
My eye right here above my eye,
the bone is fractured.
247
00:14:42,794 --> 00:14:45,362
My mom came in with a belt and
beat the crap out of me.
248
00:14:45,406 --> 00:14:47,843
[Doug] Had it not been for Mr. Bright,
249
00:14:47,887 --> 00:14:52,413
the people who live next door, I
probably would have been dead.
250
00:14:52,456 --> 00:14:54,937
That's when the state removed
me from her.
251
00:14:54,981 --> 00:14:59,768
My dad from as early as I can
remember he was physically
abusive,
252
00:14:59,811 --> 00:15:01,596
mentally abusive,
sexually abusive.
253
00:15:01,639 --> 00:15:03,467
And no one knew about it.
254
00:15:03,511 --> 00:15:07,384
My mother didn't know, it was only my brother and I who really knew,
255
00:15:07,428 --> 00:15:09,778
and that
wasn't found out until Elan.
256
00:15:09,821 --> 00:15:13,651
In my 17 years at Elan I've seen
a lot of kids come through the
program
257
00:15:13,695 --> 00:15:18,526
who had had some
horrible relationships with
family members.
258
00:15:18,569 --> 00:15:22,922
Who all still
love each other very dearly, but
had really hurt each other,
259
00:15:22,965 --> 00:15:25,098
and had really done some pretty
self-destructive
260
00:15:25,141 --> 00:15:28,710
and destructive things to other
people in their family.
261
00:15:28,753 --> 00:15:32,409
And it all got twisted, and it
all got confused.
262
00:15:33,062 --> 00:15:38,981
I think the trouble then is
where do you release this?
263
00:15:39,025 --> 00:15:42,419
The hurt or this stuff.
264
00:15:42,463 --> 00:15:44,421
Where do you then take this?
265
00:15:44,465 --> 00:15:48,469
Because the perpetrators
aren't going to talk to you
about it.
266
00:15:49,035 --> 00:15:50,645
Okay, so where do you take it?
267
00:15:51,254 --> 00:15:54,170
And I think for a lot of us
268
00:15:55,606 --> 00:15:58,174
that
went through Elan that I know,
269
00:15:58,958 --> 00:16:03,136
some things happened and the
parents needed to dump.
270
00:16:04,485 --> 00:16:06,008
That was their solution.
271
00:16:12,188 --> 00:16:15,235
So for me the first day was one
of extreme bewilderment,
272
00:16:15,278 --> 00:16:18,020
and an
ultimate realization that I was
in for a new kind of life.
273
00:16:18,064 --> 00:16:22,285
[man] I said goodbye to my parents and Mark Rosenberg took me down to Elan VIII.
274
00:16:22,329 --> 00:16:23,460
[man] I went to Elan III.
275
00:16:23,504 --> 00:16:25,201
[man]
They sent me to Parsonsfield.
276
00:16:25,245 --> 00:16:28,030
[Jaela] I went... of course you
go straight to the dorm
277
00:16:28,074 --> 00:16:31,555
and then you have your Kwell
shower, the famous Kwell.
278
00:16:31,599 --> 00:16:33,644
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
279
00:16:33,688 --> 00:16:38,736
The louse shampoo and all that
shit. Going up there for your
indoctrination.
280
00:16:38,780 --> 00:16:43,089
You have to change your clothes
and remove your jewelry and
your shoelaces and all of that.
281
00:16:43,132 --> 00:16:46,701
Take your fucking hat off, tuck
your shirt...
282
00:16:46,744 --> 00:16:48,224
I'm like, just the regular
emotions
283
00:16:48,268 --> 00:16:50,922
of never hearing anything like
this before in your life.
284
00:16:50,966 --> 00:16:53,447
[Peter]
They asked me, why'd you run
away from your last place?
285
00:16:53,490 --> 00:16:56,493
Being 16 and you know, I was
like, "I wanted to get laid."
286
00:16:56,537 --> 00:16:59,105
I took a girl with me.
287
00:16:59,148 --> 00:17:01,890
And Marty said to me, "Well, you
can't get laid here.
288
00:17:01,933 --> 00:17:03,022
You can't even flirt here."
289
00:17:03,065 --> 00:17:04,762
My jaw kind of dropped,
it was like,
290
00:17:05,285 --> 00:17:08,070
"Yeah, you say that, but the
students will say something
else."
291
00:17:08,114 --> 00:17:14,076
[Tracy] So some kid that was my SP in Clara walks me up to Elan VII, which wasn't far.
292
00:17:14,120 --> 00:17:17,558
But as I'm walking up there I'm
hearing screaming.
293
00:17:20,213 --> 00:17:24,086
[Peter] So I walked in the door and the first thing they told me
294
00:17:24,130 --> 00:17:27,046
was "You get to leave
when you change."
295
00:17:27,089 --> 00:17:32,225
[Tracy] So I get in Elan, and I'm looking around, in Elan VII, and I'm like,
296
00:17:33,748 --> 00:17:37,012
"Okay, this kid is
scrubbing the corner.
297
00:17:37,056 --> 00:17:40,494
This kid
is wearing a fucking piece of poster board around their neck,
298
00:17:40,537 --> 00:17:42,409
this kid is in the corner,
299
00:17:42,452 --> 00:17:46,587
and there's a bunch of other
kids just sitting around looking
miserable.
300
00:17:46,630 --> 00:17:48,197
[people shouting
over each other]
301
00:17:48,241 --> 00:17:50,156
[Tracy] I'd never seen
anything like that in my life.
302
00:17:50,199 --> 00:17:52,375
Stand right there!
303
00:17:52,419 --> 00:17:55,291
[man] I just remember looking around seeing people with signs and shaved heads
304
00:17:55,335 --> 00:17:58,120
and somebody
wearing a clown outfit.
305
00:17:58,164 --> 00:18:00,557
[man] I thought everybody was
out of their minds.
306
00:18:00,601 --> 00:18:04,953
I didn't have relatives. I was
brought in during lunch time,
and I sat down at the table.
307
00:18:04,996 --> 00:18:08,739
Immediately I turned to the girl
next to me, I'm like, "This
shit is fucking crazy.
308
00:18:08,783 --> 00:18:10,176
Where am I?"
309
00:18:10,219 --> 00:18:11,612
Where the fuck am I?
310
00:18:11,655 --> 00:18:14,180
And apparently she was a
non-strength.
311
00:18:14,223 --> 00:18:17,618
Immediately I got
pulled into another room and I
got dealt with.
312
00:18:17,661 --> 00:18:20,099
[Tracy] So I started crying,
like profusely crying.
313
00:18:20,142 --> 00:18:22,275
Threw a tantrum, I was like,
"I'm not staying here.
314
00:18:22,318 --> 00:18:26,366
I don't want to be here. You
made a mistake, this is not me.
315
00:18:26,409 --> 00:18:29,804
I don't know what the
fuck is going on, but you all
are fucking crazy."
316
00:18:29,847 --> 00:18:33,764
I was almost begging to go back
to the detention center.
317
00:18:33,808 --> 00:18:38,073
It was surreal, to say the
least. It was unreal.
318
00:18:38,117 --> 00:18:40,902
[Peter] It was as if we were in
a parallel universe
319
00:18:40,945 --> 00:18:44,471
and for some reason the kids were all acting like they liked it.
320
00:18:44,514 --> 00:18:46,603
Very bizarre.
321
00:18:46,647 --> 00:18:50,738
So I'm continuing to cry, and
people are trying to tell me
like, "Tighten up."
322
00:18:51,478 --> 00:18:55,046
Using these terms that I've
never heard like,
323
00:18:55,090 --> 00:18:57,266
"We're not going to
placate you."
324
00:18:57,310 --> 00:18:59,877
At 16, I had no
idea what placate meant.
325
00:18:59,921 --> 00:19:01,705
"We're not going to placate you.
326
00:19:01,749 --> 00:19:04,404
You need to tighten up, you're
causing a scene.
327
00:19:04,447 --> 00:19:06,362
You're
disrupting the community."
328
00:19:06,406 --> 00:19:08,408
[Dave] The first day at Elan
329
00:19:08,451 --> 00:19:13,587
I had
taken in the lunch line two
milks instead of one milk.
330
00:19:13,630 --> 00:19:14,849
Next thing I know.
331
00:19:14,892 --> 00:19:16,633
General fucking meeting.
332
00:19:16,677 --> 00:19:17,982
Get in front of your house.
333
00:19:18,026 --> 00:19:19,810
Oh fuck.
334
00:19:19,854 --> 00:19:22,161
And all the kids are like, "Go,
go. Stand up there. Stand up
there."
335
00:19:22,204 --> 00:19:24,380
[Dave] I find myself up against
the wall
336
00:19:24,424 --> 00:19:28,776
with about, easy, 150
people in that place.
337
00:19:28,819 --> 00:19:32,171
[Tracy] So I'm standing up there
and I'm still bawling my eyes
out crying.
338
00:19:32,214 --> 00:19:34,956
When you got a GM, they
break you down, man.
339
00:19:34,999 --> 00:19:39,700
And Tanya just starts
ripping me like, "You fucking
are manipulative.
340
00:19:39,743 --> 00:19:45,445
You're a fucking
lying brat. You fucking
destroyed your family."
341
00:19:45,488 --> 00:19:47,795
You couldn't do nothing but cry.
342
00:19:47,838 --> 00:19:52,452
[Tracy] "You destroyed your
family. You made everybody
around you miserable."
343
00:19:52,495 --> 00:19:56,630
They would talk about what you'd
done wrong in these terms like
you'd murdered somebody.
344
00:19:56,673 --> 00:20:02,418
[Tracy] The house is worked up into such a feeding frenzy, and into such a battle mode.
345
00:20:02,462 --> 00:20:05,160
It's like the gladiators in
the fucking Coliseum man.
346
00:20:05,204 --> 00:20:07,380
You could feel the
house tremble.
347
00:20:07,423 --> 00:20:11,775
[Alec] Someone's thrown up there
in chains and they let all the
tigers out.
348
00:20:11,819 --> 00:20:15,170
[Tracy] So then she's like, "Does anybody else have feelings about this?"
349
00:20:15,214 --> 00:20:17,259
"Does anybody have any
feelings about it?"
350
00:20:17,303 --> 00:20:19,000
"Who's got feelings
for him? Get him."
351
00:20:19,043 --> 00:20:21,002
"Get his ass."
352
00:20:21,045 --> 00:20:24,745
[Tracy] Next thing I know, I
have 50 fucking kids
rushing at me.
353
00:20:24,788 --> 00:20:28,705
People rush,
I mean chairs flung...
354
00:20:28,749 --> 00:20:32,492
as they get out of
their chair it falls on the
floor behind them.
355
00:20:32,535 --> 00:20:34,145
They would bum-rush you.
356
00:20:34,189 --> 00:20:36,147
They were this far away
from your face.
357
00:20:36,191 --> 00:20:37,279
Screaming at--
358
00:20:37,323 --> 00:20:38,454
The top of their lungs.
359
00:20:38,498 --> 00:20:43,503
[people screaming]
360
00:20:47,028 --> 00:20:51,075
"You fucking asshole. How can
you do this? I can't stand...
361
00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:53,208
I'm going to kick your
motherfucking ass.
362
00:20:53,252 --> 00:20:55,993
If I knew you on the street,
you're a little mama's boy,
363
00:20:56,037 --> 00:20:58,300
you'd be sucking my
dick, blah, blah, blah."
364
00:20:58,344 --> 00:21:01,956
Spitting in your face the whole
time and you have to stand
there like this.
365
00:21:01,999 --> 00:21:05,307
When they finished with you, you
were completely degraded,
366
00:21:05,351 --> 00:21:07,962
humiliated,
you wasn't worth damn.
367
00:21:08,005 --> 00:21:09,311
[gavel banging]
368
00:21:11,313 --> 00:21:13,489
[woman] Thank you very much
everybody, great to hear
all of you.
369
00:21:14,882 --> 00:21:17,754
Last week two judges in
Pennsylvania plead guilty
370
00:21:17,798 --> 00:21:21,062
to taking over 2.5 million
dollars in kickbacks
371
00:21:21,105 --> 00:21:26,110
for placing over 5000 teens in
private wilderness program in a
juvenile detention center.
372
00:21:26,154 --> 00:21:30,245
What's shocking here is not just
the judge's horrific misconduct,
373
00:21:30,289 --> 00:21:34,162
but the fact that the same thing
takes place all the time legally
374
00:21:34,205 --> 00:21:36,599
in the private placements we've
just heard about.
375
00:21:36,643 --> 00:21:38,601
Like the
private prison business,
376
00:21:38,645 --> 00:21:42,344
this industry is about making
money by locking up children.
377
00:21:42,388 --> 00:21:44,215
It is not about helping them.
378
00:21:44,259 --> 00:21:47,436
The treatment they sell is
abuse. The abuse is not...
379
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:52,136
[Maia] When I was in college and in high school, I had a drug problem.
380
00:21:52,180 --> 00:21:54,791
I became addicted to
cocaine and heroin.
381
00:21:54,835 --> 00:21:57,316
And I was
afraid to get treatment
382
00:21:57,359 --> 00:21:59,970
because what I'd read about
addiction treatment
383
00:22:00,014 --> 00:22:04,497
was that the whole
idea was to humiliate and break
and attack you.
384
00:22:04,540 --> 00:22:08,022
And I thought that's exactly the
opposite of what I need
385
00:22:08,065 --> 00:22:10,198
because the reason
I'm using drugs
386
00:22:10,241 --> 00:22:14,289
is because I feel uncomfortable and unsafe around other people.
387
00:22:14,333 --> 00:22:18,424
And so when I got into recovery eventually
388
00:22:18,467 --> 00:22:22,645
I wanted to understand where did
this idea come from
389
00:22:22,689 --> 00:22:25,169
that we should break
addicts to fix them?
390
00:22:25,213 --> 00:22:28,390
[man]
Throughout the 1960s many new
treatment programs
391
00:22:28,434 --> 00:22:31,045
had been launched in and out of government.
392
00:22:31,088 --> 00:22:34,527
Perhaps the most
publicized is Synanon,
393
00:22:34,570 --> 00:22:39,270
a private
organization founded and
managed by ex-addicts.
394
00:22:39,314 --> 00:22:41,534
Best thing for people is people,
395
00:22:41,577 --> 00:22:46,103
and Synanon provides the
environment to bring together
people from all walks of life.
396
00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:51,152
[man] Synanon was founded by a
man named Charles Dederich,
397
00:22:51,195 --> 00:22:54,503
an ex-alcoholic and frequent speaker at alcoholics anonymous.
398
00:22:54,547 --> 00:22:58,115
It was his answer to the dilemma drug addicts were facing during
the early '60s.
399
00:22:58,159 --> 00:23:00,379
There was nowhere they could go for help.
400
00:23:00,422 --> 00:23:03,512
During that time, drug addiction was seen as much more severe
than alcohol addiction.
401
00:23:03,556 --> 00:23:05,688
So Dederich came up with a solution
402
00:23:05,732 --> 00:23:09,866
using the 12 steps made famous
in Alcoholics Anonymous,
but with a new twist.
403
00:23:09,910 --> 00:23:12,303
[Maia] He thought that AA
wasn't tough enough.
404
00:23:12,347 --> 00:23:15,350
He thought that the 12
steps were all well and good,
405
00:23:15,394 --> 00:23:18,745
but they really wouldn't work
unless you forced people
to do them.
406
00:23:18,788 --> 00:23:21,704
[man] At the core of Synanon were group sessions that relied
407
00:23:21,748 --> 00:23:24,272
on highly intense confrontation
between group members.
408
00:23:24,315 --> 00:23:25,621
-You're a little baby.
-Really?
409
00:23:25,665 --> 00:23:27,971
-I want, I want, I want.
-[talking a the same time]
410
00:23:28,015 --> 00:23:30,060
When I want to go, I go.
411
00:23:30,104 --> 00:23:32,019
[man] The idea was to break down
their defenses
412
00:23:32,062 --> 00:23:34,325
to make them reveal their
innermost deepest troubles.
413
00:23:34,369 --> 00:23:36,937
Only then would they
be able to help themselves
towards sobriety.
414
00:23:36,980 --> 00:23:39,722
In Synanon, this ideology was
known as The Game.
415
00:23:39,766 --> 00:23:42,029
Today it's more commonly
known as--
416
00:23:42,072 --> 00:23:47,251
Attack therapy is basically the
idea that you've developed this
horrible bad personality,
417
00:23:47,295 --> 00:23:52,909
and we need to attack you and break you
418
00:23:52,953 --> 00:23:58,611
entirely in order to eliminate
it and to rebuild you as a good
person.
419
00:23:58,654 --> 00:24:00,961
[man] Synanon achieved massive
success.
420
00:24:01,004 --> 00:24:04,007
However, it wasn't long
before stories of abuse and
cult-like behavior
421
00:24:04,051 --> 00:24:07,184
began to
emerge, and after a lengthy
legal battle with the IRS,
422
00:24:07,228 --> 00:24:09,491
Synanon would eventually
shutdown.
423
00:24:09,535 --> 00:24:13,147
But not without leaving behind a legacy that is still being felt to this day.
424
00:24:13,190 --> 00:24:16,716
After getting massive amounts of
publicity,
425
00:24:16,759 --> 00:24:19,675
a major motion
picture, all the evening news,
426
00:24:19,719 --> 00:24:23,810
all the big media was saying how
this is this wonderful cure.
427
00:24:23,853 --> 00:24:27,857
It spread to New York where
Phoenix House and Daytop
were founded.
428
00:24:27,901 --> 00:24:31,382
[man] Daytop Village is typical of the halfway house concept.
429
00:24:31,426 --> 00:24:36,823
Where the addict is slowly eased back into society,
one step at a time.
430
00:24:36,866 --> 00:24:41,436
Synanon evolved into Daytop and
other therapeutic communities.
431
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,440
And Joe Ricci went to Daytop.
432
00:24:45,484 --> 00:24:50,532
[man] The man who runs Elan is
Joe Ricci, himself a former
delinquent and heroin addict.
433
00:24:50,576 --> 00:24:54,405
[Daniel] Joe came out of Daytop
in '67 or '68.
434
00:24:54,449 --> 00:24:56,582
He went through the
program then he worked for it.
435
00:24:56,625 --> 00:25:01,500
[man] And ultimately wanted to
found his own therapeutic
version of Daytop.
436
00:25:01,543 --> 00:25:03,937
[Daniel] And then he was
introduced to Gerald Davidson.
437
00:25:03,980 --> 00:25:08,768
Dr. Davidson was a Harvard
educated psychiatrist.
438
00:25:08,811 --> 00:25:10,552
[man] And they went up to Maine.
439
00:25:10,596 --> 00:25:14,425
What I understand, Maine had
less stringent laws
440
00:25:14,469 --> 00:25:17,777
on who could
operate and what kind of
permits you needed.
441
00:25:17,820 --> 00:25:21,563
[man] In 1970 Joe Ricci and Gerald Davidson opened the first facility
442
00:25:21,607 --> 00:25:23,130
in the small town of
Sebago, Maine.
443
00:25:23,173 --> 00:25:25,393
They called it Elan I,
444
00:25:25,436 --> 00:25:28,831
and like Daytop, the program mainly focused on rehabilitating hardened drug addicts.
445
00:25:28,875 --> 00:25:32,400
It started out early, it started
out drunks,
446
00:25:32,443 --> 00:25:35,316
and most of the
people were 18 and over.
447
00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:37,797
As a matter of fact they were
well within their 20s.
448
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:39,973
Most of them were junkies,
449
00:25:40,016 --> 00:25:44,368
and Elan truly was their last
stop before prison or death.
450
00:25:44,412 --> 00:25:49,896
And then they were convinced
that they could take on other
people.
451
00:25:50,549 --> 00:25:52,681
Runaways, a lot of runaways.
452
00:25:52,725 --> 00:25:55,162
Running away or being
truant from school.
453
00:25:55,205 --> 00:25:56,467
Promiscuity.
454
00:25:56,511 --> 00:25:58,948
Girls that had gotten
pregnant as teenagers.
455
00:25:58,992 --> 00:26:01,211
Your very violent offenders.
456
00:26:01,255 --> 00:26:04,127
[Tracy] Stealing cars, breaking
into houses.
457
00:26:04,171 --> 00:26:06,652
Marty Maxwell was there, he was
there for robbing banks.
458
00:26:06,695 --> 00:26:07,783
[Tracy] Mugging people.
459
00:26:07,827 --> 00:26:09,611
There were a lot
of gang members.
460
00:26:09,655 --> 00:26:12,005
-We had manslaughter.
-[Tracy] Held people
at knife point.
461
00:26:12,048 --> 00:26:13,441
Pedophilia.
462
00:26:13,484 --> 00:26:15,878
Some kids I remember I
had heard had raped people.
463
00:26:15,922 --> 00:26:21,580
Maybe half the people there had
been sexually abused
consistently.
464
00:26:21,623 --> 00:26:26,802
[Daniel] People that had very
serious emotional and
psychological problems.
465
00:26:26,846 --> 00:26:28,717
[Tracy]
There were a lot of kids there
466
00:26:28,761 --> 00:26:32,025
that had been put in every kind
of placement center or treatment
467
00:26:32,068 --> 00:26:35,681
or whatever you want to call it
that their state could possible
send them to.
468
00:26:35,724 --> 00:26:39,946
They come from mental
institutions or juvenile
detention centers.
469
00:26:39,989 --> 00:26:43,036
And Elan was
the last place that they would
send these kids.
470
00:26:43,079 --> 00:26:46,605
We started to move into autism,
we started to move into
Asperger's.
471
00:26:46,648 --> 00:26:50,696
After I'd been at Elan for a few
years and I was receiving a
general meeting,
472
00:26:50,739 --> 00:26:53,742
the director suddenly turned to
everybody and said,
473
00:26:53,786 --> 00:26:59,443
"Did you know that before
she came to Elan, she had been
diagnosed as semi-autistic?"
474
00:26:59,487 --> 00:27:01,750
We started to move into--
475
00:27:01,794 --> 00:27:02,969
[man speaking]
476
00:27:04,405 --> 00:27:05,624
[Daniel] Murder.
477
00:27:07,277 --> 00:27:09,236
[man] It was the night before
Halloween 27 years ago
478
00:27:09,279 --> 00:27:11,934
when 15-year old Martha Moxley
was found beaten to death
479
00:27:11,978 --> 00:27:14,241
outside her home in upscale
Greenwich, Connecticut.
480
00:27:14,284 --> 00:27:17,548
Among the suspects, her next
door neighbor Michael Skakel.
481
00:27:17,592 --> 00:27:19,333
- [woman] Michael Skakel.
- Michael Skakel.
482
00:27:19,376 --> 00:27:20,551
Michael Skakel.
483
00:27:20,595 --> 00:27:22,815
A Kennedy cousin serving
20 years to life--
484
00:27:22,858 --> 00:27:24,773
For a murder that shocked the
nation,
485
00:27:24,817 --> 00:27:27,689
Skakel was convicted in
a 1975 murder
486
00:27:27,733 --> 00:27:30,083
of his 15-year-old neighbor in
Greenwich.
487
00:27:30,126 --> 00:27:32,781
[man] It was at Elan during
group therapy
488
00:27:32,825 --> 00:27:37,351
that Michael would
allegedly confess to killing
Martha Moxley.
489
00:27:37,394 --> 00:27:40,702
We got way out of our purview
there, way out.
490
00:27:41,442 --> 00:27:45,664
[Julie] There were kids there
who talked to boys,
491
00:27:45,707 --> 00:27:49,537
and that was their only
problem.
492
00:27:49,580 --> 00:27:52,279
They talked to boys, they came
from a religious family.
493
00:27:52,322 --> 00:27:54,324
Some kids just acted badly
494
00:27:54,368 --> 00:27:57,850
and I think their parents had
the money to send them there, so
Elan took them.
495
00:27:57,893 --> 00:28:00,679
For the most part these troubled
teen programs,
496
00:28:00,722 --> 00:28:04,552
the evaluation they do is what I
call a wallet biopsy.
497
00:28:04,595 --> 00:28:06,423
Do you have enough money
to afford it?
498
00:28:06,467 --> 00:28:09,470
Then yes, your problem is severe
enough. That's it.
499
00:28:09,513 --> 00:28:14,257
[cashier dinging]
500
00:28:14,301 --> 00:28:20,307
[man] By 2011, the annual
tuition for one-year stay at
Elan, over $54,000.
501
00:28:20,350 --> 00:28:25,704
[interviewer] That's far more
expensive than even the most
expensive university education.
502
00:28:27,357 --> 00:28:28,663
Do you still
think it's worth it?
503
00:28:29,664 --> 00:28:30,709
Yes, indeed.
504
00:28:31,318 --> 00:28:32,362
Could you tell me why?
505
00:28:33,842 --> 00:28:37,237
Well, what's the
worth of a life?
506
00:28:41,371 --> 00:28:44,810
[Mary] In January of '74 there
was a major fire.
507
00:28:45,462 --> 00:28:50,729
Up in the attic this
boy named Burt set a fire
because he hated the place,
508
00:28:50,772 --> 00:28:53,514
and he knew that a lot of us
hated it too.
509
00:28:53,557 --> 00:28:57,605
He knew that the neighbors hated us and wanted us out.
510
00:28:57,648 --> 00:29:01,261
So he set a fire and
because the old house
511
00:29:01,914 --> 00:29:05,395
consisted
of wood it just burned fast.
512
00:29:05,439 --> 00:29:09,399
[man] After Elan I burned down,
operations were moved to the
facility in Waterford.
513
00:29:09,443 --> 00:29:10,879
This would be Elan II.
514
00:29:10,923 --> 00:29:13,490
Soon the main campus in Poland
Springs was opened,
515
00:29:13,534 --> 00:29:16,885
and then a maximum
security facility was
established in Parsonsfield
516
00:29:16,929 --> 00:29:20,323
to house state wards and kids that were facing severe criminal charges.
517
00:29:20,367 --> 00:29:23,544
Yes, Elan certainly was Joe
Ricci's big success,
518
00:29:23,587 --> 00:29:26,373
and like any good businessman he diversified his investments.
519
00:29:26,416 --> 00:29:28,157
He bought the Scarborough Downs race track.
520
00:29:28,201 --> 00:29:30,986
[man] Scarborough Downs still
a cut above the best.
521
00:29:31,030 --> 00:29:32,596
[man] And ran for governor.
522
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,469
Hi, I'm Joseph Ricci,
Democratic candidate for
governor.
523
00:29:35,512 --> 00:29:38,777
[man] Joe's empire was expanding and so was the new troubled teen industry.
524
00:29:38,820 --> 00:29:41,344
Parents, psychologists and
courts from all over the world
525
00:29:41,388 --> 00:29:43,956
were sending their troubled kids to Elan for treatment.
526
00:29:43,999 --> 00:29:47,916
The troubled teen industry has
become connected.
527
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:53,226
Sometimes a
drug rehab will recommend a
wilderness program,
528
00:29:53,269 --> 00:29:56,664
and sometimes a psychiatrist
will recommend these things,
529
00:29:56,707 --> 00:30:00,189
largely because they're ignorant of what actually goes on,
530
00:30:00,233 --> 00:30:02,844
and also because unfortunately
531
00:30:02,888 --> 00:30:06,065
professional treatment is not always so professional either.
532
00:30:06,108 --> 00:30:07,240
[man screaming]
533
00:30:07,283 --> 00:30:08,850
[man]
You won't get out of doing it!
534
00:30:08,894 --> 00:30:10,721
You and
everybody else has to!
535
00:30:10,765 --> 00:30:12,158
[man screaming]
536
00:30:12,201 --> 00:30:13,768
[woman screaming]
You know this lack of quality,
537
00:30:13,812 --> 00:30:16,858
you know this crap, you know it just will not be tolerated!
538
00:30:16,902 --> 00:30:19,339
[man] Yeah, you're the first one
to do it!
539
00:30:19,382 --> 00:30:24,257
[man] Day in day out, life at Elan is constant confrontation.
540
00:30:24,300 --> 00:30:25,824
[inaudible].
541
00:30:25,867 --> 00:30:27,651
[man] Unrelenting pressure.
542
00:30:27,695 --> 00:30:30,306
I couldn't believe all the shit
that was left on those things!
543
00:30:30,350 --> 00:30:35,442
[man] Your feelings, your
negative attitudes are broken
down, dissected, torn apart.
544
00:30:36,051 --> 00:30:39,576
The idea
is to change your behavior.
545
00:30:40,229 --> 00:30:44,755
[man] The Elan program was
two-fold. In one sense there
were therapeutic groups.
546
00:30:44,799 --> 00:30:46,279
[woman] Primal groups.
547
00:30:46,322 --> 00:30:48,020
-[woman] Encounter groups.
-[man] A parent group.
548
00:30:48,063 --> 00:30:49,935
The other side of Elan
549
00:30:49,978 --> 00:30:55,418
was a
functional working microcosm of
the work world.
550
00:30:55,462 --> 00:30:57,551
Everybody had a
job around the house,
551
00:30:57,594 --> 00:31:02,773
and everybody
had to make the house,
552
00:31:02,817 --> 00:31:05,864
the society of sorts,
to function.
553
00:31:05,907 --> 00:31:07,909
It was very Lord of the Flies.
554
00:31:07,953 --> 00:31:12,435
Yes. I've actually explained it
that way to people I've known
several times.
555
00:31:12,479 --> 00:31:15,308
That's the best part, it's the
most ingenious fucking thing
ever.
556
00:31:15,351 --> 00:31:18,311
You have the prisoners
run the prison.
557
00:31:18,354 --> 00:31:22,184
It seemed like patients
therapeutatized the other
patients.
558
00:31:22,228 --> 00:31:24,883
It's great because everybody
wants to move up.
559
00:31:24,926 --> 00:31:27,320
We all know we want to
get out of this place.
560
00:31:27,363 --> 00:31:29,800
That's the only way you can
convince people to,
561
00:31:31,715 --> 00:31:34,980
I don't know, shut off their
real human convictions.
562
00:31:35,023 --> 00:31:37,156
[man] You're disgusting.
563
00:31:37,199 --> 00:31:40,942
Because everyone here's trying
to be the exact opposite of what
you are now,
564
00:31:40,986 --> 00:31:42,335
and you want to hold on to it.
565
00:31:42,378 --> 00:31:43,858
That's the disgusting
part of it.
566
00:31:43,902 --> 00:31:45,816
You just better start being
honest with us man,
567
00:31:45,860 --> 00:31:47,601
because everyone's getting
pretty hostile.
568
00:31:47,644 --> 00:31:49,646
[Peter] And I bought
into the whole thing.
569
00:31:50,299 --> 00:31:54,651
I am going to do whatever
they tell me to do, okay?
570
00:31:54,695 --> 00:32:00,396
I am going to hurt anybody they
want me to because I want to get
out of here.
571
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,573
Elan does things a little
differently,
572
00:32:04,661 --> 00:32:09,188
more of an emphasis on integrity
honesty, accountability.
573
00:32:10,015 --> 00:32:15,020
Wellness kind of
a model rather than a
psychiatric or illness model.
574
00:32:15,063 --> 00:32:20,199
And the kids often don't know
they're being therapized, if I
can use that word.
575
00:32:20,242 --> 00:32:23,419
[man] Each Elan house functioned
through the collective work of
five offices.
576
00:32:23,463 --> 00:32:26,335
The service crew
were the janitors, the kitchen
crew handled the food,
577
00:32:26,379 --> 00:32:28,294
the business
office filed paperwork,
578
00:32:28,337 --> 00:32:30,905
the communications office
brought news from the outside
world,
579
00:32:30,949 --> 00:32:33,038
and the expediters
enforced security.
580
00:32:33,081 --> 00:32:35,954
Each office was managed by a specific hierarchy of positions
581
00:32:35,997 --> 00:32:39,783
that each resident had to work through in order to graduate the program.
582
00:32:39,827 --> 00:32:43,396
[woman] I remember when you came in you were non-strength and you were a worker.
583
00:32:43,439 --> 00:32:47,182
Everybody went into service
crew first, and you were a
worker.
584
00:32:49,402 --> 00:32:52,100
[man] Elan residents are taught
to obey authority.
585
00:32:52,883 --> 00:32:57,105
They're made to work at menial
jobs, to do what they're
told to do.
586
00:32:57,149 --> 00:33:01,588
You just cleaned floors, you'd
do this, you'd do that, you'd
dust this.
587
00:33:01,631 --> 00:33:03,720
And then you had a ramrod.
588
00:33:03,764 --> 00:33:08,073
Then you got some dudes coming
around with a white glove
checking your work out,
589
00:33:08,116 --> 00:33:11,815
and if
it wasn't right, you'd be there
half a day again redoing it.
590
00:33:11,859 --> 00:33:16,124
There was worker and ramrod, and
those were the two non-strength
positions.
591
00:33:16,168 --> 00:33:19,171
And in order to talk to somebody
else that wasn't a strength,
592
00:33:19,214 --> 00:33:22,826
you had to have a strength being
aware of your conversation.
593
00:33:22,870 --> 00:33:24,959
Monitoring your conversation.
594
00:33:25,003 --> 00:33:26,961
[Jeff] You always had
somebody watching you.
595
00:33:27,005 --> 00:33:29,137
You couldn't go
to the bathroom on your own.
596
00:33:29,181 --> 00:33:32,184
[man] Each household is a
tightly structured community.
597
00:33:32,227 --> 00:33:36,144
New residents do the dirty work under the supervision of more
senior residents.
598
00:33:36,188 --> 00:33:38,364
[Tracy] And then you would go to
expediter.
599
00:33:38,407 --> 00:33:42,672
Once you hit
expediter, that was the first
time that you were a strength.
600
00:33:42,716 --> 00:33:46,546
Expediters were responsible
for security.
601
00:33:46,589 --> 00:33:49,288
[Joseph]
The expediter is a police man.
602
00:33:49,331 --> 00:33:54,032
They're the line of defense
between the normal people and
the lunatics.
603
00:33:54,075 --> 00:33:56,208
[Gillian]
The expediters had clipboards,
604
00:33:56,251 --> 00:34:01,039
and they would be put on certain
designated spots throughout the
houses called zones.
605
00:34:01,082 --> 00:34:06,087
The expediters would watch the
doors to make sure nobody ran,
and then at the dorm.
606
00:34:06,131 --> 00:34:08,959
The night
owl made sure that you didn't run in the middle of the night.
607
00:34:10,135 --> 00:34:12,050
[man] In the households,
608
00:34:12,093 --> 00:34:15,314
discipline is maintained by an
elite group called the
expediters.
609
00:34:15,357 --> 00:34:20,493
They relay orders, keep track of every resident, and report
negative behavior.
610
00:34:20,536 --> 00:34:22,712
Some call them spies.
611
00:34:22,756 --> 00:34:25,324
[Gillian] They would watch and
write down all the things
612
00:34:25,367 --> 00:34:27,935
that people have done wrong
throughout the day.
613
00:34:27,978 --> 00:34:33,027
[man] They record the names, the
actions of everyone in every
room continuously.
614
00:34:33,071 --> 00:34:37,597
I'll have to tell you, this is
probably not very... something I
should be proud of.
615
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:39,468
Nobody ever
ran away on my time.
616
00:34:39,512 --> 00:34:41,557
[man] At Elan there is no
privacy.
617
00:34:42,906 --> 00:34:47,128
Incoming mail is open, outgoing mail is read and censored.
618
00:34:47,172 --> 00:34:49,130
Telephone calls are monitored.
619
00:34:49,174 --> 00:34:53,352
Every conversation is subject to eavesdropping and informing.
620
00:34:53,395 --> 00:34:58,705
And then was it department head
from there? And then it was
department head.
621
00:34:58,748 --> 00:35:00,446
A department head
622
00:35:00,489 --> 00:35:05,625
was basically
when you first became a manager.
623
00:35:05,668 --> 00:35:07,235
Department head of
the kitchen crew.
624
00:35:09,194 --> 00:35:12,545
And then you would go to
shingle. Shingle was the head
of the expediters.
625
00:35:12,588 --> 00:35:15,591
Michelle, take dining room zone.
626
00:35:15,635 --> 00:35:17,506
Rachel, go to top zone please.
627
00:35:17,550 --> 00:35:20,988
I'm pretty sure I was a shingle
for like a fucking
year-and-a-half.
628
00:35:21,031 --> 00:35:23,469
[Gillian]
And then you had coordinator.
629
00:35:23,512 --> 00:35:25,340
Coordinator of communications.
630
00:35:25,384 --> 00:35:27,125
I loved being COD.
631
00:35:27,168 --> 00:35:29,475
COD stood for
coordinator on duty.
632
00:35:29,518 --> 00:35:31,781
Pretty much you ran the house for that day.
633
00:35:31,825 --> 00:35:33,740
You were the boss,
you were in charge,
634
00:35:33,783 --> 00:35:36,569
and you were accountable
for everything that went on in
your house.
635
00:35:38,397 --> 00:35:40,747
[Peter] Well, first of all there
were directors,
636
00:35:40,790 --> 00:35:45,186
and below them there
were assistant directors,
637
00:35:45,230 --> 00:35:48,407
and below them were staff.
638
00:35:48,450 --> 00:35:51,627
And the staff members were the
people in reentry.
639
00:35:51,671 --> 00:35:57,720
I did reentry staff then I...
I never was officially hired.
640
00:35:57,764 --> 00:36:01,071
It was a job for them until
they went home
641
00:36:01,855 --> 00:36:04,162
or decided to stay.
642
00:36:04,205 --> 00:36:08,296
You have hundreds of years of
expert people up here to walk
you through this,
643
00:36:08,340 --> 00:36:12,082
hold your hand, help you, push
you through a window,
644
00:36:12,126 --> 00:36:14,694
pull you through a window,
and help you change.
645
00:36:14,737 --> 00:36:19,960
So consequently the only thing
you have to do here is to be as
hardworking as you can,
646
00:36:20,003 --> 00:36:24,443
and to
be totally as honest as you can.
647
00:36:24,486 --> 00:36:26,662
[Julie] I don't know a lot about
the staff in Elan,
648
00:36:26,706 --> 00:36:31,406
I do know that a lot of them
were former residents who had
graduated the program.
649
00:36:31,450 --> 00:36:35,802
And I don't know if there
actually were any staff there
650
00:36:35,845 --> 00:36:38,283
with formal psych training
or anything.
651
00:36:38,326 --> 00:36:40,676
I don't think so. I never saw a
psychiatrist while I was there,
652
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:42,548
I never saw a psychologist.
653
00:36:42,591 --> 00:36:48,031
[Peter] These were all people who had no training, no psychology classes.
654
00:36:48,075 --> 00:36:52,688
Their only qualification was
that they themselves had been
through the program.
655
00:36:52,732 --> 00:36:55,822
They thought that because they
had been through experiences
656
00:36:55,865 --> 00:36:59,521
that, that qualified them to
handle disturbed kids.
657
00:36:59,565 --> 00:37:04,091
[man] There are no national
standards nor even a consensus
of expert opinion
658
00:37:04,134 --> 00:37:06,702
on how much formal
training should be required
659
00:37:06,746 --> 00:37:09,531
of person involved in treating
troubled kids.
660
00:37:09,575 --> 00:37:12,795
But both Dr. Davidson, a trained psychiatrist,
661
00:37:12,839 --> 00:37:15,885
and Joe Ricci, who
did not graduate from college,
662
00:37:15,929 --> 00:37:18,410
believe that experience is
the best teacher
663
00:37:18,453 --> 00:37:22,849
when it comes to helping the
type of kids who come to Elan.
664
00:37:22,892 --> 00:37:24,242
...if you ask for help.
665
00:37:25,460 --> 00:37:31,336
Now, when you get shot down
you lose your position.
666
00:37:31,379 --> 00:37:35,601
Yeah, I was shot down. I got
shot down three times for
having sex.
667
00:37:35,644 --> 00:37:38,691
[Julie] If you're going to be
shot down you have
to scrub floors,
668
00:37:38,734 --> 00:37:40,301
you have to GI the toilets.
669
00:37:40,345 --> 00:37:43,435
No, no, no, no. They didn't
scrub it, they had toothbrushes.
670
00:37:43,478 --> 00:37:46,699
[man] It doesn't matter if the
floor is brand new.
671
00:37:46,742 --> 00:37:50,703
You've got to sit there and scrub it for 18 hours.
672
00:37:50,746 --> 00:37:54,141
And God forbid you were fucking
shot down and you had to pee,
673
00:37:54,184 --> 00:37:59,015
because you would have to go
through a worker, a ramrod,
674
00:37:59,059 --> 00:38:04,369
a department head, a
coordinator, senior coordinator,
and then to staff.
675
00:38:04,412 --> 00:38:08,503
So it had to go through
11 different people for you to
get permission to pee.
676
00:38:09,678 --> 00:38:13,465
And then you had to find
somebody to be aware of you
while you peed
677
00:38:13,508 --> 00:38:15,641
because you couldn't go in the
bathroom alone.
678
00:38:17,207 --> 00:38:20,472
[man] Throughout the day
residents functioned within
their departments,
679
00:38:20,515 --> 00:38:25,520
only breaking for meals, meetings, a few hours of school at night, and of course, groups.
680
00:38:27,914 --> 00:38:31,613
[Julie]
I remember there was a box at
the front of the house,
681
00:38:31,657 --> 00:38:33,441
and there was a little
slip of paper.
682
00:38:34,181 --> 00:38:35,835
Encounter groups.
683
00:38:35,878 --> 00:38:38,272
You couldn't swear at somebody
or tell them you hated them
684
00:38:38,316 --> 00:38:41,362
unless you were in a general
meeting or group therapy.
685
00:38:41,406 --> 00:38:45,366
If you were to make me angry,
you told me to do something I
didn't want to do,
686
00:38:45,410 --> 00:38:50,545
I'd write, "To Todd from
Gillian, anger." I'd circle
that, drop it in the box.
687
00:38:50,589 --> 00:38:53,374
Everybody would sit in a circle
in one of the rooms,
688
00:38:53,418 --> 00:38:57,596
and then
the staff or the director who
was running it would say,
689
00:38:57,639 --> 00:38:59,554
"Okay, get your feelings off."
690
00:38:59,598 --> 00:39:03,950
And you would commence to
basically cursing each other out
one at a time,
691
00:39:03,993 --> 00:39:06,126
at the top of
your fucking lungs.
692
00:39:07,083 --> 00:39:12,480
[man screaming
and gasping for air].
693
00:39:32,457 --> 00:39:35,285
And that was supposed to be how
you dealt with your feelings.
694
00:39:35,329 --> 00:39:37,026
[man] In so-called
encounter groups,
695
00:39:37,070 --> 00:39:40,247
residents are encouraged
to express their hostile
feelings.
696
00:39:40,290 --> 00:39:43,772
The result is usually a stream
of curses and obscenities.
697
00:39:43,816 --> 00:39:48,734
You would yell at the person,
swear at them, degrade them.
698
00:39:48,777 --> 00:39:50,170
-[man] Cunt.
-[man] Whore.
699
00:39:50,213 --> 00:39:51,867
-[man] Needle dick.
-[woman] Fucking slut.
700
00:39:51,911 --> 00:39:54,653
You could say anything
you wanted to.
701
00:39:54,696 --> 00:39:57,917
They'd stomp their feet, and
they'd be going like this.
702
00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:02,443
Frothing at the mouth, grabbing
their pants like this. Rocking
back and forth.
703
00:40:02,487 --> 00:40:04,967
Some people's seats would be
popping up off the ground.
704
00:40:05,011 --> 00:40:07,230
[Gillian] Screaming at me,
making eye contact.
705
00:40:07,274 --> 00:40:10,233
Calling me a bitch and
all this stuff.
706
00:40:10,277 --> 00:40:13,367
Sometimes it was for the dumbest reasons too.
707
00:40:13,411 --> 00:40:16,239
[Peter] Somebody left their tube
of shampoo in the shower
708
00:40:16,283 --> 00:40:19,329
because they were coming in
after me to use it.
709
00:40:19,373 --> 00:40:21,593
I had no idea,
it was right there.
710
00:40:21,636 --> 00:40:23,508
I used the Judy's Secret,
711
00:40:23,551 --> 00:40:28,426
I did it then the guy
that went in afterwards, his
shampoo was gone.
712
00:40:28,469 --> 00:40:31,907
Well, he
dropped a slip on me and took me
into an encounter group
713
00:40:31,951 --> 00:40:35,694
and he's sitting there screaming at me how he's going to kill me
714
00:40:35,737 --> 00:40:38,610
because I took his tube of
Judy's Secret shampoo.
715
00:40:38,653 --> 00:40:41,482
You know what? I'm sick and
tired of your garbage around
here.
716
00:40:41,526 --> 00:40:43,832
You know I've got to deal
with your--
717
00:40:43,876 --> 00:40:49,708
If you weren't participating
in the encounter groups
intensely enough,
718
00:40:49,751 --> 00:40:51,971
it was you that would
be in trouble.
719
00:40:52,014 --> 00:40:54,190
[Gillian] Most of the time
when I was in groups
720
00:40:54,234 --> 00:40:56,758
it was a lot of going
through the motions and just
yelling because I had to,
721
00:40:56,802 --> 00:40:58,499
but there was one group in
particular
722
00:40:58,543 --> 00:41:01,284
where a girl who I
thought I was really close to
723
00:41:01,328 --> 00:41:03,417
had gone on her first visit with her mother.
724
00:41:03,461 --> 00:41:06,725
She told her that she shouldn't
be there
725
00:41:06,768 --> 00:41:11,381
because there's girls
who were raped by their father
and stuff like that there,
726
00:41:11,425 --> 00:41:12,905
and she's not like that.
727
00:41:12,948 --> 00:41:15,385
Then I was in a group with her
728
00:41:15,429 --> 00:41:18,258
and that
was the first time I ever
actually yelled and meant it.
729
00:41:18,301 --> 00:41:21,914
I was crying so hard,
I couldn't believe that someone
had said something like that.
730
00:41:21,957 --> 00:41:25,308
As if I'm a disease and you are
better than me.
731
00:41:25,352 --> 00:41:28,964
I can say that
at that moment I was glad that
something in this world
732
00:41:29,008 --> 00:41:31,967
was called an encounter group
and I wasn't choking her.
733
00:41:32,011 --> 00:41:35,797
Back in the day when I was going
through a lot of places
734
00:41:35,841 --> 00:41:39,627
being in institutions, there
were no encounter groups.
735
00:41:39,671 --> 00:41:44,806
We would just simply beat each
other's ass on the spot if
something like that broke out.
736
00:41:44,850 --> 00:41:48,462
[man]
After the shouting there is an attempt to resolve hostilities.
737
00:41:48,506 --> 00:41:51,900
With the ultimate goal of not
only having peace,
738
00:41:51,944 --> 00:41:54,816
but having a better outcome in
your daily interactions.
739
00:41:54,860 --> 00:41:57,906
They taught us that everyone in
the world has feelings,
740
00:41:59,081 --> 00:42:01,127
and
that's all they are is feelings.
741
00:42:01,170 --> 00:42:05,392
And the difference between a
positive person
and a negative person
742
00:42:05,435 --> 00:42:08,177
was how they reacted off
of those feelings.
743
00:42:11,354 --> 00:42:15,663
[man] We're talking about attempting suicide by eating 15 pills of Antabuse,
744
00:42:15,707 --> 00:42:18,492
and then going out and
having a glass of scotch.
745
00:42:18,536 --> 00:42:20,581
We're talking about waking up in
the morning
746
00:42:20,625 --> 00:42:23,715
and just because you
don't have booze, drinking
shaving lotion,
747
00:42:23,758 --> 00:42:25,760
just to get alcohol out of it.
748
00:42:25,804 --> 00:42:28,371
We're talking about
going into convulsions,
749
00:42:28,415 --> 00:42:34,029
and going into seizures and
going into blackouts that you
almost never came out of.
750
00:42:34,682 --> 00:42:39,121
[woman]
I was at the point where I was
pretty wasted one night,
751
00:42:39,165 --> 00:42:44,779
and I went out and I got a
butcher knife and started
stabbing myself in my stomach,
752
00:42:44,823 --> 00:42:48,609
which partly because I wanted my
father to come and say,
753
00:42:48,653 --> 00:42:52,004
"It's okay Diana. You're going
to be all right, you're a very
sick little girl.
754
00:42:52,047 --> 00:42:54,789
We'll take you to the hospital
and sew you up."
755
00:42:54,833 --> 00:42:59,620
I just wanted
to know that he loved me because
I felt like he didn't.
756
00:42:59,664 --> 00:43:01,622
I felt like nobody did.
757
00:43:01,666 --> 00:43:05,626
You have to make the decision
whether or not it's worth it for
you to live.
758
00:43:06,671 --> 00:43:10,022
You have got to do
it for yourself.
759
00:43:12,633 --> 00:43:14,592
I want you to
think about the times
760
00:43:14,635 --> 00:43:18,117
that you
could never sit somebody down
and spill your guts out.
761
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:21,250
And I want you to say, "I'm
lonely and it hurts me."
762
00:43:21,294 --> 00:43:23,165
Hold hands and think about that.
763
00:43:23,992 --> 00:43:26,386
Let's get in
touch with what you are.
764
00:43:27,953 --> 00:43:30,259
[woman]
I'm lonely and it hurts me.
765
00:43:30,303 --> 00:43:35,264
[Peter] You would think about a feeling that you had that made you sad.
766
00:43:35,308 --> 00:43:38,006
I'm lonely and it hurts me.
767
00:43:38,050 --> 00:43:41,401
That you felt bad about.
768
00:43:41,444 --> 00:43:45,100
[man] Think about what goes on
inside. "I'm lonely and it hurts
me," let's go.
769
00:43:45,144 --> 00:43:46,580
I'm lonely and it hurts me.
770
00:43:46,624 --> 00:43:51,367
I'm scared. I hate my father.
This person raped me.
771
00:43:51,411 --> 00:43:53,631
I'm lonely and it hurts me.
772
00:43:53,674 --> 00:43:58,418
[Daniel] It was trying to go to
your most inner child.
773
00:43:59,375 --> 00:44:02,074
I'm lonely and it hurts me.
774
00:44:02,117 --> 00:44:03,379
The hurt.
775
00:44:03,423 --> 00:44:06,382
I'm lonely and it hurts me!
776
00:44:06,426 --> 00:44:09,472
[Daniel] The wound's just left
unidentified.
777
00:44:09,516 --> 00:44:12,650
[woman]
I'm lonely and it hurts me!
778
00:44:12,693 --> 00:44:13,607
[man] Talk about it!
779
00:44:13,651 --> 00:44:17,480
I'm lonely and it hurts me!
780
00:44:17,524 --> 00:44:20,135
I'm lonely and it hurts me!
781
00:44:20,179 --> 00:44:23,269
I'm lonely and it hurts me!
782
00:44:23,312 --> 00:44:26,751
[screaming]
783
00:44:26,794 --> 00:44:31,103
[man] Get it all out. Get it all
out. It's okay to cry.
784
00:44:31,146 --> 00:44:33,496
[Peter] And it was supposedly a way of--
785
00:44:33,540 --> 00:44:36,848
-[Liz] Cleansing.
-[Peter] ...cleansing out
your problems.
786
00:44:39,024 --> 00:44:41,635
[man] You are watching primal
scream therapy,
787
00:44:41,679 --> 00:44:45,421
which is intended to release a
youngster's deepest fears and
emotions.
788
00:44:45,465 --> 00:44:50,426
I had two primal groups
surrounding my father's death.
789
00:44:50,470 --> 00:44:52,254
[man] Do you remember what
you were screaming?
790
00:44:54,779 --> 00:44:56,781
[Liz]
Yeah, why'd you leave me?
791
00:44:59,218 --> 00:45:03,526
When I got into high school I
found amphetamines.
792
00:45:04,789 --> 00:45:07,008
Then I found crystal speed,
793
00:45:07,052 --> 00:45:12,666
and I did a lot of amphetamines
and a lot of crystal, and I
would drink a lot.
794
00:45:12,710 --> 00:45:17,062
Got thrown out of high school and went to night school.
795
00:45:17,105 --> 00:45:21,762
Then I got kicked out of night
school for truancy.
796
00:45:21,806 --> 00:45:26,767
I had said to my father,
"I need help,
I think I'm going crazy."
797
00:45:27,507 --> 00:45:30,858
And he said, "Well,
798
00:45:30,902 --> 00:45:33,774
I would like you to consider
going to Elan.
799
00:45:33,818 --> 00:45:36,951
Your brother went there and it seems to have done a world of good for him."
800
00:45:36,995 --> 00:45:40,433
He said, "I'll call you every day to make sure you're doing all right."
801
00:45:40,476 --> 00:45:44,176
And two days later I made this
phony suicide attempt
802
00:45:44,219 --> 00:45:49,355
thinking I'd end up in the plush
Valley Hospital in Ridgewood,
New Jersey,
803
00:45:49,398 --> 00:45:53,707
and instead I ended up
on the psych ward.
804
00:45:54,316 --> 00:45:56,318
And my father
died the next morning.
805
00:45:56,362 --> 00:45:59,757
He dropped dead jogging on a
business trip in Chicago.
806
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:03,456
They said the heart attack was so massive he was dead before he hit the pavement.
807
00:46:03,499 --> 00:46:08,200
So I felt so
guilty about having made that
suicide attempt and thinking,
808
00:46:08,243 --> 00:46:12,291
"Well, that probably contributed
to my father's heart attack,
which killed him."
809
00:46:13,161 --> 00:46:16,469
And my mother wanted me
to go to Elan,
810
00:46:16,512 --> 00:46:20,995
and I'm pretty sure Peter at that point was advocating for me to go there as well.
811
00:46:21,735 --> 00:46:23,911
So I went to Elan.
812
00:46:26,131 --> 00:46:27,872
[woman] We are in a structured
environment
813
00:46:27,915 --> 00:46:31,701
where these kids may
not know how to have things
organized.
814
00:46:31,745 --> 00:46:36,358
Don't know how to keep anything
on time, how to do something,
815
00:46:36,402 --> 00:46:39,797
and this teaches them to live in an environment where there is actually discipline.
816
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:43,670
[man] Along with their job,
every resident had a set of
daily responsibilities.
817
00:46:43,713 --> 00:46:46,629
Dropping slips was one of them, and then there was the incident book.
818
00:46:46,673 --> 00:46:48,588
At Elan there were three cardinal rules.
819
00:46:48,631 --> 00:46:51,025
No drugs, no sex and no
violence.
820
00:46:51,069 --> 00:46:54,072
Breaking any of the
three cardinal rules meant
severe punishment.
821
00:46:54,115 --> 00:46:58,293
But then there were rules for
everything else, and this is where the incident book came in.
822
00:46:58,337 --> 00:47:03,516
[Peter] The incident book was
something controlled by a
shingle expediter.
823
00:47:03,559 --> 00:47:07,694
Someone who you could
kind of compare to a police
lieutenant or captain.
824
00:47:07,737 --> 00:47:10,044
You had to be careful what you
said around everybody
825
00:47:10,088 --> 00:47:15,789
because people were encouraged
to tattle on each other all the
time for every little thing.
826
00:47:15,833 --> 00:47:17,791
[Peter] Students
would book each other
827
00:47:17,835 --> 00:47:20,272
or hold each other accountable
for breaking the rules.
828
00:47:20,315 --> 00:47:25,407
They would say to the shingle,
"I want to book an incident." They'd say, "On who? For what?"
829
00:47:25,451 --> 00:47:27,018
You'd get booked for goofing.
830
00:47:27,061 --> 00:47:30,325
You could be walking around
with a shoelace that's untied.
831
00:47:30,369 --> 00:47:32,284
[Tracy] Not doing your chore correctly.
832
00:47:32,327 --> 00:47:35,635
Let too many cigarette butts
collect in an ash tray.
833
00:47:35,678 --> 00:47:37,898
[Jaela]
Because I was the house fatty,
834
00:47:37,942 --> 00:47:41,989
I couldn't sit through a meal
without being booked by 10
people for eating too much.
835
00:47:42,033 --> 00:47:44,731
This is my favorite,
stealing a pencil.
836
00:47:44,774 --> 00:47:46,689
But stealing a pencil
isn't stealing a pencil.
837
00:47:46,733 --> 00:47:50,084
Stealing a pencil is like a
pencil was on the ground and you
picked it up,
838
00:47:50,128 --> 00:47:52,782
and you didn't make a fucking
announcement on the pencil
839
00:47:52,826 --> 00:47:55,046
to let everybody know that you were taking the pencil.
840
00:47:55,089 --> 00:47:57,700
Because you didn't want to take
those two extra steps
841
00:47:57,744 --> 00:47:59,441
to raise your hand and make an
announcement
842
00:47:59,485 --> 00:48:02,053
and find out whose fucking
pencil it is before
you pocket it,
843
00:48:02,096 --> 00:48:06,405
you have now committed a crime
in the kingdom of Elan.
844
00:48:06,448 --> 00:48:09,974
The shingle would come up to you
if you were booked and say,
"Valid or invalid?"
845
00:48:10,017 --> 00:48:15,196
Your explanation had some
weight, but not a whole
hell of a lot.
846
00:48:16,110 --> 00:48:20,419
The injustice of it was guilty
or innocent, you usually got
dealt with.
847
00:48:20,462 --> 00:48:24,771
If it's an injustice,
deal with it.
848
00:48:24,814 --> 00:48:26,991
-[man] Knock!
-[knocking on door]
849
00:48:27,034 --> 00:48:29,384
[man]
Who's out there? Come in.
850
00:48:32,518 --> 00:48:34,955
I was dealt with a lot,
on a daily basis.
851
00:48:35,695 --> 00:48:39,394
I mean, God I could knock 20
times a day, 30 times a day.
852
00:48:39,438 --> 00:48:41,440
You say knock, the
person knocks.
853
00:48:41,483 --> 00:48:44,747
-They'd say, "Who's there?" And
you say Julie, and they'd say--
-Come in.
854
00:48:44,791 --> 00:48:47,098
[Julie]
You'd walk in and you'd close
the door behind you,
855
00:48:47,141 --> 00:48:49,274
and you'd stand in front of four other residents
856
00:48:49,317 --> 00:48:53,104
with your feet
shoulder-width apart and your
hands at your sides.
857
00:48:53,147 --> 00:48:55,497
And they would say, "You know
why you're standing there?"
858
00:48:55,541 --> 00:48:56,759
For stealing a pencil.
859
00:48:56,803 --> 00:48:59,327
That was your responsibility!
860
00:48:59,371 --> 00:49:01,808
You had to clean the bathroom
this morning!
861
00:49:01,851 --> 00:49:05,246
[people screaming
over each other]
862
00:49:08,554 --> 00:49:10,251
You can
just lay back in the cut,
863
00:49:10,295 --> 00:49:12,862
and it's just everything that
goes around here!
864
00:49:12,906 --> 00:49:15,430
[man] In the jargon of Elan,
this is a haircut.
865
00:49:15,474 --> 00:49:18,912
The theory is that
blowing the most trivial
incidents out of proportion
866
00:49:18,956 --> 00:49:24,048
with angry shouting, will lead the supposed offender to take a closer look at himself.
867
00:49:24,091 --> 00:49:26,789
[people screaming
over each other]
868
00:49:26,833 --> 00:49:28,748
[woman] You're going to make
sure things get done!
869
00:49:28,791 --> 00:49:32,143
So I suggest for the next time
you should put more...!
870
00:49:32,186 --> 00:49:37,148
And if you stand there and you
react at all like roll your eyes
or, "Yeah, right. Whatever."
871
00:49:37,975 --> 00:49:40,412
It would just get worse and
worse and worse.
872
00:49:40,455 --> 00:49:44,938
[people moaning]
873
00:49:44,982 --> 00:49:48,550
[man] At Elan you succeed and survive if you accept the program.
874
00:49:48,594 --> 00:49:53,947
If you don't, there are
punishments. They're usually
called learning experiences.
875
00:49:54,556 --> 00:49:56,645
[Todd] You had to make a
choice when you came to Elan.
876
00:49:56,689 --> 00:50:00,562
You can choose to go through the
hard way or you can choose the
motherfucker way.
877
00:50:01,128 --> 00:50:04,610
From the hottest fire comes
the strongest steel.
878
00:50:08,570 --> 00:50:10,398
[Daniel]
But I caught on real quick.
879
00:50:12,009 --> 00:50:15,577
I got smart the first day I was
there, and a couple of guys came
880
00:50:15,621 --> 00:50:18,624
and asked me come in a room and
they just said,
881
00:50:18,667 --> 00:50:21,235
"Hey, we can do
this one way or we can do it
another way."
882
00:50:21,888 --> 00:50:24,499
And I just went, "Really?"
883
00:50:24,543 --> 00:50:26,066
And they go, "Really."
884
00:50:26,110 --> 00:50:27,850
And I said, "Okay, cool."
885
00:50:27,894 --> 00:50:30,157
I just didn't feel like
fighting,
886
00:50:30,201 --> 00:50:34,118
because I intuitively
knew I wasn't going to win.
887
00:50:34,161 --> 00:50:36,903
I wasn't buying into their
system right away.
888
00:50:36,946 --> 00:50:41,821
[Jaela] My first year in Elan was scrubbing floors and facing corners.
889
00:50:41,864 --> 00:50:45,216
I had almost a general meeting
a day for probably six months.
890
00:50:45,259 --> 00:50:49,220
So I was on the service crew for
30 days and then I tried to run
away and I got caught.
891
00:50:49,263 --> 00:50:50,612
[Tracy]
I wanted to get kicked out.
892
00:50:50,656 --> 00:50:52,658
My first year that's all I
wanted to do.
893
00:50:52,701 --> 00:50:56,662
That was my dream. My dream was
to get kicked out of Elan.
894
00:50:56,705 --> 00:51:00,013
I had my clothes on all night
long in bed,
895
00:51:00,057 --> 00:51:03,843
trying to get the guts to get up
and run out the door.
896
00:51:03,886 --> 00:51:08,543
And finally when I did, I
ran right into the night man.
897
00:51:08,587 --> 00:51:11,459
[Tracy] But had I known how hard
people had tried
898
00:51:11,503 --> 00:51:16,508
for the past
20-something years prior to me getting there to get kicked out,
899
00:51:16,551 --> 00:51:19,598
and the things that they had tried and they had never gotten kicked out,
900
00:51:19,641 --> 00:51:22,209
I would probably
have conformed sooner.
901
00:51:22,862 --> 00:51:26,866
[man] Many Elan residents have tried to escape, but they've all failed.
902
00:51:27,475 --> 00:51:31,131
[Jeff] I split from Elan
probably about six or seven
times.
903
00:51:31,175 --> 00:51:36,049
Made it out
of the state of Maine every
time, as far as California.
904
00:51:36,093 --> 00:51:39,487
Anybody who tried to run
away was usually caught.
905
00:51:39,531 --> 00:51:43,926
[man] When they've managed to
get off the grounds, trackers
are sent out after them.
906
00:51:43,970 --> 00:51:46,146
[Peter] They send student
trackers after you.
907
00:51:46,190 --> 00:51:50,846
[Jeff] Next thing I know I get
jumped somewhere, and next
thing I'm back.
908
00:51:51,891 --> 00:51:55,590
[Peter] You were brought back
and you were basically
therapeutically killed.
909
00:51:55,634 --> 00:51:59,725
And you often had
security precautions put on you
910
00:51:59,768 --> 00:52:03,381
that were unprecedented for any time in your stay.
911
00:52:03,424 --> 00:52:09,126
[man] When they caught this 15-year-old boy he was put in a rabbit suit and leg shackles.
912
00:52:09,169 --> 00:52:12,912
[Alec] After I ran away, I mean
I already had no fucking
shoelaces or anything anyway.
913
00:52:12,955 --> 00:52:14,261
So they got me down to a sandal,
914
00:52:14,305 --> 00:52:19,136
I can only wear
sandals, pocket, pockets out.
915
00:52:19,179 --> 00:52:21,312
15-foot
spread from windows and doors.
916
00:52:21,355 --> 00:52:23,096
A strength and a high strength.
917
00:52:23,140 --> 00:52:25,925
They've got to be with me at all times, and I'm in a pod,
918
00:52:25,968 --> 00:52:28,971
which is each tile is like
a foot, one-by-one all right?
919
00:52:29,015 --> 00:52:32,061
So I got nine, that was me.
920
00:52:32,105 --> 00:52:34,455
That was me for
nine fucking months.
921
00:52:34,499 --> 00:52:35,500
That's my pen.
922
00:52:35,543 --> 00:52:37,589
That's where I live it's taped.
923
00:52:38,242 --> 00:52:41,636
Taped, outlined,
if I went out of it, "Chief!"
924
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:43,203
[man] What does it do?
925
00:52:43,247 --> 00:52:46,293
Okay, it humiliates him and it
restricts his movement.
926
00:52:46,337 --> 00:52:49,992
He's run away from
here four times, okay?
927
00:52:50,036 --> 00:52:54,910
He's run
away from every place he's been
before at least 17 or 18 times.
928
00:52:55,563 --> 00:52:59,132
This boy's been in and out of
juvenile detention centers for
years,
929
00:52:59,176 --> 00:53:02,527
and faced charges of breaking
and entering and assault.
930
00:53:02,570 --> 00:53:05,834
For him, it was either
Elan or jail.
931
00:53:05,878 --> 00:53:09,925
[Peter] So, I was shot down for
the next 30 days,
932
00:53:09,969 --> 00:53:12,189
and I was a worker for
the next 30 days,
933
00:53:12,232 --> 00:53:14,365
and then they
transferred me to Waterford.
934
00:53:14,408 --> 00:53:19,979
I met the best friend I've ever
had in my life, a guy named
Scott Ketchum.
935
00:53:20,022 --> 00:53:25,027
And he had a
sign, and I remember exactly
what his sign said.
936
00:53:25,071 --> 00:53:28,640
I walked in and I looked over,
and the whole room
had to be quiet
937
00:53:28,683 --> 00:53:30,729
because he just walked in
and he said,
938
00:53:30,772 --> 00:53:35,212
"I'm Scott, the hospital tot. I like to make people laugh a lot.
939
00:53:35,255 --> 00:53:39,216
I find it hard to see that I have guilt and it's killing me."
940
00:53:39,259 --> 00:53:43,568
[man] Residents are made to wear signs for days, sometimes weeks.
941
00:53:43,611 --> 00:53:46,179
Bluntly spelling out their
problems and failures.
942
00:53:46,223 --> 00:53:50,444
[Tracy] You would have to stand
up every morning at morning
meeting and read your sign.
943
00:53:50,488 --> 00:53:53,882
Hickory dickory dock,
responsible I am not.
944
00:53:53,926 --> 00:53:58,322
I fell asleep like a little
sheep, ask me why I'm a dummy.
945
00:53:58,365 --> 00:54:01,194
[Tracy]
And the house would have to
confront you on your sign.
946
00:54:01,238 --> 00:54:04,328
"Why are you a dummy?" Because
I fell asleep on night duty.
947
00:54:04,371 --> 00:54:06,504
[Jeff] It was a big piece of
white poster board
948
00:54:06,547 --> 00:54:10,290
and Elan was so
nice that they would let you
make your own sign.
949
00:54:10,334 --> 00:54:14,381
You could even put silly flowers
and dogs and cats on it.
950
00:54:14,425 --> 00:54:18,994
I'm a lunatic, I totally
lose control when things don't
go my way.
951
00:54:19,038 --> 00:54:20,909
That's why I've been in
and out of hospitals.
952
00:54:20,953 --> 00:54:25,697
Please confront me as to why I
have so little self-control
953
00:54:25,740 --> 00:54:27,525
that I've become a blob.
954
00:54:27,568 --> 00:54:30,267
Please ask me why I
continue to goof.
955
00:54:30,310 --> 00:54:32,747
I'm a disgusting little coward.
956
00:54:32,791 --> 00:54:36,925
If I continue to take everything
as a joke, I'm going to end up
dead.
957
00:54:36,969 --> 00:54:41,147
All I have in the future to look
forward to is getting raped in
prison.
958
00:54:41,190 --> 00:54:46,152
I got a sign as a result of the
fact that I broke cardinal
rules.
959
00:54:46,195 --> 00:54:51,157
I was kind of flirting with one of the guys from Elan III in
classes.
960
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:53,725
The lights had
gone out during school,
961
00:54:53,768 --> 00:54:57,294
and we held hands for probably
about five seconds.
962
00:54:57,337 --> 00:54:59,600
And they kept
telling me that I had guilt,
963
00:54:59,644 --> 00:55:01,820
and I had no clue what they were
talking about.
964
00:55:01,863 --> 00:55:06,738
[Peter] Guilt was basically any behavior you engaged in contrary to Elan policy
965
00:55:06,781 --> 00:55:10,481
that was not found out,
but you carried with you.
966
00:55:10,524 --> 00:55:14,049
Elan was very big on making
you feel guilty.
967
00:55:14,093 --> 00:55:16,313
[Peter] Every couple of weeks
they would say,
968
00:55:16,356 --> 00:55:19,011
"Have you copped to your
guilt? When was the last time
you copped to your guilt?"
969
00:55:19,054 --> 00:55:22,580
And you'd write it out on a
piece of paper, what you did.
970
00:55:22,623 --> 00:55:25,539
[Julian] I couldn't figure out
if somebody had seen me
in the dark
971
00:55:25,583 --> 00:55:31,545
touch hands with this other guy
for five seconds, so I actually
copped to that as my guilt.
972
00:55:31,589 --> 00:55:34,592
Two new residents talking to
each other without a strength
973
00:55:34,635 --> 00:55:39,379
being aware of the conversation
might be a relatively minor form
of guilt.
974
00:55:39,423 --> 00:55:40,337
You know.
975
00:55:42,208 --> 00:55:45,211
Kissing someone on the
back stairs, you're getting a
general meeting.
976
00:55:45,254 --> 00:55:48,388
[Julie] So I got shot down, I
got a general meeting,
977
00:55:48,432 --> 00:55:50,912
and I got a sign about, "Ask me why am I whore,"
978
00:55:50,956 --> 00:55:54,351
because I held hands
with somebody for about five
seconds.
979
00:55:55,961 --> 00:55:59,878
I remember this poor girl named
Jennifer.
980
00:55:59,921 --> 00:56:04,752
She liked a kid, and they put a whore costume on her.
981
00:56:04,796 --> 00:56:07,320
Oh, oh. Costumes.
982
00:56:07,364 --> 00:56:09,931
[Dave] Every morning she had to get up in front of the whole house,
983
00:56:09,975 --> 00:56:14,022
dance around and strut like she
was a whore, and sing this song.
984
00:56:14,066 --> 00:56:18,244
How do you tell somebody that
had been sexually abused
985
00:56:18,984 --> 00:56:22,683
since they were four years old
that they're a whore?
986
00:56:22,727 --> 00:56:27,166
♪ They call me
Flamin' Jenny 'cause I'm♪
987
00:56:27,209 --> 00:56:31,388
♪ Ha! For many
I'm the hottest baby
In the house♪
988
00:56:31,866 --> 00:56:37,002
♪ And when it comes to lovin'
I'm the human oven♪
989
00:56:37,045 --> 00:56:40,135
♪ I'm the hottest baby
In the house♪
990
00:56:40,179 --> 00:56:41,049
Growl!
991
00:56:45,532 --> 00:56:50,232
[Julie] I think I was oversexed
because I'd been abused,
992
00:56:50,276 --> 00:56:54,715
so I was sexually provocative.
993
00:56:54,759 --> 00:56:59,459
I was sexually abused when I was younger by someone close
to my family,
994
00:56:59,503 --> 00:57:01,853
and it had gone on for a
very long time,
995
00:57:01,896 --> 00:57:06,988
a period of eight years and just
kind of the backup of dealing
with that problems in school.
996
00:57:07,032 --> 00:57:12,341
I'd entrusted to a friend that I
was being sexually abused,
997
00:57:12,385 --> 00:57:17,129
and that friend got mad at me
and decided to spread it
around the school.
998
00:57:17,172 --> 00:57:20,088
So I was known in junior high
999
00:57:20,132 --> 00:57:23,222
as the girl who
fucked this person.
1000
00:57:24,136 --> 00:57:26,094
I think that I just wanted out.
1001
00:57:27,574 --> 00:57:29,533
I just wanted
everything to be quiet.
1002
00:57:29,576 --> 00:57:34,276
[inaudible].
1003
00:57:36,801 --> 00:57:40,413
[Mary] They used to put people in some humiliating costumes.
1004
00:57:40,457 --> 00:57:43,590
Me and this girl would dress
up as the Bobbsey Twins,
1005
00:57:43,634 --> 00:57:46,245
our hair was put up
in pig tails.
1006
00:57:46,288 --> 00:57:50,379
We were very
immature and we used to act up,
and they wanted to humiliate us.
1007
00:57:50,423 --> 00:57:53,470
The costume would always suit the person who was put into it.
1008
00:57:53,513 --> 00:57:56,821
My subject was terrible
with the math.
1009
00:57:56,864 --> 00:58:00,564
If you didn't do well in
it, they'd make you wear this
big dunce cap.
1010
00:58:00,607 --> 00:58:02,566
[man] If their behavior is
deemed infantile,
1011
00:58:02,609 --> 00:58:05,699
they're made to wear diapers over their clothes, and to carry rattles.
1012
00:58:05,743 --> 00:58:08,572
I don't know how I was being a
baby, but I guess I was.
1013
00:58:08,615 --> 00:58:10,617
I had
the bonnet and the big rattle.
1014
00:58:10,661 --> 00:58:13,577
Denise Hubbard, she had
syphilis,
1015
00:58:14,229 --> 00:58:17,363
and they made her wear
tampons in her hair.
1016
00:58:17,406 --> 00:58:19,539
I thought
that was downright disgusting.
1017
00:58:19,583 --> 00:58:21,193
[man] Why would they do that?
1018
00:58:21,236 --> 00:58:25,458
Because she has syphilis. That
was their way of treating her.
1019
00:58:26,111 --> 00:58:29,680
Take my buddy Kevin
Hicks for instance.
1020
00:58:30,419 --> 00:58:31,899
Rolling.
1021
00:58:31,943 --> 00:58:35,903
He pulled a couple stunts, and
they put a costume on him.
1022
00:58:35,947 --> 00:58:37,557
[Kevin] Oh I was out of control.
1023
00:58:37,601 --> 00:58:41,692
And so, I was shot down, I was
in Parsonsfield
1024
00:58:41,735 --> 00:58:43,476
and we had a morning meeting,
1025
00:58:44,259 --> 00:58:48,481
and I said I think that we
should get a house dog.
1026
00:58:49,177 --> 00:58:52,311
Elan III has a beautiful
golden retriever,
1027
00:58:52,354 --> 00:58:56,576
and wouldn't it be nice if we could get a dog for the house.
1028
00:58:56,620 --> 00:59:00,232
Next thing I knew, I was getting a general meeting
1029
00:59:00,275 --> 00:59:03,757
for suggesting that we should
have a house dog,
1030
00:59:04,366 --> 00:59:09,546
and it was determined that I
should be the house dog.
1031
00:59:09,589 --> 00:59:11,243
And I was not allowed to speak.
1032
00:59:11,983 --> 00:59:17,379
I was only allowed to bark once for yes, bark twice for no.
1033
00:59:17,423 --> 00:59:21,732
I had to walk around on fours,
for my dinner I was given
a dog dish,
1034
00:59:21,775 --> 00:59:23,690
plus I had to do tricks.
1035
00:59:23,734 --> 00:59:27,564
They would teach me tricks and I would have to do these tricks on command.
1036
00:59:28,260 --> 00:59:33,570
Jennifer was mummified, they
wrapped this white bandage tape
1037
00:59:33,613 --> 00:59:35,093
all round her head,
1038
00:59:35,136 --> 00:59:37,791
leaving an opening for her nose so she could breathe.
1039
00:59:38,487 --> 00:59:42,579
And then a leash
was put around her neck so that
she couldn't run off on her PO,
1040
00:59:42,622 --> 00:59:44,537
personal overseer.
1041
00:59:44,581 --> 00:59:48,585
I drew a picture of that, among a lot of other pictures.
1042
01:00:13,871 --> 01:00:15,960
[Mary] It was tough being
there as a kid.
1043
01:00:16,003 --> 01:00:20,312
My best memories it seems
were when I was acting up with
somebody else.
1044
01:00:20,355 --> 01:00:26,100
Just being silly, goofing on the program or making silly wise cracks,
1045
01:00:26,144 --> 01:00:27,798
running around the room.
1046
01:00:27,841 --> 01:00:31,758
To my mind, it
was merely playing,
1047
01:00:31,802 --> 01:00:34,413
but to the
directors it was anarchy,
1048
01:00:34,456 --> 01:00:38,199
and we had to be dealt with
swiftly and forcefully.
1049
01:00:38,243 --> 01:00:40,027
[interviewer]
Joe, you make no bones about it.
1050
01:00:40,071 --> 01:00:42,421
There is corporal punishment
here at Elan. Tell us about it.
1051
01:00:42,464 --> 01:00:45,729
What are the stages it comes
in, who's it administered by?
1052
01:00:46,468 --> 01:00:49,515
Well, it's administered by the
kids first of all.
1053
01:00:49,558 --> 01:00:53,127
Corporal, it's a harsh term.
1054
01:00:55,434 --> 01:00:57,262
[man]
Do you remember Kim Freehill?
1055
01:00:57,305 --> 01:01:02,963
[Liz] Kim was from a wealthy
family in Long Island.
1056
01:01:03,007 --> 01:01:05,270
After she had only
been there a month,
1057
01:01:05,313 --> 01:01:10,188
she had lice, and I think that
episode really hit her hard.
1058
01:01:10,231 --> 01:01:13,278
All the females, we had to wash
all our clothes,
1059
01:01:13,321 --> 01:01:18,500
put the pillows in plastic bags, and everybody had to get Kwelled again,
1060
01:01:18,544 --> 01:01:20,807
and I'm sure it was mortifying for her.
1061
01:01:20,851 --> 01:01:24,463
And after that she just
started kind of unraveling.
1062
01:01:24,506 --> 01:01:27,596
So then they gave her a GM
1063
01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:32,776
because she was starting to act a little nuts.
1064
01:01:32,819 --> 01:01:34,995
Like mental patient issues,
1065
01:01:36,388 --> 01:01:41,393
and during that GM she just let
go and peed on the floor.
1066
01:01:41,436 --> 01:01:47,094
So they took her and threw her in a cold shower with all her clothes on,
1067
01:01:47,138 --> 01:01:49,357
and then
brought her back dripping wet
1068
01:01:49,401 --> 01:01:51,490
to stand in front
of the house again.
1069
01:01:51,533 --> 01:01:54,058
But she wasn't cooperating
1070
01:01:54,101 --> 01:01:56,930
because she was in the middle of
a nervous breakdown.
1071
01:01:56,974 --> 01:01:59,063
So they spanked her.
1072
01:01:59,106 --> 01:02:03,545
It's one resident spanking
another resident, and it's done
with a ping-pong paddle.
1073
01:02:03,589 --> 01:02:08,637
[woman] For the first two years
that I was there, they would
spank with a clipboard.
1074
01:02:08,681 --> 01:02:12,816
Clipboards, hands,
1075
01:02:13,512 --> 01:02:15,035
anything here.
1076
01:02:15,079 --> 01:02:18,517
Usually a person won't get
spanked more than once or twice.
1077
01:02:18,560 --> 01:02:19,997
Usually when they use a paddle
1078
01:02:20,040 --> 01:02:23,740
they may have four or five
people spank a person
1079
01:02:23,783 --> 01:02:26,177
like three to five times each.
1080
01:02:26,220 --> 01:02:29,006
[woman]
They'd have the students lined
up, five or six of them,
1081
01:02:29,049 --> 01:02:32,052
and
they would each have to take a turn at paddling the wrongdoer.
1082
01:02:32,096 --> 01:02:35,316
[Liz]
So she was being spanked
1083
01:02:36,013 --> 01:02:40,104
repeatedly in wet pants.
1084
01:02:40,147 --> 01:02:45,239
When they spanked me they didn't
have to spank me so I turned
black and blue, simple as that.
1085
01:02:45,283 --> 01:02:49,026
And that was just one time after
another. I was so sore I
couldn't sit down.
1086
01:02:49,766 --> 01:02:52,725
[Liz] Kim had scabs
1087
01:02:53,857 --> 01:02:59,645
that had to be three quarters of an inch thick on her rear
1088
01:02:59,688 --> 01:03:01,168
from being paddled.
1089
01:03:01,212 --> 01:03:03,083
[Mary]
Oh yes, it was painful.
1090
01:03:03,127 --> 01:03:06,217
I had to learn fast
to hold back my tears,
1091
01:03:06,260 --> 01:03:08,567
because I thought, I'm
not going to give them that.
1092
01:03:08,610 --> 01:03:11,788
I won't look weak in front of
them. Better to look angry.
1093
01:03:11,831 --> 01:03:16,140
I would cop an attitude instead,
even if that got me in more
trouble,
1094
01:03:16,183 --> 01:03:18,664
it was better than
giving them my tears.
1095
01:03:19,230 --> 01:03:24,322
They thought I needed it because
I supposedly was a terribly big
baby.
1096
01:03:24,365 --> 01:03:27,238
If you're going to act like a
baby, you should be treated
like a baby.
1097
01:03:27,281 --> 01:03:32,025
So after hours and hours of this
GM, which was horrific,
1098
01:03:32,069 --> 01:03:36,900
horrific GM, she was just gone.
1099
01:03:36,943 --> 01:03:38,597
Just catatonic.
1100
01:03:41,730 --> 01:03:44,211
[Maia] There's no federal
regulation on these places,
1101
01:03:44,255 --> 01:03:46,648
and the state regulations are
very weak.
1102
01:03:46,692 --> 01:03:50,957
Nail salons are more regulated
than guys
1103
01:03:51,001 --> 01:03:53,438
who come and kidnap your
kid at 2:00 in the morning.
1104
01:03:53,481 --> 01:03:56,180
[woman] The treatment we saw
called for isolation.
1105
01:03:56,223 --> 01:03:58,704
[Maia] And that they're more
regulated than facilities
1106
01:03:58,747 --> 01:04:02,490
that lock up
kids and are allowed to
physically punish them.
1107
01:04:02,534 --> 01:04:04,971
[reporter] They couldn't talk
to each other.
1108
01:04:05,015 --> 01:04:08,888
[Maia] We have had a completely
dysfunctional congress for a
long time now,
1109
01:04:08,932 --> 01:04:14,502
and there has been regulation that has passed the house twice,
1110
01:04:15,373 --> 01:04:18,767
but has never
really gone anywhere.
1111
01:04:18,811 --> 01:04:22,815
So the chances of getting
regulation
1112
01:04:22,859 --> 01:04:25,165
through this congress
are pretty low.
1113
01:04:26,297 --> 01:04:32,259
[singing together]
1114
01:04:38,178 --> 01:04:40,006
[Doug]
I tried to kill myself there.
1115
01:04:41,660 --> 01:04:44,271
My biggest punishment was they
put me in a corner.
1116
01:04:44,315 --> 01:04:49,886
See, I love to talk, I really
don't have a problem talking, so
I had to sit in the corner.
1117
01:04:51,017 --> 01:04:54,542
Everybody's doing whatever they got to do all around me.
1118
01:04:54,586 --> 01:04:56,849
This is in Waterford,
and I'll never forget,
1119
01:04:56,893 --> 01:05:00,287
because I got the scar right
here on my finger.
1120
01:05:00,331 --> 01:05:03,638
I had a piece of chicken and I
made an X on my finger.
1121
01:05:03,682 --> 01:05:05,640
I was trying to kill myself.
1122
01:05:05,684 --> 01:05:08,078
I was in the corner
only a few times.
1123
01:05:08,121 --> 01:05:11,168
Each stay was between
three to five days,
1124
01:05:11,211 --> 01:05:13,997
which I understand is not an
extremely long time.
1125
01:05:14,040 --> 01:05:16,651
[Jeff] It's exactly what it
sounds like.
1126
01:05:16,695 --> 01:05:21,047
Like when you're a child
and mom or dad says, "Go stand
in the corner."
1127
01:05:21,091 --> 01:05:25,878
You go stand in the corner, face
against the wall.
1128
01:05:25,922 --> 01:05:29,926
And you stand, and you
stand, and you stand until you
cannot stand.
1129
01:05:29,969 --> 01:05:31,449
And then you sit.
1130
01:05:31,492 --> 01:05:34,278
But it was worse
than that for sure.
1131
01:05:34,321 --> 01:05:38,586
It's not just like facing...
it's not like five-minute
fucking like turnaround.
1132
01:05:38,630 --> 01:05:39,979
You were fucking in
there forever.
1133
01:05:40,023 --> 01:05:42,068
You talked about
Donovan earlier,
1134
01:05:42,112 --> 01:05:46,029
dude they shut
him away for I think like four
months straight one time.
1135
01:05:46,072 --> 01:05:49,380
I've seen people that had been
in the corner for six months.
1136
01:05:49,423 --> 01:05:54,037
Oh my God, I literally would
stare at a spot on the wall
1137
01:05:54,080 --> 01:05:56,691
until it would just fuzz
out on you.
1138
01:05:56,735 --> 01:05:59,216
[Doug] You could count the holes
in the wall,
1139
01:05:59,259 --> 01:06:03,002
the nooks and cranny, the dots on the curtain.
1140
01:06:03,046 --> 01:06:07,528
[Jeff] You were eating standing there, you were sleeping in the corner.
1141
01:06:07,572 --> 01:06:10,357
They would bring a mattress,
you would sleep right there.
1142
01:06:10,401 --> 01:06:13,317
[Tracy] And as soon as the sun came out, you'd go back and face the corner.
1143
01:06:13,360 --> 01:06:16,537
[Jeff]
You're going to do that for
week, after week, after week
1144
01:06:16,581 --> 01:06:20,628
until you've been good for days,
and then they decide they want
to let you out.
1145
01:06:20,672 --> 01:06:24,023
Yo, I'd rather take an ass
whooping than sit there.
1146
01:06:24,067 --> 01:06:29,072
That is just my opinion because
I mean, wow, that's torture.
1147
01:06:29,811 --> 01:06:33,380
[Tracy] And then the poor person that had to sit there and watch you was another kid,
1148
01:06:33,424 --> 01:06:35,382
which was like
your support person.
1149
01:06:35,426 --> 01:06:37,819
And that
was the only person you were
allowed to talk to.
1150
01:06:38,733 --> 01:06:43,303
[Mary] I had this imaginary friend when I was in the corner too, her name was Emily.
1151
01:06:43,347 --> 01:06:46,480
She was a colonial girl a few
years younger than me.
1152
01:06:47,090 --> 01:06:48,874
But even her
presence didn't help
1153
01:06:48,917 --> 01:06:51,964
when people were allowed to come
up and swear at me.
1154
01:06:52,008 --> 01:06:56,621
They were given
open swearing privileges
directed at Mary O'Brien.
1155
01:06:56,664 --> 01:07:01,104
Anybody who wanted could come up
to me while I was in the corner
and cuss me out.
1156
01:07:01,147 --> 01:07:06,370
Tell me how
ugly, stupid and fat I was,
and how I was a loser,
1157
01:07:06,413 --> 01:07:08,154
how I made them sick.
1158
01:07:10,330 --> 01:07:13,768
It was so humiliating that I
used to make her go away while
they were doing that,
1159
01:07:13,812 --> 01:07:18,599
because I
didn't want her to hear me
being called all those names.
1160
01:07:23,169 --> 01:07:25,476
Duck in a Raincoat
is full of scandal.
1161
01:07:25,519 --> 01:07:27,913
News Center's Sharon
Randall tells us about it.
1162
01:07:27,956 --> 01:07:31,960
[woman] The book begins in Port Chester, New York, where Ricci grew up,
1163
01:07:32,004 --> 01:07:35,834
and takes the reader down the
sometimes bumpy road
of Ricci's life.
1164
01:07:35,877 --> 01:07:39,185
The opening of Elan, his lucrative drug treatment center.
1165
01:07:39,229 --> 01:07:42,797
The mysterious fire that
destroyed the clubhouse at
Scarborough Downs,
1166
01:07:42,841 --> 01:07:47,106
a failed run for the 1986
Democratic nomination for
governor,
1167
01:07:47,150 --> 01:07:51,154
and of course the famous lawsuit against KeyBank.
1168
01:07:51,763 --> 01:07:55,375
[Daniel]
When you first meet Joe and
you're a street kid like me,
1169
01:07:55,419 --> 01:07:58,074
and let's make no mistake, I
grew up on the street.
1170
01:07:58,117 --> 01:08:03,514
I hung out in
Providence, and I hung out in
Cranston, and it was...
1171
01:08:04,645 --> 01:08:07,039
Anyway,
there were a lot of Italians
yadda yadda yadda.
1172
01:08:07,083 --> 01:08:10,999
So Joe, there's no mistaking who
he is and what he is.
1173
01:08:11,043 --> 01:08:13,306
He was cool, he was confident.
1174
01:08:13,350 --> 01:08:15,134
[Daniel]
He always had a lot of money.
1175
01:08:15,178 --> 01:08:17,658
-[Peter] He had a Rolls Royce.
-[Daniel] He was eccentric.
1176
01:08:17,702 --> 01:08:20,618
-[Peter] He had a mink coat.
-[Daniel] He was extremely
grandiose.
1177
01:08:20,661 --> 01:08:23,055
If he walked in the room you'd
want to stand up to greet him.
1178
01:08:23,099 --> 01:08:25,579
-[Peter] He was the man.
-He ruled everything.
1179
01:08:25,623 --> 01:08:27,146
And so he was Italian.
1180
01:08:27,842 --> 01:08:30,106
[woman] KeyBank had cut off
Ricci's line of credit
1181
01:08:30,149 --> 01:08:32,673
because of rumors he
had ties to organized crime.
1182
01:08:32,717 --> 01:08:37,461
Ricci sued, and a federal jury awarded him 15 million dollars.
1183
01:08:38,375 --> 01:08:40,159
Well, in my simplicity,
1184
01:08:41,813 --> 01:08:43,206
I looked up to that.
1185
01:08:43,249 --> 01:08:47,427
Joe was my idol. I wanted
to be like Joe.
1186
01:08:47,471 --> 01:08:49,560
[Daniel] And he bought into me,
1187
01:08:49,603 --> 01:08:53,433
and I bought into him, like he did with a lot of other people.
1188
01:08:53,477 --> 01:08:57,437
Kind of took me under his wing,
buys you a lot of stuff.
1189
01:08:57,481 --> 01:09:01,180
He bought me all my clothes, he
bought me my first car.
1190
01:09:01,224 --> 01:09:03,878
For Christ's sake, he
owned the house I lived in.
1191
01:09:04,923 --> 01:09:07,230
So I was bought and paid for
pretty much.
1192
01:09:07,273 --> 01:09:11,451
[woman] He got his major judgment based on the fact that his civil rights were violated.
1193
01:09:11,495 --> 01:09:14,237
Yet throughout the book there
are accounts of many times
1194
01:09:14,280 --> 01:09:16,543
that other people's civil rights were violated
1195
01:09:16,587 --> 01:09:19,633
by his treatments
center for troubled adolescents.
1196
01:09:19,677 --> 01:09:23,594
[reporter] And that's part of
the story that Curley contends
the media missed.
1197
01:09:23,637 --> 01:09:27,119
You'd want to please him,
basically for your own survival.
1198
01:09:27,163 --> 01:09:29,817
-[Peter] He was mean.
-He was paranoid.
1199
01:09:29,861 --> 01:09:31,645
[Mary] He'd make
you feel like dirt.
1200
01:09:31,689 --> 01:09:35,867
[Daniel] He was very concerned
about his own image,
1201
01:09:37,260 --> 01:09:39,392
and his importance.
1202
01:09:39,436 --> 01:09:41,525
If you threatened his power,
1203
01:09:42,352 --> 01:09:46,965
he could be quite unfair with
the retaliation.
1204
01:09:47,008 --> 01:09:51,665
If he wants to act like a
criminal, he'll be treated like
a criminal.
1205
01:09:51,709 --> 01:09:53,754
It's that basic.
1206
01:09:53,798 --> 01:09:58,585
I had no really dealings of him,
then a few times he ran the
general meetings.
1207
01:09:58,629 --> 01:10:01,893
And when he
ran the general meeting, they
stomped the shit out of you.
1208
01:10:01,936 --> 01:10:03,764
You got the worst of the worst.
1209
01:10:03,808 --> 01:10:06,245
[reporter]
Duck in a Raincoat is packed
with personal accounts
1210
01:10:06,289 --> 01:10:08,769
of brutality
and intimidation at Elan,
1211
01:10:08,813 --> 01:10:12,469
Ricci's drug treatment
center for young people in
Poland Spring.
1212
01:10:12,512 --> 01:10:17,822
But in 1971, state investigation found no evidence to support such claims.
1213
01:10:17,865 --> 01:10:20,259
[interviewer]
If Joe is so bad and so dirty,
1214
01:10:20,303 --> 01:10:23,697
why hasn't anybody been able to
make anything stick to him?
1215
01:10:23,741 --> 01:10:26,134
Because he's very good
at what he does.
1216
01:10:26,178 --> 01:10:30,791
[reporter] What he does according to Curley is cover his tracks and dupe the media.
1217
01:10:30,835 --> 01:10:34,360
He has money, which certainly
makes people credible in the
United States of America,
1218
01:10:34,404 --> 01:10:36,101
but how he made that money,
1219
01:10:36,144 --> 01:10:38,538
is some of the things that are
questioned in this book.
1220
01:10:38,582 --> 01:10:42,063
[Maia] It sounds like the founder of Elan was a sociopath,
1221
01:10:42,107 --> 01:10:48,113
and there's evidence that
sociopaths rise in these places
very easily.
1222
01:10:48,809 --> 01:10:53,292
There was a study done
of using the Synanon kind of
method on sociopaths,
1223
01:10:53,336 --> 01:10:55,642
and they
found that it made them worse
1224
01:10:55,686 --> 01:10:58,210
because basically it told them
that hurting people,
1225
01:10:58,254 --> 01:11:00,299
which they enjoy doing,
is good.
1226
01:11:00,343 --> 01:11:03,607
So it basically trained people to be better sociopaths,
1227
01:11:03,650 --> 01:11:07,306
which is kind of scary when you think about the kids that are
sent to these places.
1228
01:11:07,350 --> 01:11:11,571
And Elan
was definitely among the worst
that I have heard of.
1229
01:11:11,615 --> 01:11:16,010
I think the difference is the
level of violence.
1230
01:11:16,054 --> 01:11:18,491
Elan explicitly used the ring.
1231
01:11:18,535 --> 01:11:24,367
We have the ring, which
everybody misinterprets.
1232
01:11:24,410 --> 01:11:27,326
It's not a boxing ring, it's a
ring of human people.
1233
01:11:28,196 --> 01:11:33,637
[Peter] Elan's boxing ring was
used as a last resort
therapeutic tool.
1234
01:11:33,680 --> 01:11:37,380
I once heard a staff member
refer to it as an exercise
in futility.
1235
01:11:37,423 --> 01:11:40,992
Pretty much to prove that
violence will get you nowhere.
1236
01:11:41,035 --> 01:11:44,604
The ring was used for bullies.
1237
01:11:44,648 --> 01:11:48,347
If you went in the ring, it's
because you physically
threatened somebody.
1238
01:11:48,391 --> 01:11:51,350
Any kind of violent action
resulted in the ring.
1239
01:11:51,394 --> 01:11:54,179
It occurs within a
general meeting.
1240
01:11:54,222 --> 01:11:57,922
They have, let's say 10
students,
1241
01:11:58,488 --> 01:12:02,100
15 students form a circle.
1242
01:12:02,143 --> 01:12:05,233
You would literally form a
human circle around someone.
1243
01:12:05,277 --> 01:12:07,627
And the bully is introduced as
what he is.
1244
01:12:07,671 --> 01:12:09,455
In this corner is the bully
1245
01:12:09,499 --> 01:12:12,284
who's trying to turn this
facility into a detention
center.
1246
01:12:12,328 --> 01:12:16,723
I got put in the boxing
ring a number of times.
1247
01:12:16,767 --> 01:12:20,901
I was in the ring for the good,
fighting the perpetrator.
1248
01:12:20,945 --> 01:12:23,991
[Joseph] And in this corner is
the house champion
1249
01:12:24,035 --> 01:12:26,124
who's going to show him why it
can't be done.
1250
01:12:26,167 --> 01:12:30,476
They would put you in the boxing
ring with somebody who was sure
to kick your ass.
1251
01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:32,435
You're supposed to be fighting
for the house.
1252
01:12:32,478 --> 01:12:35,481
Truth, justice, the Elan way.
1253
01:12:35,525 --> 01:12:39,616
You put a pair of
gloves on, and the other person
put a pair of gloves on.
1254
01:12:39,659 --> 01:12:41,487
The director goes ding.
1255
01:12:41,531 --> 01:12:43,010
[Doug] And may the best man win.
1256
01:12:43,620 --> 01:12:45,273
And you never won.
1257
01:12:45,317 --> 01:12:46,971
[Joseph] We never allowed
the bully to win.
1258
01:12:47,014 --> 01:12:48,799
[man] You might win one or two rounds.
1259
01:12:48,842 --> 01:12:51,671
No, I didn't even try. I
just went down like this.
1260
01:12:51,715 --> 01:12:54,674
You might beat this person, you
might beat that person,
1261
01:12:54,718 --> 01:12:56,502
but they
keep coming, they keep coming.
1262
01:12:56,546 --> 01:12:58,199
They keep sending a fresh
person.
1263
01:12:58,243 --> 01:13:01,420
And when that person got tired,
they would send somebody
else in.
1264
01:13:01,464 --> 01:13:03,857
You were boxing with six,
seven fresh people.
1265
01:13:03,901 --> 01:13:07,034
[Mary] So if you actually
fought, you'd really
get beat up.
1266
01:13:07,078 --> 01:13:09,863
It was sort of you could
say a kill situation.
1267
01:13:11,125 --> 01:13:14,390
Violence is ultimately futile in
the real world.
1268
01:13:14,433 --> 01:13:18,655
Even if you do
win a fight, there's always
someone bigger than you.
1269
01:13:18,698 --> 01:13:21,309
There's always a cop there to
arrest you for assault.
1270
01:13:21,353 --> 01:13:25,444
No good is really
going to come of being violent.
1271
01:13:25,488 --> 01:13:27,925
[Julie] I'd always heard
before I'd seen one
1272
01:13:27,968 --> 01:13:33,321
that the only people who get rings are those who actually are violent and lash out at others.
1273
01:13:33,365 --> 01:13:35,976
But I saw people get rings
1274
01:13:36,020 --> 01:13:41,591
who did nothing other than sit
in the corner and refuse to
respond.
1275
01:13:41,634 --> 01:13:47,510
And they used the ring
almost as if to try to shock
them into responding,
1276
01:13:47,553 --> 01:13:48,728
to wake them up.
1277
01:13:48,772 --> 01:13:50,600
[Liz] I was an expediter,
1278
01:13:50,643 --> 01:13:54,604
and I was stationed at the
kitchen door POing the shot
downs
1279
01:13:54,647 --> 01:13:57,433
who were washing dishes and
scrubbing the floor.
1280
01:13:57,476 --> 01:14:01,132
And one resident put on
his coat to take
the garbage out,
1281
01:14:01,175 --> 01:14:06,267
and I forgot he went out
there and shut the door behind
him, and he ran away.
1282
01:14:06,311 --> 01:14:08,531
So I was shot down for that.
1283
01:14:08,574 --> 01:14:14,058
And for me,
I felt terribly guilty
1284
01:14:14,754 --> 01:14:17,453
because if I had been
doing my job,
1285
01:14:18,236 --> 01:14:24,068
he wouldn't have run away and
come back and be brutalized,
1286
01:14:24,111 --> 01:14:26,026
be brutalized.
1287
01:14:26,070 --> 01:14:28,420
-[man] Who is this?
-[man] This is Michael Skakel.
1288
01:14:28,464 --> 01:14:32,511
[man] Do you want anyone at Elan to know you were related to the Kennedys?
1289
01:14:33,077 --> 01:14:34,513
Absolutely not.
1290
01:14:34,557 --> 01:14:36,428
They gave him a general meeting.
1291
01:14:36,472 --> 01:14:40,476
He was being confronted as to whether he murdered some girl,
1292
01:14:40,519 --> 01:14:42,695
and he kept saying,
"No, no, no."
1293
01:14:42,739 --> 01:14:46,482
He was put in the ring,
they broke his nose,
1294
01:14:46,525 --> 01:14:48,788
and he kept
saying, "No, no, no,"
1295
01:14:48,832 --> 01:14:52,400
and then would get beat again
until he submitted
1296
01:14:52,444 --> 01:14:56,100
and said he didn't
know if he had done it or not.
1297
01:14:59,059 --> 01:15:00,887
[Daniel] Just to say this first.
1298
01:15:00,931 --> 01:15:04,151
So much stuff
1299
01:15:05,413 --> 01:15:09,200
that you could never imagine,
1300
01:15:10,201 --> 01:15:12,508
that you couldn't line
it up in your brain,
1301
01:15:13,726 --> 01:15:16,773
happened so fast.
1302
01:15:16,816 --> 01:15:19,297
[man] Everybody was genuinely
scared
1303
01:15:20,298 --> 01:15:24,215
of what the next 10
minutes would bring.
1304
01:15:24,258 --> 01:15:28,262
[man] You know from the electric
sauce to the rings to the
spanking to the GMs
1305
01:15:28,306 --> 01:15:30,917
where they're slamming
you against the wall and
then the haircuts.
1306
01:15:30,961 --> 01:15:34,530
[man] And you never knew who it
was going to happen to.
It could be you.
1307
01:15:34,573 --> 01:15:36,967
[Liz] And it was
going to happen to you.
1308
01:15:37,010 --> 01:15:39,404
There was no way
to prevent it.
1309
01:15:39,447 --> 01:15:41,449
You could be as good as
possible,
1310
01:15:41,493 --> 01:15:45,453
and then they would deal with you for being a goody two shoes.
1311
01:15:45,497 --> 01:15:49,022
Just constant violence is the
way I look back on it.
1312
01:15:49,066 --> 01:15:51,198
General fucking meeting!
1313
01:15:51,242 --> 01:15:55,725
You can't get no lower than
watching a person, snot's
coming out of their nose.
1314
01:15:55,768 --> 01:15:57,553
Stand right there!
1315
01:15:57,596 --> 01:15:59,772
People were yelled at right out
in the open, right where
they stood.
1316
01:15:59,816 --> 01:16:00,991
They're throwing up.
1317
01:16:01,034 --> 01:16:03,863
70% of my time I was
being yelled at.
1318
01:16:03,907 --> 01:16:05,604
They pissed and shitted
on themselves.
1319
01:16:05,648 --> 01:16:07,824
You were basically
therapeutically killed.
1320
01:16:07,867 --> 01:16:11,262
-They're bleeding from the
mouth.
-It was a fucking nightmare.
1321
01:16:11,305 --> 01:16:13,177
[Doug] Then you take the person,
1322
01:16:13,220 --> 01:16:17,094
they throw all that stinking
nasty ass electric sauce on
them.
1323
01:16:17,137 --> 01:16:20,097
[woman] They put cigarette butts
in it, leftover food.
1324
01:16:20,140 --> 01:16:22,621
[Daniel] God, I watched people
going to the toilet one time
1325
01:16:22,665 --> 01:16:24,057
to pull out water from
the toilet.
1326
01:16:24,101 --> 01:16:25,885
[Doug]
They roll him around in there.
1327
01:16:25,929 --> 01:16:27,495
They would dump my food on me.
1328
01:16:27,539 --> 01:16:28,714
Pick the person up.
1329
01:16:28,758 --> 01:16:29,933
Thrown at me.
1330
01:16:29,976 --> 01:16:31,804
Slam them up against the wall.
1331
01:16:31,848 --> 01:16:33,632
Throw somebody against one wall.
1332
01:16:33,676 --> 01:16:35,155
[Jeff] And they would
kick your ass.
1333
01:16:35,199 --> 01:16:37,114
[Mary] Run over and slam them
against this wall.
1334
01:16:37,157 --> 01:16:38,811
Pshhht! Blood everywhere.
1335
01:16:38,855 --> 01:16:40,900
[Mary] All the while screaming at them.
1336
01:16:40,944 --> 01:16:45,688
And the only sound that you
could hear was the person
screaming for his life.
1337
01:16:45,731 --> 01:16:47,298
[screaming]
1338
01:16:47,341 --> 01:16:49,082
I mean, so fucking noisy.
1339
01:16:49,126 --> 01:16:50,127
It's insanity.
1340
01:16:50,170 --> 01:16:51,911
[Doug] Everybody runs up there.
1341
01:16:51,955 --> 01:16:53,652
[Jaela] Screaming, swear at you.
1342
01:16:53,696 --> 01:16:57,090
I'm 16 years old, I have to
deal with fucking mental
patients.
1343
01:16:57,134 --> 01:16:59,353
Breaking light bulbs and
cutting themselves.
1344
01:16:59,397 --> 01:17:02,226
[Alec] Kids drinking fucking bleach to get fucked up so they can get out of here.
1345
01:17:02,269 --> 01:17:04,924
-Students can't escape here.
-[Peter] They would break
you down.
1346
01:17:04,968 --> 01:17:07,666
[Doug] Throw you back in that
same shit all over again.
1347
01:17:07,710 --> 01:17:10,016
[Peter]
You would sit in the corner.
Stand in the corner.
1348
01:17:10,060 --> 01:17:12,279
Your clothes rip off.
1349
01:17:12,323 --> 01:17:14,107
[Peter] And they'll have general
meetings where you'll get spit
on every day.
1350
01:17:14,151 --> 01:17:15,718
Slam you against the wall.
1351
01:17:15,761 --> 01:17:18,982
Now if that is robbing
him of his dignity.
1352
01:17:19,025 --> 01:17:22,202
-[Peter] And that's all you
would do.
-And robbing him of his freedom.
1353
01:17:22,246 --> 01:17:25,553
-[Peter] And repeated
a couple of times.
-Then yes I'm guilty of it.
1354
01:17:25,597 --> 01:17:29,166
-You give.
-I'm going to hurt anybody
you want me to.
1355
01:17:29,209 --> 01:17:31,864
-[talking at the same time]
-You stop.
1356
01:17:31,908 --> 01:17:34,171
[screaming]
1357
01:17:34,214 --> 01:17:35,912
[interviewer]
You still think it's worth it?
1358
01:17:39,785 --> 01:17:43,702
There was some real life
bullshit and turmoil.
1359
01:17:43,746 --> 01:17:47,184
There's no way that, that can
get sugarcoated at all.
1360
01:17:47,750 --> 01:17:49,316
It wasn't every day.
1361
01:17:50,491 --> 01:17:54,191
It was like three quarters of
the fucking existence,
1362
01:17:54,234 --> 01:17:56,672
there was outrageousness
1363
01:17:58,021 --> 01:18:02,765
and 15-year-olds
should not be hog-tying and
zip-tying 17-year-old kids.
1364
01:18:02,808 --> 01:18:04,331
Anybody could know that.
1365
01:18:04,375 --> 01:18:08,335
Dominic should not have had to
break two people's arms
1366
01:18:08,379 --> 01:18:09,989
to get attention,
you know what I mean?
1367
01:18:10,033 --> 01:18:12,644
Like throwing chairs into walls and shit.
1368
01:18:12,688 --> 01:18:16,387
And if you are a normal person with enough self-control,
1369
01:18:16,430 --> 01:18:17,997
I remember one thing
I always did.
1370
01:18:18,041 --> 01:18:20,478
I was like, "I will not act out,
I will not do that,
1371
01:18:20,521 --> 01:18:23,133
because as bad as this sucks,
and as bad as it is whatever."
1372
01:18:23,176 --> 01:18:26,527
I was like, "These kids are just doing their fucking job
1373
01:18:26,571 --> 01:18:28,268
because they want to
get out of here."
1374
01:18:33,926 --> 01:18:37,800
[Todd] When I was making this
film, a lot of people asked me
did Elan help me?
1375
01:18:39,018 --> 01:18:40,933
And I don't really have
an answer to that question.
1376
01:18:42,065 --> 01:18:43,893
Maybe it did, I don't know.
1377
01:18:44,458 --> 01:18:46,634
Maybe that's why I'm sitting
in front of this camera.
1378
01:18:46,678 --> 01:18:51,161
What I do know though is that
amongst all the day-to-day
chaos,
1379
01:18:51,204 --> 01:18:53,641
and the day-to-day grind,
1380
01:18:53,685 --> 01:18:57,558
there were some truly caring
people there that really just
wanted to see the best for us.
1381
01:18:58,908 --> 01:19:00,779
[woman]
I thought you were a shy kid,
1382
01:19:00,823 --> 01:19:05,784
and I thought that you are
willing...
1383
01:19:05,828 --> 01:19:08,352
you expect the world
to change around you.
1384
01:19:10,223 --> 01:19:13,531
And you really
didn't like anything.
1385
01:19:14,793 --> 01:19:16,708
You weren't into anything, you
just sat.
1386
01:19:16,752 --> 01:19:18,928
And you really
didn't like yourself,
1387
01:19:18,971 --> 01:19:23,236
and I think that you
were so lonely
1388
01:19:23,280 --> 01:19:26,326
that you probably would have committed suicide if you didn't get some help.
1389
01:19:27,197 --> 01:19:29,895
I was lonely, I was depressed.
1390
01:19:30,722 --> 01:19:33,899
I was drinking a bottle of cough syrup probably every day to
get high.
1391
01:19:34,508 --> 01:19:37,033
I didn't really want to be
in reality,
1392
01:19:38,512 --> 01:19:40,863
because reality was that my
parents were getting divorced.
1393
01:19:40,906 --> 01:19:43,691
College was on its
way, life was changing a lot
1394
01:19:43,735 --> 01:19:46,607
and I didn't really want to deal
with all that.
1395
01:19:47,260 --> 01:19:51,743
I didn't grow up in a situation where my parents put
responsibility on me.
1396
01:19:51,787 --> 01:19:55,573
And in a way Elan taught me a
lot of the things I didn't let
my parents teach me.
1397
01:19:55,616 --> 01:19:58,663
Self-discipline,
honesty, integrity,
1398
01:19:58,706 --> 01:20:00,665
getting in touch
with your feelings.
1399
01:20:00,708 --> 01:20:02,536
I always just blocked
them out.
1400
01:20:04,669 --> 01:20:07,759
But I thought that you're nice,
and I thought that, "We'll
figure something out.
1401
01:20:07,803 --> 01:20:10,718
We'll find
something that he enjoys, and
we'll build on that."
1402
01:20:11,981 --> 01:20:14,200
What'd you think of me?
1403
01:20:14,244 --> 01:20:16,594
I thought she was kidding when
she said her name was Missy E,
1404
01:20:16,637 --> 01:20:20,163
I thought she was making a joke
about Missy Elliott, but she was
really funny.
1405
01:20:20,859 --> 01:20:23,079
I thought I would
like her, and I did.
1406
01:20:23,122 --> 01:20:26,996
What did George Bush get
on his SATs? Drool.
1407
01:20:29,346 --> 01:20:34,220
I was honest and funny, and I
was straightforward. I call it
like I see it.
1408
01:20:34,264 --> 01:20:35,874
[Missy]
Where are you going, Ben?
1409
01:20:35,918 --> 01:20:39,182
[man] The bathroom's always a
mess, [inaudible]. All right?
1410
01:20:39,225 --> 01:20:41,837
[Missy] Did you hear me ask
you a question, Ben?
1411
01:20:41,880 --> 01:20:44,013
-Huh?
-[Missy] Did you hear me ask
you a question?
1412
01:20:44,056 --> 01:20:48,582
Yeah. I said [inaudible].
1413
01:20:48,626 --> 01:20:49,888
[Missy] What'd you ask me?
1414
01:20:51,498 --> 01:20:53,065
Do you have
to use the bathroom, is that
what you said?
1415
01:20:53,631 --> 01:20:54,675
Then find a seat.
1416
01:20:54,719 --> 01:20:56,547
Why don't you grab your
[inaudible]?
1417
01:20:56,590 --> 01:21:00,507
I'm not really afraid. That's
why I'm doing this interview.
1418
01:21:00,551 --> 01:21:02,683
I really am not afraid.
1419
01:21:02,727 --> 01:21:04,947
I do care, that's why I stayed
there for 20 years.
1420
01:21:04,990 --> 01:21:07,601
I was invested,
and I would bring it,
1421
01:21:08,341 --> 01:21:10,387
and I would bring individual
attention.
1422
01:21:10,430 --> 01:21:14,957
I paid attention. My
technique is if you talked to
me, then I listened.
1423
01:21:15,000 --> 01:21:17,481
If you bother to write
something, I read it.
1424
01:21:17,524 --> 01:21:20,788
And then if I found something that we had in common,
1425
01:21:20,832 --> 01:21:26,098
I would sit there and bring it
up so we could relate.
1426
01:21:27,012 --> 01:21:31,321
And then maybe develop some
trust at some point.
1427
01:21:31,364 --> 01:21:35,542
Whether it would be you
tell me one of your biggest
secrets
1428
01:21:35,586 --> 01:21:37,457
that you never want to
tell anybody.
1429
01:21:37,501 --> 01:21:40,069
[man]
Were you ever able to confront
your dad about what he did?
1430
01:21:41,026 --> 01:21:44,377
[Gillian]
At the end when they realized
that my mom had caught on,
1431
01:21:44,421 --> 01:21:46,597
that I'd already graduated high school,
1432
01:21:46,640 --> 01:21:49,905
and that I wasn't
supposed to be there anymore,
she was going to pull me out.
1433
01:21:49,948 --> 01:21:54,561
And that's when I was like,
listen, this is going to be my
last chance to speak to him
1434
01:21:54,605 --> 01:21:58,348
with people here to help me out
if this doesn't go well.
1435
01:21:59,044 --> 01:22:03,831
And so they gave me the phone
call and Missy came with me.
1436
01:22:03,875 --> 01:22:06,922
I called him, he's from Chile,
and I called him there.
1437
01:22:06,965 --> 01:22:08,967
I just asked him why.
1438
01:22:09,011 --> 01:22:12,449
I just asked him
why he lied about me
1439
01:22:12,492 --> 01:22:16,018
because he
told my mother that I was a drug
addict and I was a liar,
1440
01:22:16,061 --> 01:22:17,715
and that I was
just making things up.
1441
01:22:18,890 --> 01:22:22,198
He was just like, "Why would you
say that about me?
1442
01:22:22,241 --> 01:22:26,680
You know how
much I love you. Why would I
R-A-P-E-D you?"
1443
01:22:26,724 --> 01:22:30,728
He wouldn't say
it out loud, he would just spell
it out, it was very strange.
1444
01:22:31,511 --> 01:22:35,254
And he just pretended to be
innocent like he always did.
1445
01:22:35,298 --> 01:22:37,996
At that point I just realized,
I was like,
1446
01:22:38,040 --> 01:22:41,521
"Listen, have a good life." And
I just hung up, and I've never
spoken to him or seen him since.
1447
01:22:42,218 --> 01:22:44,481
[man] How does that feel?
1448
01:22:44,524 --> 01:22:48,876
Great. That I was able to walk out of there not bawling my eyes out like he had hurt me.
1449
01:22:48,920 --> 01:22:51,618
It was over and I felt better about it.
1450
01:22:53,490 --> 01:22:55,709
[Missy] I enjoyed some of the
stuff there that went on.
1451
01:22:55,753 --> 01:23:00,149
As far as rings and general
meetings, they were never fun,
you know what I'm saying?
1452
01:23:00,192 --> 01:23:06,111
But I think putting
things in labels like wrong,
right, good and bad is unfair.
1453
01:23:06,155 --> 01:23:10,376
Yeah, the ring was wrong, but I was always out [inaudible]
a group.
1454
01:23:10,420 --> 01:23:14,685
Some of the people,
all those people [inaudible]
for how horrible,
1455
01:23:14,728 --> 01:23:18,732
they got to release a lot of
pain too in those rooms,
1456
01:23:18,776 --> 01:23:21,822
with a trusted group dealing
with really private issues.
1457
01:23:21,866 --> 01:23:23,781
That's something many kids never got to do,
1458
01:23:23,824 --> 01:23:25,826
and many people
will never get to do.
1459
01:23:25,870 --> 01:23:29,178
And so I think that some
of it was so brilliant it was
ridiculous.
1460
01:23:29,221 --> 01:23:33,791
My first director didn't believe
in the ring, spanking, costumed.
1461
01:23:33,834 --> 01:23:37,142
His thing was if it got to a
point,
1462
01:23:37,186 --> 01:23:40,493
he brought you up to his
office, he sat you down.
1463
01:23:40,537 --> 01:23:42,278
You could talk for an hour,
1464
01:23:42,974 --> 01:23:45,498
or you could go into his office at seven o'clock at night,
1465
01:23:45,542 --> 01:23:47,848
not get out of there until seven o'clock in the morning.
1466
01:23:47,892 --> 01:23:49,415
[man] So he talked to you.
1467
01:23:49,459 --> 01:23:52,070
Oh, Mr. Friedman talked to you,
but you wanted to listen.
1468
01:23:52,940 --> 01:23:54,986
About two weeks before I left
1469
01:23:55,030 --> 01:23:59,077
I was in a special group with my
sister who was in Elan VII,
1470
01:23:59,121 --> 01:24:03,734
and my sister told me that she
thought I'd be successful in the
outside world.
1471
01:24:03,777 --> 01:24:05,518
And I said,
"Well, successful how?
1472
01:24:05,562 --> 01:24:08,608
Go through a hard time maybe
smoke some pot and come out of
it?"
1473
01:24:08,652 --> 01:24:13,396
And I got asked by Kate Hawkins, the social worker there,
"Is that an option?"
1474
01:24:13,439 --> 01:24:15,702
And I didn't say anything.
1475
01:24:15,746 --> 01:24:18,444
So clearly it was an option for
me to go out there and smoke a
little pot and come out of it.
1476
01:24:18,488 --> 01:24:21,752
And she said to me, "Pete,
you better not pick up a joint
out there.
1477
01:24:21,795 --> 01:24:23,971
Some people can handle
it, you can't.
1478
01:24:24,015 --> 01:24:27,236
I'd like to also
remind you that alcoholism is a
progressive disease,
1479
01:24:27,279 --> 01:24:28,759
you pick up where you left off."
1480
01:24:30,674 --> 01:24:33,981
Now, I hadn't heard that since
AA meetings about three years
earlier.
1481
01:24:34,634 --> 01:24:37,115
So when I heard that it just brought me back, and I was like,
1482
01:24:37,159 --> 01:24:39,726
"Okay,
that option's off the table."
1483
01:24:39,770 --> 01:24:41,902
And I've been sober since the
day I left.
1484
01:24:41,946 --> 01:24:44,079
God willing all of
21 years in October.
1485
01:24:45,384 --> 01:24:49,562
A diploma in recognition of the
growth that she's achieved--
1486
01:24:49,606 --> 01:24:51,260
[Todd] There's no doubt that
Elan had a role
1487
01:24:51,303 --> 01:24:53,566
in changing a lot of people's
lives for the better.
1488
01:24:53,610 --> 01:24:55,481
It would be unfair for me to say
it didn't.
1489
01:24:56,134 --> 01:24:59,137
But in the end, when you look at the bigger picture,
1490
01:24:59,920 --> 01:25:02,662
the damage that Elan caused far
outweighs the good.
1491
01:25:03,489 --> 01:25:07,319
[man] Elan claims its graduates
are now leading happy
productive lives.
1492
01:25:07,363 --> 01:25:11,062
That they're staying in school, going to college and working.
1493
01:25:11,106 --> 01:25:16,111
The drug use is way
down, and criminal involvement
cut by more than half.
1494
01:25:16,154 --> 01:25:21,638
It claims that two thirds of all its former residents are now
leading productive lives.
1495
01:25:21,681 --> 01:25:24,771
That figure has not been
scientifically verified.
1496
01:25:24,815 --> 01:25:28,514
But parents of some former residents dispute these claims.
1497
01:25:28,558 --> 01:25:32,257
When Rhode Island parents
complained,
the state investigated,
1498
01:25:32,301 --> 01:25:36,740
and found that of a 117 former Elan residents from that state,
1499
01:25:36,783 --> 01:25:38,785
70 had been arrested,
1500
01:25:38,829 --> 01:25:42,615
and that one is
serving a life sentence for
murder in South Carolina.
1501
01:25:43,529 --> 01:25:47,185
[Maia] There is absolutely no evidence that this does anything other
1502
01:25:47,229 --> 01:25:50,580
than produce post-traumatic
stress disorder, depression
1503
01:25:50,623 --> 01:25:53,887
and in some cases a brief period
of compliance.
1504
01:25:53,931 --> 01:25:57,064
A lot of people will
tell you it worked for me.
1505
01:25:57,108 --> 01:26:00,720
I can't say that 12-step program saved my life
1506
01:26:00,764 --> 01:26:05,638
because that's what happened to help when I ended up getting
into recovery.
1507
01:26:05,682 --> 01:26:10,948
I mean I can say that,
but the reality is that I don't
know that.
1508
01:26:10,991 --> 01:26:13,211
That's an anecdote.
1509
01:26:13,255 --> 01:26:16,823
And even if it's my anecdote and I believe it very strongly,
it's still an anecdote.
1510
01:26:16,867 --> 01:26:21,088
And if we're going to say that
addiction and mental illnesses
are diseases,
1511
01:26:21,132 --> 01:26:23,961
then we have to have medical
standards of evidence.
1512
01:26:24,004 --> 01:26:26,659
And by the medical standards of
evidence,
1513
01:26:26,703 --> 01:26:30,968
there is no data that suggests
that this helps people,
1514
01:26:31,011 --> 01:26:36,365
and there are lots of
things suggesting that it does
[inaudible] them.
1515
01:26:36,408 --> 01:26:40,891
[Alec] I got out right when my
class was graduating.
1516
01:26:40,934 --> 01:26:43,807
So, it was like
being a rock star for a month,
because you're out,
1517
01:26:43,850 --> 01:26:46,418
you hit every grad party, and
you got out of like...
1518
01:26:46,462 --> 01:26:49,421
People were like,
"We thought you were dead, we
thought you were in jail,
1519
01:26:49,465 --> 01:26:53,556
we thought you were whatever." Like this incredible high for a month-and-a-half
1520
01:26:53,599 --> 01:26:56,820
and then it's just like boom.
1521
01:26:56,863 --> 01:27:01,390
Because then you've got to start
to figure out how to do things
like an adult,
1522
01:27:01,433 --> 01:27:04,784
or what the real world is,
and everything like that.
1523
01:27:04,828 --> 01:27:07,265
And then you get up there and
I'm like, "Oh fuck, dude,
1524
01:27:07,309 --> 01:27:09,136
I don't have a clue what the
fuck I'm doing."
1525
01:27:09,180 --> 01:27:10,921
I didn't know what I was doing
with anything.
1526
01:27:10,964 --> 01:27:14,185
I started going to school, I
didn't know a God damn thing.
1527
01:27:14,794 --> 01:27:16,666
I didn't know a God
damn thing.
1528
01:27:16,709 --> 01:27:18,972
I didn't know how to
fucking sit in a real class,
real homework,
1529
01:27:19,016 --> 01:27:22,367
real work, real everything.
I don't have a fucking clue
dude, I didn't care.
1530
01:27:22,411 --> 01:27:26,763
Started seeing one of my best
friends when I came home from
childhood,
1531
01:27:26,806 --> 01:27:28,721
he was all fucked up
when I got back.
1532
01:27:28,765 --> 01:27:32,159
He was down with oxys,
and I remember I never
understood it
1533
01:27:32,203 --> 01:27:34,771
because I never
did anything other than really
drink or smoke,
1534
01:27:34,814 --> 01:27:37,730
so I didn't understand what shit was. And he was just like--
1535
01:27:37,774 --> 01:27:39,254
[man] Why don't you try it?
1536
01:27:39,297 --> 01:27:43,954
Did that and then I've been on
like an off and on like...
1537
01:27:43,997 --> 01:27:47,784
Five years, I've been on an off
and on five-year drug bender.
1538
01:27:48,393 --> 01:27:50,700
I'm at rock right now.
1539
01:27:50,743 --> 01:27:51,657
I'm at rock.
1540
01:27:52,354 --> 01:27:54,312
You got me at a great time.
1541
01:27:56,096 --> 01:27:59,012
I went basically from Elan to
college,
1542
01:27:59,709 --> 01:28:05,541
which was totally
fucked up for me because I had
no social skills.
1543
01:28:05,584 --> 01:28:08,544
The education was minimal,
1544
01:28:08,587 --> 01:28:12,461
and basically when I went to
school all I wanted to do
1545
01:28:12,504 --> 01:28:15,377
was do everything that I
wasn't allowed to do at Elan.
1546
01:28:15,420 --> 01:28:20,817
I partied, I sold drugs, I did
drugs and went to concerts.
1547
01:28:20,860 --> 01:28:25,125
And I did everything that I felt
I lost out on when I was a
teenager,
1548
01:28:25,169 --> 01:28:29,216
I made up for like tenfold when I left Elan.
1549
01:28:29,260 --> 01:28:32,263
And then I got into
heroin and I loved it.
1550
01:28:32,307 --> 01:28:34,613
I ended
up doing it for like 20 years.
1551
01:28:34,657 --> 01:28:38,008
It was like the love affair,
just started,
1552
01:28:38,051 --> 01:28:42,012
and it was like an every day, every time I could get it thing.
1553
01:28:42,055 --> 01:28:45,668
And then that started me off stripping because I realized how easy the money was.
1554
01:28:45,711 --> 01:28:48,584
So that's what I did for 10
years probably.
1555
01:28:48,627 --> 01:28:52,370
And I felt guilty
about things I was doing,
1556
01:28:53,632 --> 01:28:57,375
but the fact that I felt guilty
about it didn't stop me from
doing them.
1557
01:28:57,419 --> 01:28:59,290
It just made me more miserable.
1558
01:28:59,334 --> 01:29:01,336
It just made me want
to get high more,
1559
01:29:01,379 --> 01:29:04,382
and made me want to do whatever
I could do to get away
1560
01:29:04,426 --> 01:29:08,952
from the
way that I was made to feel
about myself while I was there.
1561
01:29:08,995 --> 01:29:11,128
Because I was really made to
feel like I was
1562
01:29:11,171 --> 01:29:13,739
the biggest piece of shit on the
face of the Earth,
1563
01:29:13,783 --> 01:29:16,307
and I was always just going to
be good for nothing.
1564
01:29:16,351 --> 01:29:21,268
And that was really what Elan
instilled about me to myself.
1565
01:29:23,923 --> 01:29:26,404
[Peter] I was into some
very dangerous stuff,
1566
01:29:26,448 --> 01:29:31,931
and there's a distinct possibility that if I didn't go to Elan I could have died.
1567
01:29:32,541 --> 01:29:36,719
There's also the possibility
that I could have straightened
myself out, I don't know.
1568
01:29:36,762 --> 01:29:40,462
But the way that Elan
1569
01:29:40,505 --> 01:29:43,290
had taught
me how to live my life
1570
01:29:44,074 --> 01:29:45,162
worked.
1571
01:29:47,033 --> 01:29:51,995
I didn't act off my feelings,
I didn't get my feelings
get to me.
1572
01:29:52,038 --> 01:29:56,695
I went to college,
I met my wife, I had a family.
1573
01:29:57,566 --> 01:30:01,265
But all of a sudden,
I got to be about 33 years old,
1574
01:30:01,787 --> 01:30:05,487
which was maybe 15 years
after I had left Elan,
1575
01:30:05,530 --> 01:30:09,012
and all of a sudden I found
myself I couldn't deal with
anything.
1576
01:30:11,014 --> 01:30:13,886
Something had changed inside me
1577
01:30:13,930 --> 01:30:18,282
that my feelings totally
overtook me.
1578
01:30:18,325 --> 01:30:21,938
I had missed my childhood,
1579
01:30:22,939 --> 01:30:27,465
and that bothered me because I
knew I could never get it back.
1580
01:30:27,509 --> 01:30:31,121
By the time I was 36 I was
1581
01:30:32,122 --> 01:30:34,733
shooting 25 bags
a day of heroin.
1582
01:30:36,822 --> 01:30:39,956
[Liz] I think Elan
really fucked up my life.
1583
01:30:39,999 --> 01:30:45,091
I hear the negative screaming at me in my head frequently,
1584
01:30:45,135 --> 01:30:49,618
and especially when I'm down or
I'm feeling insecure about...
1585
01:30:49,661 --> 01:30:55,493
instead of giving
myself a pep talk, those voices
come in my head.
1586
01:30:55,537 --> 01:30:59,497
I can't say what would have
happened had I not gone there,
1587
01:30:59,541 --> 01:31:05,416
and maybe I have a little bit of mental illness besides.
1588
01:31:05,460 --> 01:31:08,027
I think that's why most people
end up there.
1589
01:31:08,071 --> 01:31:13,206
They're acting out in some way,
but it really fucked me up.
1590
01:31:13,250 --> 01:31:17,036
[Maia]
One of the reasons that Elan
1591
01:31:17,080 --> 01:31:21,040
and these emotional growth
boarding school kind of places
1592
01:31:21,084 --> 01:31:26,611
caught on with parents is a lot
of parents wanted to avoid
psychiatric labels,
1593
01:31:26,655 --> 01:31:28,744
and wanted to avoid
medications.
1594
01:31:28,787 --> 01:31:31,877
And so, they kind of figured,
1595
01:31:31,921 --> 01:31:34,924
if I send my kid to a
place for bad kids,
1596
01:31:34,967 --> 01:31:37,927
it's better than sending them to a place for sick kids.
1597
01:31:37,970 --> 01:31:42,061
And they didn't realize how
weird that actually is.
1598
01:31:42,105 --> 01:31:46,065
These places sort
of show that there's still an
enormous stigma
1599
01:31:46,109 --> 01:31:48,415
on mental
illness and addiction,
1600
01:31:48,459 --> 01:31:51,375
and we see teenagers
1601
01:31:51,418 --> 01:31:54,639
as diseased just for being
teenagers.
1602
01:31:54,683 --> 01:31:57,860
[Mary] After Elan I was sent to Perkins School for the Blind,
1603
01:31:57,903 --> 01:32:03,561
which to
me felt exactly like leaving
hell and going up to heaven.
1604
01:32:03,605 --> 01:32:06,216
I have a condition known as
coloboma .
1605
01:32:06,259 --> 01:32:11,264
My retinas and my irises didn't form all the way at birth,
1606
01:32:12,048 --> 01:32:17,053
so I'm at the line
between legally blind and
visually impaired.
1607
01:32:17,880 --> 01:32:22,972
Not only was the campus so
beautiful like I'd never seen
before,
1608
01:32:23,015 --> 01:32:27,019
but the attitude there among
people was so much different.
1609
01:32:27,063 --> 01:32:29,935
People were more patient and
understanding,
1610
01:32:29,979 --> 01:32:32,416
you didn't have
people screaming at each other.
1611
01:32:33,025 --> 01:32:38,335
See, I was already messed up
when I went to Elan, so Elan
messed me up further.
1612
01:32:38,378 --> 01:32:41,556
I felt bad enough about myself
as it was,
1613
01:32:41,599 --> 01:32:44,515
but they made me feel
even worse about myself.
1614
01:32:45,211 --> 01:32:48,084
I left there
feeling like this big.
1615
01:32:48,127 --> 01:32:50,521
I've been
in counseling for years.
1616
01:32:50,565 --> 01:32:52,915
I go to the Providence Mental
Health Center.
1617
01:32:53,698 --> 01:32:58,616
I still draw pictures of people that I like, and I make
dolls of them.
1618
01:32:58,660 --> 01:33:01,227
I was
born with a vivid imagination.
1619
01:33:02,315 --> 01:33:03,665
It does help me.
1620
01:33:04,709 --> 01:33:07,843
They were trying to take away my fantasy world
1621
01:33:07,886 --> 01:33:10,106
and everything connected
with it,
1622
01:33:10,149 --> 01:33:14,110
but they didn't have anything
better to offer me, so why would I have given it up?
1623
01:33:16,025 --> 01:33:19,376
When I left Elan, I did not
leave on good terms.
1624
01:33:19,419 --> 01:33:22,684
My parents
would not allow me to come home
because I didn't graduate,
1625
01:33:22,727 --> 01:33:28,124
and I was hitchhiking around, went to some Dead shows,
1626
01:33:28,167 --> 01:33:30,430
but I was
homeless for a couple years.
1627
01:33:30,474 --> 01:33:35,435
Actually just recently I had
access to my psychiatrist's
recommendation
1628
01:33:35,479 --> 01:33:36,741
to send me to Elan,
1629
01:33:36,785 --> 01:33:39,265
and the recommendation
specifically stated
1630
01:33:39,309 --> 01:33:44,967
that I needed
a warm psychotherapeutic environment that was structured,
1631
01:33:45,010 --> 01:33:50,668
and that anything outside of those would probably lead to me killing myself.
1632
01:33:50,712 --> 01:33:53,366
I didn't have a great life,
1633
01:33:53,410 --> 01:33:56,021
I was sexually abused, I was
physically abused.
1634
01:33:56,065 --> 01:34:00,460
I actually was recently
diagnosed with PTSD.
1635
01:34:00,504 --> 01:34:04,508
I suffer from severe
anxiety, I have night terrors,
1636
01:34:04,551 --> 01:34:06,728
and most of the time
1637
01:34:06,771 --> 01:34:10,732
I'm dreaming about Elan.
1638
01:34:10,775 --> 01:34:14,431
My husband wakes me up a lot
saying that I was screaming,
1639
01:34:14,474 --> 01:34:20,219
and I truly think that if it wasn't for my husband's patience
1640
01:34:20,263 --> 01:34:22,134
and love and understanding
1641
01:34:22,178 --> 01:34:26,704
that I really think that
doctor's report probably
would be true.
1642
01:34:26,748 --> 01:34:28,880
I probably would have killed
myself by now.
1643
01:34:34,625 --> 01:34:36,758
[Jaela] I'm intelligent enough
1644
01:34:36,801 --> 01:34:39,848
and I've seen enough in the
world to know that once you go
to a needle,
1645
01:34:39,891 --> 01:34:41,458
the only thing after that is
death.
1646
01:34:43,721 --> 01:34:46,724
So I'm sitting there and
I've got my bags lined up, and
I'm ready to do my ritual.
1647
01:34:47,420 --> 01:34:51,468
Because it's very ritualistic to prepare your stuff and get
everything set up.
1648
01:34:51,511 --> 01:34:54,819
The process is almost part of
the whole addiction,
1649
01:34:54,863 --> 01:34:58,127
but I'm thinking to myself
1650
01:34:58,823 --> 01:35:00,651
kid, you know better than this.
1651
01:35:00,695 --> 01:35:03,306
I threw away so many
opportunities,
1652
01:35:03,349 --> 01:35:07,832
a college education,
a chance to start over.
1653
01:35:07,876 --> 01:35:13,882
I didn't know how to
handle being social in a normal
functional way,
1654
01:35:13,925 --> 01:35:17,189
because all I
knew about being social was what
I'd learned through Elan.
1655
01:35:17,233 --> 01:35:19,801
So I struggle, my cousin takes
care of me
1656
01:35:19,844 --> 01:35:22,717
because I can't even go to the
grocery store
1657
01:35:22,760 --> 01:35:27,330
without worrying about being
caught in a loud place
1658
01:35:27,373 --> 01:35:32,291
or in a situation that I'm
around a lot of people.
1659
01:35:32,335 --> 01:35:34,424
My first
instinct is to shrink down.
1660
01:35:34,467 --> 01:35:37,819
I never had panic, I never had
anxiety before Elan.
1661
01:35:37,862 --> 01:35:41,474
I didn't
understand what a panic attack
was until I got there,
1662
01:35:42,127 --> 01:35:44,303
and now I still have them 20 years later.
1663
01:35:44,347 --> 01:35:46,741
But I know for a fact
1664
01:35:46,784 --> 01:35:51,571
when I'm down shooting up the
syringe full of brown shit
1665
01:35:52,181 --> 01:35:54,836
that I'm
going to feel real nice.
1666
01:35:58,622 --> 01:36:02,800
[Dave]
When I escaped Elan, I did it
third time successful.
1667
01:36:02,844 --> 01:36:06,108
They let me out into the house, they made me go scrub a dumpster,
1668
01:36:07,370 --> 01:36:10,765
and I popped out of the dumpster
and ran like hell.
1669
01:36:11,635 --> 01:36:16,118
So I went into the woods where I met a guy named Sticks,
1670
01:36:16,161 --> 01:36:19,948
who was an old
shell-shocked Vietnam veteran.
1671
01:36:19,991 --> 01:36:24,343
And he lived out in the woods, and everything he made was built out of sticks and stones.
1672
01:36:24,387 --> 01:36:26,737
I guess that's how he got his
name Sticks.
1673
01:36:26,781 --> 01:36:29,653
Anyway, he taught me the art of
living outside.
1674
01:36:29,696 --> 01:36:35,572
So I got pretty good at it,
and for a little over a
year-and-a-half, two years,
1675
01:36:35,615 --> 01:36:38,749
something like that, I never
came out of the woods.
1676
01:36:38,793 --> 01:36:40,882
I just lived in the woods all
that time.
1677
01:36:40,925 --> 01:36:44,320
And I guess it turned out to be a good thing because all that,
1678
01:36:44,363 --> 01:36:47,366
I ended up really learning the
art of survival.
1679
01:36:47,410 --> 01:36:52,415
And now that's
what I do up north is I teach
wilderness survival.
1680
01:36:53,068 --> 01:36:56,549
So to me it was quite the
learning experience,
1681
01:36:56,593 --> 01:36:58,421
and I've learned many things
since then
1682
01:36:58,464 --> 01:37:00,771
because I've just
constantly been on the run.
1683
01:37:00,815 --> 01:37:03,861
Elan being the last place I ran from.
1684
01:37:05,863 --> 01:37:11,434
[Jeff] One of the times I was on
the run, we stole this kid's
mother's car.
1685
01:37:11,477 --> 01:37:14,132
When I came back the
sheriff's in the house saying,
1686
01:37:14,176 --> 01:37:19,529
"You're fucking leaving,
and there you go straight
to jail."
1687
01:37:19,572 --> 01:37:23,663
And ended up being sentenced to two years, which sucked,
1688
01:37:23,707 --> 01:37:28,755
but I learned my lesson that I
wasn't doing that again.
1689
01:37:28,799 --> 01:37:32,803
Because
as a juvenile I did all kinds of
stupid retarded ridiculous shit.
1690
01:37:34,109 --> 01:37:38,504
Once they put me in jail I
realized that I liked to go to
the refrigerator
1691
01:37:38,548 --> 01:37:40,289
and get a coke when I want.
1692
01:37:41,551 --> 01:37:44,467
I liked pussy,
there was no pussy in jail,
1693
01:37:44,510 --> 01:37:46,382
and then nobody's chasing me
anymore.
1694
01:37:46,425 --> 01:37:49,951
Now I'm 18, nobody's trying to
tell me what to do.
1695
01:37:49,994 --> 01:37:55,043
So once people stopped trying to tell me what to do, I didn't
have anywhere to go,
1696
01:37:55,086 --> 01:37:56,827
it was on me.
1697
01:37:56,871 --> 01:38:00,787
So once they
stopped chasing,
I didn't have to run anymore.
1698
01:38:02,702 --> 01:38:05,967
I was there to be punished,
I was there to do five years.
1699
01:38:06,010 --> 01:38:08,621
When my five years was up
I was gone.
1700
01:38:08,665 --> 01:38:12,277
Elan didn't hurt me with
words and things like that.
1701
01:38:12,321 --> 01:38:15,933
Those have
no bearing on my life,
1702
01:38:15,977 --> 01:38:18,936
because as far as I was
concerned I had no home.
1703
01:38:18,980 --> 01:38:22,113
I was already being abused,
I was already in the street.
1704
01:38:22,157 --> 01:38:25,334
You wasn't hurting me because I
couldn't make a phone call,
1705
01:38:25,377 --> 01:38:27,118
I had nobody to call.
1706
01:38:27,162 --> 01:38:30,600
It didn't hurt me because
Christmas I didn't get no
present.
1707
01:38:30,643 --> 01:38:32,689
I had nobody to give me a
present anyway.
1708
01:38:32,732 --> 01:38:36,780
I had no one to say
Merry Christmas to anyways.
1709
01:38:36,823 --> 01:38:42,090
So it didn't hurt me along those
lines, it caught me other ways.
1710
01:38:42,133 --> 01:38:44,353
It caught me because I got
no education.
1711
01:38:44,396 --> 01:38:46,964
I didn't learn
anything along those lines.
1712
01:38:47,008 --> 01:38:50,837
It didn't prepare me for the day when I turned 18
1713
01:38:50,881 --> 01:38:54,102
and they sent me to
music schoolup in New York.
1714
01:38:55,407 --> 01:38:58,236
I was in a school,
I couldn't read the books.
1715
01:38:59,629 --> 01:39:01,152
What was I going to do?
1716
01:39:01,196 --> 01:39:05,156
I started drinking,
I got arrested a couple times.
1717
01:39:05,200 --> 01:39:07,506
They sent me to [inaudible],
1718
01:39:07,550 --> 01:39:11,684
but the next thing you know I
started committing assault,
I started robbing people.
1719
01:39:11,728 --> 01:39:14,557
You do what you have to do to
make it.
1720
01:39:14,600 --> 01:39:17,647
My stomach growled,
I see somebody walk
down the street,
1721
01:39:17,690 --> 01:39:19,779
you do what you've got to do,
that's dinner.
1722
01:39:20,389 --> 01:39:23,696
It's nothing to be proud of or
anything like that,
1723
01:39:23,740 --> 01:39:29,006
a grown ass man has to rob
somebody just to eat.
1724
01:39:29,659 --> 01:39:31,269
But that's what I did.
1725
01:39:34,403 --> 01:39:35,970
[Missy]
I'm glad I worked at Elan.
1726
01:39:37,058 --> 01:39:38,581
I'm glad I met you all.
1727
01:39:38,624 --> 01:39:43,673
It's like you were my children,
but I'm not happy with...
1728
01:39:43,716 --> 01:39:45,718
I'm sad that other
people didn't get
1729
01:39:45,762 --> 01:39:48,547
what everybody else could have
gotten and whatever else.
1730
01:39:48,591 --> 01:39:52,290
And I'm sad if they felt like
they were abused or whatever
else, for them.
1731
01:39:52,334 --> 01:39:55,772
But I'm still going to
go to sleep tonight.
1732
01:39:59,297 --> 01:40:01,996
[Maia] I can't remember exactly
how I found out about Elan.
1733
01:40:02,039 --> 01:40:06,130
I probably
read an article about the
Michael Skakel case.
1734
01:40:06,174 --> 01:40:09,525
[man] Throughout the '80s and '90s Elan had gone through many changes.
1735
01:40:09,568 --> 01:40:11,657
Due to ongoing pressure
from social services
1736
01:40:11,701 --> 01:40:13,877
and modern age views on mental
health treatment,
1737
01:40:13,920 --> 01:40:17,446
many of the humiliation tactics such as costumes and spankings
were dropped.
1738
01:40:17,489 --> 01:40:20,057
By 2001, Elan no
longer used the ring.
1739
01:40:20,101 --> 01:40:22,929
However, it really wasn't until the Michael Skakel trial
1740
01:40:22,973 --> 01:40:25,280
that Elan's violent past
came back to haunt it.
1741
01:40:25,323 --> 01:40:29,023
[Maia] I got to do an op-ed for
theNew York Times a few years
ago,
1742
01:40:29,066 --> 01:40:32,374
and I called up the New York
State Department of Education
1743
01:40:32,417 --> 01:40:37,205
and was horrified to discover
that they were sending some learning disabled kids to Elan.
1744
01:40:37,248 --> 01:40:39,598
The state went in and did an
investigation,
1745
01:40:39,642 --> 01:40:42,688
and that's when New York said,
"We're not sending any more
kids."
1746
01:40:42,732 --> 01:40:45,822
What was interesting
about that was Maine
1747
01:40:45,865 --> 01:40:49,478
had been
doing investigations for years
and never finding anything.
1748
01:40:49,521 --> 01:40:54,439
New York in its first
investigation found kids
restraining other kids,
1749
01:40:54,483 --> 01:40:57,573
sleep deprivation, attack
therapy, they found all kinds
of bad stuff.
1750
01:40:57,616 --> 01:41:02,447
Why? Because Maine always announced when it was coming in advance,
1751
01:41:02,491 --> 01:41:04,101
and New York just went in.
1752
01:41:04,145 --> 01:41:08,584
And I think it's pathetic that
the State of Main for decades
1753
01:41:08,627 --> 01:41:13,980
announced when it was going to
investigate a place that was
known to be abusing children.
1754
01:41:14,024 --> 01:41:16,548
[man] However, in the end there
was a greater force
1755
01:41:16,592 --> 01:41:18,942
that brought about the end of Elan's 40-year reign.
1756
01:41:18,985 --> 01:41:21,597
[Peter] Elan wasn't closed
because of laws
1757
01:41:21,640 --> 01:41:25,992
or because it broke any
specific state regulation
1758
01:41:26,036 --> 01:41:28,299
or violated any codes.
1759
01:41:28,343 --> 01:41:31,128
They were closed because they
were hit in the wallet.
1760
01:41:31,172 --> 01:41:33,130
The internet closed Elan down.
1761
01:41:34,436 --> 01:41:36,568
[man] In the beginning I was
like I'll just be me,
1762
01:41:36,612 --> 01:41:40,137
but people started
coming out of nowhere
1763
01:41:40,181 --> 01:41:43,401
and sending me death threats.
1764
01:41:43,445 --> 01:41:46,491
These people may just
have a vendetta against,
1765
01:41:46,535 --> 01:41:50,452
"Oh, that's the guy who closed
it? That's the guy who made us
go bankrupt?"
1766
01:41:51,279 --> 01:41:54,151
So when I started my crusade
against Elan,
1767
01:41:54,195 --> 01:41:58,155
it was maybe 10 years after I
got out, and I just thought,
1768
01:41:58,199 --> 01:42:00,157
"I'll just make a blog
about it."
1769
01:42:00,201 --> 01:42:04,161
But at the time that really
wasn't enough.
1770
01:42:04,205 --> 01:42:05,945
I went on this website my
friend showed me.
1771
01:42:05,989 --> 01:42:08,209
He said, "Check out this
website, it's called Reddit."
1772
01:42:08,252 --> 01:42:12,126
And I made a post, and I already had a long bullet point list.
1773
01:42:12,169 --> 01:42:18,088
I was very excited, I hit
submit, and let me tell you it
went totally viral.
1774
01:42:18,132 --> 01:42:21,744
It had 5000 upvotes, it was on
front page.
1775
01:42:21,787 --> 01:42:23,920
It had thousands of comments.
1776
01:42:23,963 --> 01:42:27,097
Maybe 10-15,000 comments.
1777
01:42:27,141 --> 01:42:32,537
I can also remember very vividly
the first comments,
and it was some guy who wrote,
1778
01:42:32,581 --> 01:42:36,193
"You know, I didn't believe this when I first read it,
1779
01:42:36,237 --> 01:42:40,545
but then I went on Google and I typed in the Elan School,
1780
01:42:40,589 --> 01:42:45,071
and I can't believe what I'm
reading." That was it.
1781
01:42:45,115 --> 01:42:47,552
Once this Reddit community
got a hold of it,
1782
01:42:47,596 --> 01:42:52,601
which is like hundreds of
thousands of people,
it just spread like a virus.
1783
01:42:52,644 --> 01:42:54,646
It went all over the internet.
1784
01:42:54,690 --> 01:42:58,694
We had all said to each other on
many, many occasions as
residents in the house.
1785
01:42:58,737 --> 01:43:01,914
If we could all get
together and make somebody
listen to us.
1786
01:43:01,958 --> 01:43:04,003
But we didn't have
social networking,
1787
01:43:04,047 --> 01:43:06,528
we didn't have emails,
1788
01:43:06,571 --> 01:43:09,966
we didn't have the internet,
we didn't have all these things.
1789
01:43:10,009 --> 01:43:11,620
[Liz] But now with the internet
1790
01:43:11,663 --> 01:43:16,233
and parents who are considering sending their kids there,
1791
01:43:16,277 --> 01:43:19,758
they're going online and
googling Elan
1792
01:43:19,802 --> 01:43:24,720
and seeing all these former residents who have nothing good to say about it,
1793
01:43:24,763 --> 01:43:28,985
or most of them don't have anything good to say about the place.
1794
01:43:29,028 --> 01:43:32,945
And that was it. That was it for
Elan, and a lot of other alumni
helped me.
1795
01:43:32,989 --> 01:43:35,470
[Jaela] People insisted on being heard,
1796
01:43:35,513 --> 01:43:40,431
and people wanted their story
told, and people wanted a sense
of justice.
1797
01:43:40,475 --> 01:43:42,912
So in effect we shut them down.
1798
01:43:42,955 --> 01:43:45,610
But again, I wish I had
happened years sooner.
1799
01:43:51,834 --> 01:43:54,793
[man] So looking back, would you have left Elan when you had the chance?
1800
01:43:54,837 --> 01:43:55,881
Oh yeah.
1801
01:43:55,925 --> 01:43:56,752
Yeah.
1802
01:43:57,622 --> 01:43:58,493
Yeah, I would have.
1803
01:44:00,408 --> 01:44:04,063
Yeah, with what I know now,
yeah I would have ran
as far as I could.
1804
01:44:05,239 --> 01:44:10,983
[Peter] The people who have been to Elan have been through a very personal war.
1805
01:44:11,027 --> 01:44:16,467
They by and large
are truly some of the boldest
individuals you will ever meet.
1806
01:44:16,511 --> 01:44:20,558
Going through hell and getting
spat back out will definitely
teach you some shit.
1807
01:44:22,517 --> 01:44:25,998
The way I look at it anything
that doesn't fucking kill you
makes you stronger.
1808
01:44:26,042 --> 01:44:28,740
You know, as the name you have
now, The Last Stop,
1809
01:44:28,784 --> 01:44:32,875
minus jail, it really kind of
was the last stop for me.
1810
01:44:32,918 --> 01:44:34,790
I mean,
they wanted to force change.
1811
01:44:36,182 --> 01:44:38,097
Sometimes change isn't easy.
1812
01:44:38,141 --> 01:44:41,144
And to this day
1813
01:44:41,187 --> 01:44:44,278
I believe Elan
was the best and worst thing
that happened to me.
1814
01:44:45,191 --> 01:44:47,716
[Mary] This is a book that I published.
1815
01:44:47,759 --> 01:44:50,632
It did help me a lot writing
about all of the things that
happened,
1816
01:44:51,415 --> 01:44:56,115
getting it off my chest,
and I designed the picture for
the front cover.
1817
01:44:56,159 --> 01:45:00,424
It's like an
institutional setting with me
sitting there daydreaming
1818
01:45:00,468 --> 01:45:02,992
about a man
who I wish was my father.
1819
01:45:03,035 --> 01:45:07,039
That was the way I sometimes was
amid the chaos.
1820
01:45:07,083 --> 01:45:10,216
Sitting there with the
sketchbook and the crayons.
1821
01:45:11,305 --> 01:45:14,873
And then on other occasions I
was a part of the chaos.
1822
01:45:15,526 --> 01:45:17,659
I grew up,
I wanted to be a thug,
1823
01:45:17,702 --> 01:45:21,053
I wanted to be a gangster
because that's all I knew.
1824
01:45:21,097 --> 01:45:26,494
But then I might watch TV,
I watched the Hallmark channel,
want to cry.
1825
01:45:26,537 --> 01:45:28,713
Be like, "Wow,
this is the perfect family.
1826
01:45:28,757 --> 01:45:31,847
What the fuck happened to me? I
wish I had that."
1827
01:45:33,196 --> 01:45:34,719
But it's not
going to happen.
1828
01:45:34,763 --> 01:45:38,462
I've definitely spoken to my
family about Elan.
1829
01:45:39,855 --> 01:45:42,248
On a smaller
scale though with my family
1830
01:45:42,292 --> 01:45:46,644
because a lot of them wouldn't
understand exactly why I got
sent there to begin with.
1831
01:45:46,688 --> 01:45:49,734
They don't know about my father and the stuff that he had done
to me,
1832
01:45:49,778 --> 01:45:52,607
so they wouldn't really get why it all happened.
1833
01:45:52,650 --> 01:45:56,524
But with my friends I feel very
open about talking about
everything with Elan,
1834
01:45:56,567 --> 01:45:58,308
because we have something to
talk about,
1835
01:45:58,352 --> 01:46:01,006
we can all relate on such
specific things.
1836
01:46:01,050 --> 01:46:05,837
It's fun and it's funny, but I would say the relationship that I formed with Jessica,
1837
01:46:05,881 --> 01:46:09,885
I would say the same as some of the best friends I've had since childhood.
1838
01:46:09,928 --> 01:46:11,800
[Dave] I still think about Elan.
1839
01:46:13,279 --> 01:46:16,805
I think about the friends I had
there, if they're still
around or not.
1840
01:46:16,848 --> 01:46:18,372
I know most of them ain't.
1841
01:46:18,415 --> 01:46:21,462
It kills me because I know that
there's other kids.
1842
01:46:24,465 --> 01:46:29,644
I just know there's other kids
that left out of there and felt
the same way I did,
1843
01:46:33,212 --> 01:46:36,259
and they didn't get a chance to
find out what I know now.
1844
01:46:37,391 --> 01:46:42,483
I don't know why I was spared, I don't know why I'm still alive today.
1845
01:46:42,526 --> 01:46:45,311
By all means, I should not even
be sitting here.
1846
01:46:47,052 --> 01:46:50,316
I just know so many kids
killed themselves
1847
01:46:50,360 --> 01:46:53,668
and died of overdoses.
1848
01:46:53,711 --> 01:46:57,498
And I don't care,
we have problems,
but we were kids,
1849
01:46:57,541 --> 01:47:00,370
you know what I mean? And they
took everything.
1850
01:47:00,414 --> 01:47:02,416
They took
everything away from you.
1851
01:47:03,678 --> 01:47:08,117
The people at Elan VI,
I would like to say I'm sorry
1852
01:47:08,900 --> 01:47:10,467
if I hurt them.
1853
01:47:10,511 --> 01:47:12,643
I was doing what I was told.
1854
01:47:12,687 --> 01:47:15,820
I was doing what I felt I had to
do to get out of there.
1855
01:47:15,864 --> 01:47:18,910
It was not a personal
thing against them.
1856
01:47:18,954 --> 01:47:21,652
If I hurt
somebody, I'm sorry,
1857
01:47:21,696 --> 01:47:26,570
and I hope that they can find it
in their heart to forgive me.
1858
01:47:38,843 --> 01:47:42,586
[Maia] Well, I'm hoping that
there will not be any more
troubled teen industry.
1859
01:47:42,630 --> 01:47:46,242
There's always been this sort of thread since Sparta
1860
01:47:46,285 --> 01:47:50,333
where we can make tough people
by putting them through tough
things.
1861
01:47:50,376 --> 01:47:52,857
But that doesn't mean that we
should traumatize people.
1862
01:47:52,901 --> 01:47:57,949
[Missy] I think that everybody wants to be heard, especially teenagers,
1863
01:47:57,993 --> 01:47:59,560
but they also need to hear.
1864
01:47:59,603 --> 01:48:01,300
[man] Anything
else you'd like to say?
1865
01:48:02,345 --> 01:48:04,695
That's probably all
I'd have to say about that.
163870
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