Tranquility Bay

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Tranquility Bay is a World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools facility, operated on the island nation of Jamaica. It opened in 1997. The director is Jay Kay, son of WWASP president Ken Kay. The cost for one child ranges from $25,000 to $40,000 a year. The children are allegedly severely abused by the staff and "treated like prisoners", although Tranquility Bay denies these allegations. Tranquility Bay is generally acknowledged as the toughest of the WWASP schools; in fact, many other WWASP schools who are not able to handle their most rebellious students will expel them from their respective schools and enroll them in Tranquility Bay.

Tranquility Bay, photo by Richard Titsch.
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Tranquility Bay, photo by Richard Titsch.

Tranquility Bay states that it is dedicated to helping parents who are having difficulty with their children, whether they are doing drugs, breaking the law, disobeying them, or are disrepectful. Jay Kay stated, "if I have kids, and they start giving me a problem, well they are going straight in the programme. If I had to, I'd pull the trigger without hesitation." (Aitkenhead 2003) Children as young as 12 have been admitted to Tranquility Bay, for reasons ranging from drug use to conflicts with a new stepmother.

Despite its reputation, Tranquility Bay is said to boast a 97% parent satisfaction rate, and the facility claims that they have received "over 4000 letters of reference or appreciation in past three years alone." [1]

Contents

[edit] Criticism

[verification needed] Subject to a great deal of recent disapproval, Tranquility Bay has taken legal action or threatened to do so against some of its critics.

[edit] New York Times article

On June 17, 2003, the New York Times reported about complaints against Tranquility Bay staff by former customers:

Christine Smith, 42, of Flemington, N.J., said she sold her home to pay tuition for her son, Thomas Owens, 16. "I was doing research on the Internet, and World Wide popped up everywhere. It looked good, it really did." She said program officials led her to believe that her son would receive counseling and therapy, but instead, she said, he spent two-thirds of his time at Tranquility Bay in isolation. "They hurt my son," she said. "Dramatically."
(...)
"You're paying Harvard prices, and that's O.K. if it helps the child," she said. "But to beat the child, just beat them into submission? If you did this to your child, you would be arrested for child abuse."
(...)
Tranquility Bay is the oldest of WWASPS's surviving overseas operations. WWASPS affiliates in Mexico and the Czech Republic have shut down under government pressure; its Costa Rica program closed after a revolt by students last month. In the United States, the organization has affiliated programs, some of which are brand-new, in Utah, Montana, New York, California, Iowa and South Carolina, according to public records.

[edit] Kravig testimony

Aaron Kravig, who was court-ordered to spend about a year in the facility, delivered the following sworn testimony about Tranquility Bay regarding the sanitary conditions:

"Some of us had beds that folded down from the wall and others slept, just slept on mattresses on the floor."
"The showers, they were always cold; they didn't have any heads on them, the water just kind of flowed out of them with no water pressure and sometimes the water was brown or cut off for days at a time completly. The showers were very unsanitary. There was .. There was visibile layers of dirt, grime, filth, mildew on the sides of the shower stalls on the floor. There has been like various parasites, visible bugs, maggots; things like that. I believe I got scabies from the showers by showering in them and, yeah, they're unsanitary, they're filthy."

Teens had to shower twice per day. The witness said that although he asked for medical treatment, he could not get his scabies treated until he left the facility:

"The nurse usually told me just to come back later; usually never helped me with anything, with any of my medical problems. They were pretty uncaring. (...) I would get the flu; it would get untreated. I've had fever hallucinations and the nurse did nothing about it (...). "

According to Kravig, the facility used a "level system" based on score points, where students on the lower levels "have no privileges whatsoever" and cannot talk to anyone but students on the higher levels, nor contact their parents, until they have reached "level III". It took Kravig 6 or 7 months to reach that level. Letters to parents were screened by the staff, with sections deemed problematic marked out.

Students were not allowed to talk during meals; instead they were forced to listen to "motivational tapes" and take notes. Kravigs described meals as "not very nutritional" - a sandwich for lunch, sometimes without any meat, and "a plate of rice with a little bit of meat" for dinner.

There were 5 different categories of "consequences" (punishments) for every different rule violation. Category II punishments (given for violations like talking to other students) required students to write a 3,000 word essay. Kravig received 74 such punishments. "By the end you will have bruises on your fingers from pressing the pen; your whole arm will hurt; you will pretty much be numb (...)." Category III punishments are given for refusing orders or fighting among students:

"You go into a room, into one of the dorm rooms and you have to lay down flat on your face with your head to the side all day(lay on you face on a hard floor for even 30 minutes, its feels like the bones in your cheek and chest are caving in, its horrible) i had to do this for three days because they found a jamaican penny i found in my belongings; you can't sleep; you're in there for an undetermined amount of time depending upon your behavior and how you act in there. You can't get up during the day except for to go to the bathroom and you (...) get to sit up for about five minutes, probably about every three hours or so. Your food is brought to you and you can sit up to eat it; then you have to lay back right down. The room is unsanitary. There is pretty much what can only be described as pubic hairs floating all around the floor in there. There was one guy (...) who was urinating in the mop bucket all day and later that night after fitness time he mopped the floor with it and the next day we went in there and had to lay down on the floor again; they didn't really care."

According to his testimony, Kravig was in "observation placement" described above once for four and once for twenty-one days. At night, students were required to do fitness time, which Kravig described as severe. Students who did not complete their punishment were restrained. Two or three and up to nine or ten staff members would

"lay you flat on the floor, one.. One of the staff will get on .. will like kneel down on your ankles, pressing your ankles into the tile floor. One will probably sit on your back and help another one pull your arms up over your back, so they will like hyperextend your arms, sometimes they do it to your legs. Sometimes they will like, they will set it on pressure points on your body pretty much just to hurt you into subservience, so you won't.. so you will do what they tell you."
"I've seen the director of the facility doing it himself, restraining a kid. We were walking up from night head count and you could hear screaming; you always heard screaming (...)."

Category IV and V entailed longer observation placements for more "severe acts" like obtaining tobacco or alcohol, or making "run plans", which, according to Kravig, was already the case when students looked out the window or one student picked up another's writings. Self-injury also entailed a category V punishment.

Kravig describes a suicide in the girl's facility, and claims that his towel was used to pick up the girl, returned to him with a large blood spot, and that he was not given a fresh towel.

The facility was cleaned when parents would come to visit (which was only allowed for higher level students). Parents who would come uninvited, according to Kravig, were not allowed to see their children. Although the facility is on Jamaica, popular among tourists, there was no fishing, swimming, or snorkling. Kravig also describes what could be interpreted as false advertising:

"The things depicted in the video about Tranquility Bay are completely..Yeah. None of that stuff is there, the horseback riding or the jet skiing; the things that they.. the buildings that they showed in the video, I've never seen any of those."

[edit] Wise testimony

In the same case, Lindsey Wise delivered testimony about her stay at Tranquility Bay. She was signed up for the program by her parents at age 16, after having unsuccessfully participated in a different WWASPS program. She was escorted to the airport alone by program staff, and her testimony about the level system etc. corresponds with the one by Kravig. According to her testimony, she spent two months in staff watch (because she cracked her knuckles, deemed "self-injury"), which she described as follows:

"Staff watch, we were instructed to lie.. I was instructed to lie on my stomach with my face flat on the floor and if I moved or spoke without permission, I was restrained. Restraint usually was where they took your arms and they bent them back behind your back like extremely far to the point where it caused like excruciating pain and they dug their knees into your back and that was what they called restraint."

During her two months of staff watch, she "wasn't allowed to touch or read books" and did not attend school. While Kravig was restrained only once, Wise, who was at the girls' facility, claimed that she was restrained "too many times to remember". About the sanitary conditions, she said:

"I mean the conditions of the facility was [sic] disgusting; there was sewage on the floors and there were just bugs crawling all over and the windows would be left wide open and the doors and the bugs and sometimes animals would come in."

Negative letters to her parents were considered "manipulation", which reduced her score within the system and sometimes entailed "consequences". Wise confirmed Kravig's testimony regarding medical treatment; like Kravig, she was told to stop complaining and denied medical treatment, in her case for severe acne and a yeast infection.

In the first month, during staff watch, students were not allowed to do any fitness activities, and after the students complained, they were assigned, according to Wise's testimony, "5000 jumping jacks and 3000 crunches and 200 push-ups three times per day". If students failed to complete the exercises, they were restrained, which may explain the high number of restraints reported by Lindsey. She also confirmed the suicide reported by Kravig, by Valerie Herron on August 10, 2001. According to Wise, Herron's clothes, notebook, pens and other personal belongings were given to other students for re-use; no discussions about the incident took place, and "the staff just acted like it was something that was normal."

Wise also reported that she "would go to sleep every night hearing people scream."

[edit] Observer Magazine article

In early 2003, journalist Decca Aitkenhead gained access to Tranquility Bay. According to her article for the British Observer Magazine, "parents sign a legal contract with Tranquility Bay granting 49 per cent custody rights." This allows the facility staff to use the physical force they deem necessary to control "their" child and waives the facility's liability for harm. This also explains why students are assigned to "families". According to the article, they have to address their family representative as "Mom" or "Dad".

The article discusses the seminars in which students have to share details of their life. Aitkenhead cites one former student, Scott Burkett:

"You can only move forward in the program if you share intimate details of your life. If you don't share, you're not 'working the program', and they'll take away your points. In a meeting, your rep will suddenly pick on you and say, 'Right, I want to hear something private, right now. Come on. Or do you want to go to OP?'"

Burkett explains that such private information frequently involves past relationships, which the "family" representative will often use later to degrade and humiliate the student using questions like "How many of your friends do you think [your girlfriend] is sleeping with right now?"

Burkett also cites the case of a boy being caught with used tissues which were suspected to be leftovers of masturbation:

"And they got him up in front of everyone right after dinner, and the upper-level kids just ripped into him, this little 13-year-old kid. It was kind of the entertainment for the night."

Regarding "observational placement", the article quotes Jay Kay that "the record is actually held by a female", who, on and off, spent 18 months lying on her face. Other humiliation methods are apparently used. At the time of Aitkenhead's visit, one girl had to wear a sign around her neck with the text "I've been in this program for three years, and I am still pulling crap."

As for "restraint", the article cites an unnamed student:

"You could get it for raising your voice or pointing your finger. You know you're going to get it when three Jamaicans walk in and say, 'Take off your watch.' They pin you down in a five-point formation and that's when they start twisting and pulling your limbs, grinding your ankles."

This description, with the student calmly removing their own watch, clearly rules out that restraint is used in the way the word suggests -- to restrain a student who is out of control -- and shows that it is instead practiced as a method of corporal punishment.


[edit] WWASPS Rebuttal

The Worldwide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools has release a rebuttal of the allegations against them and Tranquility Bay.

[edit] WWASPS vs. PURE

In the case of WWASPS vs. PURE, inc. and founder Sue S., the rebuttal site offers the court document which supports WWASPS in their statement that "Some competitors who don 't have the Track History and Success of the WWASP Schools and Programs, try to devalue them by promoting second hand innuendos and hear say allegations."

The Document states:

"In 2000, Sue S placed her daughter in a residential treatment facility recommended by WWASP, the Carolina Springs Academy ("CSA") in North Carolina. In November 2000, Ms. S sent notice to CSA that she wished to withdraw from the program within 60 days. In this letter she stated that she believed in CSA and credited it with helping her daughter. A copy of this letter was sent to Jennifer, "billing for WWASP," and St. George, Utah is listed in the heading of the letter. After her daughter left CSA, Ms. S sent communications to CSA expressing her satisfaction of the program. In November 2000, Sue S sent an extensive email to a list of individuals regarding her ideas of how to deal with teens. She referred favorably to Teen Help (an organization to which WWASP referred clients) in the email, and sent a copy if the email to Ken Kay expressing her "dedication" to the program.

At some later point, however, Ms. S's opinion of WWASP changed. This change of opinion coincided with her establishment of her own referral service for troubled teens, PURE, Inc., based in Florida. Like WWASP, PURE refers teens to programs based in southern Utah.

Dr. Lon Woodbury operated an internet "chatroom" dedicated to these residential treatment facilities. The chat room was based in Idaho, but parents from all over the United States used the chat room as an informal, influential source of information concerning various teen programs.

According to an affidavit filed by Mr. Ken Kay of WWASP, in December 2001 a series of messages were posted in the chat room, disparaging the services of WWASP. In an attempt to identify who was making the statements, Dr. Woodbury obtained a computer "fingerprint" and determined that six ostensibly different "posters" were. In fact, all operating from the same computer in Florida. On December 27, 2001, Dr. Woodbury revealed his findings to the participants in the chat room. The six ostensible posters were "Mark D.W.", "Lara", "Deb C.", "Tracy Brittany Reese", Sue S, and "Hilda." Mr. Woodbury concluded the posters were fairly well informed about the internal workings of WWASP. Jeff B also had a relationship with Sue S and posted comments in the chat room. Sue S responded to Mr. Woodbury’s “outing” of the posters by indicating these individuals were working in her office.


The postings began on December 3, 2001, with a message from “Lara” from Florida stating:

I have a good source of (insider leak) at Teen Help in their office in Utah, that states all the “Sales Reps” are very disgruntled. Something political with WWASP/Teen Help Administration. I understand even one of their best sales people is very dissati[s]fied with the way the operation is going (financially) and has threatened to leave. Pay is going down parents…..hmmmmm wonder why? This leak also stated, “the seminars are very satanic, but hey the parents love them and it keeps the business growing……”

The same day “Deb C.” from Florida supporting the statements of "Lara." Jeff B also entered into the discussion further questions regarding WWASP’s financial stability. “Hilda” from Florida, also weighed in with comments indicating WWASP used “less than ethical” tactics. “Deb C.” weighed one more time on that day with further negative comments.

On December 5, 2001, “Lara” responded to “Deb C.’s” message, and “Deb C.” responded again expressing negative comments about a WWASP posting. “Lara” again responded in the chat room on December 6, 2001. On December 7, 2001, “Tracy Brittany Reese,” purportedly from Springfield, Illinois, opined in the chat room regarding her negative experiences with WWASP.

On December 8, 2001, Jeff B, a parent that supported Sue S and PURE, indicated he believed WWASP was an “abusive” program. “Lara” responded that same day criticizing a chat room participant that supported WWASP. Jeff B weighed in later that day comparing the WWASP tactics with the Symbionese Liberation Army tactics of the 1970’s.

On December 9, 2001, Jeff B again criticized WWASP and alleged they maintained physical control over the youth in their programs. “Tracy Brittany Reese” responded again, criticizing a chat room participant that supported WWASP and again alleging abuse by WWASP.

On December 12, 2001, a thread of discussion in the chat room started regarding a positive experience a parent had at Cross Creek, a WWASP facility in Utah, by someone outside of the PURE posters. “Lara,” “Deb C.,” and “Tracy Brittany Reese” all quickly responded with negative statements about WWASP programs and schools.

On December 16, 2001, “Deb C.” weighed in on a discussion of a WWASP facility calling it a “children’s prison,” and discussed a grandmother who fought to get her child out of a facility and “won.”

On December 17, 2001, “Mark D.W.” from New York posted a message alleging abuse of a child at a WWASP facility. He responded later in the day indicating his daughter was at a non-WWASP program in Utah and wrote that the director of that program confirmed a boy that had been abused at a WWASP facility was brought to his daughters’ facility in Utah. “Lara” responded the same day expressing “they don’t care if a child dies at the hands of WWASP,” among other comments. “Mark D.W.” responded again that he did not report the child abuse, but the “Dr. did in Utah….” “Lara,” “Tracy Brittany Reese,” Jeff B, and Sue S all weighed in with anti-WWASP comments.

On December 18, 2001, the thread of ant-WWASP sentiment continued as “Tracy Brittany Reese,” “Lara,” and “Mark D.W.” all weighed in with their comments against WWASP. “Lara” sent two messages, “Mark D.W.” another message, and “Hilda” sent two messages all expressing negative information about WWASP. On December 19, 2001, the thread continued as “Lara” weighed in again and Dr. Woodbury reported that the allegedly abused boy that “Mark D.W.” had reported two weeks earlier did not in fact exist.

On December 20, 2001, “Mark D.W.” again mentioned the allegedly abused boy at his daughter’s facility in Utah. He denied Mr. Woodbury’s report and posted two more comments in the chat room, as did “Lara.”

On December 21, 2001, a parent requested information about a treatment facility named Tranquility Bay, and discussed speaking to individuals at an “office in Utah.” Jeff B immediately responded offering to get her additional information. Mr. B sent this parent a lengthy private email making various negative statements about WWASP and about Dr. Woodbury for his defense of WWASP.

On December 27, 2001, Mr. Woodbury identified the participants in Ms. S’s scheme and banned them from posting on the site. Sue S responded to Mr. Woodbury’s “outing” of her group by entering the chat room under a new name “Suzanne Lisa.” On December 27, 2001 she responded and reasserted her complaints about WWASP.

On December 29, 2001, a parent in the chat room sought information about WWASP and was informed by Lon Woodbury that it was an association of specialty schools with headquarters in St. George, Utah. The same question was asked by a different poster on December 30, 2001, with the same response from Lon Woodbury. Jeff B responded on the same day by referring individuals in the chat room to the PURE websites.

In January 2002, WWASP filed suit in this court alleging intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, defamation, civil conspiracy, unfair business practices, and sought injunctive relief and damages. PURE responded in February 2002, filing a motion to quash based on a lack of personal jurisdiction."

[edit] WWASPS and the News Media

WWASPS also offers a rebuttal against allegations from the news media, which include testimonies from parents:

"As a direct result of complaints from upset and outraged parents and students who were misquoted or ignored by Tim Weiner, we are formulating a response to the Editor detesting the articles written by Mr. Weiner as biased and slanted.


A recent Gallup Poll showed that only 36% of Americans believe the Press generally get the facts straight http://www.time.com/time/columnist/poniewozik/article. Part of the reason for this distrust of the Press is that reporters will often misquote, misrepresent, or ignore any statements made by the people they interview that doesn't fit into the kind of story they want to write.

Here are a few examples of the many comments from parents we have received recently reflecting Tim Weiner's lack of accuracy:

"The fact is that he did not quote me and the reason he did not quote me was because I only allowed him to quote exactly what I said and I told him that I was very happy with Dundee and WWASPS and I would send my son back in a heartbeat if necessary and if he asked my son he would tell him the same thing." Anita-Mother

"Tim Weiner may have a history of manipulating things and distorting the truth. On the Internet, I found that he did a story and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, then his award came in question because of this manipulating and distorting." Donna - Mother

"I said mostly good things about the Program, the few things that I said that were negative is what he chose to use. It was pretty much what I said but he only used the one thing that I said I didn't like." Laura - Student

"Tim Weiner said, "Well maybe we can do a follow up story on failure of the mental health system." He sounded like he was very objective and led me to believe that he was willing to really look into this, but I never heard back from him." Karen - Mother

"I guess where I really felt misquoted was: I was explaining to Tim how when we were making the decision about which Program to send Zachary to, we got the brochures and it listed all of the schools and individual information about each one. I explained to Tim that after talking with many people, describing my son and his actions, we decided that Tranquility Bay would be the best, because he needed more behavior modification. I then compared that if my son needed more therapy and had some deep psychological problems, then I would have chose Cross Creek Center. Then when the article came out, Tim Weiner put it like I was some kind of expert saying that no kids with any psychological issues should go to TB. In fact, he put part of what I said, a dash, something that I didn't even say and then more of what I said. So it looks like I said all of it. I would love to talk to others that were misquoted. I remember when I read the article, I actually was thinking if they had misquoted me this badly then I wondered if they had done the same to the other parents. I wondered how they felt." Kristin - Mother

"I am very clear that Mr. Wiener is looking for bad news and looking for quotes that can come out looking terrible, and the people are not aware of that." Bob - Father

"My daughter, Jill, was contacted by Mr. Weiner and asked to provide information about her experience with Tranquility Bay and the WWASP program. The second time Mr. Weiner called was during our Friday "game night" with my husband, our granddaughter and Jill. Jill listened to Mr. Weiner read the portion of his article pertaining to her and I heard her say "I have thought about this and I decided you can use my name, but no offense intended, you got it wrong, you can't finish there. You didn't follow up with everything else that I told you. You didn't state further that yes, I came home from the Program, got into heroin, tried to commit suicide but that was a real eye opener to me. That now I am working a full time job, I am starting college in the fall, I am living at home with my parents and we get along great and I credit the Program and the tools I learned there for this success. I went back to Jamaica after my suicide attempt and because the Program taught me that my life is worth living, I am now home and living a great life and that I would not be here if it wasn't for TB and the Program." Mary - Mother

Recently a government official visited Casa by the Sea unannounced, because of an article written by Mr. Weiner. The official thoroughly inspected the Facility, interviewed students, and staff. While Casa By the Sea has had numerous inspections by government officials, this was the first time this particular official had ever visited the Facility. Based on the news media accounts, she came expecting to see a terrible program. She said she found quite the opposite. She was very impressed with the Program and their care of the students."

The site also offers other information supporting WWASPS and Tranquility Bay, including parent references, accolades, and emails to the editor.


[edit] See also

Industrial Schools

[edit] External links

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