Better government oversight and regulation of behavioral modification centers or "drug rehab." centers worldwide.

This petition calls on federal and state governments to increase oversight and regulation of behavioral modification programs that advertise themselves as drug rehabilatation centers but are actually private juvenile and adult detention centers, many of which are poorly monitored and regulated by outside governmental authorities to insure the humane and fair treatment of youth and young adults.

Many of these programs operate on a 5 level system of phasing that the kids must "work" through to obtain their freedom and eventually be re-united with their families. These phases can sometimes last for years and involve verbal, physical and emotional abuse as well as sensory deprivation and isolation from their families and the outside world which can include near total seperation from family, friends, school and church.

Often times kids and young adults can be court ordered to these programs after entry, increasing the length of their incarceration. These programs are often falsely advertised as 30, 60 or 90 day programs but in fact can sometimes take years to complete because of repeated "start overs" or being "frozen on their phases" by the staff for rules violations or perceived "druggy thoughts" or suspicion of deviant attitudes by the "group" or staff members.

There have been numerous documented abuses and criminal charges filed against many of these programs the most notorious being "Straight Incorporated" which operated in America from the mid 1970's until the early 1990's when it was finally shut down after repeated criminal and civil charges that involved the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of and injury to children, youth and even adults, many of who were driven to seemingly complete insanity by the extreme methods and brutality of the program and were finally allowed to be released to mental hospitals when the staff and directors could no longer bring them back to conformity or functional sanity and were not able to hide them from parents and outside visitors who were on occasion allowed to view the program because of complaints of abuse.

The program operated by placing the kids in two groups of 30-50 plastic chairs (sometimes more) where the kids were forced to "motivate" which involved violently flapping their arms up and down for 10-12 hours a day in order to be picked by "staff".......( kids and adults who had managed to progress through the program......often through being brutal to the other kids in the program and were now group managers )......who would then allow the kids who were picked to stand up and viciously confront other kids who were perceived to be not working their "program" or were suspected of having "druggy thoughts" which could entail a wide range of perceived ills.

After being picked by staff the "phasers" or kids confined in the group would then proceed to brutally accuse and confront fellow phasers in order to get them to admit past wrongs, drug usage, sexual activity or any other crime or perceived thought crime they could get them to admit.....admitting past wrongs or crimes was greatly encouraged and rewarded by the staff and program directors who would then sometimes allow the kids to "move up" in their phases or progress in the program......because of this and the constant brutal confrontation many kids made up absurd stories about criminal activity and extremely heavy drug usage and "criminal thoughts" they had had before entering the program so as to receive the acceptance of the group, progress and eventually be allowed to leave the program.

The phasers who were able to successfully get other phasers to admit or make up these past wrongs, drug usage or thought crimes through aggressive confrontation were also greatly rewarded by the staff and directors since they helped to legitimize the program by publicly "convicting" the other kids.

The kids in the program could be "started over" to the first phase of the program at any time by the staff which meant that all their rights and priviledges were stripped away and they were not allowed to stand up, walk around or go to the bathroom without being held by the belt loop of their pants.....this included harsh restrictions on talking to others in the program and family until they could work their way back to the higher phases of the program by admitting more crimes, offenses or druggy thoughts.....sometimes this process could take many months or even years in extreme cases. Of course this also encouraged kids to make up as many thought crimes or offenses as possible since being started over would mean further brutalization and seperation from family, school and friends.

Antoher punishment used was "freezing" kids on their phases so they could not progress in the program or "move up in their phases" until unfrozen by staff.This also could considerably lengthen an individuals stay in the program.

All doors in the program building were constantly monitored and watched to prevent escape attempts by kids who would randomly run for the doors.....also car doors and foster home doors and windows were secured and handles removed to prevent escape by first phasers.....who were carried around by the belt loop and not allowed to talk to others, some kids became trapped on first phase for years because of hostility by the group or because of poor speaking, social skills or lack of aggression prevented them confronting other kids in a way that was acceptable by the group.

Any resistance was dealt with immediately through poking, prodding and tackling kids who did not participate....kids who refused to "look at the person speaking" had their heads forcefully jerked around by surrounding phasers in the group to point their eyes in the direction of the person speaking in the group which often caused nosebleeds to kids unlucky enough to receive this treatment. If they resisted further they would be tackled by surrounding group members and pinned to the floors or brought to 10 X 10 cinderblock isolation rooms to be brutally confronted and intimidated by other phasers into conformity with the program, often this confinement would last for many days.

Straight Incoporated spawned a slew of copy cat "behavioral modification programs" around the U.S. and worldwide that are now in operation using many of the same tactics and methods that Straight Incorporated used and many kids have died...that's right ...DIED and suffered serious physical and psychological injury directly from abuse in these "behavioral modification programs".

One of those programs which has received much attention because of it's uncanny resemblance to "Straight Incorporated" is "Pathway Family Center" which now occupies the same building in Milford, Ohio that was once occupied by Straight Inc. and is reported and or suspected of using many of the same methods, tactics and rules as Straight Incorporated including intense secrecy and defensivness about the details of the programs operations.

Pathways Family Center also has other program sites around the U.S.

For information about the proliferation of these programs go to the "International Survivors Action Committee" (ISAC) who tracks and documents these programs and their abuses worldwide also "Mel Semblers Straight" which chronicles the rise and fall of Straight Inc. and the thousands of American kids and adults who were brutalized in Straight Incorporated's various programs around the United States.

This petition calls for better public awareness and oversight by our federal, state and local governments to make the general public more aware of the abuses and dangers of these programs which in many ways are simply centers for brutality, brainwashing, incarceration, and exploitation of kids and youth in the name of curing them from various perceived ills.

We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of this petition and call for increased public oversight of drug rehabilitation programs in the U.S. and worldwide and wish for this petition to be used to lobby governments worldwide to better regulate and monitor the activities of these drug reahabilitation centers or "behavioral modification centers" as they are often referred to.