# American 'trouble' teens kidnapped and taken to detention camp in Jamaica **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2003, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976 "2003-07-08T11:55:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/21 "2003-07-09T12:03:03Z")
If any of the staff are American, could they by tried under the International Criminal Court? ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/22 "2003-07-09T12:41:42Z")
**Twisty** , was that irony? Naughty. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/23 "2003-07-09T13:33:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > **msmith537** =that would be **BMalion** , not **Blalron**. \*\* My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/24 "2003-07-09T20:39:38Z")
> [@](#): > > _Von den OP_: > I didn’t think this could be true, but it transpired this was not even exceptional. ‘Oh no,’ says Kay. ‘The record is actually held by a female.’ On and off, she spent 18 months lying on her face “[You run one time, you got yourself a set of chains. You run twice you got yourself two sets. You ain’t gonna need no third set, 'cause you gonna get your mind right.](http://us.imdb.com/Quotes?0061512)” Wonder if she got her mind right. :rolleyes: I remember hearing something about this on AM radio late one night (damned if I can recall the show, but it was one of those mega-wattage ‘Superstations’ what can be heard thousands of miles away). The mother was on the line, telling the host about how she sent her son off to a place in Montana (didn’t say where, I would have remembered the town’s name) much like this one. He wound up in Jamaica before the mother conviced herself and her husband that this _wasn’t_ right, that her son _wasn’t_ completely lying to her, and that she _absolutely had to_ rescue him _herself_ 'cause the ‘Program’ wasn’t going to let him out freely. Long story short, she wound up going down to Jamaica herself and rescuing her son from the hell she placed him in. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and graded by denial and rationalization. ---
**Author:** ![XCchick22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e19b73/32.png) [@XCchick22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XCchick22)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/25 "2003-07-10T03:08:14Z")
I’ve been reading some of the stories of the teens that have been through this, and they’re horrible. In some of the testimony from a court case one of the girls, Lindsey Wise, said that she was sent to what she called “Staff Watch,” which is called OP in the article in the Guardian, for 2 months for cracking her knuckles. The staff called it a “self-inflicted injury.” To me one of the worst things about this place is that not all of the teens are sent there for things like repeated trouble with the law, but instead things like having a bad relationship with their parents. How exactly is sending your kid away for possibly years at a time going to help that relationship? If my parents did that to me, I’d get as far away as I could and never speak to them again. A newsflash for parents that would consider this: your kids will do things that you won’t approve of. It always has, and always will be this way. Think back to some of the bad things you did, and how you turned out without being sent to a place like this. Your job is to get them through to adulthood as best as you can, while letting them learn some of life’s lessons on their own, by making mistakes. Talk to them, don’t just ship them away and give up on them. That relationship that may not be the best now, may be 100% beter 5 years from now, just because you let them learn some things on their own, but were there for them when they needed it. And when it comes down to it, that’s what being a parent is all about. ---
**Author:** ![XCchick22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e19b73/32.png) [@XCchick22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XCchick22)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/26 "2003-07-10T03:29:44Z")
I’ve been reading some of the stories of the teens that have been through this, and they’re horrible. In some of the testimony from a court case one of the girls, Lindsey Wise, said that she was sent to what she called “Staff Watch,” which is called OP in the article in the Guardian, for 2 months for cracking her knuckles. The staff called it a “self-inflicted injury.” To me one of the worst things about this place is that not all of the teens are sent there for things like repeated trouble with the law, but instead things like having a bad relationship with their parents. How exactly is sending your kid away for possibly years at a time going to help that relationship? If my parents did that to me, I’d get as far away as I could and never speak to them again. A newsflash for parents that would consider this: your kids will do things that you won’t approve of. It always has, and always will be this way. Think back to some of the bad things you did, and how you turned out without being sent to a place like this. Your job is to get them through to adulthood as best as you can, while letting them learn some of life’s lessons on their own, by making mistakes. Talk to them, don’t just ship them away and give up on them. That relationship that may not be the best now, may be 100% beter 5 years from now, just because you let them learn some things on their own, but were there for them when they needed it. And when it comes down to it, that’s what being a parent is all about. ---
**Author:** ![XCchick22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e19b73/32.png) [@XCchick22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XCchick22)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/27 "2003-07-10T03:33:38Z")
Wow, what an odd double-post, 20 minutes apart. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/28 "2003-07-10T06:48:39Z")
That’s a Level IV consequence, **XCchick22**. Report to the Staff Watch Room immediately, and hit the deck! ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/29 "2003-07-10T16:15:03Z")
I. Am. Speechless. Sort of a hijack. I have a good friend who has spent the last 20 plus years working in various capacities for organizations that house troubled adolescents. Run away shelters, if you will. He has started various programs in various cities and states over the years (yes he IS a psychologist). He (incidentally) comes from the Caribbean. I forwarded the link to him asking if he knows about this place and what his professional opinion is. If anyone wants to know how he responds, say so and I will post his opinions (with his permission of coarse). I have also invited him to join the discussion, but lets see, as he is a very busy man. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976/30 "2003-07-11T13:17:09Z")
Well, Janx the thread killer strikes again. Nobody said they wanted to know but I will post anyway. My friend was kind enough to respond and allow me to post his e-mail to me, though I edited it, taking out personal info. Janx wrote: [friend], I was paruzing the message boards and came across this article: > **[The last resort (part one)](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/jun/29/schools.uk1)** > > When you have a teenager on the rampage, who are you going to turn to? In America, parents send their troubled offspring to Jamaica's Tranquility Bay - a 'behaviour-modification centre' which charges $40,000 a year to 'cure' them. Decca Aitkenhead,... Have you ever herd of this place? Is it real? what is your professional opinion? I’m shocked. Friend responds: > [@](#): > > Oh yes, this is real as can be. They were even on National TV special. The world is crazy but what can I say. > > [http://www.tranquilitybay.org/](http://www.tranquilitybay.org/) > > They are big for people with money who want to get rid of their kids. > > [Water Works Association Specialty Programs -](http://www.wwasp.com/tbj-intro.htm) > > Wwasp is the national organization. They run many programs. > > The basic reason parent(s) send their young people to places like this is to avoid the US laws on protecting abusive and obnoxious treatment of young people. The only other situation I can see why a parent would send their kids are to chastise, discipline, penalize, hurt and really punish them to hell. The Jamaican government should be shamed of themselves in allowing such treatment of young people. If enough people write and complain to the Jamaican government, Newspapers, US State department, your US Senators, National television like ABC, NBC something can be done. We know young people can be difficult and have bad times in growing up, and parent(s) are fed up doing their best, but this is no reason to throw your kids to hell. Even our prison system doesn’t treat people like that. Unfortunately this place and others exist for money. Wealthy parents could find better programs for kids. Come on, parents, if you chose to have Sex and kids, then take the responsibility that comes with it. This of course is my simple view of such a bad situation. > > Hope things are ok with you all. > > …[name of friend deleted – but I liked his tag line]… > > “My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn’t!” So, there ya go! Now, are we going to try and do something about it? We have 37 thousand users here, all of which have e mail… Imagine the avalanche. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-trouble-teens-kidnapped-and-taken-to-detention-camp-in-jamaica/186976.md?page=1)