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              "The claim states Paolillo was denied medical treatment for two weeks for a broken bone
               that was protruding through his flesh. While injured, Paolillo was beaten, rolled through
               the dirt and interrogated until he could not remember who he was, the claim states."

NEWS ARTICLES:

12/18/06 - Camp censured for Seymour teen's torture

12/16/06 - Boot camp ordered to pay Seymour men $900G

Camp censured for Seymour teen's torture

December 18, 2006
By Matthew Higbee (mhigbee@ctpost.com)

SEYMOUR - A town man sentenced to 20 years in a psychiatric hospital for trying to kill his parents by burning down their house has won a $900,000 judgment against a Southern Christian military boot camp where he said he was tortured. Joseph Gabriel Paolillo and his father, Joseph Peter Paolillo, won the judgment in Mississippi federal court Monday against the Bethel Boys Academy of Lucedale, Miss.

The elder Paolillo was awarded $59,709 in damages.

Routine beatings and mental abuse from a drill instructor with a pit bull trained to bite in the crotch were alleged by the younger Paolillo, who was 17 when he went to Bethel in 1998.

"They beat him viscously," his father said. "I feel relieved that some satisfaction was given to my son, so he can seek professional treatment and counseling."

The judgment against Bethel and William Knotts, a drill instructor there, was issued by Louis Guirola, a Republican judge appointed by President Bush.

"The judge called the abuse something reminiscent of 'medieval torture,' " said George Yoder, a Jackson, Miss., attorney for the Paolillos. Yoder added that collecting the settlement will be difficult because Bethel has closed, although the facility has reopened under a new name.

"We're going to do the best we can. At the end of the day, I feel vindicated, and my clients feel vindicated," he said.

Joseph Gabriel Paolillo said he is "happy with the judgment," adding that he hoped it would help other former cadets.

The parents of eight former Bethel cadets also have a pending civil case against Bethel and its founder, the Rev. Herman Fountain.

State officials sought to close Bethel in 2003, after investigators contended that boys were struck, denied medical attention for illness or injuries, and shocked with a cattle prod or stun gun. The academy was allowed to stay open after agreeing to a consent decree that forced policy changes and the ouster of Fountain.

The school is now operating as Pine View Academy and run by Fountain's son, John Fountain.

Yoder said Herman Fountain was dropped from the Paolillo lawsuit after it became clear he had no assets to go after. Fountain now operates City of Refuge, a home for men 18 and older who abuse drugs and alcohol. He did not return a message seeking comment Thursday. The younger Paolillo was a troubled teenager who was abused before attending Bethel. While living in Washington State, he was placed in foster care at age 11 after accusing his father of abusing him, a claim he later recanted. Paolillo later claimed he was molested in two group homes. His testimony was used in a criminal case against a counselor, Kenneth Bell, who pleaded guilty last year to two counts of child sexual abuse.

The elder Paolillo said that Bethel was recommended to him as a good place for his son after the ordeal in Washington.

"I was convinced that the Bible Belt was the best place to make a complete turnaround. I was not prepared for such a complete horror story," he said. His son left Bethel shortly before he turned 18 and was unable to hold a job. His parents had moved to Seymour, and he came north, living for a time at the Ansonia YMCA. On Dec. 16, 2003, Paolillo broke into his parents' Julie Drive home and set the dining room floor on fire with gasoline. He confessed to police two days later, saying he originally wanted to shoot his parents with an M-16 assault rifle but resorted to arson when the weapon was unavailable, police said. Found mentally unfit to stand trial, Paolillo was ordered to Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown for 20 years, where he is in a high security ward. Now 25, Paolillo gave a deposition from Whiting that was critical to the judgment against Bethel, Yoder said. In his testimony, Paolillo said he had confided about the sexual abuse to Fountain, who afterward stared calling him "faggot" in front of others. He described Bethel drill instructors making him eat breakfast in 45 seconds and then forcing him to roll around on the ground until throwing up. He said Knotts would sic a pit bull on cadets given a head start to run across a field, Paolillo testified. "I had bite marks on my groin," Paolillo said in his testimony. "That's basically where the dog generally bit."

Paolillo also testified that he tried to commit suicide by jumping off a second-floor balcony. After losing consciousness, Paolillo said when he came to, Knotts, Herman Fountain, and other senior cadets were punching him and making fun of him. They made him do push-ups with a broken elbow, he said, and prevented him from going to the hospital for two weeks. Paolillo said any time he talked to his parents on the telephone, a Bethel drill instructor was right next to him to make sure he didn't report any abuse.

NEW HAVEN REGISTER

Boot camp ordered to pay Seymour men $900G

December 16, 2006
By Elizabeth Benton

A Mississippi military boot camp has been ordered to pay $900,000 in a case involving a Seymour man who said he was tortured at the camp.

Joseph Peter Paolillo and his son, Joseph Gabriel Paolillo, 25, sued the Bethel Baptist Church boot camp of Lucedale, Miss., in 2002 claiming the younger Paolillo was tortured while at the boot camp in 1998.

The claim states Paolillo was denied medical treatment for two weeks for a broken bone that was protruding through his flesh.

While injured, Paolillo was beaten, rolled through the dirt and interrogated until he could not remember who he was, the claim states.

During Paolillo’s time at Bethel, the claim states his Italian heritage and sexuality were repeatedly insulted, and that school leaders encouraged the abusive behavior. School leaders owned a pit bull trained to attack students by biting them in their crotch area, the claim states, if they could not outrun the dog. The dog was also allowed to urinate and defecate in the student barracks, the claim states.

A school leader would regularly bite students’ ears, bragging "how he could see sunlight through the open wound," the claim states.

The claim states Paolillo was told by school leaders if he told anyone about the beatings "they would find him and seek retribution no matter where he went in the country."

Bethel staff members could not be reached for comment.

While the boot camp was billed as a Christian organization, the suit claims Paolillo was mocked for his faith in God. According to the claim, the program leader preached "his respect for the money and power of the Mafia, Mafia gunfights, and the manner in which the Mafia dressed."

A jury in Mississippi awarded $900,000 to the Paolillos this month — $14,855 to the elder Paolillo in actual damages, $15,000 in consequential damages, $28,855 in exemplary damages, and $150,000 for his son in actual damages in $750,000 in exemplary damages.

A class action suit in Mississippi federal court, which alleges similar abuses, is pending against Bethel. The boot camp is still in operation under the name Pine View Academy, said Paolillo’s Mississippi-based attorney, George Yoder. No criminal charges relating to Paolillo’s treatment have ever been brought against Bethel’s operators, Yoder said.

The elder Paolillo said he enrolled his son at Bethel while living in Washington state. He said his son made false charges of child abuse and was placed in foster care. Paolillo said he son was repeatedly sexually abused by a therapist at a children’s home in Washington.

"Being a Christian, I thought a Christian academy would be most appropriate, because of all the bizarre and dirty circumstances," the elder Paolillo said. "To start a child in a good Christian academy with the good book on one side and good academics on the other. ... I was never prepared for anything like this. Who in God’s name wishes something like this on a child?"

The younger Paolillo was sentenced to 20 years in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital in 2005 after setting his parents’ Seymour home on fire. According to police, Paolillo had planned to kill his parents and himself Dec. 16, 2003, but couldn’t find a gun. No one was injured.

His father said he hopes to use money from the judgment to provide private therapy for Paolillo.