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The Australian
Boot camp teens disciplined to death
October 13, 2007
INVESTIGATORS have catalogued the
abuse of thousands ofteenagers and the deaths of atleast 10 minors
at American boot camps.
Their findings, compiled in a
shocking report from the US Congress, are presented alongside
harrowing testimony from parents of three teenagers who died at boot
camps.
The report was published as a court
in Florida began a manslaugther trial into the death of a
14-year-old boy who was filmed being beaten by camp guards minutes
before he died.
The Government Accountability
Office, the US Congress's investigative arm, identified 1619
incidents of child abuse in 33 states in 2005. It selected 10 deaths
since 1990 for special investigation in boot camps and "wilderness
programs".
Parents send their children to the
privately run camps, which undergo no federal oversight, in the hope
that their strict regimes and outdoor pursuits will force discipline
on the children.
But the findings suggest
instructors often go too far in trying to instil good behaviour.
"Examples of abuse include youth
being forced to eat their own vomit, denied adequate food, being
forced to lie in urine or faeces, being kicked, beaten and thrown to
the ground," investigator Gregory Kutz told a congressional
education committee.
One teenager, Mr Kutz said, was
"forced to use a toothbrush to clean a toilet, then forced to use
that toothbrush on their own teeth".
Bob Bacon, speaking in front of
photographs taken of his emaciated son Aaron an hour before his
death, told how the boy had been starved, his weight falling from
59kg to 49kg in three weeks.
He and his wife had sent Aaron to
the Northstar Expeditions in Escalante, Utah, to get him away from
the drugs he had started dabbling in at school.
Aaron's "bloody and battered
journal" contained "an unbelievable account of torture, abuse and
neglect", Mr Bacon said.
His son had spent 14 of 20 days
"without any food whatsoever" while having to hike 12-16km a day.
When he was given food, it consisted of "undercooked lentils,
lizards, scorpions, trail mix and a celebrated canned peach on the
13th day".
Aaron died from an untreated
perforated ulcer. He had been beaten "from the top of his head to
the tip of his toes" during his month at the camp, Mr Bacon said.
"His mother and I will never escape our decision to send our gifted
16-year-old son to his death."
The report said five of the 10
programs where teenagers died were still operating, sometimes under
different names. Up to 20,000 children attend the US camps every
year. Some charge up to $US450 ($500) a day.
Meanwhile, in Panama City, Florida,
the manslaughter trial opened against seven guards and a nurse over
the boot camp death last year of Martin Lee Anderson, 14.
Prosecutors say the guards, who were captured on film beating
Anderson for 30 minutes and kneeling on his limp body, suffocated
the boy.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22575684-31477,00.html
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