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July 4, 2001
Desert Boot
Camp for Youth Is Shut Down After a Death
By Michael Janofsky
Phoenix -- The
authorities here are investigating how a 14- year-old boy died this
week while participating in a rigorous boot- camp program for
troubled youth in the desert west of Phoenix.
Medics were
summoned to the camp, about 15 miles south of Buckeye, Ariz., on
Sunday after supervisors called 911 saying the boy, T.H. of Phoenix,
was suffering from heat exhaustion. The temperature was well over
100 degrees when he died.
Sheriff Joe
Arpaio of Maricopa County, who ordered the camp shut down, said in an interview today that his
department was investigating the case as a "suspicious death" and
that the possibility of child abuse by camp personnel was also under
review. Investigators called to the scene said they saw bruises on
some children enrolled in the program - observations that parents of
other camp children confirmed in interviews.
"I've never
heard any complaints about this camp before and I've talked to
parents about it," Sheriff Arpaio said. "They seemed to like it. But
these kids didn't get bruises falling off a platform."
The sheriff
said this was the first time, as far as he knew, that the camp, run
by a Phoenix nonprofit organization, America's Buffalo Soldiers
Re-enactors Association, had experienced any problems of this
severity. But it is by no means the first camp of its kind where
children have suffered serious injuries and even death.
T.H. became at
least the fifth young person in the last 10 years to die at a boot
camp, including another teenager in Arizona three years ago. The
camps are not regulated in Arizona and many other states. These
so-called wilderness therapy camps for troubled children have been
around for more than 50 years, most of them in western states, where
acclimating to rugged conditions is a major part of a routine that
attempts to break bad habits and replace them with new feelings of
confidence, self- esteem and humility.
Several trade
organizations have formed in recent years to help parents find
reputable programs for their children and to help program operators
adopt safe and measurable standards. For the most part, they operate
without incident. But as each succeeding incident of injury and
death shows, not all of the several hundred programs now operating
have adequate safeguards.
Investigators
here said they did not know enough yet about the Buffalo Soldier's
camp or its owner, Charles F. Long II, 56, who claimed to be a
former marine and police officer in the District of Columbia, to
know whether the program was properly run and suitable for all
participants.
Capt. Tim Dorn,
the sheriff's department commander of investigations, said T.H. was
one of 40 boys and girls, ages 7 to 17, who were participating in a
14-week session.
At the time of
T.H.'s death, Captain Dorn said, there was no medical personnel at
the site, adding, "We still don't know if there is any on the
staff." He also said that investigators could not determine whether
camp personnel had adequate amounts of food and water available to
the children.
When
investigators visited the camp on Monday, he said, the temperature
was 120 degrees. Several parents said children were forced to eat
dirt, and teenagers who Mr. Long used as camp counselors "stomped on
their chests," as one parent, Doreen Hurff, said. The Arizona
Republic reported today that the boy who died had vomited dirt before he died.
Efforts to
reach Mr. Long, who identifies himself as a colonel of the Buffalo
Soldiers 10th Cavalry, were unsuccessful. He has an unlisted
telephone number here, and messages left at the camp's business
listing were not returned.
Most people
listed as in-house management on the camp's Web site have military
titles. One person listed as a captain is actually a retired Phoenix
Police Department sergeant. R. Lee Fraley, a lawyer listed as the
camp's corporate attorney, said he was stunned to learn that his
name was on the site. He said he helped Mr. Long only once, with
some trademark and copy right issues.
T.H.'s mother,
Melanie Hudson, who lives in Phoenix, said she enrolled her child in
the camp to help him control his anger. She said he had behavioral
problems and had been on probation for shoplifting. Once, she said,
he slashed her tires. But her son never complained about the camp,
which he had been attending since the end of March, Ms. Hudson said
in an interview. "He had never said anything. He didn't like it. But
he never said anything was wrong."
She added: "It
was for T.H. to get some self-respect and discipline and to become a
better person. He had started to control his anger. He was trying to
head down the wrong path, and we were trying to get him on the right
one." Ms. Hudson said the boy's therapist told him about the camp
but neither knew anything about it.
Captain Dorn
said that since the investigation began, parents of other children
attending the camp have called, some to support Mr. Long's rigorous
approach, others to criticize it as excessively harsh.
Dana Naimark,
deputy director of the Children's Action Alliance in Arizona, a
nonprofit research and advocacy group here, said the death at the
boot camp, which she said was unknown to her, raised questions about
such programs.
"Who's
watching?" Ms. Naimark said. "Who is responsible for oversight of
these programs?" Ms. Hudson echoed the thought, saying parents
should investigate any program in which they are about to enroll a
child. "If you think about a program like this, check it out," she
said.
(Out of
respect for the family, the child's name was omitted, using only his
initials.)
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