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[11 Nov 1998]
U.S. Kids Imprisoned in
Jail-Like 'Academy'
by Ladka Bauerova
Allegations of physical and
psychological abuse have turned the spotlight on a school for
troubled American teenagers, located on the outskirts of Brno.
Placed in a three-star hotel and surrounded by a forest with a
nearby lake, the Morava Academy has managed to escape media
attention for the first several months of its existence.
Then, in late October, one
of its former counselors told the Czech daily Lidove noviny of the
practices used to keep the kids in line. The counselor, who refused
to give his name because he claims to have signed a contract binding
him to silence, told the newspaper that the teenagers are held in
the institution against their will.
He said punishment for
misbehavior includes being tied up and forced to lie on the floor
all day or being forced to spend a night in an empty corridor with a
light on. He added that the Czech employees often quit because they
are shocked when they find out what they are getting into. The
school's management and owners fiercely deny the allegations.
They claim the American
academy is a regular high school with a special program that helps
put problem teenagers back on the right track. "We are not a
policelike institution," said Glenn Roach, the school's American
manager who runs the institution with her husband Steve. "These are
just kids who have poor communication with their parents. Friends
were more important for them. We make them take a look at their
behavior and the choices they were making in their life."
While they deny the
employee's stories, the managers do not rebut the claims that their
students are held against their will and placed under a prisonlike
regime with intensive rehabilitation efforts and punishments for
misbehavior. The institution, which opened in the early spring of
1998, confines about 60 teenagers, both male and female, between the
ages of 14 and 18.
According to Mrs. Roach,
none of them was tried or has a criminal record, but their parents
decided to remove them from the corruptive influence of "bad
friends." Most of them are high-school dropouts now catching up on
school under Morava Academy's special regime. So far, only one
student finished the program.
The Czech business registry
shows that Morava Academy has an American majority owner, Ralph
Atkin from St. George, Utah, and a Czech minority owner, Martin
Pilka. During a telephone interview, Pilka denied any physical
punishment takes place at his school. He said he knew who was
spreading the rumors, and added that one former employee parted with
the school on bad terms.
Pilka said that the severest
punishment for the students involved seclusion and listening to
audiocassettes with "positive" speeches by 20 of the best speakers
in the world. The students are required to make notes and then write
essays on the speeches. No outsiders are allowed to speak with the
students. "It would be a violation of the privacy act," Pilka said.
A high fence topped with
barbed wire plus a guard with a mean-looking German shepherd
separate the American teenagers from the outside world. They go out
only during occasional group trips under the counselor's watchful
eye. The students earn privileges through good behavior. Misconduct
results in the loss of privileges and punishment.
They are also required to
sing positive songs and reflect on the positive tasks they
accomplished in the course of the day. The former employee told
journalists that many of the children were told by their parents
they were going on a trip to Europe. Once they arrived at Vienna's
airport, however, the kids were hustled into a minivan belonging to
Morava Academy and taken directly to the school. Their parents pay $
1,700 (51,000 Kc) per month for their stay.
According to Brno police
spokeswoman Dagmar Bartonikova, the institution has been under
criminal police investigation for some time. She refused to reveal
further details. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Jocelyn Green said an
embassy representative did not find any evidence of the allegations
during his visit to the school.
"The school is a private
institution, so unless there are compelling reasons to get involved,
we leave it alone," said Green. Morava Academy is just one link in
the chain of such detention schools run by a company from Utah.
Similar facilities are located in the Latin American countries of
Jamaica, Costa Rica and Mexico as well as the U.S. states of Montana
and Utah.
According to Lisa Irvin, a
telephone counselor on Morava Academy's toll-free hotline, their
program has many advantages because "Utah allows the parents to
place the kids against their will," unlike in other U.S. states.
Moreover, the company "can get a passport ready in several days,"
she said.
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