UNTRANQUIL TRANQUILITY SCHOOL

Reader describes visit to Tranquility Bay,
a school in Jamaica for rebellious teens

(and then afterwards creates a Forum* to discuss issues raised):

To Orwell Today,

Early this year (2003) I vacationed in Jamaica. I had heard the stories and had spoken to some press that were investigating the issues. My curiosity was somewhat peaked, and since I was staying in Jamaica for about a week, I decided to hire a driver and see, for myself, what this facility looks like. My experience and the pictures I personally took of the facility are available for the asking. For those interested in an abridged version - - here it goes:

First and foremost, you must understand that this place is in the middle of nowhere. It's a shock to travel Jamaica's countryside to begin with, because driving in general is so dangerous, away from the resorts (I happened to be staying in Ocho Rios) and the poverty is omnipresent. The city (Treasure Beach) is as remote as it gets, and when you arrive and ask where Tranquility Bay is (or to it's local folk the "Olde Warf Hotel"), you are outrightly lied to -- they say they don't know exactly where it is. Once you arrive in town, past the Motorcycle merchant, look for an old Jamaican (looks to be 300 or so) sitting on a rock, for it is at that dirt road you have to turn and follow a path about a half-mile long to the rather un-glorious "Tranquility Bay".

My first awareness that I was in the right place, was that I saw 10 or 20 boys riding on the rim of an old Pick-up Truck in front of us. They all looked unkempt and the ride looked dangerous. They were allowed inside the gates (the children and the dilapidated truck) and I had the driver stop so I could take in this nightmare, that I had only previously read about or had seen by way of very unclear pictures on the internet.

It's bad -- the first thing that catches your eye is that all of the windows (99%) have been "boarded-up". It hales from something out of a Hitchcock movie. The place has an odor and it is not pleasant at all. The beach could never be utilized because it looks as though the sewage is emptied on it regularly. If that's not the case, then a blanket statement that the beach is in horrible and unusable condition for whatever reason is a completely fair assessment of the situation.

The place has guards; it's ominously quiet (it was while I was there). Even if you did manage to escape, I don't know where any of its "guests" would run to. The trip just to the main road (if you could call it that) would wind even the most fit athlete, and the townspeople are rumored to get rewards for turning run-a-ways in. Remember that many Jamaicans work for the facility and even if the reward does not exist, they have a stake in making sure the "guests" stay imprisoned.

Obviously, I could not go inside, but I snapped many pictures and they clearly illustrate, that the place is a broken-down second-rate motel from the past, and should have been leveled many years ago, and that any beauty that the structure or the beach on which it sits may have once possessed is gone. It's a frightening site (and this is just from the outside). Notably, there is garbage in large cages outside the structure and I did have the feeling that something or someone, other than it's intended contents, may be placed in there from time-to-time.

Interestingly, I was not approached, although I was taking pictures like crazy (and my presence was somewhat obvious).

Another important fact, for people to keep in mind, is that this "hell-hole" is hours from both Kingston and Montego Bay Airports -- it's a drive you will never forget and it runs upwards of $300 round-trip.

Truly, all of this is moot, because the Headmaster (and I use this reference loosely) has no credentials at all which justify his position of management over this facility. The parents are bad parents -- plain and simple -- for taking part in this plan. An inquiry about this program by any parent, by itself, should result in a parent being jailed with no due process for the rest of their life.

Eventually, the United States Government will have to deal with this mess -- hopefully by invading Utah again -- it is time for that (government intervention) -- they have short memories from the last time (The Invasion of Utah.) Utah's inhabitance (and others) need desperately to come to terms with the fact that troubled children are a part of normal life and that having them kidnapped by paid morons (mostly because the parents are too cowardly to do this themselves) and then surreptitiously smuggling their child/children off to a foreign country to be tortured indefinitely is contrary to the mores and values of a civilized society.

Do not send your kids to this place! It's awful to look at, the manager is unqualified and all your doing is stuffing the bulging coffers of the nuts and religious fanatics that run these torture chambers.

Richard R. Titsch, III,
New Jersey


ANTI-WWASP: A Revolution For A Voice That Can't Be Heard [link no longer connects: http://www.antiwwasp.com/]

Reader sends link to website that is an educational source & news about WWASP schools

Reader sends info on: BILL TO END TEEN ABUSE (& petition to HR-1738)

Plea for inquiry on WWASP school network. New York Times, Nov 5, 2003
PLEA FOR INQUIRY ON SCHOOL NETWORK Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate a network of 11 behavior-modification schools for troubled teen-agers, citing accusations of child abuse, human rights violations, deceptive advertising and fraud. The network, the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs of St. George, Utah, oversees programs for more than 2,200 young people in the United States, Mexico and Jamaica. It has attributed suggestions of misconduct to disgruntled customers and staff members. Tim Weiner (NYT)

*[http://www.bulletinboards.com/view.cfm?comcode=Titsch] THE TRANQUILITY BAY MESSAGE BOARD
Hello everyone - My name is Richard Titsch III and I'm from Central New Jersey. The sole purpose of this Bulletin Board is to perpetuate written exchange, worldwide, for people who have an interest in Tranquility Bay. Tranquility Bay is an entity located in Treasure Beach Jamaica (South St. Elizabeth Parish); which, in exchange for money, boards children, mostly from the United States and uses a methodology in changing their behavior that is repugnant to me. In the first few posts, you will see a thread of messages, which started at another web based Bulletin Board, and that should give you a good idea of my position and that of the parents and others who contributed to that thread...

THE LAST RESORT (Jamaica's Tranquility Bay school for rebellious teens makes them into docile robots by physically & psychologically torturing them). Guardian, Jul 3, 2003

TEEN TORTURE SCHOOLS

SCHOOLS LIKE PRISONS

21.Crimestop & 27.Goodthink

PAVLOVIAN TEACHING IN BNW

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
HOME PAGE
website: www.orwelltoday.com