Tuesday January 3, 2012

I have a lot of repressed memories from that awful place also. I tried to forget the 6 months I spent there and did so successfully until a friend asked me my opinion of it because he knows someone that was committed there recently.
I gave him my full report, as much as I could remember it at the time of the phone call, but while reading these stories a flood of all the horrible things I witnessed came back to me in a flash.
Being a kid there that never did anything terribly wrong (drugs, sex, alcohol, abuse, arson, etc. etc. etc.) I did not fit in very well. I had friends and felt accepted, but I didn’t feel comfortable there. It has been 10 years since and to this day I cannot tell you why my parents thought it was right for me. They were probably confused and made a very emotional decision to send me there. They definitely bought into the lies and promises and when my parent found out they had been cheated by Chris Buttars they pulled me right away even though I was already less than a few weeks from leaving the way the system was setup.

The 2 things my parents did not like were my absence from the LDS church and constant absenteeism from school. I was a teenager and very immature. When I left, I felt more street smart and mature than ever, but at the cost of my innocence and self-worth.

When I was released from the UBR I felt dejected. I missed part of my senior year of high school. I wasn’t able to get the classes I wanted and did not enjoy the time I was spending in school so I dropped out 3 weeks before graduation. I don’t feel I did this to spite my parents for sending me to the UBR. I did it because I felt as if part of my life was taken from me and replaced with very strange memories (some good, but most bad). After I was allowed to analyse my life on my own terms I finished school, graduated from college and now I have my own business and a great start to my own career.

It is my opinion that the UBR, now West Ridge Academy, is not a place where all kids can learn. Most kids there feel abused physically, mentally, emotionally, etc., but they feel this rightfully so as their perspective does not have time to expand before they develop a very strong defense and hate for the entire place and most of the staff. The environment is harsh and unforgiving, which is what some kids need, but certainly not all kids should be put through this awful system.
I was lucky enough to be there when I was 17 and was mature enough to adapt to the conditions. The staff and I had mutual respect for each other because I was able to see past my current conditions and look toward the future. Most kids there will never develop this sight and be forever stuck in a vicious circle of anger and mistrust.

I have stories of Chris Buttars, work crew, death, abuse – some was rightfully deserved in my opinion, very harsh living conditions, and so much more I can’t even begin to explain.

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials, LDS Abuse, Mormon Gulag, utah boys ranch, west ridge academy

Thursday June 16, 2011

Haha FTR (an inside joke we all know) I got sent by an abusive step-dad on December 20, 2005 or as i like to call my 16th birthday. When i went up to A home for my first night at the ranch, the cool night staff cant remember his name he was bald, went and bought me a cup cake and named me triple whammy (Birthday, Christmas, New Years) and that was the nicest thing that has ever happened at the Boys Ranch. Talk about an alternate reality. Send you kid there and destine him to failure. To this day i have a fear of adult males like my friends dads or even my own new step-dad who is a great guy super nice but i have that fear because of all the terrible inhumane abusive staff, Mostly the Weekend and school staff. I will give credit to the cool home parents that tried to make a difference, J home parents (2005-2006) and JJ and Annie the little kid home parents. I was on A team so i didn’t have to deal with the bull shit and live in the kid home. If you want someone with quite a story about the Ranch get in touch with me. I have so many scaring memories and wounds that still haven’t healed 5 years later. If your thinking about sending your kid here, think harder and make sure its not you with the problem.

Let me know of any protests you might be having, id love to show what the ranch did for me and my family!

My email is brenton.corbett@hotmail.com

Im so glad you have created this site and raised awareness of the atrocities that go on in that place. I am a mormon but i don’t like or support (i dont pay tithing) the fact that they condone this sort of place.

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials, LDS Abuse, Mormon Gulag, student testimonials, west ridge academy, west ridge academy students

Monday October 4, 2010

Hello. My name is Tony. You more than likely didn’t know me. I was at the Utah Boys Ranch for five days I believe. I don’t remember exactly, more than enough time to taste the floor, have my arms twisted, be leashed, and threatened by who I know recognize as Chris Buttars.

I was woken up early one morning in my bedroom in Kearns, UT, May of 2002. I’m sure you are all familiar. I chose “the easy way,” but ptsd is hardly treatable by being beaten and humiliated into submission. Even the first day, “Captain America” tried to tell my clinician (I don’t remember his name, I hadn’t met him at that point, and only ever saw him twice, I was only there five days, and it was over a weekend, he was a heavy-set Polynesian) I was being *very* compliant, but still, my shoes were taken, I was put in a blanket and leashed “AWOL risk” (and I did live up to that after the fact, even while leashed, blanketed, and shoeless through that field of cut down weeds for four hours!)

Anyways, I really had set out to “work the program” there, and be compliant, but they pushed me. Maybe because I’m tall. Maybe because I have an intimidating build or I don’t often smile or sit solemnly and quiet and DON’T mouth off. Maybe because I didn’t go there and fight like I watched the other kids come in and do while I was there. They pushed me. Stood on me. Bent my shoulders and joints until they burned and I didn’t fight because I just wanted to serve my time and get the f**k out of there and move on with life.

I ran away three days in while we were moving rocks between the greenhouse. They didn’t want to walk with me while I was leashed, and the staff was chit chatting, so I walked around the corner and bolted. I’d rather not talk about what happened in Chris’s office when I was found and brought back. The next day I met Chris, and was told nobody would believe me and to shut up, because when they found me in someone’s back yard trying to jump their brick wall, I was screaming to the owners what went on in work crew, about the trauma, and the pain inflicted. Chris told me nobody would believe a punk criminal teen, and he was a “pillar of the community” my word against his, and to shut my mouth.

The next day after lunch we had bathroom break after lunch for work crew, I went in the stall, tied my rope around the stall trying to take it so the stall door would jam, I had retied the knot on the leash into a noose under the table at lunch, I slipped it over my neck, knotted it twice more so it would be harder to untie because I knew they’d be in soon, and I dropped my weight against the rope as hard as I could hoping, praying I could choke and get out that way.

It didn’t work. They kicked in the stall door, tried to break my thumbs to get me to release my grip on the knot so they could loosen the rope from choking me.

The next day, I talked to both Chris and the clinician, they both told me “suicide gesture stunts” wouldn’t get me released early and Chris said he’d get me court ordered to stay until I was 21. I told them both I’d go out in a body bag, I didn’t care. It was only a matter of time. Chris repeated I would be there until I was twenty-one, and I went back to work crew.

Fifteen minutes later, they radioed to get me some pants, took me to a truck, and drove me to UNI where I stayed for a month before I was placed in a DECENT, CARING, and HUMANE treatment center for a year where I graduated at the top of my class at a public high school in Spanish Fork.

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials

Friday April 23, 2010

Hey all, My name is Sean and I had two cousins that were “inmates” for lack of a
better term at UBR.  They were going on a “survival” weekend camping trip, and
my cousin invited me to go along.  Luckily at the time I was a good Mormon boy,
and my parents didn’t sign any sort of custody paperwork for them…thank God.

They drove us out into this desert wasteland that connected to some nearby
mountains.  They pointed at a point on the mountain and said, “That is where you
are headed.  If we don’t see you by midnight, we’ll come looking for you.  It’s
about 6 miles, you’re going to want to hurry”.  They gave us all a little packet
with granola bars and made sure we all had water bottles, and they drove off up
the road.  I happened to be a pretty experienced scout and tried to figure out
which way we needed to head.  I got a general heading, and my cousins and I took
off.  Once the sun went down, we were screwed.  I had no way to navigate, and we
were walking through brush, into shrubs, and then up into the mountain.  Sunset
hit and we tried to hurry, but we completely lost our way.  We ran into a few
other groups of boys, and we all banded together as no one knew where to go.  I
did the logical thing and looked for a road, and once we came to it, we split
into two
groups, one headed up, one headed down.  It was around 11pm when we split, and
we decided that whomever found staff first would send them to meet the other
group.  After walking what felt like several miles downhill, we came across the
camp, and my cousins were yelled at for being there after midnight, and I was
commended for my navigation skills.  I thought it was kind of absurd, but what
did I know?  I was 14-15 years old.  We sent staff up the road after the other
group, and they headed off in an SUV convoy.  They were still screaming at the
other group when they arrived a short time later.

I really found the whole thing to be absurd, but the thing that ultimately made
me lose all respect for the men happened my 2nd day there.  There was a kid who
just really seemed to be at the top of the staff’s shit list.  They constantly
were yelling at him, pushing him around etc.  They treated him like dirt…and I
think dirt still had it better.  There was a swing going out over the river, and
we were allowed to play on it.  Someone swung out and the stick that was holding
the swing up broke.  The swing, and the kid went into the water.  The poor soul
who had been tortured by the staff relentlessly saw his opportunity to find
grace, and went into the river, fully clothed after the swing.  What he didn’t
realize was that there had been a cable stretched across the river as UBR was
going to be building a suspension bridge across the river.  The kid grabbed the
swing and turned downstream, only to get caught by the throat on the cable, with
the water
forcing him against it.  Everyone stood there, staff made no move to save him.
I took off running and jumped into the water, my wrist in a cast and all, and
swam toward him.  At the last second I dove underwater, and hooked my cast over
the cable.  I came up and put both feet against his chest, and forced him
upstream so that he could get off the cable.  Staff was then at the riverside as
the son of a bishop, a church employee, was saving one of their “inmates”.  They
grabbed him and pulled him from the river, I swam to safety and climbed out.
The poor kid was then berated up and down for his stupidity, and they stripped
him of his clothing, leaving him in just his briefs.  They made him sit on a log
in the middle of camp for all to see for hours as he sat there shivering from
the mountain air and the ice cold water.  I was treated as a hero, and he was
treated horribly.  Constantly being yelled at.  If he moved he was screamed at.
Well into the
evening and the dark he was left sitting there, shivering before he was finally
given a blanket and told to go get dressed. I was in absolute shock.  I did the
same thing he did, but the standard was definitely double.  At that point I
decided that I was going to keep my head down and just push along.  Over the
next few days we were taken up and down mountainsides, led to mountain tops
covered in ice and snow, while many kids were in shorts and t-shirts.  It was
insanity.

I thanked God for bringing me home safe after the trip with them.  I knew I
couldn’t thank staff, or anyone else for that matter.  My own wit and
observation, with the grace of God were the only things that brought me home as
far as I’m concerned.  I told my aunt about what was happening to her son’s, and
she refused to get them out. It was absurd, and when she confronted staff they
told her that I was manipulating for my cousins, and that maybe I should be in
UBR for my deception.  My aunt tried talking into sending me, and they refused.
I think I would have killed someone had I had to endure day in and day out the
things I saw over those few days.  Even with me treated as well as I was, I saw
how dangerous of a game they were playing.

I hope parents of current “inmates” come across this and realize how badly they
may end up screwing up their kids by putting them in this program.

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials

Tuesday January 26, 2009

I worked for Huey for 3 years.  He did all he could to distance himself from WRA.  Huey was fleeing Utah to hide his Mormon tendencies.  He is a sick human being.  He was caught stealing from federal funds- he is a wizard at hiding this.  He knows he is guilty and one day he will stand in judgment for what he did.

 

**Ken Huey was the “clinical director” at the controversial “Mormon Gulag,” known currently as West Ridge Academy, in 2005 and 2006 before leaving to run another West Ridge Academy sponsored program, CALO.**

Filed under: Former Staff Member Testimonials

Sunday August 2, 2009

I was a boy at the Utah Boys Ranch for 1 year and 6 months. I could not even begin to describe the feeling of sadness I feel writing this. Even to this day which is over 10 years from when I started there I feel anxiety and a little afraid to write this. The amount of lies, deception and abuse perpetrated by the UBR is shocking. I know that what I write here can never do justice to the many days, weeks and months of mental and physical abuse i endured. Not to mention the abuse I witnessed. When i was first admitted/enrolled/sentenced to the UBR i was stripped of all my clothes except for my socks, shoes (they took the laces) and underwear. I was given a green shirt and blanket to use as pants. I was placed in military type attention. Within minutes I had Paul Keene less than an inch from my face yelling and spitting in my face. Telling me that my momma didn’t want me anymore and now i belonged to the UBR. I endured well over 2 months of “work crew” during which time I was “restrained” for not looking straight forward. I would lose the circulation in my legs from sitting indian style for hours. I would lose feeling in my feet and legs from standing in the same pose for hours. Every day breakfast, lunch and dinner we would clean the industrial size kitchen. We would run laps, do grass drills, move rocks from one pile to another. We could not speak, we would have to ask permission to use the bathroom and then they would time how long we were in the bathroom. If we looked in a direction other then straight, if we did not raise our hand at a perfect 45 degree angle to ask for permission to do things like cough, sneeze and pee. We had to eat standing up. For about two weeks of this they would give me only 6 hours to sleep. I would go to bed at 12 and they would wake me up at 6. We were punished for anything and everything. We were treated worse then animals. We were treated worse then slaves. We were stripped of our identities, stripped of any freedoms. There was a full time “work crew” staff at the time a guy named Alan. One time after everyone else had eaten he told us we were going to have to drink milk and do grass drills until someone threw up. He made us drink a glass of milk and run grass drills. He kept repeating this until one of the kids on work crew threw up. I was thrown into walls on many occasions. I was “restrained” on many occasions one time a staff member named Daryl tackled me to the ground and told me to “eat my knee” as he shoved my knee into my face. They made us do exercises that are even banned by the military. I saw kids have their shirts ripped from their bodies on multiple occasions. Abuse was never the exception it was the rule. Even though you could see the disgust in some of the staffs faces they still would do nothing. I saw a kid once have his chest jiggled by a staff and told “your don’t have a chest you have a fat titty”.

I don’t even want to go into anymore depth in this subject its painful to even address. But what I will say is this. Because of the BLIND support of the Mormon church to the UBR I spend every opportunity I get to tell people what the church paid for me to endure. I simply ask people this “Would Gods church pay to have Gods children abused?”. I cant believe they still support this. SHOCKING! REALLY SHOCKING.

To any of the boys that are currently there I have a message: The people that are perpetrating these atrocities on you are petty and small human beings that prey on the weak and susceptible youth that are entrusted to their care. You are already better then them, no matter what you have done. Most of them are there because they enjoy the feeling of power and control. As you suffer all these things there just know that you will someday be free of that place and they will still be the same pathetic people. Take comfort in knowing kids just like you have gone through this too you are not alone in your pain. At night when you feel like the only thing you can do is cry, I cried probably in that same bed and if not me than others. Your not alone, you have never been alone, you will survive it and it will end.

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials

Thursday July 30, 2009

My name’s Jake and I was kidnapped and sent to the ranch back in Jan 2001. I was 15 at the time and had a problem with authority. I skipped school, smoked weed, and pretty much ignored my mom. Well anyways, when i first got there i was shocked. I couldn’t believe that my own mom would actually send me away. She had just divorced my dad and was raising 3 teenage boys on her own with a full time job we ran wild. I still felt betrayed and if she would just send me off like that without me knowing it, what else would she do to betray me? So, i had seen the way that some kids tried to deal with the situaution and i decided that the only thing that would get me outta this stupid ass joke was to play the good boy for six months and they bought it. I almost did! That place condones the most realistic portrayal of a Fascist Government! I mean those fuckin wackjobs who call themselves mormons after that fuckin cult are devious as hell. From using the boys for the preparation and management of some BS “charity” event to shaving thier heads and dressiing them and controling and brainwashing them. Some people are making a fast buck over other’s expense i.e. Chris Buttars. The Deepest, darkest corner’s of hell are reserved for false prophets and scam artists and especially those who profit from the hardships of the weak!!! FUBR

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials

Sunday July 5, 2009

I had the horror of 3 visits to WRA including 1 ‘Program’ and 2 ‘Tune Ups’.  I was tired of their bullsh**.  I got restrained for not wanting to mop a floor (Courtesy of Dave Kluff).  I had to walk around in my underwear numerous nights (Courtesy of John Bell).  I got a moldy mop to the face (Courtesy of Chad – Idk his last name).  I got restrained at home for running upstairs while being ‘Picked Up’ (aka: Kidnapped)(Courtesy of Tom Stanley).

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials

Friday July 3, 2009

I went to the UBR from April 2004, to November 2005 so about 19 Months. Thats nothing compared to the people like Josh who had been going there for 5 or 6 years at the time!!! Ridiculous. I was forced to graduate from high school there. I did graduate early with a 3.7 GPA, but honestly what does that mean from that pathetic school system? I mean cleaning the Library for credit?? Really? When I tell people that I graduated with a 3.7 GPA and early I get made fun of for the joke of a school I went to. I do agree that they were abusive as well, its funny to think that they can change the way a person is by using discipline…..and loss of contact with families. At this point after almost 5 years from leaving there I still resent my mother a little bit for placing me there. I was not addicted to drugs, I did “OK” in school, I was just a typical rebellious teenager who did not want to be Mormon. So instead of supporting my freedom of choice, my mom wanted to force me to be Mormon……I didn’t know it was possible to force belief’s in this country? So now she is in debt for that school, blames me for that and I still resent her for taking away most of my high school life and even worse the chance to walk with my graduating class.
I had Mike Ruoho as a clinician, I did like him I admit he was a cool guy sort of, but I still don’t and didn’t agree with the methods of therapy he had. The fact is I was a Teenager who wanted to have fun, and have a choice in my personal beliefs, and they thought that they could take that away and change me?? Guess they didn’t know me that well, so I sat back and played into it and got out……Still same old me, having fun, good kid, and I learned NOTHING from the UBR. As far as I am concerned they FAIL as an organization. I admit some staff was cool and fun, (not naming names) but still there were enough failures as staff for kids to go around. So anyway, I would love to get involved in what you do, I can help moderate online or whatever you need. I agree that they need to learn that different people require personalized attention for whatever their issues are; I also want to get across to parents that they can’t just bail on their responsibilities as parents because they are tired of rebellious teenagers. When kids are in trouble that’s when they need their families the most!!!!! Not to send them away….truly sad.

Filed under: Student/Victim Testimonials

Wednesday June 17, 2009

I am a professional, psychologist. I have a daughter that I sent to West Ridge. I did all my home work, went out for a visit, attended one of their parent weekends, called several other professionals including the department of mental health who currently has children at West Ridge, did every thing I could to protect my daughter.

I am not a Mormon but religion is important to us, my daughter went to private Christian schools K-8th grade, that was one of the things that I liked about West Ridge. They assured me that my daughter was free to practice any religion she choose. Let me clarify, my daughter had/has issues. She was sent there because she wouldn’t go to school and was physically abusive to me, no one else. I felt that if she didn’t get help she would end up in jail. I wanted to get her help before it was to late.

My daughter arrived at West Ridge on a Friday. I wasn’t able to talk to her for about 2 weeks, when I did talk to her it was monitored. She had quickly progressed from a yellow shirt to a green shirt, she was “working her program”. She sounded sad on the phone, exhausted. My once very talkative hyperactive child turned into a child I didn’t recognize.

About two weeks into the “program” I received a phone call telling me my daughter and her room mate were caught doing inappropriate things, what ever that meant. I asked all the right questions. I wanted to know if they had reported it to the police, children’s services and licensing. I was told all they were required to do was report it to children’s services, which is incorrect. My daughter 13 and the other girl 17, this is a crime that had to be reported to the police. West Ridge refused. They told me my daughter was as much to blame as the other girl and that she would be placed on “punishment”. I was promised that my daughter would have no contact with with this other girl. Come to find out my daughter was made to sleep in the same room with the perpetrator. According to them under 24 hour supervision. Any one knows you don’t put the victim with the perp.

I was told what happened was “consensual”. My daughter has never had sexual desires for another female and the law states that since she is under the age of 14 she isn’t able to consent to any thing. I called the West Jorden Police department, they told me this was not uncommon for West Ridge. A detective was assigned to my daughters case. I called West Ridge and demanded to talk to my daughter in private. After many attempts I was allowed to talk to her, she broke down, cried like I never heard her cry. I knew right then and there that she needed to get out of there and fast.

I sent my daughter to get her, they took her to the police station for an interview. We are now heading to trial. I have no real information on the other girl, just a name. I was told by West Ridge that this girl had never done this before. But after reading some of the blogs I now realize this other girl has done this before and will do it again if West Ridge isn’t held accountable.

The journals you talk about were full of inappropriate things about my daughter. As far as them keeping the other girl away from my daughter, that was a joke. We found letters in my daughters back pack dated the day she left WR. All of this information was left with the detective.

I have intentionally left out details, if your smart you can fill in the blanks. My daughter is traumatized, she is unable to be alone, I have to sleep with her each night, she is afraid to go down the hall to the bathroom in the dark, she had to finish school at home because she was to scared to be around other people. I am a professional and was fooled by them and their marketing, how many other people are out there that don’t know what to look for and know what questions to ask? I will have to live with this guilt for the rest of my life, for that I am ashamed. My daughter will have to live with this for the rest of her life, she is 13, I can only hope she still has a life.

For all you parents, trust your gut, listen to what your child is saying, they may not always tell us the truth but if we listen we will hear.

Filed under: Parent Testimonials, parents, utah boys ranch, west ridge academy