All about Escuela Caribe

This afternoon Brad Onishi, one of the hosts of my current favorite podcast, Straight White America Jesus, interviewed me. If you are interested in the racist and nationalistic origins of white evangelical politics, or wonder why 81% of evangelicals voted for 45, the History of the Religious Right is a must listen.

We spoke about my essay Fundamentalist, which was published in Empty the Pews, as well as my life in the Religious Right, with a focus on Escuela Caribe. I think SWAJ is doing such important work and am honored.

I imagine some people might have questions about Escuela Caribe. The following are previously published posts that are relevant to my experience with Escuela Caribe. Enjoy!

About Unreformed is a synopsis of my book.

I interviewed Julia Scheeres, author of Jesus Land, about her time in Escuela Caribe for Guernica. I wrote it up here. I loved the interview so much I wrote more about it here.

One of the things that drives me crazy is that as early as 1979 Congress was investigating Escuela Caribe, then called Caribe Vista. Read more here. Here is a different post about this report.

Part of my journey was discovering I was sent to a school founded by a sexual predator. Explains some of the rules! Sigh.

I also discovered the reason why New Horizons Youth Ministries was located in the Dominican Republic is because they were expelled from Haiti in 1974. Wow! Good enough to be recommended by Focus on the Family, but too corrupt for Duvalier.

Weird fact- on Good Fridays we all hauled a cross up the casita. Read more here.

It’s hard to keep all the for profit teen treatment industry ties to the government straight, but an important one to note is Senator Mitt Romney. Romney founded Bain Capital, the private equity firm that profits off abusive teen treatment centers. Romney’s Utah finance committee co-chair, Robert Lichfield, founded the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs, teen treatment centers run by Mormons. Teens allege that they were “locked in outdoor dog cages, exercised to exhaustion, deprived of food and sleep, exposed to extreme temperatures without adequate clothing or water, severely beaten, emotionally brutalized, and sexually abused and humiliated. Some were even made to eat their own vomit,” while in Lichfield’s care. Love one another, indeed.

In 2011, Escuela Caribe was closed only to reopen under new management. It’s now known as Caribbean Mountain Academy. I wrote up concerns, which are listed here. More concerns are detailed in this post.

These are updates about Caribbean Mountain Academy that I put together a few years back. Understand, I don’t know what goes on there, but I also don’t understand why you would need to have a school in a country with a less than stellar record of protecting human rights.

Mike Pence fund raises for CMA. He has connections to the teen treatment industry. I wrote about why I find this problematic here.

Mark Torrender interviewed me about religious reform schools for his series, Talk Beliefs.

Lastly, if you are an EC grad, I highly recommend connecting with others at Survivors of New Horizons Youth Ministries. I know the moderators and can attest that they create a welcoming space. I encourage you to join to process your experience. There are also WWASP groups for teen treatment survivors which are supportive places as well. Back in the day when I was processing everything, online private spaces were amazing for me. I encourage anyone with a desire to connect to start there. Know I wish you the best, sincerely.