Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Former students share harrowing stories of life inside Alabama's worst religious private school [View all]
Last edited Thu Jun 30, 2016, 02:12 PM - Edit history (2)
Former students share harrowing stories of life inside Alabama's worst religious private school
By Anna Claire Vollers
avollers@al.com
http://twitter.com/acvollers
on June 30, 2016 at 8:11 AM, updated June 30, 2016 at 10:16 AM
....
Restoration Youth Academy was a Christian bootcamp-style residential school for troubled youth, squatting in one of the grittiest neighborhoods in Prichard, the worn-down working-class city on Mobile's north side. Owner and Pastor John David Young and instructor William Knott tightly controlled how the "cadets" – boys and girls ages 10-17 – ate, slept, learned and exercised.
Despite multiple investigations by the Mobile County district attorney's office and the Alabama Department of Human Resources, and despite complaints of abuse from some students – vehemently denied by Knott and Young – it took officials five years to close down the school.
....
Young shuttered the Prichard school in 2012, after being ordered to pay $27,000 in back rent to the city. ... Within weeks he reopened in Mobile, renaming the school Saving Youth Foundation and Solid Rock Ministries.
Police raided that school in March 2015, and the Alabama Department of Human Resources removed 36 children following allegations of child abuse and deplorable living conditions. ... Five months later, Knott and Young, along with school counselor Aleshia Moffett, were arrested on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse. They'll be tried together beginning Oct. 17, 2016.
By Anna Claire Vollers
avollers@al.com
http://twitter.com/acvollers
on June 30, 2016 at 8:11 AM, updated June 30, 2016 at 10:16 AM
....
Restoration Youth Academy was a Christian bootcamp-style residential school for troubled youth, squatting in one of the grittiest neighborhoods in Prichard, the worn-down working-class city on Mobile's north side. Owner and Pastor John David Young and instructor William Knott tightly controlled how the "cadets" – boys and girls ages 10-17 – ate, slept, learned and exercised.
Despite multiple investigations by the Mobile County district attorney's office and the Alabama Department of Human Resources, and despite complaints of abuse from some students – vehemently denied by Knott and Young – it took officials five years to close down the school.
....
Young shuttered the Prichard school in 2012, after being ordered to pay $27,000 in back rent to the city. ... Within weeks he reopened in Mobile, renaming the school Saving Youth Foundation and Solid Rock Ministries.
Police raided that school in March 2015, and the Alabama Department of Human Resources removed 36 children following allegations of child abuse and deplorable living conditions. ... Five months later, Knott and Young, along with school counselor Aleshia Moffett, were arrested on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse. They'll be tried together beginning Oct. 17, 2016.
ETA: I fixed the link. Thanks to all for pointing that out.
19 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read