Diamond Ranch Academy

From Fornits Wiki

Diamond Ranch Academy is hell on earth marketed as a boarding school ^[1]

It was started in 1999^[2] and operated in Idaho before moving to Utah. The founders were Rob and Sherri Dias.

They are able to detain 40 teenagers aged either between 12 and 15 or 16 to 17 on each of the 4 dorms^[2]. The dorms are both age and gender separated ^[2].

They are member of the private organization of behavior modification programs called NATSAP ^[2].

Contents 1 Program Structure 1.1 Admission 1.2 Level structure 1.3 Living conditions 1.4 Communication 1.5 Consequences 2 Misc. 3 News 4 External Links 4.1 Info pages 4.2 Survivor Groups 4.3 Message boards 5 References 6 Watch organization status

[edit] Program Structure

[edit] Admission

The facility allows the use of escort firms. They can provide a list of firms if the parents do not want to discuss the banishment with their child and order a pickup instead. This pickup will occur in the late hours of the night, and your child will be beat and handcuffed and then dragged forcibly into a car not knowing what is going on. These "transporters" are big, brutal, and uncaring about your child or their safety; they're there to simply kidnap and move your child to the facility where they can be violated and stripsearched and then thrown into a scary new life.

[edit] Level structure

They use a level system with 5 regular levels.

The regular levels are named: Student, Supervisor, Manager, Director and Graduate.

Besides these, they also have a level called Homeless. It is used for teenagers, which arrive at the facility and have to be forced into acceptance of the fact that they are abandoned by their family and detained at the facility for a unknown time.

If one of the detained teenagers breaks one of the many rules of the facility such as destruction of ranch property, being more than 15 feet from staff, stealing food, talking to the other gender or swearing, they can end up on the level called unemployment. Being unemployed means being forced to drag or pull a cart around the property from 5am in the morning to 10pm in the evening. Lunch etc. have be dealt with outside.

[edit] Living conditions

The detained teenagers are living small dorms - more exactly small houses sized about 100sqft. Each house contains 1 staff and up to 8 teenagers. They are always gender separated. As for sanitation there are 2 bathrooms with 2 sinks. A photo on the homepage shows 4 beds in a single room. The names of the dorms are Lava Falls, Stone Ridge, Crystal Springs, Whisper Creek. For marketing purposes they each have a blog ^[3]

[edit] Communication

The detained teenager can speak with his or her parents every second week as a part of family therapy session over the phone. Parents can on weeks, when there is no family therapy speak with a staff member instead.

The detained teenagers can email and write letters to the parents.

After 10 weeks the parents are allowed to visit their child. When the child reaches the director level, he or she can go on a home visit. A second home visit can be done on graduate level.

[edit] Consequences

Beside being placed on the level called unemployment, the detained teenagers are also being forced to dig holes. They are also sometimes beat brutally. PCS restraints are used at the facility. They can be ordered to recite certain religious material. It is not clear whether the staff respect that a teenager can have a certain religious belief regarding that punishment ^[4]

[edit] Misc.

Rob Dias was used as consultant for a TV-serie, which today is recognized as masked marketing for the industry ^[5]

[edit] News

January a boy was found dead after he was placed in their sick bay. No cause of death has been found. Investigation by the family is pending ^[6][7]

A support group has been started on Facebook in order to secure the release of one of the detainees ^[8]

[edit] External Links

[edit] Info pages

• Info: Program Homepage

[edit] Survivor Groups

• Survivor group: DRA, Myspace
• Survivor group: Diamond Ranch Academy, facebook
• Survivor group: SHUT DOWN DIAMOND RANCH ACADEMY, facebook

[edit] Message boards

• Forum: Diamond Ranch Academy, Thread on Fornits webforum
• Forum: Diamond Ranch Academy, another thread on Fornits webforum
• Forum: I was sent to a program..., a thread on the Ultimate Guitar message board
• Forum: One of my friends died in a program, a thread on the Ultimate Guitar message board
• Forum: Instructional "Programs", Cains Lair
• Forum: I just found out i'm being sent to Diamond Ranch Academy., a thread on Go Teen Forums

[edit] References

1. ↑ The facility on Google maps
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Program Details, NATSAP National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs
3. ↑ Blog: Diamond Ranch Academy, Lava Falls Campus Blog
   Blog: Diamond Ranch Academy, Stone Ridge Campus Blog
   Blog: Diamond Ranch Academy, Crystal Springs Campus Blog
   Blog: Diamond Ranch Academy, Whisper Creek Campus Blog
4. ↑ SURVIVOR STATEMENT #1 - HEAL-online
5. ↑ Transcript from Joe's Guest Appearance on "Donny and Marie", Joe Lando web page, February 4 2000
   Higher Ground, Internet Movie DataBase
6. ↑ "James Shirey Jr, Legacy.com
7. ↑ James Richard "Jim" Shirey, memorial website
8. ↑ Bring Brendan Home, Facebook
   DRA detainee has a support group, a thread on Fornits webforum

[edit] Watch organization status

This facility is on the watchlist of Human Earth Animal Liberation