2 foreign units of troubled U.S. academy are shuttered

New York Times

The overseas programs of one of America's largest behavior modification associations for teenagers were shuttered Sunday after authorities closed one program in Mexico holding more than 500 youths and Hurricane Ivan caused a second to shut down in Jamaica, with 300 youths.

The Casa by the Sea program in Ensenada, Mexico, and Tranquility Bay in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, were two of the largest and most profitable programs of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, or WWASPS, of St. George, Utah.

Mexican immigration officials said teenagers at Casa by the Sea showed signs of mistreatment in an inspection on Friday. Teenagers at Tranquility Bay, on Jamaica's southern coast, were sent to a hotel nearby after the guests had been evacuated as the hurricane approached.

In interviews with The New York Times last year, scores of teenagers and many of their parents said that the techniques WWASPS used in Mexico and Jamaica included physical abuse, long solitary confinement and little professional treatment.

Program officials, who could not be reached for comment over the weekend, said last year that the programs were tough but not abusive.

Casa by the Sea and Tranquility Bay were the overseas flagships of WWASPS. A program in Costa Rica closed last year after a government inspection led to a revolt by teenagers against the administration.

Casa by the Sea, which is housed in a hotel 60 miles south of San Diego, had nearly 600 youths enrolled last year.

Some children were picked up by their parents in Ensenada and Tijuana, Mexico, and others were being taken to a hotel in San Diego, parents said.

Tranquility Bay, housed in an old hotel by the sea, was struck by Hurricane Ivan hours after the raid in Mexico. Parents said they were told that the 300 children there would be moved to another hotel nearby.