I Was a Victim of Straight, Inc.
By Scott Wagner
I was adopted; I left that home because of abuse
there, including several fistfights with my stepfather. I went
into an unofficial foster home.
When I was 17, in the summer 1983, my stepfather
asked me to accompany him to Washingon D.C. to purchase a van,
which he wanted so he could tailgate at Eagles games. I agreed,
hoping to patch things up. But my mother ended up coming along,
which hadn't been part of the plan originally. I began to get
suspicious. We got to D.C., where they pulled into a parking lot
of a warehouse-type building. I walked in; it immediately became
clear they had brought me there to have me committed.
These three kids were there to talk to me about
drugs, so I agreed to talk to them. We talked for a while, and
then I said: Okay, I've had enough--I'm going to leave. They told
me I couldn't leave. I told them to get out of the way. I pulled
a knife out of my boot and missed cutting one of them by about
six inches. They put me up to the wall with a chair. Some staff
members of the recovery house came in and told me if I didn't
sign to go with them, they would press charges.
So, I signed myself in. They told me I had to be
there only 14 days. I thought: okay, I can do two weeks of this.
This was Straight Inc. They had already gone through lawsuits,
and the one I went into on the East Coast was not as severe as
the house that had been shut down by the first lawsuits; however,
it was more severe than the houses that have opened since then.
It was Sept. 1983 when I went in. The first thing that happened
to me was a strip search, complete with squatting and spreading
to show I wasn't carrying any contraband. It was like jail.
Any newcomers to the program were not allowed to
have shoes, belts, etc. Newcomers were kept in charge by "oldcomers"--kids
that had been there a while. Ages ranged from 13 to early mid-20's.
The way Straight worked was that the parents signed
for large sums up front, all the money for the actual length of
time they wished to commit their children to Straight. That way,
they could get around insurance regulations that limited stays
in recovery houses to, say, 30 days. They'd charge them several
grand; insurance would cover it, and the kids could stay for years.
I stayed 2 1/2 years.
They took the 12 steps, and to get around copyright
infringements they condensed them down to seven. They had one
or two degreed professionals, but everyone else were former clients
of Straight, and they were either volunteers, or worked as counselors
for only minimum wage.
We had to be able to recite litanies of rules, and
if we couldn't, we were punished by methods ranging from ridicule
to actually being physical abused. Lots of people got sat on and
spit at; there were lots of restraints; oldcomers would stand
and block the doors so you couldn't get out. They'd lead you around
by your belt loop all the time; they'd literally slide their fingers
into your back belt loop, wrap it around, and lead your around
by the seat of your pants. While you were there you spent nights
locked down; there were bars on the windows or the windows were
screwed shut; there were alarms on all the doors. You couldn't
escape. I tried once and got tackled about 40 yards outside the
lawn. One guy who actually did escape ended up suing Straight
Inc.; there was a 60 Minutes episode about him. He was
scared even after he sued them because they used to chase down
people who did get away.
Abuse (punishments) included "food consequences"
where you wouldn't get very much to eat, or only a certain type
of gruel. Physical punishment was common. Kid were molested at
Straight-- I knew of a kid who was raped by his oldcomer, and
when the counselor found out what happened he came out and told
us all we were never to speak of it.
Straight Inc. in that area eventually got closed
down for not reporting that rape. They got sued by the family
of the kid as well. I got "felt up" by my oldcomer while
I was there in that house, and I just did the "lay there
and pretend it's not happening" routine. I just told that
story last night, and I still have post traumatic stress over
it. It needs to get out, though.
We were separated from the girls. I knew one girl
who, while they were restraining her, ended up with a concussion
from getting her head slammed up against the tile floor. I don't
have a good chronology for the stuff that happened, but I do recall
what happened.
One of the things that was key to their whole thing--the
reason so many parents got sucked in--was that they completely
alleviated the parents of any responsibility for the state their
children were in when they brought them in. The first thing they
told parents is: Your child chose to use drugs instead of come
to you for help. Of course, parents just love hearing that. If
you ever stood up and said you had been abused, as I did--I got
the beaten all the time by my old man, and this woman sexually
abused me throughout my junior high school years--I was ridiculed
for being a pervert. I had a friend, too, who was raped by his
father, and they forbade him from talking about his dad. He got
away from the program and eventually committed suicide by walking
off a building.
Of course, Nancy Reagan would show up once a season
for a photo opportunity, or Princess Di. When Princess Di or the
Reagans were there, anyone who could sit up straight with a big
smile on their faces and sing the little "Straight"
songs got to sit there in the room while the celebrities walked
around. But anyone who was having any difficulty was in the intake
room with five guys sitting on top of them.
There is still, from what I've been able to deduce,
a Straight Inc. in Georgia:
2221 Austell Road
Marrietta, GA 30060
Contact: Carol Walters.
This is from a clearinghouse of resources for Straight
Inc. victims.
Now, I'm in group therapy. I occasionally smoke
pot, but I'm not into heavy drugs. In therapy I've dealt with
the painful things in my life that drove me to use drugs. I had
abstained completely for five years, except for Coca-Cola and
cigarettes. For a long time after Straight I had nightmares, but
they stopped after I started smoking pot again.
