Alexandra’s Testimony – Island View/Elevations RTC

I have so many things I need to say about Island View. The staff practiced a form of psychological warfare that was cruel and destructive to every child that came in those doors while I attended. My first day I was given a pap smear with out my consent by a nurse named Frankie. I had been sent to Island View by SUWS of Idaho and my parents had specifically been told the programs were unrelated but they were both owned by ASPEN at the time.

Some of the more disturbing things I witnessed during my stay will haunt me for the rest of my life. In the middle of the night one night I witnessed the staff (specifically a mileu named Ryan and another staff member I cannot remember the name of) drag a boy outside nakes in the snow and he was hosed down for crying that he wanted his parents. Ryan is still employed by Elevations. I had told staff I had been molested by a family member who was helping pay for my stay and instead of processing that information or helping me heal they responded by blocking my communication with my family for 6 months. While others had free time I had to clean the facility to earn soap and detergent because my family couldn’t send it.

They told my parents I didn’t want to talk to them and they told me my parents felt the same way to separate us. Both of those statements were lies just to keep us apart. After telling them about my trauma they put me in solitary confinement for months. My mental health was at it’s lowest point during that time. I had started hearing voices and seeing things by the time they took me out of solitary confinement. During my two year stay I spent 9 months in solitary confinement. I spent over a year under communication restrictions of some sort. This was particularly cruel because they knew one of my biggest issues growing up was loneliness. They used my deepest psychological fear as a constant punishment.

Judy Jaques who is still an employee of Elevations was well known for her cruel punishments and psychological games. She facilitated this environment that felt like there was noone you could trust. She was constantly telling kids to shut up and punishing them for being kids. She was part of the team that determined cruel and unusual punishments for the children. She should not be allowed with in 100 ft of a child and yet she ruins their lives every day and gets paid for it still. Any staff that showed kindness to the children were fired, including my first therapist there who has now signed several petitions to get these facilities shut down. They created such a deep rooted fear of people in me that I only leave the house to go to work. I do not trust anyone. I also have a life long fear of medical professionals because of this facility.

When I first got there the illegal pap smear I got determined I had precancerous cells in my cervix and the obgyn they took me to after the illegal pap smear told them I had to come back in 6 months to make sure I didn’t have cancer. I didn’t get to go again until I left the program at 18, which was over two years later. They medically neglected me in every way. I am very lucky I didn’t have cancer when I finally got to go have it looked at. I begged to see a gyno every day for a year and a half. I begged to see a lawyer every single day of my stay because the handbook said we were entitled to see a lawyer at any time. Never once did they let me see a lawyer. I was even threatened by Kimball Delamar that he was personally going to take my family to court so he could get adult protective custody of me knowing I was getting close to 18.

This program is unfit for hardened criminals and would be considered cruel and unusual punishment for adults. How is this acceptable for children? Since leaving this program that only held 200 kids at a time over 50 of my fellow residents have died. I am only 32. That is a survival rate of 75% by the age of 30. How can we view this as a viable option to help troubled children? Almost every death that has occurred since then was either suicide or a drug overdose. That is no coincidence.

I have been diagnosed with CPTSD and have struggled with substance abuse and night terrors for the past decade from my time in those walls and I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones. I am writing this for all of my fellow residents who are no longer with me. I viewed them as family, younger siblings because I was one of the oldest residents when I attended. Trauma will bring people together in a way nothing else can. Every person who has died meant the world to me because I felt extremely protective over them. I honestly think keeping their memories alive and seeking justice for them is one of the few things that has kept me from attempting suicide when the flashbacks and night terrors become too much. That facility taught me that abuse is perfectly acceptable and since leaving I have spent over 10 years trying to figure out how to stop recreating the patterns of abuse that I learned there.