The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping takes a deep dive into the terrible case of the Academy at Ivy Ridge, a facility for wayward teens that became a horror story with allegations of mental and physical abuse for the students forcibly enrolled there. Directed by Katherine Kubler who spent fifteen months in the school as a sixteen-year-old, the series brings testimony from former students and reveals their experiences at the facility before it was eventually shut down.
What Happened at the Academy at Ivy Ridge?
The facility was designed to be a boarding school for troubled teens, offering respite for parents who could not control their children, and providing education and behavior modification for those who attended. For parents who were at the end of their tether and not able to cope, it would seem to be an avenue to try to bring balance to their children who were out of control.
However, the methods used would be extreme, and many that attended would reveal a catalogue of terrible incidents ranging from mental and physical torture, and even sexual abuse. One of the subjects, Katherine Kubler, is also behind the docuseries, and would reveal some of the treatment she experienced while there. Allegations of being treated like prisoners were rife, and there were even accusations of unauthorized medical practices being carried out.
Students would be prohibited from talking to each other or having contact with the outside world apart from in letters that would be screened, and an article in the US Sun reports that “some students recall being forced to lie to school officials, who would abuse them until they “confessed” to alcohol or drug abuse, or other illicit behavior.”
In May 2005, a riot at the school would erupt, and students would try to escape and rally against the staff. It would be the start of a downward spiral for the facility, which would eventually be prohibited from advertising as an accredited school, be banned from issuing high school diplomas, and be fined by the New York State Attorney General for civil penalties. With numbers dwindling for enrolment at the school, and growing negative attention, the doors would close in 2009, and never re-open.
Academy at Ivy Ridge Still Faces Legal Action and Accusations of Abuse
There are still several allegations and lawsuits leveled against the school’s manager Jason Finlinson and the staff that worked there. The Netflix documentary will no doubt shine a light on the allegations against the facility.
An article on 7NewsNYTV states,
“As the documentary’s director, Kubler and her crew visited the old Ivy Ridge campus four times beginning in 2020. Kubler says they found proof of abuse in the form of documents and surveillance tapes they discovered left behind at the abandoned school. While there, they kept a low profile.”
The article goes on to state that St Lawrence County District Attorney Gary Pasqua says that allegations of abuse can have statutes of limitation of between five and ten years: “If those individuals are out there and they want to share those experiences and have us look into them, or law enforcement look into them, to see if we could prosecute someone for that, we’re happy to do that.”
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