Alexis Evette Richie - 2009

Alexis Evette Richie was allowed only 16 years in this life.

She had been sent to the SSM DePaul Health Center which unknown to her was a troubled place even before she got there.

The treatment center had a long story where numerous investigations had been conducted into the lack of safety of the patients.

Investigations which did not help her when she needed it. She was restrained and medicated but the employees failed to check on her when they left her.

It is sad that the state didn't intervene more strongly before. Maybe her life would have been spared.

We hope that she has found rest in the afterlife.

Sources:

• Girl, 16, dies during restraint at an already-troubled hospital (Sankt Louis Post Dispatch)
• Nurse cited in DePaul death had been fired at another hospital (Sankt Louis Post Dispatch)
• SSM DePaul Health Center (Fornits Wiki)
• Victims 2005-9 (Fornits Wiki)

James Richard "Jim" Shirey - 2009

January 10, 2009 should have been a day just like any other. At the ranch a 14 year old boy was in the final stages of his stay at the ranch, when he fell ill. The ranch located miles from the nearest town was not a place where you should fall ill.

Even ordinary illnesses could turn fatal and then of course the so-called counselors - the musclemen guarding the teenagers - have to be convinced that the complaints of one of the residents are not act planned to get them to transport the teenagers to a place where it is easier to escape. When the boy entered the hospital it was too late. His life was cut short and ended way too soon.

All that delay which is kind of ordinary when taken into the account that the victim lists of teenagers who have died while they were placed in such treatment programs are way too long. There is only one conclusion for parents thinking of sending their children to facilities like Diamond Ranch Academy: If you child have even the slightest health problems then keep them at home!

For the 14 year old James Richard "Jim" Shirey his stay at Diamond Ranch Academy ended with his death. Back in 2009 they tried to find the cause of his death several times. It is not clear whether the cause was found. Maybe the autopsy was performed locally under the stress of keeping jobs in a small community with few jobs and an economy under pressure. In fact it would not be the first time when the cause of death is altered to keep the facility out of the case. Just remember the Martin Lee Anderson case.

There is no reason to blame his parents. They fell for a very crafty marketing machine. How many websites are promoting to fix the problems of teenagers? Thousands!! A lot of the so-called educational consultants are paid by both the parents and the facilities when they recommend certain wilderness programs and facilities to the families. In fact most in the Ed-con industry would not be able to keep their business running if they were not small recruiting outlets for the wilderness programs and special boarding schools.

It is a business built on scams. Just look at the cases where parents have been made into believing that a certain boarding school is better than a local offer by a school district. Modern school district have experts. They know about the double payment educational consultants receive and they are no longer giving in. They take their day in court and they do often win.

But unfortunately parents are still being fooled. They don't have the knowledge professionals inside the education system have. They are easy pray, when parents in some cases are paid or given discount in exchange of praising a certain schools or wilderness programs.

It is easy to say that deaths can be accidental and fewer children dies at the ranch compared with other schools but when is a death one too much? We believe that every death is one too many and that even one death should result in an evaluation of the entire business.

The tragedy which took place on January 10, 2009 should have resulted in a suspension of the operations just as it has been the case with many other schools and wilderness programs. For reasons unknown to us it did not happen.

James Richard "Jim" Shirey got only 14 years in this world. May he rest in peace. We will pray that he is in a better place than the "hell ranch".

Sources:

• Victim list 2005 - 2009 (Fornits Wiki)
• James Richard "Jim" Shirey - memorial website

Sergey Blashchishen - 2009

August 28 2009 marked to endings.

First it marked the ending of the claim that commercial wilderness therapy can be safe. Sagewalk - a wilderness program - featured nationwide as a safe option for parents who had teenagers facing trouble in a modern world where temptations present themselves even inside the home when the computer is switched on, did turn out as deadly.

It was hardly a surprise as many teenagers had died in wilderness programs before. But the industry did always have some kind of explanation. Among the lame excuses were:

• It was a simple accident
• It was an unlicensed wilderness program
• It was the actions of a single employee running amok

But this time a 16 year old boy died in what was the properly finest wilderness program in the United States. There were no excuses. There were no staff members doing other things than they had done with hundred of teenagers. They had simply gambled as all employees in wilderness programs do when they take a teenager who had been removed from his home not days ago out in the wilderness without days of hospitalization to determine if the child was fit to function without the basic standards of 2009.

This day they lost their bet and had to pay the price with the loss of their jobs.

But there was another ending. It was the end of the life for 16 year old Sergey Blashchishen - a boy who knew that he helped help and had reached out to his parents. What did look like an obvious choice of hospitalization in a place where he could detox and receive therapy were somewhere changed - perhaps by an educational consultant on the payroll of schools or programs - to include a stay at a wilderness program.

A deadly choice but also a tragic loss for his family who had to suffer the ultimate sacrifice - the loss of a child.

May he be remembered as a person who paid too dearly with life so families of teenagers in need for treatment may be advised better in the future?

May be rest in peace.


References:
On the the fatality of Sergey Blashchishen at Aspen Education Group's Wilderness Camp, Sagewalk..., The Troubling Troubling Troubled Teen Industry blog

(unknown girl - unknown treatment facility) - 2009

July 23, 2009 a poster on the message board Conductdisorders.com wrote about a suicide at the treatment facility where she had her daughter placed. A girl of unknown age hanged herself. To this day this treatment facility remains unknown.

Searching the media about this tragedy has not produced any results. A girl lost her life and no reports were found so the public can see what were done to prevent a similar tragedy to happen in the future.

Someone is missing her. Some have suffered a loss. Leaving her unnamed will increase the risk of such tragedies repeating themselves. Something has to be done and naming her and the facility will serve as a kind of memorial and warning to us to make every life matter.

May she rest in peace.

Source:
List of deaths 2005 - 2009, Fornits Wiki