Max Teen Torture Inc. Documentary Explores Abuse in Juvenile Centers

FFor decades, troubled teenagers were sent by their parents or the state to residential rehabilitation programs, where they were subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Now, survivors are speaking out.

One of the most popular documentaries on Netflix is The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnappingwhich premiered on March 5th. In it, director Katherine Kubler brought together other survivors of a remote facility in upstate New York called Ivy Ridge to talk about the verbal and physical abuse they suffered there.

At a Congressional hearing on June 26, Paris Hilton advocated for more oversight over social assistance programs. She spoke about her own traumatizing experience as a teenager at Provo Canyon School in Utah, where she says she was stripped naked and kept in solitary confinement.

Now, two weeks after Hilton’s testimony, Teen Torture, Inc. starts streaming on Max from today (July 11). In the three-part documentary series directed by Tara Malone, former Provo Canyon School residents and patients at similar facilities across the country talk about their experiences.

Advocates believe there are about 100,000 teenagers in residential programs every year, but the exact number is unclear because they are not monitored by the U.S. government. They are often a last resort for parents struggling with children with behavioral problems, suicidal thoughts, and substance abuse issues. Depending on the state, these rehabilitation centers—a multibillion-dollar industry—have few regulations and no comprehensive federal standards govern them. Many are religious facilities designed to convert teenagers into born-again Christians and are therefore exempt from regulation in some states. Licensed medical professionals can be in short supply at these facilities, and some accused of abuse have closed and reopened under new names with some of the same employees.

Jen Robison, who spent a harrowing year at Provo Canyon School, says staff shaved her head without her consent and nicknamed her “Auschwitz,” after the Holocaust death camp. One day, when she was afraid to get out of bed, she described two employees grabbing her by the arms and ankles and pulling her out of the top bunk bed, slamming her body onto the floor. She remembers being dragged by her ankles down the hallway to an observation cell, a form of solitary confinement. Fast forward to the present day, the series shows how Robison overcame this traumatic experience. Cameras follow her and her partner playing with their daughter in their southern Oregon home. “The kid I was at PCS could never have imagined I would have the life I have,” she says.

In a statement to the series, Provo Canyon School has denied using solitary confinement and says he is licensed by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. He also said the program began administration again in 2000, so he can’t comment on operations or student experience before that time — even though Robison was first admitted in 2003.

Read more: Teenage girls face a mental health epidemic

Many of the survivors in Teen Torture Inc. They say their bad behavior when they were young was actually a cry for help. Allen Knoll, who spent ages 10 to 15 at two different therapeutic boarding schools in Mississippi and Missouri, said a family friend molested him when he was 9 years old. says in Troubled Teen Inc. He describes waterboarding at Bethel Boys Academy in Mississippi and says a staff member held him on the floor with one foot on his chest while another threw buckets of water at him. The film includes an interview with Esther Fountain, daughter of Herman Fountain, founder of Bethel Boys Academy, who speaks for the first time about seeing her father beat boys.

The documentary lists Fountain as one of the individuals who did not comment for Teen Torture, Inc. and Fountain did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.

Knoll got a form of justice in 2021 when Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed a bill that Knoll lobbied for, requiring background checks on staff and volunteers at children’s homes.

One of the most influential promoters of these programs was talk show host Phillip “Dr. Phil” McGraw. Parents sent their kids to Turn-About Ranch in Utah because they heard him talking about it on his show. Teen Torture Inc. focuses on an episode of Dr. this went viral because of the defiant behavior of 13-year-old Danielle Bregoli, who was learning she would be sent to Turn-About Ranch for six months. In fact, she says she felt ambushed. “The whole time I’m looking at him, like, this isn’t therapy,” says Bregoli — now a rapper known as Bhad Bhabie who has 16 million Instagram followers — in the docuseries. The series says McGraw declined a request for comment.

Through documentaries like Teen Torture, Inc., Survivors say they hope they can reach the general public directly and motivate them to support legislation that regulates residential treatment facilities for troubled teens or support reforms that help teens access psychiatrists and therapists closer to their homes. Although these programs are designed to treat mental health issues, survivors say they leave these facilities more distraught than when they entered. As Bregoli said, patients “will come back with depression. They will return eagerly. I have to live like this for the rest of my life.”