The ‘troubled teen’ industry in the USA | DW Documentary

In the USA, teenagers with behavioral problems often end up in re-education centers. These function like prisons, isolating the young people from the outside world. The harsh educational measures sometimes end in death.

This documentary sheds light on the extreme methods used in re-education facilities in the USA. These include isolation, torture and humiliation, as well as something called "assault therapy". These practices, which have little or nothing to do with traditional psychological treatments, aim to "reform" individuals through discipline and suffering. The adolescents sent there by their parents are between 8 and 18 years old. These parents report being overwhelmed by their adolescent children, citing problems from learning difficulties to substance abuse, social media addiction, anxiety disorders, depression or a sexual orientation they find unacceptable.

These private facilities do a lucrative business. In the hope that their children will get better, families spend thousands of dollars every month. Some even mortgage their homes to pay for their children to be part of these programs. Their children, on the other hand, can suffer lifelong damage there. There have also been cases of suicide. The film features young adults who have managed to escape the prison school system and parents who realized too late how cruel this system is.

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