[lbo-talk] Re-education Camps

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Tue Jul 1 07:04:42 PDT 2003



> The last resort
>
> "Were you to glance up from the deserted beach below, you
> might mistake Tranquility Bay for a rather exclusive hotel.
> The statuesque white property stands all alone on a sandy
> curve of southern Jamaica, feathered by palm trees, gazing
> out across the Caribbean Sea. You would have to look closer
> to see the guards at the wall. Inside, 250 foreign children
> are locked up. Almost all are American, but though kept
> prisoner, they were not sent here by a court of law. Their
> parents paid to have them kidnapped and flown here against
> their will, to be incarcerated for up to three years,
> sometimes even longer. They will not be released until they
> are judged to be respectful, polite and obedient enough to
> rejoin their families.
>
> Parents sign a legal contract with Tranquility Bay granting
> 49 per cent custody rights. It permits the Jamaican staff,
> whose qualifications are not required to exceed a high-school
> education, to use whatever physical force they feel necessary
> to control their child. The contract also waives
> Tranquility's liability for harm that should befall a child
> in its care. The cost of sending a child here ranges from
> $25,000 to $40,000 a year."
> Full:
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,987172,0
0.html

A somewhat similar program exists in Baltimore, where trouble students are sent to the Baraka school in Kenya. http://citypaper.com/2003-01-15/pf/feature_pf.html

Not a bad idea - especially that is is conceived as an educational institution rather than a penal colony.

Wojtek



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