He is a twelve-year-old boy. I can feel his death because I lived, when my own mother paid to have me confined and brutalized. The official story says he died of asphyxiation, his mouth and nose suffocated by Bivy material (a coffin-like single-person tent), which the wilderness camp staff placed him in. However, as with any child who has completed time in a troubled teen industry (TTI), even after they kill you, sometimes you are still breathing. I have been dead, breathing in a warehouse for 16 months. For this boy, on the Carolina Trail, it was only twenty-four hours.
As an adult, my training as a youth life coach confirmed my inherent understanding. Pathological and punitive adolescent behaviors stem from unmet social needs. At the same time, evidence-based strategies that support positive change in youth, such as deep listening, self-guidance, and validation, are in stark contrast to the strategies used in TTI: isolation, humiliation, and control.
This boy was sent to be restrained because he had intolerable issues. These included migraines, anxiety, ADHD, and "social challenges including 'very difficult friends.' Migraines, anxiety, undiagnosed neurological disorders…