To the Editor:

I just finished watching "The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping", the recent Netflix documentary regarding the abuses of the now defunct Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg NY. 

The documentary did a very thoughtful, empathetic, and considerate job at describing the abuses that occurred at Academy at Ivy Ridge. I know this because I have researched the school, and have talked to several survivors of that school.

My motivations are personal. After high school, and a LDS mission that ended with severe mental and physical health issues, I lived with my parents, and attended LDS services in Ogdensburg NY.

At the time, LDS services in Ogdensburg were held on the grounds of Academy at Ivy Ridge. I attended church with Jason Finlinson, his brother Jake, and his brother in law, Joseph Mitchel, all of whom were mentioned or shown in documentary. 

The Netflix documentary did not discuss it, but the Academy's program has strong overlap with LDS practices, such as their secretive temple rituals, and their reliance on untrained persons in positions of trust.

Sadly, during this time I accepted a job as a chef's assistant at the Academy. Watching the documentary, and seeing where I used to work, and attend services, was chilling. I recall the students being told to watch dishes.

I got that job, because the Finlinsons hired many members of our congregation at the Academy. People I used to go to church with, were placed in positions of responsibility over the teens there. 

I am haunted by the things Jason Finlinson used to say. He once bet that a student couldn't eat an entire sheet cake. The student would have gotten a thousand points for winning, but would go back to zero for losing. The child, lost.

Those who have read the Rohl Dahl book Matilda, will recognize this as something that the villain of the book did.

This quote from Matilda explains how they got away with it so long.

" Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable"

Matilda, by Roald Dahl.

I have the greatest of empathy towards the victims of the Academy at Ivy Ridge, and stand in solidarity with them, and implore others to end the abuses of the "troubled teen" industry.

Willow Shirtz
Canton