BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

OGDENSBURG -- A three-part documentary series that details numerous allegations of abuse of teenage girls at the Academy at Ivy Ridge in Ogdensburg is now available on Netflix.

"The Program" details years of abuse towards teenage girls at the Academy at Ivy Ridge and how the "school" tricked parents into sending their children there.

The Academy of Ivy Ridge was an independent, privately owned and operated board school that was owned by the Jason G. Finlinson Corporation and the Joseph and Alyn Mitchell Corporation.

Opened in 2001, the school was originally affiliated with World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS) but withdrew from the organization in 2005 due to negative media attention.

Despite the idyllic setting, it was alleged that students on the lower levels were not allowed to look out windows and were required to be "promoted" to upper level status in order to earn the privilege to look outside and be occasionally taken outside to play during a monthly upper level activity.

According to various reports,  in 2005, students began a riot that led to four dozen expulsions and 12 arrests, with numerous officers from the Sheriff's Office, State Police, Ogdensburg PD and U.S. Border Patrol being brought in to end the riot.

 At least 30 runaways were captured, it is alleged.

Allegations began to surface shortly after regarding poor living conditions, unauthorized medical procedures, physiological torture, sexual abuse and physical abuse, according to reports.

The documentary also includes clips of  violent restraint tactics being used against students.

Ivy Ridge closed in March 2009 to "restructure" and was eventually sold to a Delaware based corporation in April 2009 that announced the academy would not reopen.

The school also faced significant legal troubles, beginning with a $250,000 fine issued by the New York State Attorney General after it was determined the academy issued unauthorized high school diplomas. The academy was also forced to issue refunds to some former students and was ordered to stop advertising itself as an accredited school, according to reports.

It was later determined that the academy was viewed by the New York State Department of Education as a behavior modification program and not a school, the documentary reports.

A WWASP survivors group has since established a website for survivors to help raise awareness of the wrongdoing perpetrated at the academy.

Numerous comments have been posted in recent years, with many former students saying they suffered "inhumane and unethical treatment" that was not discipline but rather "cold, twisted torture by sick, controlling individuals who like to see you suffer."

Some of the rules that the teens had to follow included no talking, making eye contact, looking out the window, winking, smiling or touching, according to the documentary.

Punishment for such violations ranged from verbal to physical abuse that could last for hours on end, according to the documentary series.

Many incidents have been compared to the fictional prisons in "The Shawshank Redemption" or "The Last Castle," both of which has strict, disciplinarian wardens.

Directed and narrated by Katherine Kubler, the documentary is a sobering look at the academy and the effects it had on the teens who attended.

Kubler was a student at the Academy at Ivy Ridge for 15 months.

The series also interviews numerous students who detail the abuse and trauma they endured at the academy. Though there was a boy's wing as well, the two schools were kept apart at all times.

Videos, files and records that details the disciplinary efforts were left behind in the school, which was shown in the series.

The film series was 10 years in the making, with Kubler making multiple trips back to the building to continue filming and investigating.

More on the documentary can be found at https://www.today.com/popculture/tv/the-program-netflix-documentary-rcna139645