The Bad Place

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

News

4.7 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2021

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The graffiti says it all: “This is a bad place.” Why do states send children to facilities run by Sequel, after dozens of cases of abuse?

The vacant building that once housed the Riverside Academy in Wichita, Kansas, was covered in haunting graffiti: “Burn this place.” “Youth were abused here … systematically.” “This is a bad place.” The facility, run by the for-profit company Sequel Youth & Family Services, promised to help kids with behavioral problems. But state officials had cited the facility dozens of times for problems including excessive force by staff, poor supervision and neglect.

Riverside was just one residential treatment center run by Sequel. In a yearlong investigation, APM Reports found the company profited by taking in some of the most difficult-to-treat children and providing them with care from low-paid, low-skilled employees. The result has been dozens of cases of physical violence, sexual assault and improper restraints. Despite repeated scandals, many states and counties continue to send kids to Sequel for one central reason: They have little choice.

For much of its 20 year history, Sequel was able to avoid public scrutiny. But that changed recently in Oregon, when State Senator Sara Gesler began to investigate the conditions of kids the state placed under the company’s care. What she found led to Oregon demanding change and eventually severing ties with Sequel.

This is an update of an episode that originally aired on 11/21/20.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Alan. I hope 2022 has been a good year for you. But to be honest, it's been a tough one for us.
0:08.0	This year, Reveal was struck by a financial crisis that jeopardized our very existence.
0:14.0	But we've rallied, and all the while that was happening, our staff forged ahead to produce ambitious investigations
0:22.0	that exposed corruption and abuses that the powerful interests did not want revealed.
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0:41.0	Just visit revealnews.org slash 2023. Again, to donate to the show and to support our work into the future.
0:48.0	Please visit revealnews.org slash 2023. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
1:02.0	From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is reveal. I'm Al Etzen.
1:08.0	Chris Hagman lives in Wichita, Kansas with his two dogs, Maggie and Annie.
1:13.0	Females, they run the house. He spends a lot of time with them outside in the neighborhood.
1:18.0	Yeah, we take long walks. I got boxers, so I got to wear them out.
1:22.0	One of their favorite destinations used to be a spot along the Arkansas River.
1:27.0	There was a pretty building there, pre-war brick walls, white columns.
1:32.0	There's a beautiful city on golf course right outside the front steps, maybe 30 yards.
1:37.0	It was just kind of a nice place to walk.
1:41.0	I've been walking by it for 10 years, probably.
1:44.0	Chris didn't know much about the building. He heard it used to be a home for unwed mothers.
1:49.0	And more recently, some kind of youth treatment center called Riverside Academy.
1:54.0	When the academy quietly closed a couple years ago, Chris didn't even notice.
1:59.0	But then he heard the police found people hanging out in the vacant building,
2:03.0	trashing the place, even sleeping there.
	...

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