Tranquility Bay

Tranquility Bay was a troubled teen program in Calabash Bay, Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, operating from 1997 to 2009. Affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, it functioned as a behavioral modification facility for adolescents aged 12 to 19 and had a capacity of approximately 300 students.

Tranquility Bay accepted adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old and had the capacity to house approximately 300 students at a time.^[2] Tuition for the program ranged $25,000 to $40,000 per year.^[3] The facility primarily served teenagers from the United States whose parents enrolled them for behavioural or substance abuse issues.^[4] The facility was affiliated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools and was accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools.^[5] Those enrolled at the program could remain for three years or longer.^[4]

The facility was located above a beach in Calabash Bay, Jamaica. Security features included barred windows and balconies and high perimeter walls topped with barbed wire, which prevented students from leaving the facility.^[6][3]

Tranquility Bay was founded in the year 1997.^[4]

In 1998 Tranquility Bay was the focus of a legal case after neighbours of a family reported parents to police for kidnapping and false imprisonment by sending him to Tranquility Bay.^[7]Judge Ken Kawaichi denied the writ of habeas corpus due to lack of evidence of abuse at Tranquility Bay.^[8]David Van Blarigan had previously been enrolled at Skyline High School in Oakland, California, and had no history of crime, drug use, or violence, according to defense attorney Dan Koller, who was representing the Van Blarigan family.^[9]

On August 10, 2001, a 17 year old girl named Valerie Ann Heron ran from her room and jumped off the 35 ft high balcony at Tranquility Bay and died from the fall.^[10] She had only been at program for 24 hours.^[11] Also in 2001 the Government of the Cayman Islands began sending adolescents to the Tranquility Bay until it's closure in 2009.^[12]

Tranquility Bay was evucated in 2004 when hurricane Ivan hit Jamaica doing several hundred thousand dollars of damage to the facilty.^[13]

On the 7th of December 2004 the British Broadcasting Company aired a program on BBC Two called Locked in Paradise.^[14]

Tranquility Bay was shut down in January 2009,^[15] after the case of Isaac Hersh gained national media and political attention and years of alleged abuse and torture came to light.^[16] Many politicians, including Hillary Clinton, were involved in Isaac's release.

Observers of Tranquility Bay described group sessions in which students were encouraged to openly discuss their personal fears and behaviours while receiving immediate feedback from staff and peers. During these sessions, emotional expression was met with direct challenges or corrective statements, a style reminiscent of confrontational or “attack therapy” methods used in Synanon-inspired programs. These sessions aimed to enforce accountability and encourage behavioural change through intense emotional exposure and group feedback.^[17]

According to the 2004 documentary Locked in Paradise, broadcast on BBC Two, students at Tranquility Bay followed a self-study academic program. Coursework was completed independently, and students submitted assignments to teachers before taking tests on the material. Students were required to achieve a score of at least 80 percent in order to pass exams. The documentary also reported that private tutoring and school supplies such as pens and paper were provided at additional cost to parents.^[11]

Observation Placement was a punishment that could demote any student to level one and take away all their points. During Observation Placement, people were forced to lay down on their faces. Some people spent 18 months in this punishment.^[4]

Tranquility Bay used teen escort companies to facilitate the transportation of youths from the United States of America to their facility in Jamaica. This would normally take place in the early hours of the morning and often involved the use of handcuffs.^[4][18]

Staff at Tranquility Bay were equipped with pepper spray until it the pratice was discontinued in 1998.^[11]

The "Cassie" episode of the A&E program Intervention, first shown in January 2011, features a young woman addicted to prescription painkillers who had been sent to Tranquility Bay as a child and blamed her father for not rescuing her.^[19] In the episode, Cassie said that her fellow residents consumed "chemicals" so they would be sent to the hospital and would be able to talk to their parents regarding the abuse they were enduring. However, she said that when they vomited in response to the poison, rather than being sent to a hospital, they were restrained by staff face down in their own vomit.^[20]

• Art, Cindy. 2012. Trapped in Paradise, A Memoir. ISBN 978-1475192278. An account of an attendee's time at Tranquility Bay.

• Tranquility Bay website - Archive index at the Wayback Machine
• Locked in Paradise on YouTube