Speaker 1: In the town of Douglasville lies what was once the
Speaker 1: largest medical facility in Georgia. It is here where a
Speaker 1: largely unknown story began. Remember the name an Awake. It
Speaker 1: was mostly obscured a few months ago, but in the
Speaker 1: months ahead it may come to represent everything that's right
Speaker 1: and wrong with juvenile justice and rehabilitation, not just here
Speaker 1: in Duglas County, but throughout all of Georgia. Louis Petter
Speaker 1: began the Inn, a weekie center for emotionally disturbed youth,
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two. For over two decades, thousands of
Speaker 1: patients would attend. It was based on what they called
Speaker 1: wilderness therapy that started out with tents and shovels, and
Speaker 1: from there he built that massive complex, or his kids
Speaker 1: built it. By the brochures, I thought I was going
Speaker 1: to a camp. I didn't realize I was going to
Speaker 1: be locked up. It was kind of like a outdoor
Speaker 1: summer camp where you would live in some cabins and
Speaker 1: do outdoor things. They always seemed to leave out the
Speaker 1: slave labor board, as they called it. Vocational therapy aniwaki
Speaker 1: was meant to break you down. They wanted to make
Speaker 1: you into a machine. Anna Wiki has come to represent
Speaker 1: the tip of an iceberg of discovery and to the
Speaker 1: abuse of children. In addition to years of child labor,
Speaker 1: was a network of abusers that went from the top
Speaker 1: of the organization all the way to the patients. He
Speaker 1: took kids out of the program and brought him into
Speaker 1: his family. That was what happened to me, and I
Speaker 1: knew older guys that had happened to them. It's a
Speaker 1: system that is built for abuse. Everybody knew, and everybody
Speaker 1: get their mouth shut. It would take decades for this
Speaker 1: abuse to come to light, largely in part to Petters
Speaker 1: many political ties, some even reaching the White House. He
Speaker 1: was a player. He was a political player. G b
Speaker 1: I agents have been looking into possible financial improprieties in
Speaker 1: the Anawaki operation. It was not just treatment of troubled kids.
Speaker 1: It was the eloping land and real estate in Florida,
Speaker 1: real estate in Georgia, and real estate in Mexico. And
Speaker 1: that made an Awake a gold mine. We brought people
Speaker 1: back from Mexico. I was transported across state lines. I
Speaker 1: was trafficing basically. Petda charged with five counts, including sodomy,
Speaker 1: cruelty to children, and simple battery. Remains in the Douglas
Speaker 1: County Jail on one million dollars bond. You have to
Speaker 1: think how many of these people that they didn't find
Speaker 1: are still working at these places now. This is the
Speaker 1: story of an Awake as never told before, from government
Speaker 1: officials to former councilors and the survivors who withstood the abuse.
Speaker 1: Thousands of patients passed through an Awake. Some of them
Speaker 1: received justice, but many are still waiting Camp Hell. An
Speaker 1: Awake debuts April. Listen and subscribe on the I Heart
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Speaker 1: favor it shows.