WEBVTT - “Licensed” 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.080 Camp Hell Anawaki is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.520 The views and opinions expressing this podcast are solely those 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:10.680 of the author and participants and do not necessarily represent 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.680 those of I Heart Media or its employees. Due to 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:18.599 discussion of traumatic, sexual and violent content, listeners, discussion is advised. 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:25.440 That was the biggest disappointment of our lives. The committee 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.480 decided that, yeah, these things are happening. We believe you partially, 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.320 and so what we're gonna do is try to do 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.640 some kind of compromise here, because they didn't want to 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:41.160 close the camp down. The deal was, well, Louisa Kennet, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:43.639 boys at your home anymore, you really shouldn't do that. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.600 We're going to make you a different title, but otherwise 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.760 we're gonna leave you alone. And so they said you 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.640 can continue to be the director, that you can't be 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:54.720 on the campus, and you can't even do with the kids, 0:00:55.640 --> 0:01:00.080 and otherwise nothing changed. Two weeks later, we understand and 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:04.240 he was back out there. Over a year after Roger 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.800 Brenn and Robert Dacastino had reported the abuse at Anawaki, 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.480 a deal had been made. No criminal charges were filed, 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.400 not even an official investigation by law enforcement was had 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.560 Louis Petter had been cleared of all charges under the 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.119 stipulation that he had no future contact with the boys 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.560 at Anawaki, the center would continue with little to no 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:34.039 change in its operation. It was emotionally painful to me 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.520 to see the lack of concern and reaction by the 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.920 authorities who had the duty to do something about this. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:46.200 I couldn't even mention the name Louis Petter for ten years. 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:51.080 My experienced an Awake was so disillusioning. I just wanted 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.400 to put into my past. I never did volunteer work 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.080 after that in my life. Never ever, was the end 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:04.000 of that. Shortly after the hearing, Dagastino received a troubling 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:08.000 call from the Assistant Attorney General who had represented the state, 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:14.320 John Hinchy. He told me he was calling me from 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:16.760 outside his office a public film. He was afraid to 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.280 make the call from his office, and he said, look, 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.440 they've stopped the hearing. He said, yes, they're making a 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:29.359 deal and they're going to get you if they can. That. 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.600 They have decided that they're going to try and stop 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:35.600 you from taking the George Bar. They're going to go 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.480 after you hammer and tongue. They're getting a court order 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:44.440 to seal the hearing documents, and that court orders in process. Now, 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:47.520 if you can get a copy of the hearing and 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.720 gave me the name of the printer and addressed the 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.960 printer you've got a copy of that, This will protect you. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.240 So I said, I had no money. I mean I 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.080 was working for next to nothing, was paying tuition, I 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.919 was paying rent sometimes I could, didn't have enough mind 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.320 to eat. I ran a tab at a local restaurant 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.960 because they trusted me that every time I get a paycheck, 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.680 got even them up. So I called a friend of 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:17.239 mine from Columbia College where I graduated, named Jerry Miller, 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.800 who was trust baby, and he had lots of money. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.640 And I said, Jerry, I need five dollars and I 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.080 need it now. And I explayed the situation and Jerry said, 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.160 give me your wiring instructures to your bank, which I had, 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:36.960 and he said, I'm going to my bank now and 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.280 I will do the wire now. He went, he wired me, 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.880 the money, went into my account, took it out, gave 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.840 it to Rose Higbee, one of my fellow students. So 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.760 Rose was able to get it. So I have it here. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:54.160 It is the copy of the transcript. Of course, there 0:03:54.160 --> 0:04:00.640 are all sorts of other things that happened. Over the 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.280 past several weeks. We have received a number of very 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.240 serious allegations concerning both the facility out there in a 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.640 number of individuals involved with him. It was just a 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.160 form of their therapy. They were told to do it, 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.200 and at the time he was fourteen and a half, 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:19.000 fifteen years old, they didn't know any better. I asked him, 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.599 why are you letting this happen? Why are you covering 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.159 up for Louis Patter. He had no answer to that question, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:30.719 involved having in this situation paid it host little could 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:37.440 be such a destricable place, and did do absolutely the 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.080 contrary of what they should have done. I'm disturbed a 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.159 little the fact of something its stealed. Water on it, 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:48.760 Anna Wicked. I'm Josh Stein and this is camp hell. 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:55.159 In a week around the time of the hearing, Rennan 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.839 Dagastino had moved into an apartment together. One night, sometime 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.679 after the hearing had concluded, they received an unexpected visit 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.560 from a patient at Anna Waki, one of the boys 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.919 who was working with Louie Petter. He came from my 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.280 apartment and Rose Higbee was there and Roger rent, and 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.720 he started telling me all the things that we're gonna 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.760 do to me. One of the kids came in and 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:26.120 said Dr Petter and his family are going to hurt you. 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.320 And I said, what are you talking about? And they said, well, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:33.360 they're gonna hurt you. And I said, you're talking about physically, 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.719 what other way? In every way? And we're gonna have 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.680 sworn testimony that I abused the boys. Well, I got 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.800 a little bit angry. The guy came in and said, 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.640 I lied about you, and Bob rand him out of 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.440 the house. Bob has a temper. I've only seen it once. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.200 There was a couch between him and I. I jumped 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.080 over the couch to try and grab him, be to 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.840 crap out of him, and he went right through the 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.080 screen door. Have you ever seen a rocket take off? 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:08.839 If this was faster than a rocket, I'd never seen 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.200 anymo operate. Bob has a lot of physical skills my 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.640 own body. He was there, and although he didn't hurt 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.520 the kid, I'm amazed that he didn't. He did run 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.560 him out of the house. So we were both scared, 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.000 and I was very concerned. Anytime I left the home, 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.240 I would turn the light on outside at night, and 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.760 then I'd watched and wait for about ten minutes. I 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.200 was scared. Sometimes I went out the back door and 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:36.440 went around the house to see if somebody was hiding there. 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.200 I felt paranoid on occasions I thought somebody was out 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.400 to get me. Well, we found out, of course, that 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.040 somebody was out to get us, and it was them, 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.839 and they were talking about what they were gonna do 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:55.520 to us. According to the kids, this unwanted visit was 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.000 not the last rend and Dagostino would see for Manawaki. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.680 Dagostino would later learn that someone had attempted to frame 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:10.320 him for drug possession. There was some testimony that Peter 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.160 had ordered drugs to be planted in my car. At 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.240 that time. The car I had was a land Rover. 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.600 So the land Rover was somehow locked, which is something 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.559 I never did because I was hoping someone would steal 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.720 the damn thing because it was such a bad car. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.440 But anyway, for one reason or another, it was locked 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:29.720 and they couldn't get into the car, so they put 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.520 the drugs in the wheel well. I went off roading 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.880 that weekend afterwards and was bumpy road and so someplace 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.640 in the North Georgia Mountains. There's this packet of drugs 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.840 that fell out my wheel. Well, we understood that someone 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.360 had placed in Bob's land rover some cocaine in the 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:54.000 spare tire, and that we were about to be rated 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.560 for pushing drugs. And of course that scared the dickens 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.559 out of me when I heard that show. Really, after 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.880 this incident, authorities showed up at the apartment looking for Dagostino. 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.560 The authorities had been tipped off and the threat to 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:13.800 get Dagastino arrested proved true. Well, we had a couple 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:18.040 of police officers come to the house looking for him, 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.880 and we couldn't figure out what was going on. It 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.520 was very unusual. They then swad a warrant from my arrest, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:26.840 so I was arrested for a soul. I said, I'm 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:28.760 just sorry I didn't quite get to do the battery. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.680 Bob recalls his day in court and how the judge 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.880 reacted to his ordeal. I told him some of the backstory, 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.360 but what he was accused me of doing. They didn't 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:44.599 show up anyway, judge says. Kate dismissed Anna wake he 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.079 had managed to slip through the cracks of the Georgia 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:52.760 legal system. Following their hearing, in Petter, having stepped down 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:57.400 as director, was replaced by a Mr. Charles Rampley. With 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.440 Petter not in this role, there was nothing that could 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.240 be charged against the Innawaki Foundation. In a letter from 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.640 Chairman Donald Howe to the panel following the hearing, he states, quote, 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.360 the Board will of course scrutinize carefully and frequently the 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.520 activities of this establishment, so that it seems to me 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:21.520 this situation has been resolved in a satisfactory manner. Shortly 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.760 after this deal was made to keep Petter off campus grounds, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.679 a new license was issued allowing in Awaki to continue 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:33.280 as a child caring institution. Journalist Albert Edgin says this 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.160 oversight and lack of investigation into child abuse was a 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.480 sign of the times back then. It's fair to say 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:46.120 that the ideas about victims and treatment and the whole 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.280 panoplay were I wouldn't say primitive, but they certainly weren't 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.240 as developed as they are today. Not at the time, 0:09:54.000 --> 0:10:01.959 there was a tendency to not believe victims. Much much 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.880 more acute than it is now, and it can be 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.440 acute now, but the best way to describe it is 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.680 that in the nineteen sixties there was abuse going on, 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.520 and people knew there was abuse going on. Somehow they 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.640 turned their heads to it. But when it finally was 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:25.880 litigated by the state in a administrative way, what happened 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:32.280 was it the victims, the targets of the abuse, were questioned, 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.680 their backgrounds were brought out against them. These were children 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.160 who were being treated for emotional troubles, and yet when 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.800 they made these accusations, their emotional troubles were used as 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.560 evidence that they were lying. The difference between then and 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.240 now is that it was almost as if the assumption 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.920 was that they were lying and they had to prove it. 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.000 There was no or very very little wiggle room, given 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.040 very little accommodation, very little thought about the idea that 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.680 they may be telling the truth. Albert says that during 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.520 this time, it would be hard for an administrator to 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.240 even wrap their heads around the idea that this type 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.920 of abuse between a man and children was even capable 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:20.120 of happening. So think about now, children who are being 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:26.280 supervised by somebody who is just an abusive guy who's 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:31.880 having relationships sexual relationships with young boys. In the minds 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:35.880 of an administrator of a health department in Georgia. He 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:41.680 can't comprehend that he wants to not believe that because 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:46.320 he's so confused about the question of homosexuality in the 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:51.440 first place, that that doesn't compute with that guy. So 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.760 you have a hearing, and you have troubled kids and 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.240 this has happened to them, and the guy who has 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:03.439 been accused says, hey, come on, these kids are liars, 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.160 their pathological liars. I've got the evidence of it right 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.160 here in my psychiatric files. That's the end of that. 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.640 It's hard to understand how something as serious as sexual 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.640 abuse of miners could have slipped by local government in 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.400 the nineteen seventies. To give some context as to what 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.440 led to this massive oversight, you have to look at 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.920 what was going on in Georgia politics at the time. 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.800 In seventy, the same year of the Anawaki hearing, Jimmy 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:53.240 Carter made the shift from state senator to governor of Georgia. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.440 Petter's confidant, Jim Parham, who had served as the director 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.320 for de Facts for a number of years, would go 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.160 on to play an integral role in Jimmy Carter's cabinet. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.840 This career opportunity for parm would greatly affect the future 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:12.800 of Anawaki. Jimmy Carter ran for governor at Georgia on 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.480 the idea that he was going to reorganize government, and 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.280 when he did when he got into the governor's office, 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.040 the biggest part of that job, that promise, was to 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.240 take all the health facilities, state health facilities and to 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.680 get him under one big organized umbrella. In order to 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.960 do that, he appointed param to figure it out. Parum 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:35.960 did figure it out. He did a good job and 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:38.400 figuring it out, but it had to do with stepping 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.839 on a lot of toes along the way. Every legislator, 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.920 every member of the House, every member the Senate had 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:48.199 a stake in it because their health departments in every county, 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:53.439 their hospitals. During Carter's time as Georgia governor, the number 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.920 of government agencies dropped from over three hundred to a 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:01.760 consolidated two overall departments, with the heads of each reporting 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:05.640 directly to the governor. While this may have streamlined the 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:09.560 local government bureaucracy, it may have also left an opening 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.360 for lack of oversight. One of the most controversial of 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.959 these consolidations was the newly formed Department of Human Resources. 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.240 It is under this department that every health and welfare 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:25.600 organization in the state was lumped together. Shortly after the 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:29.640 hearing regarding Anawaki's license, Jim Parm was put in charge 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.360 as the director of the Department of Family and Children's 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.840 Services or Defacts, the same department which held said hearing. 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.320 A year later, the department would be absorbed into the 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.640 aforementioned Department of Human Resources, with Parm serving as its 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:50.680 deputy commissioner. As second in command for this expansive department, 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:55.680 Parum would have sway over a key factor, what organizations 0:14:55.720 --> 0:15:01.800 could qualify as a licensed medical facility. Harm had been 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:06.080 instrumental in helping Petter get Anawake he accredited as a 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.360 psychiatric hospital. That was pivotal for Antawaki because when they 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:14.880 were accredited as a hospital, they became eligible for third 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:20.120 party insurance payments, and that made an Awake a gold mine. 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:26.040 The first correspondence regarding accrediting an Awake as a licensed 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.320 hospital appears to be a letter from the Comptroller General 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:34.320 of Georgia to Lewis Petter from two In it, Comptroller 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.720 General Johnny Calledwell refers to a meeting with the staff 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.800 of an Awake in review of the treatment center Calledwell 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.560 provides a list of violations of the building which go 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:48.320 against the requirements of the Safety Code for Hospitals. In 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.560 the trip reports sheets sent to the then director of Anawaki, 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:56.080 James Henry Evans, it states the purpose of this visit 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.600 was to determine whether or not this treatment center can 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.040 be licensed as a psyche patric hospital. It appears doubtful 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:06.880 that this can be done under current criteria for psychiatric hospitals. 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:09.360 There is not a building at the site which in 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:13.480 any way resembles a psychiatric institution. It appears to this 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:17.880 organization maybe serving a very useful purpose in rehabilitating wayward, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:21.240 delinquent or emotionally disturbed boys, but it is done in 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.560 a completely an institutionalized setting, in the relaxed atmosphere of 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:29.080 a summer camp. This rejection would not be the end 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.720 of Petter's attempt at getting this license. In a string 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:36.440 of memos provided from the Georgia State Archives, we see 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:40.040 Petter once again using his friends in high places to 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:48.400 help move red tape. The documentation that I found that 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:53.760 showed the relationship between Petter and Parham The most troubling 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.840 of that documentation had to do with memos that param 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:02.120 had written to other administrat administrators that worked for him 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.639 at the Department of Human Resources at the time, basically 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.600 pushing them to grant this hospital license. They had questions 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:14.399 about it, and he wrote that basically without saying so, 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.040 and they never do this in bureaucratic documents, but it 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.480 was clear that the purpose of the document was to 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.639 tell them grant this guy this license. The string of 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.160 memos to which Albert is referring to begins innocently enough 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.679 with a letter from a concerned teacher dating from November 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:35.680 of nine. This would begin a domino effect that would 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:40.480 forever change the future of Annawaki. In the letter, she 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.640 writes of a mentally handicapped student of hers who had 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.880 trouble adapting to normal school environments but expressed an interest 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.040 in outdoors and camping, whom she believed would be a 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.520 perfect fit for Annawaki. The problem was the ever growing 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:59.440 cost of enrollment in the program. The student's family could 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.760 simply not afford it. Over the next months would follow 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:06.560 it back and forth of letters between the administration of 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.480 an Awaki and a number of people from different health 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.480 organizations the state offered to pay the required rate for 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:18.119 aid to families with dependent children. Administrator of Annawaki, James 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.280 Evans response would be that the rate was so inadequate 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.720 that the institution should not be included among any list 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.800 of programs for whom these rates were established. In other words, 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:33.200 it wasn't enough money. This was just the opportunity had 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:37.280 or needed to finally license an Awake as a medical facility, 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.920 and he would call on his friend Jim Para to 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.920 help make it happen. In a letter from ninety three, 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.400 PARAM inquired at the Division of Mental Health would recommend 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.960 that Anawaki be granted a provisional license as a special 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:55.680 psychiatric hospital and if so, what steps would be required 0:18:55.720 --> 0:19:01.560 to obtain said license. Their superior he was a deputy 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:05.159 director of the division of the department. He had written 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:09.520 this to three bureaucrats who were his underlinks this parallel 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:13.360 documentation that was in the state archives that shows that 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:24.399 Peder was pressuring part to accelerate the process. In a 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:28.000 reply to one of param's inquiries, director of the Legal 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.560 Services Unit Rights, assuming the facility can convince the various 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.840 units making recommendations to the Quality Control Unit. The department 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:41.119 presently has the legal authority to license the facility without 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:46.000 any additional legislation. Anawaki was soon fast tracked to receive 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.960 their license to operate in the State of Georgia as 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.399 a psychiatric hospital. In a memo regarding this matter, it 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.200 has stated the quote, if consideration is given to licensing 0:19:57.240 --> 0:20:00.440 this center, we believe it will be necessary to waigh 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.320 physical plant requirements and let the program of services be 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.879 the determining factor. Basically, if the State of Georgia was 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.720 going to give Anawaki a license, a special exemption would 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:17.400 have to be made around any building requirements. Shortly after this, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.520 the Division of Mental Health wrote a glowing review of 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.760 an Awaki to the Chief of the Standards and Licensing Unit, 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:29.240 the department in charge of granting licenses. In March of 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:33.400 seventy four, Annawake was granted a six month provisional license 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.680 to operate as a state mental hospital. The special provision 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.040 was made which ignored any violations of the building requirements 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:44.560 of a medical hospital. Jim Parum followed up with a 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:49.119 letter to Louis Petter. It read, Dear Lewis, just a 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.800 quick note to thank you for the tour. I was 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.840 greatly impressed with your program and the attitudes of boys 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.200 with whom I spoke. You and the staff deserve great 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.760 credit for the job you were doing. If I could 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:05.000 send more state kids, I certainly would. They all seem 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:09.080 to be doing well again. Thanks, keep up the good 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:14.720 work as ever, Jim. Not five years after Louis Petter 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.720 and Anna Wake were put on trial, Jim Parum was 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:21.720 singing their praises. Harms influence would help keep Anna Wake 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:24.640 in good standing and would later lead to a permanent 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.920 license as a medical facility in the state of Georgia. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.720 Now and Awake could collect third party payments from any 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.920 of their patients medical insurance, essentially opening the floodgates to 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.160 increased premiums through which the Petter family stood to make millions. 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.720 Parm in the meantime, would continue working his way up 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:47.480 the chain of government bodies, ultimately leading to his highest 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.560 ranking government he would take just a few years later. 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.800 When Carter ran for president, he said he was going 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.960 to reorganize the federal government, and he was gonna do 0:21:58.040 --> 0:21:59.920 it in the same way that he had reorganized the 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.159 state government, which he said had been so successful. And 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:09.159 when he became president, he appointed Parham to oversee that effort. Harum, 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.800 who was a poor boy who grew up in a 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.119 cotton mill village in the city of Atlanta, went all 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.480 away from the cotton mill villages of Atlanta to Washington 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:23.520 with Jimmy Carter. Anna Wake had received their medical license 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.679 and now had one of its biggest proponents in the 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.960 White House. Serving under Jimmy Carter's cabinet, it seemed nothing 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:35.160 was shut down the facility. By most accounts, Petter felt 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.359 he was untouchable by the law, and at this point 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:59.359 he may as well have been. As the seventies progressed 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:02.680 in a Waky became more ingrained in Georgia and neighboring 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.399 state's way of dealing with troubled youth, wards of the 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.120 state were now being sent there, and the program continued 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:13.720 to devolve into something much harsher than when it initially began. 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:17.920 One of the main structures on the Innawaki campus mentioned 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:21.359 in the State Archives licensing documents is the E and 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:25.239 O Building. This was mentioned in an earlier episode as 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:28.920 it was formerly known among patients as the Quiet Room, 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:31.680 a form of solitary confinement which was meant to break 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:35.840 down patients upon their arrival or for punishment when acting out. 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:40.240 Evaluation and observation had progressed to being one of the 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:43.960 cruelest aspects of an awaki, one that every patient would 0:23:44.000 --> 0:23:48.439 be met with immediately upon arrival. Here's Mark Sublett, an 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:56.040 Anawaki survivor. Your first arrival, you would go in and 0:23:56.080 --> 0:23:58.560 meet with a case worker lady, and then that's when 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:04.760 things kind of started turning a different way. They told 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:09.160 me you would have to be processed and evaluation, so 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:11.720 you would go to a place called the E. N 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:15.600 O Unit. So you'd first be led into this little 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.720 room eight by eight. Anyway, they take in and tell 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:21.960 you you're gonna have to take off all your clothes 0:24:22.000 --> 0:24:24.560 and they're gonna have to evaluate you and observe you 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:27.040 to make sure you're not gonna harm yourself or do anything. 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:30.560 For twenty four hours, you're removed of your clothes and 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:33.520 you're giving a green robe just like at the hospital, 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:37.600 a little bit more concealing, but not much. And then 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:41.280 you're put into a room and you're locked up for 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:46.640 forty eight hours. And that's how you're initially brought into 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:54.000 the anawaking system. Here's another survivor Chris McKnight. The gentleman 0:24:54.080 --> 0:24:57.159 buzzed the door, and they buzzed you in, and you 0:24:57.240 --> 0:25:00.320 walk into a small fourier with two chi airs and 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:04.560 a really small round table. The room is about ten 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:09.720 ft by eight ft. Two doors, both locked, the glass 0:25:09.760 --> 0:25:14.199 top plexiglass top part of the door. So you go 0:25:14.280 --> 0:25:17.639 in there, and the first thing you do is they 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:22.320 tell you to strip. I had just turned nine ten 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:25.920 days before this. I looked more like I was seven. 0:25:27.160 --> 0:25:31.359 I was really confused, and I sat down and said no. 0:25:31.920 --> 0:25:34.680 And so the gentleman leaned over and in a much 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:37.440 harsher voice, said, you need to strip naked now, or 0:25:37.480 --> 0:25:40.960 I'm going to do it for you. So I started 0:25:40.960 --> 0:25:44.280 to get pretty scared. I was a very small child. 0:25:44.400 --> 0:25:46.640 So what did I do. I started to take off 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:50.920 my clothes. I'm naked, and they rolled up my clothes 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:54.080 and they buzzed me through the other door with the 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:58.200 group leader. And I looked to my left and there's 0:25:58.520 --> 0:26:04.600 a day room and there's about fifteen teenage boys with 0:26:04.640 --> 0:26:09.040 their clothes on, and a couple other older gentleman group 0:26:09.160 --> 0:26:12.400 leaders as it turned out, and they're all looking at me, 0:26:13.320 --> 0:26:16.879 and I'm standing there naked, and I just start to cry. 0:26:18.520 --> 0:26:21.679 I felt alone many times in my life, but this 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:25.919 was like I felt like on my own alone. This 0:26:26.040 --> 0:26:29.320 was like a whole another kind of level of being 0:26:29.400 --> 0:26:36.280 scared and frightened. So they walk you through the day room, 0:26:36.320 --> 0:26:41.320 which is room about forty by forty ft and you 0:26:41.359 --> 0:26:44.320