Orotina, Costa Rica
Dozens of American teens ran away from a private reform school in Costa Rica after government officials arrived to investigate reports of abuse, The New York Times reported this week. The Costa Rican authorities told the 200 students, ages 11 to 17, that they could not be held at the Academy at Dundee Ranch against their will. “Kids heard that and they started running for the door,” said Hugh Maxwell, 17. Parents pay $30,000 a year to send troubled teens to Dundee Ranch, where administrators promise to use tough-love techniques to straighten them out. Authorities have been receiving reports of beatings and other abuse for two years. More than 30 kids escaped during the government inspectors’ visit. Some tried to find their way back to the U.S., and others reportedly headed for the beach, 20 miles away.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Spain’s deadly high-speed train crashThe Explainer The country experienced its worst rail accident since 2013, with the death toll of 39 ‘not yet final’
-
Can Starmer continue to walk the Trump tightrope?Today's Big Question PM condemns US tariff threat but is less confrontational than some European allies
-
There’s a new serif in town: Trump’s font overhaulIn the Spotlight As the State Department shifts from Calibri to Times New Roman, is this just a ‘typographic dispute’, or the ‘latest battleground’ of a culture war
