Harrowing Netflix documentary leaving viewers with 'jaw on the floor' is a 'must-see'
06.03.2024 - 17:09
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Netflix's latest true crime docuseries is so shocking it has left viewers with their jaws 'on the floor.' Titled The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnappings, the three-part series hears from Americans who were the victims of childhood abuse at a disciplinary school.
Ivy Ridge was described to desperate parents as a place to send their disruptive kids in a bid to improve their behaviour. However, despite the shiny brochure billing the academy as a relaxing location of "237 acres, with plenty of outdoor recreational space and nature trails," what the children were made to endure was sinister.
Families would pay up to £140,000 to have their children taken to the school in Ogdensburg, New York, between 2001 and 2009. The documentary, directed by a former Ivy Ridge student, lays bare the harrowing experiences the teens were made to endure.
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Rules within the school meant students were forbidden from talking, smiling, going outside, or communicating freely with the outside world. The only way they were able to leave the program before the age of 18 was if they passed through the extremely tough rules at hand.
For each "failure" to adhere, they were docked points and moved back a stage. During its peak, The Academy is said to have had almost 500 children enrolled.
Past pupil Katherine Kubler spent 15 months confined in the institution from the age of 16 before leaving in 2005. In her efforts to explain to her dad the awful events she was subjected to, Katherine discovered so many other grim experiences - both in Ivy Ridge and across the globe.
Katherine told cameras how she still suffers from panic attacks, social