Welcome

9/1/2010

Who we are

We are a small non-governmental organization who are focusing on teenagers in residential treatment, which basically are prisoners of conscience because they are detained based on their beliefs rather than their actions.

Often they are confined based on an administrative desicion or by the orders of their parents without access to legal aid.

We have to accept that even here in 2010 the news of teenagers who die while they are placed in residential treatment continue to raise.

We support HR 911 which will introduce some minimum standards for teenagers who are placed at boarding schools, boot camps or wilderness programs.

Our approach is research on the internet and interviews with survivors of various programs.

You can reach us by email. Our email-address is (without spaces): h u g h e l b o r n @ y a h o o . c o m

Regards
Hugh Elborn
spokesperson

1 Comment

Donna

4/11/2013 10:37:29 am

Deutsch’s report begins with a description of Lambert’s troubled childhood in Oak Harbor. By the time he was in middle school, he was getting into fights, running away and drinking alcohol. His family sent him to a “boot camp program” in Samoa, which was later closed after allegations of widespread abuse surfaced.

“In this fragile condition as a 15-year-old boy he was exported to a boot camp type program in a foreign land where he was literally held hostage, isolated from his parents, and physically and psychologically abused for close to two years,” the psychologist wrote.

Lambert returned to Oak Harbor High School after the boot camp, but dropped out and got his GED.

Lambert started hearing voices when he was about 19 years old, which was after he started using methamphetamine. His mother noticed that he started to talk to himself when he was in his early 20s, the report states.

Deutsch wrote that the meth use and stressors in Lambert’s life were probably complicit in causing the initial psychotic episode; however, methamphetamine use “typically would not cause a psychotic condition unless there was a preexisting precarious psychological adjustment and predisposing factors.”

Lambert moved to Alaska and worked on fishing boats. He claims his meth use was minimal, but “he was continually influenced by his delusions and hallucinations,” Deutsch wrote. He developed a delusion that his girlfriend was raped and convinced an acquaintance to help him assault the man he thought responsible.

Lambert was convicted of assault and spent five years in prison, largely in solitary confinement.

Deutsch points out that there is abundant literature on the damaging psychological effects of isolation on inmates.

After prison, Lambert moved to his mother’s house near Oak Harbor, but continually talked to himself and appeared “shaky and post-traumatic,” the report states. His mother reported that he scared her by talking to himself and speaking in different voices. He left to live in the woods.

Lambert claims he woke up in the woods on the day of the murders with the voices of FBI agents and a nebulous “judge” screaming in his head.

Deutsch and the doctors at Western State Hospital noted that there’s evidence that Lambert did suffer from a delusion and truly believed his son was kidnapped. The cause of the delusion, however, is under debate.

Lambert claims that neither drugs nor alcohol precipitated the murders. There was little evidence that Lambert used drugs or alcohol on the day of the murders, though he has a history of significant drug and alcohol abuse.

Deutsch argues that Lambert believed the killings were legal in his delusional world.

Deutsch concludes that Lambert’s paranoia continues to make him a dangerous man.

“A powerful paranoid delusion system continues to influence Joshua Lambert and per his report he is being told to hurt people and act out in court,” the report states.

“Mr. Lambert will remain a high risk for violence without intensive psychological treatment including medications.”

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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