Predatory institution for troubled teens leads student to pursue Brandeis Law degree

Visitors to Times Square in New York last spring may well have had a chance to see Brandeis Law 2L Mackenzie Williams' face on one of the massive video billboards there. Williams was sharing her experiences as part of a Paris Hilton-led initiative to help protect at-risk youth from predatory organizations preying on troubled teens.

Private institutions are using exemptions for tribal lands and religious beliefs to profit from the concern expressed for teenagers whose parents who feel like they need to change their child’s behavior by putting them into what sounds like positive juvenile behavioral rehab facilities. These institutions are often in states far away from the parents and promise what sounds like great experiences. The attraction of being able to send a "troubled teen” to a horse farm where they will get schooling, practical experience and be far from the temptations of home is great. However, that is not always the reality.

Williams has been through this experience for herself. At the age of 13, a contract was signed with such an institution, and she was taken practically immediately to a place in Montana described as a Christian horse ranch so she could be in a safe environment.

The reality was very different. The ranch turned out to be little more than a youth labor camp, with children working from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. Breaks were allowed only for eating. There was no personal freedom.

"We were essentially indentured servants doing hard physical labor non-stop until the staff believed we were Christian-enough to be let go,” Williams said. "They'd listen in on our 15 minute-weekly calls so we couldn't tell our parents what was actually happening. We were locked up at night with alarmed windows and doors and we couldn't do anything, even drink water or use the restroom, without permission.” Williams was initially told she would just be there for six months, but it was nearly three years later before she left.

Alarmingly, she was probably one of the luckier ones. In some cases, children can be stuck there for up to 10 years. Typically, children in these facilities are aged between 8 and 18.

Williams’ ranch has exploited over 700 children, and there is an online support group of over 200 former residents sharing their experiences. Williams is glad for it. "Having other people to talk to about this helped me realize that I wasn't crazy for thinking my supposed ‘savior’ was actually my captor,” she said.

In 2020, she realized that she could help stop institutions like these, and she began actively working to support bills forcing places like this to change. Through this effort, she became aware of the work Paris Hilton was doing to end such child abuse at these institutions and became involved in the #IAmMovement.

Her experiences with her former institution and her desire to put an end to this exploitation through legislation started her thinking about the law, and last year she started her career in Brandeis. She is still hurt by her experiences but intends to work towards preventing others from going through the same.

"While I look forward to a career in the law, regardless of where it takes me, this experience will always be a part of me and because of that, I will keep speaking out against these places to bring awareness and to stop this from happening to others.”