The horrors of Élan school

WHATS ÉLAN?

Founded in 1970 by Joseph Ricci, Élan was presented in the media as a reformatory for troubled teenagers, being promoted in high-profile special reports from its opening until 1990.

Elan's first problem was that not only were young criminals entering its doors, but most of them were simply depressed, homosexual, neurodivergent, or just a little rebellious teenagers.

BEEN TAKEN TO ÉLAN

How you got to Élan could vary depending on how much resistance you put up, but generally some men would break into your house while you were sleeping, tie your hands and legs, and throw you in the back of a pickup truck until you got to Maine.

YOUR NEW LIFE IN ÉLAN

Once inside the building, you were forced to take a bath, then searched, and all your belongings were removed, including your clothes, which were later replaced with colorless ones to strip you of your individuality.

After all that, an administrator would introduce you to an "Elder Brother" who was supposed to accompany you throughout your stay and teach you the rules of the place, but they would only try to incite you to escape or trick you into breaking a rule and thus report you to the administrators. Why? Well, Élan residents were divided into two hierarchies: 

Those of the weaker class: They could only respond to those of the "stronger class," and speaking to each other was strictly forbidden.

Those of the stronger class: They could speak to each other and to the weaker class.

To become a strong class person you would have to complete various study plans and therapies, but with all the rules they had it was basically impossible to be a good patient in Élan, so the only way to advance in hierarchy was to accuse someone of doing something bad, then they would be punished, and you would gain more rights.

A VERY BRIEF LOOK AT SOME OF ÉLAN'S PROHIBITIONS

• TALKING TOO LOUD/TALKING TOO LOW/NOT TALKING ENOUGH/TALKING WITHOUT PERMISSION

• SEEING SOMEONE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX/DELIBERATELY SEEING SOMEONE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX/LOOKING AT THE WINDOW/LOOKING AT THE FLOOR/LOOKING AT RESTRICTED AREAS

• HAVING NEGATIVE BODY LANGUAGE/HAVING AN IMAGE OR PERSONALITY/ANY TYPE OF PHYSICAL CONTACT/REACT TO INSULTS/READ WITHOUT PERMISSION

• BATHING FOR MORE THAN THREE MINUTES/LIKING SOMEONE/SMILE WITHOUT PERMISSION/NOT SMILE ENOUGH/LAUGHING AT A JOKE MADE BY SOMEONE IN A HIGHER CLASS

• ETC.....

THE PUNISHMENTS

Now, I could talk about what they did on a daily basis, the extreme humiliation methods they used, or the "therapies" they practiced, but I want to summarize this blog as much as possible, so I'm going to delve a little into the punishments they subjected the residents to.

-FOR MAKING A GESTURE AN ADMINISTRATOR DOESN'T LIKE: He would shout at the other patients and they would surround you and shout the worst insults they could think of, these rounds usually lasted 40 minutes but could be extended.

-FOR TRYING TO ESCAPE: (You didn't necessarily have to try, it also applied if you looked out the window, looked sad, or were suspected of trying;) You were designated as a "risky person" and they took the laces off your shoes,then forced you to wear a neon yellow t-shirt, and tiny pink shorts. If you tried to escape more than once, you were forced to wear a pink bunny suit, have your feet shackled, and walk around barefoot.

-FOR SMILING WITHOUT PERMISSION: You had to clean the floors, take out the trash, scrub the garbage cans, scrub the toilets with toothbrushes, and wash the dishes. You had to do these chores for 10 to 12 hours a day.

-"THE RING": Used as a last resort when a resident repeatedly broke the rules. The target was placed in the middle of all the kids in the building, surrounded by them, and the administrators would have one of the older teens in the building enter the "ring" as well. They would hit the target, and if they held their blows, then every so often the opponent would switch, continuing the beating. There were several deaths due to this punishment.

-FOR GETTING BAD GRADES: The student should wear giant hats or posters that compile insults directed at them.

-FOR BEING IMMATURE: They were forced to wear diapers over their clothes and other variations of ridiculous costumes.

-(There were also some more specific types of punishments, for example, there is talk of a case in which administrators forced a group of boys to dress in black and live in the garbage)

SO...WHAT HAPPENED?

Élan closed its doors in 2011 shortly after the death of its founder, thanks to a high-profile case that indirectly implicated the institution. Survivors took advantage of the internet boom to expose the case on Reddit, and it gained even more popularity.

This is a very concise essay about the events that happened at Élan, and I'm omitting many things, like all the charges that were put against Ricci, or how the chances of being SA'd as a girl there were very high.

I'll probably write another post someday talking about these topics in more detail, as I still have a lot of information to share.

For now, if you're interested in the topic, this is a direct link to a webcomic made by an Élan survivor; https://elan.school/rude-awakening

Thanks for reading!