Inside chilling troubled teen school in Jamaica where American boys were ‘whipped, put in stress positions for hours, forced to exercise until they vomit and WATERBOARDED’

American boys at a Jamaican school for troubled teenagers have told how they were allegedly beaten, put in stress positions for hours, forced to play sports until they vomited and even waterboarded.

Details of the allegations against Atlantis Leadership Academy staff have emerged after five people were arrested on suspicion of child abuse.

Eight American boys aged 14 to 18 were expelled from the school in February after a surprise inspection revealed the allegations.

The teenagers have now described the hellish treatment they say they suffered at the Treasure Beach facility, located off the island’s south coast.

“There were things that caused constant pain or suffering,” said a 15-year-old former student NBC. ‘It’s like you’re starving; If you’re so hungry that you’re in pain, or so thirsty that you’re about to pass out, that’s worse than a beating in my opinion.”

The Atlantis Leadership Academy is located on Treasure Beach, located along the south coast of the island

Randall Cook, the founder and director of the Atlantis Leadership Academy, has denied the abuse and has not been charged

The school’s founder, Randall Cook, has not been charged. He previously defended the institution and denied the boys’ allegations.

But several students have since described being forced to sit on a stool for hours without bathroom breaks and being hit whenever he moved.

According to the 15-year-old, staff threw buckets of water in his face. Another child described how a garden hose was sprayed into his nostrils so hard that he could no longer breathe.

Boys were also forced to train for two hours every morning by running continuous laps or performing hundreds of push-ups, with punches thrown if they stopped, the former students said.

“You were hit and you were hit,” said James, 18, one of eight teenagers expelled. “But if I told anyone, I was afraid I would be jumped by the rest of the staff.”

He added that food portions were routinely cut as a form of punishment and described the school as ‘a hell in paradise’.

The teens added that 16-year-old Cody Fleischman, who has Tourette’s syndrome, ADHD and OCD, was routinely singled out for some of the worst treatment.

Ghostly footage shows teen’s dramatic weight loss during just seven months at school.

Paris Hilton, who has fought the troubled teen industry since experiencing it firsthand, flew to Jamaica to support the boys and spoke out against the school

“There’s nowhere to go,” said Michael McFarland, an attorney representing his family. “You’re in this remote part of this country where you don’t know anyone and you’re constantly being watched.”

In December 2023, James said some boys tried to escape to the US embassy but were quickly captured by staff who they said beat them up.

His mother and Fleischman’s said they were notified on February 11 that their children had been taken out of school when they received a call from the embassy.

Fleischman then contacted Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media Impact, which campaigns for greater oversight of the types of institutions Hilton herself was sent to.

The heiress flew to Jamaica to show her solidarity and demand the closure of the school.

“When I heard what eight American children had endured at the hands of a troubled teen institution in Jamaica, I knew I had to drop everything to show my support for their testimony,” she said.

She said the boys reported being “severely beaten, beaten, flooded and starved.”

“It outrages me that it takes months to bring these children back to the United States and only moments to send them away in the first place,” she said.

In the photo: generic images of young people at the academy. The faith-based school specializes in helping teens overcome anger, depression and substance abuse

Eight boys aged between 14 and 18 were removed from school in February after a surprise inspection uncovered allegations of abuse

However, parents who already sent their children to school in 2021 have repeated the abuse allegations.

Their sons told them that staff forced the boys to stay alone for days in a small shed called ‘The Box’, consuming only rice and water and urinating in a bucket.

A Florida mother claimed that children choke when they misbehave.

“We thought we were sending our son to paradise, to the beach every day, away from the problems of American culture,” she said. “The place wasn’t on the beach. They did nothing to help us. All they did was create more problems.”

Another California parent shared how she received photos of her son dragging sand and cleaning an empty pool.

Footage showed the boy smiling during the dinner, but McFarland, who also represents the family, dismissed the photo as “propaganda.”

“They take pictures of these parties that they would have once in a blue moon, but the kids were going hungry,” McFarland said. “A lot of parents had no idea about it because it was designed that way.”

The families say contact was strictly limited and monitored by staff. Flesichman said she didn’t have a phone conversation with her son for a year while he was at the facility.

Former students claim that they sometimes had to exercise for two hours a day until they vomited. Pictured: Promotional images from the school, seen on Yelp

Starvation was also a regular punishment according to the boys, some of whom lost significant amounts of weight during their stay

But Cook said: ‘The style of parental interactions and updates have never been an issue.

“Those who have completed the ALA continue to express their appreciation for the services provided to their families.”

Employees Eddison Morris, 39, Courtney Wiggan, 51, Carson Cox, 33, and Odane Maswell, 31, have since been charged, along with a fifth employee, with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, cruelty to a child and common law assault.

The faith-based school claims to specialize in helping teens overcome anger, depression and substance abuse.

According to its website, it prides itself on being a “Affordable, structured boarding school for young men who have strong leadership skills, even if they have taken some wrong turns in their lives.”

But critics say it is part of the controversial, troubled teen industry rife with allegations of abuse and neglect.

Cook walked back this characterization in a statement to NBC.

“The outcome of this activism and story is simple and fast approaching; families will soon be left with short-term acute psychiatric services and/or juvenile detention,” he said.

He previously described the allegations as a “hatchet job” aimed at smearing the school’s reputation.

The ALA did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.