The adopted son of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin says he was abandoned in Jamaica after being rescued from a school accused of abusing its students.
During his tenure from 2015 to 2019, the Republican and his wife Glenna often spoke about their four adopted children from Ethiopia and their desire to reform Kentucky’s “broken” adoption and foster care system.
But one of the couple’s adopted sons, 17, now claims he was abandoned by the Bevins in February after he was rescued from the Atlantis Leadership Academy for troubled youth in Jamaica.
The boy, nicknamed Noah for privacy reasons, was one of eight American boys between the ages of 14 and 18 who were expelled from school after a surprise inspection revealed horrific abuse, authorities said.
Noah told The Sunday newspaper Last month, other parents traveled to Jamaica to pick up their children after the school was raided, but the Bevins failed to show up and he was placed under guardianship by the Jamaican state.
The Bevins, who also have five biological children, have yet to respond to the allegations
When asked why the Bevins adopted him, Noah replied, “Public image.”
The Bevins, who also have five biological children, did not respond to the allegations when contacted by the Kentucky lantern.
Noah was reportedly sent to another facility in Florida after Bevins lost re-election in 2019.
Last year he was sent to Jamaican boarding school. His current whereabouts are unknown, but he is no longer in Jamaica.
The Bevins are going through a difficult divorce after 27 years of marriage.
The school describes itself as “the ideal environment for a young man to break away from a chaotic, fast-paced and destructive path and make a calm, sincere and refreshing new beginning.”
The teenagers rescued from the boarding school were reportedly beaten, placed in stressful positions for hours, forced to exercise until they vomited and even waterboarded.
The adopted son of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin says he was abandoned in Jamaica after being rescued from a school accused of abusing its students.
The Atlantis Leadership Academy is located on Treasure Beach, situated on the south coast of the island
“There were things that caused constant pain or suffering,” a 15-year-old former student told NBC. “Like starvation; if you’re so hungry you’re in pain, or so thirsty you’re about to pass out, that’s worse than a spanking, in my opinion.”
The school’s founder, Randall Cook, has not been charged. He previously defended the institution and denied the boys’ allegations.
Several students have now described being forced to sit on a stool for hours without going to the toilet and being beaten if they moved.
According to the 15-year-old, staff threw buckets of water over his face. Another child described having a garden hose sprayed so hard into his nostrils that he couldn’t breathe.
Boys were also made to run laps or do hundreds of push-ups for two hours every morning. If they stopped, they were beaten, according to the former students.
“You were whipped, you were hit with pipes,” said James, 18, one of eight teenagers expelled. “But if I told anyone, I was afraid I would be attacked by the other staff.”
During his tenure from 2015 to 2019, the Republican and his wife Glenna often spoke about their four adopted children from Ethiopia and their desire to reform Kentucky’s “broken” adoption and foster care system
Pictured: General images of youth at the academy. The faith-based school specializes in helping teens overcome anger, depression and substance abuse.
He added that food portions were routinely cut as a form of punishment and described the school as “a living hell in paradise”.
The teens added that 16-year-old Cody Fleischman, who has Tourette syndrome, ADHD and OCD, was systematically singled out for the worst treatments.
Poignant footage shows the teenager’s dramatic weight loss in just seven months at school.
“There’s no place to go,” said Michael McFarland, an attorney representing his family. “You’re in this remote part of the country where you don’t know anyone and you’re being watched all the time.”
James said that in December, some boys tried to escape to the US embassy but were soon captured by staff who then allegedly beat them.
Paris Hilton, who has been fighting the troubled youth industry since she first became involved, flew to Jamaica to support the boys and spoke out against the school
His mother and Fleischman said they learned their children had been expelled from school on February 11 after receiving a phone call from the embassy.
Fleischman then reached out to Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media Impact, which advocates for greater scrutiny of the types of institutions Hilton herself was sent to.
The heiress flew to Jamaica to show her solidarity and demand the school’s closure.
“When I heard about what eight American children had experienced in a juvenile detention center in Jamaica, I knew I had to drop everything to show my support for their testimony,” she said.
She said the boys had reported being “severely beaten, whipped, waterboarded and starved.”
“It baffles me that it takes months to get these children back to the United States and only moments to send them away at all,” she said.