Although the examples in the article are terrible, I remember in the 70's the fairly common practice of sexually exploiting women in residential rehab who faced prison or jail unless they participated. There seemed to be no way to stop it since any complaint by the women was dismissed as lying by a drug addict, and grounds for revoking probation. No real rights protection....
While out on a pass — an outing permitted by the treatment center’s staff — to attend his son’s first birthday party, McLoone received a phone call. It was the treatment center telling him to come back to the facility immediately. “What happened?” McLoone asked. “You have to come back now,” was all they said. McLoone put down his slice of birthday cake and promptly left his son’s party.
“I got back that night, and they put me on ‘the bench.’”
McLoone was condemned to sit on the bench — literally, just a wooden bench — for three consecutive days with no explanation as to why. From 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., McLoone was ordered to sit: He was not allowed to attend any group therapy sessions or interact with any of his peers, and staff had ordered them not to speak with him. When it came time to eat, McLoone had to sit alone in the cafeteria. “By day two or three, I thought, what the fuck is this? This is therapeutic? This is treatment?”
I asked McLoone why he sat without protest. He told me that at any moment the staff could cease his treatment, call his probation officer, and send him back to jail. With a second-degree felony pending against him, he had no choice but to submit.