Escaped Scientologist Goes Public About “Cult” Brainwashing and Labor Camps

Escaped
Scientologist Goes Public About “Cult” Brainwashing and Labor Camps

A
former Scientologist that was on a compound since childhood is now going public
with a book and media appearances to speak about the brainwashing, child labor
camps, as well as other horrors that she witnessed and experienced.

By JG Vibes
Intellihub.com
April 3, 2013

Despite it’s enduring
popularity in public Hollywood, the Church of Scientology has been riddled with
scandals involving terrible human rights violations.  For a long time, the
things that actually went on inside the church of Scientology were largely
unknown, but in recent years there have been a series of whistleblowers, and
documented cases of people escaping from labor camps.

One such whistleblower is
Jenna Miscavige Hill.  According to Wikipedia:

Jenna Miscavige Hill (born 1984) is a former
Scientologist who, after leaving the Church of Scientology in 2005, has become
an outspoken critic of the organization. She is the daughter of Ron Miscavige,
Jr. and the niece of current church leader David Miscavige.

Hill, with Kendra Wiseman
and Astra Woodcraft (both also raised in Scientology), founded the website
exscientologykids.com.She has been interviewed about her experiences within
Scientology by a number of media outlets, including ABC’s Nightline in April
2008, and on Piers Morgan Tonight in February 2013 discussing details of the
church.

In 2000, when Hill was
16, her father and mother left Scientology. Hill states that due to the
Scientology-ordered practice of disconnection with relatives and friends who
don’t support Scientology or are hostile to it, letters from her parents were
intercepted and she was not allowed to answer a telephone for a year.

She described her
experience from ages five to 12 as this: “We were also required to write down
all transgressions …similar to a sin in the Catholic religion. After writing
them all down, we would receive a meter check on the electropsychometer to make
sure we weren’t hiding anything, and you would have to keep writing until you
came up clean.”

September 2012 she
announced that she will be releasing her life story in her book Beyond
Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape,
published under the William Morrow imprint of HarperCollins.

A recent interview was transcribed by Gympie Times:

Jenna was the third
generation of Scientologists in her family and grew up on a compound in
California. At the age of seven, she was admitted to the “Sea Organisation”
(Sea Org) – the executive branch of Scientology’s most dedicated followers.

She was made to sign a
billion-year contract that bound her immortal spirit (known as the “Thetan”) to
lifetime after lifetime of dedication to the organisation.

She was also, as camp
medical liaison officer, responsible for the health and well-being of her
fellow trainees.

“None of this struck me
as odd at the time,” she says.

“Looking back I feel completely
brainwashed. I didn’t even know what I liked or what sort of person I was. I
was just a robot of the church.”

Jenna says that she was
made to incur several hours a day of gruelling labour from the age of six until
she was 12.

“We wore uniforms and
would be digging trench holes for irrigation and rock hauling. We would be
doing 25 hours of heavy-duty labour a week. My hands were always full of
blisters.”

Any dissent from the
group could result in a bucket of ice water thrown over their heads or “pigs
berthing” – spending the night on an old mattress in a dilapidated room filled
with bats.

Those who resisted
authority were declared “suppressives” and cast out.

Jenna became isolated
from the outside world. She was taught that non-Scientologists (referred to as
Wogs – Well and Orderly Gentleman) were ignorant.

Jenna’s testimony paints
a picture of mistrust and suspicion sowed among the students by the leaders,
urging them to tell on each others’ misdemeanours or else be considered an
“accessory” and face the same punishments.

Jenna explains that any
violation of rules could result in offenders being sent to the
Orwellian-sounding Rehabilitation Project Force.

“It was like a
reprogramming camp for inmates who strayed in an attempt to bring them back
into line. Offenders could be sent to a segregated location in the base for at
least two years.”

Between the ages of 12
and 18, Jenna saw her mother only twice and father four times.

Jenna’s parents left the
church when she was 16, though she decided to stay on.

“By that time, I didn’t
know my parents. I thought that my life and world was always going to be the
church. The idea of leaving at that time was just scary to me.” Jenna stayed
on.

In 2001, Jenna met her
husband at the Sea Org and they started dating.

Marriage followed soon
after and they were sent on an assignment to Australia where, against church
rules, they watched TV and searched the internet.

It was here that she
first encountered negative comments about her uncle.

Jenna also struck up a
friendship with a pregnant woman, which made her start thinking about her own
life.

“Scientology rules stated
that Sea Org executives couldn’t have children. I felt like I could be really
missing out. I slowly became more aware of the outside world and started to see
how regular people lived.”

In 2005, Jenna made the
decision to leave the church.

“I realised it wasn’t the
place I had always thought it was and I could no longer look away from its
abuses.”

But her husband suddenly
had doubts about leaving; the church was trying to persuade him to stay without
her.

“They had pulled Dallas
aside and were telling him bad things about me and my family and convincing him
to stay. They told him that if he left, he wouldn’t be able to speak to his
family. It all backfired on them and we got out together.”

Jenna calls her uncle
“evil” for the forced labour and theft of her childhood.

“It’s disgusting that
they completely take advantage of innocent and vulnerable children,” she says.

She feels he doesn’t
follow any religious creed, but is motivated by the power and authority.

The church issued a
statement, in response to Jenna’s book, that it does “not engage in any
activities that mistreat, neglect or force children to engage in manual labour.

The church follows all
laws with respect to children. Claims to the contrary are false.”

It says it always
respects family units and that Jenna’s recollections are at odds with those of
many of her contemporaries who are still in the church. Jenna says they are
lying.

What does she think about
prominent Scientologist celebrities such as Tom Cruise who are proud and in
praise of the church?

“Either he doesn’t know
what’s happening or is wilfully ignorant about it. Those inside who know what
goes on have a responsibility to speak out against it.”

Since leaving, Jenna has
rebuilt her relationship with her parents. Jenna says she wrote the book to
bring closure to the past.

“I want to turn this
horrible episode into something meaningful and in the process show the dark
side of a church that presents itself as benign. I hope it will discourage
others from joining and convince those on the inside to see it for what it is
and leave.”

Another interview with a mainstream media outlet
revealed more details about the forced child labor camps:

Heather Van Nest: What was the worst thing that
happened to you as a Scientologist?

Jenna Miscavige: The worst part, I believe, is the
robbing of your education, and taking away your childhood, and taking you away
from your parents so you have no one to turn to. You have no one in your
corner, and essentially brainwashing you from such an early age.

Heather Van Nest: You talk in your book about your
uncle’s power over the church and members even fear him. You have even called
your uncle ‘evil.’Explain why?

Jenna Miscavige: He’s the head of this
organization- the one responsible for child neglect and abuse, to separating
people from their families, to having
people work there… 100 hour weeks with little to no time off,and I thought it
was about helping people. I thought maybe we have to make some
sacrifices in that way, but there are so many things imposed on its members
that are pointless. They’re not helping anybody. It’s just about control and
power at this point.”

Sources:
^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Miscavige_Hill
^http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/299516/8/Jenna-Miscavige-talks-about-Scientology
^http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/scientologist-exposes-church-brutal-child-labor-camp-article-1.1291350
^http://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/i-was-brainwashed-and-robot-scientology-church/1814188/

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