Though facing negligent homicide and child abuse charges in the death of one of his students, Challenger Foundation President Stephen Cartisano says there's nothing wrong with his program.
"We've had too much success," Cartisano said, noting the low rate of recidivism in his wilderness therapy program, designed to help straighten out troubled youths.One student in the program experienced an opposite effect, said his mother and a psychologist.
Jon McMahon, who participated in the Challenger program in the spring of 1989, suffers symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his wilderness experience, according to Paul Wert, a clinical psychologist in Spokane, Wash.
McMahon, now 19, was enrolled in Challenger as a birthday present from his mother, who said she was attracted by the program's claim of teaching self-esteem and values.
"It turned into a nightmare for him," Debbie McMahon told the Deseret News in a telephone interview from her central Washington home.
Shortly after Jon McMahon was sent home from Challenger, he was interviewed by Wert.
"Jon McMahon . . . despite difficulties prior to his Challenger Foundation experience, is presently experiencing symptoms compatible with post-traumatic stress disorder," concluded Wert in an Oct. 19, 1989, report to McMahon's attorney.
The disorder, also known as "shell shock," is most common among battle-fatigued soldiers.
"It is my opinion that these symptoms can be directly tied to the cruelty and abuse which (Jon McMahon) experienced while with the Challenger Foundation," the psychologist wrote.
Cartisano laughed when told of the diagnosis. "Holy cow! You're telling me he had the same thing that a guy who went to Vietnam has? That's absolutely ludicrous."
Referring to his files, Cartisano said Jon McMahon had a positive experience, had talked of returning to the program as a counselor and was taken out of the program at his own request. "He asked to leave the program because he turned 18. . . . That's what he wanted."
Jon McMahon got into the program when his mother, Debbie, became distraught that her son was slipping in his schoolwork and had dabbled in drugs. She borrowed $15,500 to pay Challenger to escort her son from Washington to southern Utah, where he was placed into the 63-day wilderness survival program.
Jon McMahon was rationed food and forced to drink water from a gulch that was frequented by cows, according to his mother and the psychologist's report. His weight went from 168 pounds to 128 while in the program, the report says.
After a failed escape attempt, the boy was not given food for four days. On the fifth day, he was given half a peach and a container of oatmeal.
Challenger counselors also forced him to sit in a gulch for eight hours in the daytime with only two pints of water. During this time, "he was incessantly threatened and intimidated," the psychologist's report states. To prevent his escaping again, Challenger counselors forced him to sleep next to a Doberman dog.
The boy was also forced at one time to drag a girl who refused to hike. That and other incidents led to a child-abuse charge against Challenger.
When Garfield County deputy sheriffs tried to subpoena Jon McMahon as a witness in the case, Challenger employees escorted him out of the desert in the middle of the night and put him on a plane for home. That incident led to a witness tampering charge. (Please see accompanying story.)
The psychologist found that Jon McMahon continues to have "intrusive recollections of the more brutal or vicious acts against him" and others. McMahon also has frequent nightmares about two counselors in the program, who have since been fired.
Jon McMahon is currently in a Washington jail, serving time for stealing checks, his mother said.