76 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 8, 2017
Dead, Insane, or in Jail: A CEDU Memoir
Zack Bonnie
Reviewed by Joseph Szimhart
Dyke, VA: Not With the Program. (2015) (with assist
of Chenille Books for editing and production). ISBN-
10: 0996337822 ISBN-13: 978-0996337823
(paperback). $15.95 (Amazon.com). 316 pages.
Brutal therapy for teen meets pulp fiction is my
initial impression after reading Zack Bonnie’s
memoir. More than brutal therapy, the Rocky
Mountain Academy (RMA) in a remote,
panhandle region of Idaho was an example of
many such therapeutic boot camps yet operating
that combine inept staff and quasi-militaristic
culture. The camps purport to strip away bad
beliefs and behaviors to get to the pure “me”
from which a new self can emerge. An RMA
parent handbook stated, “Raps are generally 3.5
hours in length, occur 3 times a week and are
designed to facilitate personal growth…” That
was in 1988 when 14-year-old Zack Bonnie’s
parents signed him into an “emotional growth
program” at a CEDU branch in Idaho. Personal
growth may have been the goal, but the author
exposes something more like a teenager learning
to cope emotionally while sequestered in a
psychologically abusive environment.
CEDU doubles as a neologism for see-do, or
“we can help you see what and who you really
are and show you how to behave after you do.”
The roots of Bonnie’s CEDU in Idaho were in
Synanon, a rehab cult founded by Charles
“Chuck” Dederich (1913–1997). Synanon
started on $33 in 1958 and grew into a
multimillion dollar enterprise. Early in its
development, Synanon was popularly regaled as
a great breakthrough in addictions treatment but
fame, power, illegal financial dealings, criminal
behavior, and unethical social control eventually
brought it down. Synanon gained infamy on
anticult activist lists by the mid-1970s. Lawsuits
and former member complaints eventually
brought Dederich’s empire to legal reckoning.
For many members, there was no way out but
escape as Dederich came to teach that once an
addict, always an addict, and the only salvation
was to remain in his program for life. One
Synanon client, Mel Wasserman, founded the
first CEDU organization in 1967, borrowing
Synanon’s in-your-face, ego-busting style.
Bonnie writes that CEDU was acquired by
Brown Schools, Inc., in 1998. Brown Schools
and CEDU declared bankruptcy in 2005. Some
of the CEDU schools were reopened by
Universal Health Services as behavioral health
centers.
According to Bonnie, RMA staff
tried to get us to go off the deep end.
Then they could say or do anything to
you. If they threw you out, they assured
us, you’d be dead, insane, or in jail
[thus, the title]. If you split, and went to
a lock-up, or perhaps a mental
institution, your life was over. (p. 97)
The author did split once from RMA, only to
find a ride hitchhiking with a lurid, scraggly
fellow in a pick-up truck. In the truck’s cab,
Bonnie had to endure a sexual proposition by the
driver, who tightly gripped the teen’s leg with
one hand while he masturbated with the other.
Bonnie fled his first ride, then made it to Seattle
airport with the help of nicer people. A collect
call to his parents to please fly him home only
got him into custody with a sheriff, who
delivered Bonnie to a wilderness survival
program. Bonnie had to endure 25 days hiking
around the Mojave Desert in Southern Idaho
with sparse provisions. He was the youngest
member of the group run by the School of Urban
and Wilderness Survival (SUWS). Other RMA
runaways ended up there, as well. The last
quarter of the narrative is about Bonnie’s
experience with SUWS and how he lost a lot of
weight but did learn to start a fire with primitive
tools. Then he learned that his parents would
force him to return to RMA. Those next grueling
30 months or so are the topic of a forthcoming
book in the series.
Others have published reviews of this book, with
most reviewers favorably commenting on the
Dead, Insane, or in Jail: A CEDU Memoir
Zack Bonnie
Reviewed by Joseph Szimhart
Dyke, VA: Not With the Program. (2015) (with assist
of Chenille Books for editing and production). ISBN-
10: 0996337822 ISBN-13: 978-0996337823
(paperback). $15.95 (Amazon.com). 316 pages.
Brutal therapy for teen meets pulp fiction is my
initial impression after reading Zack Bonnie’s
memoir. More than brutal therapy, the Rocky
Mountain Academy (RMA) in a remote,
panhandle region of Idaho was an example of
many such therapeutic boot camps yet operating
that combine inept staff and quasi-militaristic
culture. The camps purport to strip away bad
beliefs and behaviors to get to the pure “me”
from which a new self can emerge. An RMA
parent handbook stated, “Raps are generally 3.5
hours in length, occur 3 times a week and are
designed to facilitate personal growth…” That
was in 1988 when 14-year-old Zack Bonnie’s
parents signed him into an “emotional growth
program” at a CEDU branch in Idaho. Personal
growth may have been the goal, but the author
exposes something more like a teenager learning
to cope emotionally while sequestered in a
psychologically abusive environment.
CEDU doubles as a neologism for see-do, or
“we can help you see what and who you really
are and show you how to behave after you do.”
The roots of Bonnie’s CEDU in Idaho were in
Synanon, a rehab cult founded by Charles
“Chuck” Dederich (1913–1997). Synanon
started on $33 in 1958 and grew into a
multimillion dollar enterprise. Early in its
development, Synanon was popularly regaled as
a great breakthrough in addictions treatment but
fame, power, illegal financial dealings, criminal
behavior, and unethical social control eventually
brought it down. Synanon gained infamy on
anticult activist lists by the mid-1970s. Lawsuits
and former member complaints eventually
brought Dederich’s empire to legal reckoning.
For many members, there was no way out but
escape as Dederich came to teach that once an
addict, always an addict, and the only salvation
was to remain in his program for life. One
Synanon client, Mel Wasserman, founded the
first CEDU organization in 1967, borrowing
Synanon’s in-your-face, ego-busting style.
Bonnie writes that CEDU was acquired by
Brown Schools, Inc., in 1998. Brown Schools
and CEDU declared bankruptcy in 2005. Some
of the CEDU schools were reopened by
Universal Health Services as behavioral health
centers.
According to Bonnie, RMA staff
tried to get us to go off the deep end.
Then they could say or do anything to
you. If they threw you out, they assured
us, you’d be dead, insane, or in jail
[thus, the title]. If you split, and went to
a lock-up, or perhaps a mental
institution, your life was over. (p. 97)
The author did split once from RMA, only to
find a ride hitchhiking with a lurid, scraggly
fellow in a pick-up truck. In the truck’s cab,
Bonnie had to endure a sexual proposition by the
driver, who tightly gripped the teen’s leg with
one hand while he masturbated with the other.
Bonnie fled his first ride, then made it to Seattle
airport with the help of nicer people. A collect
call to his parents to please fly him home only
got him into custody with a sheriff, who
delivered Bonnie to a wilderness survival
program. Bonnie had to endure 25 days hiking
around the Mojave Desert in Southern Idaho
with sparse provisions. He was the youngest
member of the group run by the School of Urban
and Wilderness Survival (SUWS). Other RMA
runaways ended up there, as well. The last
quarter of the narrative is about Bonnie’s
experience with SUWS and how he lost a lot of
weight but did learn to start a fire with primitive
tools. Then he learned that his parents would
force him to return to RMA. Those next grueling
30 months or so are the topic of a forthcoming
book in the series.
Others have published reviews of this book, with
most reviewers favorably commenting on the
