A federal probe has evidence of shady marketing practices at "bootcamps" for kids, also known as residential treatment facilities or behavior modification centers. These places, in case you don't know, claim they can "rehabilitate" children and teens with serious behavior problems such as violence, defiance, and drug abuse. Since no kid in his or her right mind would willingly check into one of these joints, some centers "abduct" the kids with the parents' permission. Oh, and the federal investigation began with thousands of allegations of abuse, sometimes resulting in death. 

What did the probe find? The Government Accountability Office investigators, posing as parents, contacted some of these bootcamps. They found instances of deceptive marketing, including one program rep who urged the fictitious father not to tell his wife he'd be admitting their child to the program, and another facility that claimed the family could receive insurance reimbursement following treatment, but that they should not contact their insurance company in advance. Ick. This is on top of the verified claims of abuse, and the investigators plan to detail eight individual cases in which children were abused and in some cases, died, with untrained staff and horrific operating practices at a minimum contributing to the deaths and abuse. In addition, folks who went through these centers will testify. Hmm, maybe we could get these bootcamp-based treatment centers (or at minimum their abusive practices) banned?