Beaten, waterboarded, starved, and even whipped: that’s what a teenager from Michigan had to endure after his adoptive parents abandoned him in the Atlantis Leadership Academy, a correctional school in Jamaica.
Elijah Goodman was stranded waiting for his caretakers to take him home, but the day never came. Local authorities soon received reports of abuse and neglect at the school as the controversy sparked international concern, resulting in the firing of five staff members and the subsequent closing of the academy.
Elijah was adopted from Haiti at age 11 by a wealthy conservative Christian couple, but he was left isolated and frightened in the foreign country in September 2023 and had to endure the nightmarish conditions of the establishment for seven months before he was relocated.
