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they were SPs. Disconnection meant no more communication with my
parents. They told me my parents would not make it in the world, but
that I would make it in the world.... (5)
Tonja finally escaped from Scientology by stealing keys from a
sleeping guard and crawling through an air duct to freedom.
One of the most infamous aspects of the Sea Org is the dreaded RPF,
or "Rehabilitation Project Force," the prison or concentration camp of
Scientology. Being sent to the RPF is the dread of every Sea Org member.
It was conceived by Hubbard during one of his low points at a time
when he was recovering from a motorcycle accident and in a generally
black mood.
It was not until early 1974 that blatant breaking of another
person's will -- "break 'em down, build 'em back up" -- became full
blown and implemented as official dogma: the Rehabilitation Project
Force.
The RPF was essentially a slave labor prison project, where inmates
ate scraps from the table after other crew had finished, and where they
were not allowed to speak to any non-RPFers unless spoken to. Even then
they were only to briefly answer, while addressing their betters always
as "sir." RPFers were dressed in blue overalls and had to run wherever
they went. (I shouldn't be describing this in the past tense. The RPF
continues to this day, very much a part of the Church of Scientology.)
(6)
Gerry Armstrong was a graduate of the RPF, and he writes:
There is no way to really describe the RPF experience, the
hopelessness, the humiliation, the horror. It seemed to go on forever,
the days all identical, no time to oneself, the same blue boiler suits
like prison garb, day after day, the same questions in the same endless
security checks.
Hubbard's purpose in creating the RPF, and running it as a prison
with assignees considered criminals, was the breaking of people's wills,
the total subjugation of anyone he considered exhibited
"counter-intention" to his goals.
He achieved his purpose with me so well that I thanked him for the
opportunity of doing the RPF, much like prisoners of war, who are broken
emotionally and spiritually, through deprivation and mind control
techniques, and thank their captors. (7)
Some of the rules in the RPF as given by one person who was in it
are:
- No walking. You had to run all the time.
- You were not allowed to speak to anyone outside the RPF.
- You were not allowed to originate any communication to anyone
outside the RPF unless there was an emergency.
- You were not allowed to go anywhere by yourself, unless
authorized to do so. Even when going to the bathroom, someone had to go
with you.
- You had to call all RPF seniors "Sir." If there was some reason
you had to talk to someone outside the RPF, you had to call them "Sir."
- All letters you wrote had to be put in a stamped, unsealed
envelope, then dropped in a box in the RPF room. The RPF Ethics Officer
read all outgoing mail.
- You are only allowed in RPF designated areas. You were not
allowed to go anywhere else except during morning cleaning stations when
you cleaned the rest of the (org).
- You had to wear dark-blue boiler suits or dark blue shirts and
pants.
- You were not allowed "luxuries" such as music, watching TV,
playing cards, perfume, radios, etc.
This same member talks about his/her state of mind while being
audited in the RPF:
My Rock Slam handling (a type of auditing) I think was the point
where my brain wasn't just falling apart, but it started to get fried. I
was running out all of these evil purposes connected to the Rock Slams
(a certain needle read on the E-meter), and I started spouting out and
running out the weirdest things like, "to be somebody else," "to blow up
a planet," "commit suicide," "to never grow up," "to kill myself," "to
destroy bodies." The list was endless.
My brain was just getting fried on all of this. I mean I had to have
been the most evil and craziest person that ever existed. I don't know
how to describe what happened other than my brain was frying right up. I
felt like I was in a daze half the time. I'd do things, sort of like
watching myself doing them but not realizing I was doing it, as if it
was somebody else, except that I know it was me.
I'd scream at my auditor, I'd throw down the cans to the E-meter
that I was holding, I'd refuse to get auditing. I just created a real
scene. So of course, I ended up in ethics, and had a "body guard" put on
me.
This whole thing was a period of weeks, I think. But actually, in
the state I was in, it could have been two days or it could have been
two months.... (8)
Fortunately, this member was also able to escape and is no longer in
Scientology.
Another ex-member describes the process of mind control in the RPF
in which the will is gradually eroded and finally snaps:
Blind obedience violated everything I had ever valued. I had thought
that Scientology was about independence and self-determinism, not blind
obedience to authority, or so Hubbard had told us on his many tapes I