Inside The Luxe $450K Per Year Rehab Center 'Affluenza' Teen Will Attend After Escaping Jail: Horseback Riding, Massages, A Gym & Cooking Lessons
Dec. 17 2013, Published 6:16 a.m. ET
Despite killing four innocent people, Texas teen Ethan Couch will continue to live in the lap of luxury as he attends Newport Academy, a high-end rehab center in California, and RadarOnline.com has all the photos and details.
The exclusive facility gives patients the opportunity for equine assisted psychotherapy where they can ride horses, a state-of-the-art gym facility, mixed martial arts lessons, opportunity for massages and cooking lessons — outraging many.
Couch's father is said to be shelling out the staggering $450,000 per year it will cost to have him treated there as part of his sentencing.
Taking a maximum of just six patients at a time into their program, Newport Academy boasts acres of lush, green outdoor space with gorgeous high-end living spaces.
"Newport Academy has an on-site gym with new, state-of-the-art equipment. The American Medical Association states that a regular exercise program is a key element of effective teen drug treatment," the venue's website states.
"Newport Academy has 'the most beautiful treatment facility in the industry that provides an environment of compassion and caring.'"
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Couch, 16, killed four people in June and severely injured two others after drunk driving in his pickup truck following an alcohol-fueled party at the mansion his father gave him in Burleson, Texas, blowing a .24 — three times the legal limit for an adult.
Prosecutors were pushing for Couch to spend 20 years in jail, but his defense attorney Scott Brown convinced District Judge Jean Boyd to sentence the teen to just 10 years of probation, in part citing the diagnosis of “affluenza” (a term the American Psychiatric Association does not acknowledge), and he will also have to attend the pricey rehab center.
The facility's founder and CEO, Jamison Monroe Jr. appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 recently to talk about Couch, his 'affluenza' diagnosis and how he plans to successfully treat the teen.
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"I don't buy that diagnosis. I don't believe in the term affluenza," he said.
But he noted, "In a country where we allow alcohol and pharmaceutical companies to advertise and promote the use of drugs and alcohol, I really think we have it backwards if we just keep sending kids back to jail if they're simply acting the way popular media in this country is telling them to.
"I truly believe that treatment is a right, not a privilege. And that everybody should have access to treatment if they truly have a diagnosis of substance abuse."
The usual stay at Newport Academy is a minimum of 45 days, but Monroe Jr. is looking forward to a much longer treatment for Couch.
"The opportunity to treat someone for a year is very appealing… The longer someone stays in treatment, the higher the success rate and the better the outcome," he told Cooper.
"People want an eye for an eye. They want justice. They're coming from a vengeful spirit, and not coming from a transformational spirit."
"We do have strict guidelines and rules. People can't just do what they want to whenever they want to, so people have to follow our schedule and abide by our guidelines," Monroe Jr. contests, defending his luxury treatment center.
"So Ethan, if he were to come to us will have significant conditions places upon him, not only by the court but by Newport Academy and if he doesn't fully appreciate the opportunity that he has then he'll lose that opportunity and we'll be responsibility to report that to the court."
Disagreeing with Judge Boyd's sentence that included no jail time, a petition has been started on Change.org to have Gov. Rick Perry remove the judge from the bench, and as of Monday night it had nearly 10,500 signatures.