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{{Short description|Scientology forced labor camp}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox organization
|image = RPF Los Angeles.jpg
|size = 200px
|caption = RPF Members in Los Angeles
|name = Rehabilitation Project Force
|formation = January 1974
|predecessor = Mud Box Brigade
|type = Rehabilitation program for [[Sea Org]] members<ref>{{cite web |url=http://faq.scientology.org/page37d.htm |title=What is the Rehabilitation Project Force? |website=[[Church of Scientology]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000826211827/http://faq.scientology.org/page37d.htm |archive-date=August 26, 2000}}</ref>
|status =
|purpose =
|methods = Manual labor, study, [[Auditing (Scientology)|auditing]]
|num_staff =
|num_volunteers =
|budget =
|website = <!--The RPF has no website-->
|remarks =
}}
{{Scientology sidebar}}
The '''Rehabilitation Project Force''', or '''RPF''', is
The
==Development==
The Rehabilitation Project Force developed out of a predecessor group, the Mud Box Brigade, which was formed aboard [[L. Ron Hubbard]]'s private fleet in the late 1960s.{{r|urban|page=125}}{{Efn|Quote from Flag Order 1848, March 3, 1969: "MUD BOX BRIGADE, 1. persons appointed to it clean mud boxes, fuel lines, water lines, bilges, etc. It is under the MAA ([[Scientology ethics and justice#MAA|Master-at-arms]]) and it reports to whoever needs it. More candidates will be appointed regularly and promptly every time I find a freeloader who is loafing on post and drifting with the wind. (Orders of the Day, January 4, 1968) 2. this group is the most downstat and one gets assigned to it by being a freeloader, invisible on post, loafing and really goofing up on one's job. ([[Flag Order]] 1701, January 5, 1969) REHABILITATION UNIT, formed in Division Five. It absorbs the old mud box brigade which is cancelled."{{r|hubbard-admindict|p=341}} }} The mud box is a small perforated screening box fitted to the suction pipe in the [[bilge]] of a ship, and is designed to catch larger solid waste before it can choke the pipeline and potentially damage the pump. The Mud Box Brigade was assigned to clean out the mud box as well as fuel lines, water lines, bilges and other parts of the fleet's ships.{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=341}}
Hubbard defined the role as being essentially a punishment duty for unsatisfactory workers: "More candidates will be appointed regularly and promptly every time I find a freeloader who is loafing on post and drifting with the wind."{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=349}} Hubbard later clarified that "(T)his group is the most downstat [unproductive] and one gets assigned to it by being a freeloader, invisible on post, loafing and really goofing up on one's job."{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=341}}
In 1969, Hubbard replaced the Mud Box Brigade with the Rehabilitation Unit, again intended for those removed or disciplined "as ineffective or trouble." Following an evaluation, the individual was to receive a set of "specific recommendations which if followed will rehabilitate the individual as a highly effective and worthwhile Sea Org member." Hubbard instructed that "(T)he unit is [to be] worked hard during the day on a rigorous schedule on jobs assigned by the Review Chief handling corrective areas and jobs needing remedy and repair. The Unit itself is thus made into an effective ship's review team. It works on a one job, one time, one place formula completing each job before moving into the next. Each individual thus earns the right to the remedial services he or she will receive."{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=341}}
In January 1974, the Rehabilitation Unit was replaced with the Rehabilitation Project Force, or RPF. According to Hubbard, "the RPF has been created by the Commodore [Hubbard] so that redemption can occur. That is basically its only purpose." He identified four categories of people who were to be assigned to the RPF: "rockslammers" (people deemed to have hidden evil intentions, as detected by the [[E-meter]]); people who were unproductive and scored poorly on the [[Oxford Capacity Analysis]] personality test; "repeated stat crashers", people who were held responsible for declines in Scientology organizations' productivity; and "overt product makers", people who produced poor-quality work. As before, the unit was to work on "one job, one place, one time." A five-hour study period was to be implemented each day to improve the individuals' knowledge of Scientology.<ref name=FO3434RB>{{cite web |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |author-link=L. Ron Hubbard |title=Rehabilitation Project Force |series=[[Flag Order]] 3434RB |date=7 January 1974 |url=http://file.wikileaks.org/file/cos-organization-1/fo-3434-rb-rpf-1974.pdf |via=[[WikiLeaks]] |publisher=[[Church of Scientology]]}}</ref>
== Description ==
According to [[David G. Bromley]] and [[Douglas E. Cowan]], the RPF involves a daily regimen of five hours of [[Auditing (Scientology)|auditing]] or studying, eight hours of work, often physical labor, such as building renovation, and at least seven hours of sleep.<ref name="GA181" /> [[Mike Rinder]] wrote that the RPF is a "program for Sea Org members who are troublesome or failures. They are segregated from the rest of the group, undergo security checks, and perform manual labor all day. They may not speak to others."{{r|rinder|pages=302-303}} The uniform of RPF members is a black [[boilersuit]].<ref name=FO3434RB /><ref>{{cite web|first=Tony|last=Ortega|author-link=Tony Ortega|title=Scientology Denied: CA Appeals Court Won't Help Church in Forced-Abortion Lawsuit|website=The Underground Bunker|url=http://tonyortega.org/2013/05/01/scientology-denied-ca-appeals-court-rules-for-documents-release-in-forced-abortion-lawsuit|access-date=25 December 2020|date=1 May 2013}}</ref>{{r|rinder|pages=105}}
RPF members work hard manual labor, which is called [[MEST (Scientology)#MEST work|MEST work]] in Scientology parlance, often without the proper tools or safety equipment. They must run (not walk) everywhere they go, are restricted to base, have no [[Shore leave|liberties]], eat leftovers from the crew [[mess hall]], do the dirtiest jobs, and receive only one quarter of regular pay.<ref name=FO3434RB />{{r|rinder|pages=105}}{{r|atack|page=206}} RPFers receive no training for the types of construction jobs they frequently do, and must learn on the job.{{r|rinder|pages=105-106}}
The RPF was originally intended to last no more than a couple of months, where the assignee would learn [[Auditing (Scientology)|Scientology auditing]], if he or she was not already an auditor, by the "read it, drill it, do it" method. RPF members would then co-audit each other, it was claimed to better themselves and make each other more ethical and productive. Former Sea Org members who've been through the program charge that it is a form of re-indoctrination, one stating the "twin", or auditing partner he was given was actually "responsible for making sure he didn't escape."<ref name="Rolling Stone"/>
== RPF's RPF ==
Sea Org members newly assigned to the RPF who do not want to be on the RPF are first assigned to the RPF's RPF until they choose to join the RPF.{{r|urban|page=125}}{{Efn|Quote: "The first RPF's RPF assignment was made because the person considered their RPF assignment amusing, an award and was therefore unable to recognize a need for redemption or any means to effect it. Until such time as the person recognized this need and of their own self-determinism requested to be included in RPF redemption actions, the restrictions applied."{{r|hubbard-admindict|p=451}} }} When an RPFer messes up, they are assigned to the RPF's RPF,{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=451}} formerly called the "Bilge Brigade".{{Efn|Quote: "BILGE BRIGADE, RPF's RPF. (Flag Order 3434-27, "RPF Graduate Enhancement", November 25, 1974)"{{r|hubbard-admindict|p=46}} }}
Such members are segregated from other RPFers, get a maximum of six hours sleep per day, receive no pay, no training, no auditing, and may only work on the dirtiest and most demeaning jobs until they make amends or decide to join the RPF. Usual tasks were cleaning sludge and oil from a ship's bilge, or cleaning out the [[grease trap]]s under the [[Galley (kitchen)|galley]].{{r|hubbard-admindict|page=451}}{{r|rinder|pages=106, 145}}
{{Blockquote |text=One of the punishments for those who messed up in the RPF was assignment to the RPF's RPF. You slept and ate separately from and were not allowed to even talk to other RPFers. When I hit the RPF's RPF for some infraction I don't recall, I was assigned to clean Rat's Alley. This was the crawl space beneath the main galley where the grease and slime ended up as the ovens and meal prep stations were cleaned up. It was a space about two feet high, inhabited by numerous rats who lived on the food waste that accumulated there. To clean Rat's Alley I had to lie on a furniture dolly on my stomach and wheel myself around with a flashlight to scrape grease into a bucket for two days until I graduated back to the regular RPF. |author=Mike Rinder in ''A Billion Years'' {{r|rinder|p=106}} }}
==Controversy==
Scholars, journalists, and former scientologists have called the RPF an "unusually brutal prison" and an "Orwellian prison",{{r|miller|pages=2,321}} and have compared it to the [[gulag]] system of the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[Re-education through labor|Chinese re-education camps]].{{r|urban|page=126}}{{r|duignan|page=90}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hamburg.de/contentblob/109286/412b6fd56956a72b3b19eca2ec65beba/data/brainwashing.pdf |title=Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) |first=Stephen A. |last=Kent |author-link=Stephen A. Kent |date=September 13, 2000 |version=Revised and Expanded Version of a Presentation at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, San Diego, California (November 7, 1997). |publisher=[[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)|Department of Internal Affairs - Working Group Scientology and State Center for Civic Education]] |access-date=February 20, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030134428/http://www.hamburg.de/servlet/contentblob/109286/brainwashing-pdf/data.pdf |archive-date=October 30, 2008}}</ref> Leaving the [[Sea Org]], even from the RPF, results in what Scientology calls "freeloader debt" or a "freeloader's bill": retroactive billing for any auditing received or any Scientology training received while in the Sea Org, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars. While this "freeloader debt" is not legally binding,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kent|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen A. Kent|date=September 2003|title=Scientology and the European Human Rights Debate: A Reply to Leisa Goodman, J. Gordon Melton, and the European Rehabilitation Project Force Study |journal=[[Marburg Journal of Religion]]|publisher=[[University of Marburg]]|volume=8|issue=1|url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/3725|access-date=2006-08-15 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629063543/http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/mjr/kent3.html|archive-date=2006-06-29 |doi=10.17192/mjr.2003.8.3725}}</ref> many former Scientologists have reported that they felt trapped by the "freeloader debt" policy.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Robert W |last1=Welkos |first2=Joel |last2=Sappell | url= https://www.latimes.com/local/la-scientology062690-story.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090805045646/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-scientology062690,0,425562,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines | url-status= live | archive-date= 2009-08-05 | title=Defectors Recount Lives of Hard Work, Punishment | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | page=A1:1 | date=1990-06-26 | access-date=2006-08-15}} [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/la90/la90-3.html Additional convenience link].</ref>
In his book ''[[The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology]]'', ex-Scientologist John Duignan describes RPF members living in a rat-infested basement, engaging in degrading jobs for years at a stretch, while denied visits with their spouses or children.{{r|duignan|pages=89-90}}
[[Douglas E. Cowan]] and [[David G. Bromley]] state that various scholars and observers have come to radically different conclusions about the RPF and whether it is "voluntary or coercive, therapeutic or punitive".<ref name="GA181">{{Cite book
| editor-last1 = Gallagher
| editor-first1 = Eugene V.
| editor-last2 = Ashcraft
| editor-first2 = W. Michael
| title = Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America (Vol. 5)
| place = Westport CT
| publisher = Greenwood Press
| year = 2006
| isbn = 0-275-98712-4}}, p. 181</ref>
==Castile Canyon School==
One ___location, known as the Castile Canyon School or "Happy Valley", has been identified as a former RPF facility.<ref name="Thurston">"Thurston, Susan (31 January 1999) "Bitter partings; Some former Scientologists say life at the church's Gilman Hot Springs complex resembles a slave labor camp. Church officials say its enemies are out to destroy the organizations" ''The Press Enterprise'' of Riverside, California, p. A-1, 31 January 1999</ref> It was located east of [[San Jacinto, California]] and southeast of [[Gold Base]], near the reservation of the [[Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians|Soboba Band]] of [[Luiseño people|Luiseño Indians]].<ref name="Thurston"/> This site was sold by the Church in 2002 to the Soboba Band, who turned it into a casino resort.<ref>Fetbrandt, Steve (30 July 2006) "Soboba Band: Tribal Chairman Invests in Semi-pro Football Team; Game Plan; Part-owner Wants Players To Be Role Models, Draw Youths" ''The Press Enterprise'' of Riverside, California, p. B-1, 30 July 2006</ref>
==Motto==
: ''The RPF is what you make it. The RPF is where you make it.''<
==See also==
* [[Re-education camp (disambiguation)|Re-education camps]]
* [[Office of Special Affairs]]
* [[Purification Rundown]]
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="atack">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/pieceofblueskysc00atac/ |title=A Piece of Blue Sky: Scientology, Dianetics and L. Ron Hubbard Exposed |first=Jon |last=Atack |author-link=Jon Atack |date=1990 |publisher=[[Lyle Stuart|Lyle Stuart Books]] |isbn=081840499X |ol=9429654M}}</ref>
<ref name="duignan">{{cite book |title=The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology |title-link=The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology |first1=John |last1=Duignan |first2=Nicola |last2=Tallant |author2-link=Nicola Tallant |year=2008 |publisher=[[Merlin Publishing]] |isbn=9781903582848 |ol=23214607M}}</ref>
<ref name="hubbard-admindict">{{cite book |title=Modern Management Technology Defined: Hubbard dictionary of administration and management |first=L. Ron |last=Hubbard |author-link=L. Ron Hubbard |publisher=[[Church of Scientology]] |isbn=0884040402 |ol=8192738M |year=1976 }}</ref>
<ref name="miller">{{cite book |title=Bare-faced Messiah : The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard |title-link=Bare-faced Messiah |first=Russell |last=Miller |author-link=Russell Miller |ol=26305813M |isbn=0805006540 |date=1987 |publisher=[[Henry Holt and Company]] }}</ref>
<ref name="rinder">{{cite book |title=A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology |first=Mike |last=Rinder |author-link=Mike Rinder |year=2022 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=9781982185763}}</ref>
<ref name="urban">{{cite book|last=Urban|first=Hugh B. |author-link=Hugh Urban |title=The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion |title-link=The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=9780691146089}}</ref>
}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite web |title=Brainwashing in Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF) |first=Stephen A. |last=Kent |author-link=Stephen A. Kent |date=September 13, 2000 |orig-date=November 7, 1997 |url=https://www.hamburg.de/contentblob/109286/412b6fd56956a72b3b19eca2ec65beba/data/brainwashing.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825022035/https://www.hamburg.de/contentblob/109286/412b6fd56956a72b3b19eca2ec65beba/data/brainwashing.pdf |archive-date=August 25, 2017 |website=[[Government of Hamburg]]}}
* [https://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers-scientology/hubbard_vs_rpf.html The 'Rehabilitation Project Force' (RPF) (Jan 74)] (Comprehensive RPF white paper by the Scientology Research Project)
==External links==
{{commons category}}
* Astra Woodcraft interview: Part three, "Leaving the Sea Org", January 20, 2001, XenuTV. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0FnQbrvhII Video of full interview]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061114231114/http://www.xenutv.com/interviews/astra-3.htm Transcript of part three].
*[http://alley.ethercat.com/cgi-bin/xint/xint.cgi?3 Ex-Int Base Staff Interrogatory] December 6, 2004
{{Scientology}}
[[Category:Scientology-related controversies]]
[[Category:Scientology organizations]]
[[Category:Scientology
[[Category:Hemet, California]]
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