Victor Flood

Victor November 1, 2002 Page: 1 Subject: Victor Location: Middletown, New York Date: November 1, 2002 Interviewer: Steve Periard The date is November 1, 2002 and we’re here interviewing…we’re in Middletown, New York and we’re interviewing Victor. SP: Hi, Victor. VF: Hello. SP: Victor, where and when were you born? VF: Ah, Horton Memorial Hospital right here in Middletown on 5/20/68. SP: And do you have brothers and sisters? VF: Two natural sisters and two half brothers. SP: And what do your parents do for a living? VF: (Long pause) That’s a hard question. Um… SP: You don’t have to answer it. VF: Well, ah, I never known them to actually hold a job. But my dad he was primarily alcoholic. He came from a military background and my mom, she was a heroin coke addict. Um, and I’ve never known her to actually work. Um…they both died when I was fourteen and I was taken away from them when I was seven so, I mean, I don’t know much about them except what was read to me out of their wills when they died it mentioned how they lived their lives and they were both very chronically ill. SP: So, where were you taken? VF: Ah, to Rockland Children’s…Department of Social Services took me away from my family when I was four, um, because of some of the abuses that were going on…physical, sexual, um, and some traumatizing, ah…abuses that were taking place in the home. And because of those things, um, the Victor November 1, 2002 Page: 2 Department of Social Services felt that it was needed that all children be taken away from my mom and dad…me and both my natural sisters. SP: How did Social Services find out that this stuff was going on? VF: Through neighbors. Um, (long pause) because of the severity of the traumas that were going on, the neighbors got involved and on a number of occasions they had tried before the age of four, um, to get the Social Services involved and they weren’t willing to because of my natural dad’s other wife ‘cause he’s married to two women. That’s, ah, other wife…he had two sons by. She would always have a way with the court ‘cause she had lots of money and because of his military background and stuff like that he was, ah, highly honored, ah, that and everything, so, um, they…they didn’t want to tamper basically is what would…the word that we were getting. My mom had him arrested on numerous times when we were in the house, when we were growing up and he always seemed to be back a couple of weeks later. Um, from what we were told was that, um, the other woman that was in his life was always bailing him out of jail and naturally, um, he was thankful to her but he would us as his…I guess what you call his aggression tool and then I was admitted…finally admitted to Rockland at the age of four and a half…’cause I did go through a Pious 12 which was (unclear) for boys, um, which there was a lot of abuse going on there and that was closed down for lack of funds to keep the place open…and then from there I was shipped to Rockland. And I was in Rockland for about…I’ll say six months then I was shipped back home. Um, my dad and my mom came up with enough money to sign me out of Rockland and be put back with them. It didn’t last long because by the age of seven I was back in Rockland and from there it was like pretty much a solid state until the age of eighteen. SP: So to backtrack in terms…that first time that you were in…okay, just to backtrack a bit, you said, um, that you were placed in Rockland Children’s Hospital? VF: Yes. (Pause) at age of four. SP: At age of four and, and that there was a lot of abuse going on in the home and this resulted in you being taken to Rockland… VF: Right. SP: The abuse was primarily from your father? VF: Mostly my father. Um, but my mom did participate in some of the sexual abuse and some of the what I call trauma abuse. Um, but most of like the physical and beatings and stuff basically came from my dad…my father. Victor November 1, 2002 Page: 3 SP: How much do you remember…I realize you were young…but how much do you remember about that first time in Rockland Children’s Hospital? VF: I remember a lot. I remember that’s why I got the disease of self mutilation from…learning it from another kid that was doing it and I actually had him put the first mark on my wrist. SP: How old was he? VF: Um, six. SP: And how long were you in there that first time? VF: About six months I would say. SP: Did they…do you remember if they put you on any medication? VF: Oh, yeah. They had me on a lot of medication. I was on Thorazine, 1500 milligrams liquid twice a day…Haldol, 10 milligrams twice a day…Adavane 2 milligrams three times a day as I recall. SP: Do you remember how that made you feel? VF: More aggressive. More violent. Um, and in Rockland it was also I had…I went through a lot of traumatized and stuff in Rockland. Um, Rockland is a good hospital but one thing that they tried to teach you how to be an adult and I think that was wrong. Um, they had a sex education class where they actually did sexual acts on the, on the kids there. Um, they did get physically aggressive…numerous times over and where I was taken out of a very abusive, sexually and physically abusive home, I was put right into another one. Um, so all that time all I’m doing is harboring a lot of anger and hatred toward people and Rockland…I don’t condone what they did because like I’m saying, I feel that they had…they did give me strength in other ways. Um, (long pause)… SP: When you said that they were having sex education class (pause) um, can you tell me about these sex education… VF: It was initiated by a psychiatric doctor…I’m just going to refer to her as Mrs. Watson. Um, her and a group of five other female TA’s when…’cause I was on the (unclear word) unit, children’s unit. Cottage D. I do remember. Um, and when the females went to program and half of the male clients that were in…around ten or eleven years old, they would keep the younger ones back from the ages of four to the ages of eight, they would keep them back on the Victor November 1, 2002 Page: 4 unit. It was only a group of six boys and she would call into the back conference room which is (3 unclear words) now, um, except more spacious and more couch area…small couches and stuff and she would proceedingly (sic) explain to us that this is, um, a sex education course and we are here to teach you how to properly have sex and proceededly (sic), um, all females would start, ah, removing their clothing and, um, they would fondle us and stuff like that and, ah, finally they would remove our clothes and they would perform sexual acts on us. Um, after…that went on during the morning program, ah, period. Ah, within fifteen minutes before people would come back, they would stop what they were doing and they would…everybody would get dressed and we would be back on the…in the sleeping room area by the time everybody came back. And that went on for the whole six months. SP: This was… VF: It was actually six boys ranging from the ages of four to eight. Anybody from the age of ten up, um, went up to the program area. And like I’m saying, as we go along I will let you know that all that stuff happens in the program area also, um, that has…and basically (short pause) it was something that we felt was like a normal thing. I mean, you pretty much got the attitude that this was normal and this was what was supposed to happen. Where we, we came from bad childhoods. I mean the children had to be grownups basically and that’s what the whole attitude (three indistinguishable words) felt like. We had to be grownups. I mean, even to the (two indistinguishable words) that even in the sleeping area we had to have socks with socks, folded, hospital corners. Um, they taught us what silverware was for what food. I mean, it was really like a little technical thing and I found that most of the time when I had re-entered Rockland, um, at the age of seven, that things were said…progressively got worse because now I’m older, bigger and I’m more wiser…so they thought…and, ah, they continued the abuses at the age of seven. Ah, and it’s…in an atmosphere like that where it’s happening so often you, you, ah…a child at that age…which I know different now…um, thinks that’s a normal thing.

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