going-clear-scientology-hollywood-and-the-prison-of-belief-by-lawrence-wright-2

highway, easy to patrol; mountain ranges enclosed the base on either side, and the
rocky slopes were copiously supplied with cactus and rattlesnakes. Many of the Sea Org
members had neither the resources nor the skills to get very far. There was an ingrained
distrust of the non-Scientology “wog” world and its system of justice, as well as a
fatalistic view of the reach of the church, especially among Sea Org members who, like
Annie, had grown up in Scientology. Those who had cell phones used them mainly as
walkie-talkies for communication on the base; phone records were monitored and the
phones would be taken away if they were used to make outside calls. Few of them had
cars of their own, or even driver’s licenses, so the best they could do was to try to get to
the bus station before they were discovered missing. By the time the bus made its next
stop, however, there was usually a member of Morehead’s team waiting for them. If that
failed, Morehead’s security squad would stake out the houses of the blown member’s
family and friends, using scanners that could listen in on cordless phones and cell
phones, and running the license plates of everyone who came and went. When the team
nally confronted their prey, they would try to talk them into returning to the base
voluntarily. If that failed, occasionally they would use force. 3
Most of those who ed were torn by conicting emotions. On the one hand, they were
often frightened, humiliated, and angry. They desperately wanted a life outside the
organization. Some, like Annie, wanted to have children, which she was forbidden to do
as a Sea Org member. On the other hand, they believed that their eternal salvation was
at stake. The youthful enthusiasm that had caused them to sign their billion-year
contract of service may have been dampened, but there was usually some residual
idealism that the security team could appeal to. Typically, in these confrontations,
Morehead would bring along the escapee’s “opinion leader,” which could be his case
supervisor, or another family member who was in Scientology—his wife or his mother,
for instance. In many instances, the eeing Sea Org member didn’t even argue; he just
gave up, knowing that he would probably be taken directly to RPF, where he might
spend months or years working his way back into good standing.
At any time, a eeing member could guarantee his safety by simply calling the police,
but that rarely if ever happened. The Riverside County Sheri’s Department, whose
jurisdiction includes Gold Base, says that there has never been an outcry of abuse, or an
accusation of illegal detention from members of the church at the base. Although the Sea
Org members lived inside a highly secure compound in a desert hideaway, surrounded
by fences and high-tech sensors, most of them weren’t really being held against their
will. On the contrary, it was their will that held them. But according to Morehead, no
one who escaped ever returned voluntarily.
As soon as Morehead learned that Annie had blown, his team began combing through
her personal eects, calling hotels and motels in the area, and looking for clues as to
where she was headed. The easiest way of doing that was to have someone pretend to
be Annie and try to book a ight, then be told, for instance, “Oh, we already have you
on the eleven-ten ight to Boston.” If that didn’t work, another member would call the
airlines, posing as a sick relative, and demand help in nding the missing “son” or
“wife” or whatever; if the airline representative refused to give out that information, the