I am a former member of the [Church of Scientology], in fact, I was a high ranking SO Member at the Int Base for 10 years.

One thing that I would like to make known here is that when I made it known that I wanted to leave the Sea Org, I was put in a prison camp along with several other members who wanted to leave too. I call it a prison camp due to the following factors: we were under watch by a security guard at all times, we were in a restricted area enclosed by barbed wire fences which also had motion detectors (both inside and outside the fences), we were confined to an area of about 100 square yards and couldn't leave that area for the duration of our time there, we were forced to do heavy labor for the entire day — every day (even under the most gruelling weather conditions), we had no contact with the outside world, and daily we had to confess to our "crimes" against Scientology which were then used to humiliate us in to wanting to stay.

There are still members to this day being held prisoner in this location (located in Gilman Hot Springs, near Hemet, California). One girl who had been in this prison for over a year is possibly still there. One of the security guards told me that she would never be able to leave due to the fact that she had worked directly with David Miscavige in his office and "knows too much confidential information". She is a very small girl, not very strong, so for her to leave on her own would be nearly impossible.

My advice to those members who want to leave and don't know what to do:

DON'T TELL ANYONE YOU WANT TO LEAVE!

Just do it. Leave as quietly as possible. If you don't want to get declared as a result of your "blow". Contact the Church (but don't give out your location). Tell them that you would like to route out "properly" but that you do not want to do this at the location in Gilman Hot Springs — PERIOD. If you have to do a "routing out program" you want to do it in LA. Get a firm agreement with this.

This is exactly how I did it and today I'm free. Being in LA allows you many escape options because there are people around (non-Scientologists) and you can RUN. Due to the fact that I am highly trained in "Scientology Tech" I was able to fake the meter to make my program go much faster. I also had family on the outside who now knew that I was leaving and I had them call in on a regular basis to find out where I stood on my program. This was a big help because the Church could not keep it a secret from anyone that I wanted to leave — especially my family, so they had to let me go. I did it this way because if I did get declared, there would be certain family members of mine who I would not be able to contact due to their involvement in Scientology. On a good note, at the present I have no family who are Scientologists as I have helped them realize the scam that it really is. Please feel free to ask me any questions about this.

As a former Ethics Officer at the Int Base, I know how they operate, I know "the drill" that happens when it is discovered that certain people want to leave or have left (blown). The operations are carried out in a very specific manner. I know the do's and dont's. We should all be happy that there really is a way for people to leave who want to.