I don't know about the USA, but in Canada (where I live and work) a person cannot sign away his or her human rights in a contract. Imprisoning individuals who break cult rules constitutes wrongful detention which is itself a criminal offense. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees "security of the person." Any move on the part of a cult to interfere with a person's right to seek treatment for any psychological or physical complaint would be illicit and could lead to members of the cult beiing charged under any number of statute violations. Heck, Canadians can't even sign away their tenant rights within tenancy agreements (leases).

The problem with de-programmers as I understand it, is they are often with organizations that compete with the very cults from which they seek to assist people to escape. Seldom are they secular counsellors. Often they have their own faith agenda, so the cult victim becomes "reacquired" by an organization that is not significantly dissimilar from the cult the person was initially entrapped within. This may not always be the case, but I have seen this occur many times.

Charles

Charles