Good facilities. Good location. Excellent "sounding" opportunities.



WARNING!!! For it's first 14 or so years, excellent facility fufilling its purpose, to counsel, discipline, educate, and guide young men ages 13 to 17 years of age. It was modeled on the AMI-KIDS.ORG principle of "choices" and ""being held personally accountable" for those choices (in school as well as life). Because this facility contracted with the Department of Juvenile Justice, this "second chance to get straight" was offered to these non-violent offenders in lieu of imprisonment at the main facility, with the general population in Columbia, SC.It is without walls or fences, so if a student decided to run away, they were no longer in this program BUT sent to a much tougher program, most likely in Columbia.



That is how it used to be run. Within the past two years, things have drastically changed. Staff retention is virtually nil. The place is a revolving door. Temps were hired as a stop-gap, with many of them barely making it 6 weeks. There was virtually no problem with the students but with certain staff members, who more often than not, for their own power-kick, chose to virtually ignore AMI policies and procedures and "do it their way". The new hires were at the complete mercy of this and most left before they had a chance to become full-time staff.



One of the main precepts of AMI policy is staff retention. PWI has become notorious for violating that.. AMI operates atleast 5 other facilities in South Carolina, and many more in other Southeastern states and they do NOT have nearly the problem with retention as this facility does. It all boils down to a petty power trip that is totally counterproductive to virtually everything the parent company preaches. At this moment in time, temps, with less than 1-month experience are handling most of the supervision. The ones who get hurt the most, the ones getting cheated, are the kids.



As of right now, Piedmont Wilderness Institute of Clinton, SC barely does more than Feed, Medicate, and Warehouse these boys. That MUST change or it'd be better AMI and/or the Department of Juvenile Justice transfer the students and CLOSE the place down immeadiately...





WARNING!!! If certain staff do not personally like you, you WILL NOT LAST!. This is currently, a very BAD place to work!!! Avoid PWI at all costs and urge your tax payer monies devoted to juvenile correction be spent on other, WELL-managed programs!!!