In this section, our narratives focused on the effect of years of brainwashing/conversion that must have taken place in order to Alyssa to be in her current mental state.

In the 1977 movie Telefon starring Charles Bronson and Lee Remick, it touches on sleeper agents from the USSR that are programmed to carry out a pre-programmed function when they hear a certain auditory cue spoken to them. The trigger for them to move into a zombie state was from a poem written by Robert Frost. Part of the poem is reproduced below.


...................

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost


It is an fascinating idea that a human being can be controlled to carry out a pre-programmed action on hearing a certain phrase. Will Jaycee Dugard be so well conditioned over her 18 years that she will still respond to her former captors' voices? Will she will be able to break loose of her captors' psychological hold over her? Those voices in her head that she had been conditioned to respond to over the last 18 years.


A Heart Warming Story
From his jail cell, Phillip Garrido's has made claims that his life "has been straightened out" and implored people to wait until they hear the whole story of what happened over the past 18 years.

"What's kept me busy the last several years is I've completely turned my life around," Garrido told KCRA 3 (Sacramento TV station on channel 3) "And you're going to find the most powerful story coming from the witness, the victim -- you wait. If you take this a step at a time, you're going to fall over backwards and in the end, you're going to find the most powerful heart-warming story."

It was a statement full of suggestions and for the public, it sounded self-serving. But that statement could well be aimed at the victim, Jaycee Dugard. That she should tell her interrogators about the wonderful things that happened between her and him, Phillip Garrido. Those life changing moments that he had conditioned her to believe in that backyard garden. How? Let us discuss about brainwashing or conversion as it is also known.


Brainwashing (Conversion)
The study of brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and by increasing the tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind accepts new programming or suggestions.


Nine Conversion Techniques
The brainwashing of Jaycee works by creating an appropriate state of suggestibility in her. In this case, the Garridos had all the time in the world to achieve it. We identified 9 primary techniques used to generate her conversion.

1. Jaycee was kept in the sound-proofed shed for a year and a half. She was cut-off from the outside world with no other human interaction other than by her captors themselves. In order to cause her maximum discomfort, she would have been denied basic physical needs like access to the bathroom, food and water.

2. Her captors would have given her lengthy talk about the importance of "keeping agreements" in life. She would have been told that if she did not keep her agreements, she would be punished severely. And she would have vowed to herself and her captors that she would keep her agreements. Examples of such an agreement would be that she was never to reveal her real identity to anyone. She was never to divulge information on her captors and her relationship with them to anyone.

3. She would also be denied proper meals such that hunger induced tension. The idea was to alter her internal chemistry, which generated anxiety and with the intention to cause malfunction of her nervous system. This helped with accelerating her brainwashing /conversion.

4. And to round off her brainwashing, her agreements will be used to ensure that at some stage in her life, she will be required to go out to find new participants. She will be intimidated into agreeing to do so and in her situation, her captors were always around to enforce these agreements.

5. She would have been subjected to repetitive sessions. In her case, it was at least a year and half before she was let out of the sound-proofed shed. She was in that backyard compound for 18 years. From the bookshelf in her tent, we know that he spent significant amount of time with her in that tent. With her kind of repetitive conditioning, long term control of her was assured.

6. She was repetitively raped in that sound-proof shed. The prolonged rapes caused a physical and mental fatigue. The rapes degraded her psychological and physical well-being. These rapes would have been blamed on her for some infringements. She had to do better not to be raped and she was conditioned to blame herself for the rapes. She would have developed a guilt complex.

7. She would have been verbally and physically abuse in that sound-proofed shed and over the years. This would increase the tension. She would be picked on and shouted at or humiliated. The whole idea was to put her “on the spot”. She would have been pumped for information about herself, immediate family members, her school friends and teachers and anything that she knew then. That information would then be manipulated and presented in the most negative manner back to her. An example could be that her family had abandoned her or threats of violence against her family members, school friends and teachers.

She had to relate all her innermost secrets and forced to take part in activities that emphasized removing her mask. This could be the removal of her clothes or denial of sanitary pads during her menstrual period or even sex toys inserted into her private parts. So you can imagine the fear and tension that she was put under the spot. She would literally go into an alpha state and open to suggestions. And another loop of the downward spiral into conversion was successfully effected.

8. She would have been introduced to religious ideology. The introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only to her and her captors. Vicious language could be frequently used, purposely, to make her uncomfortable.

9. And to round it off, there would be no humor in the communications. Not until she had submitted to the will of her captors. Then, merry-making and humor, highly desirable as symbols of the new joy she had supposedly "found."

The mental conditioning had been constant over the last 18 years. She was conditioned to respond to his suggestions and commands. His voice resonated inside her head.

And from his prison cell, he had suggested that the victim had a powerful heart-warming story to tell the world. That was the first time she had heard his voice played over the mass media.


Recovery - Long Term Impact
Since her recovery, Jaycee Dugard has undergone deprogramming, psychological and psychiatric counselling. Phillip Garrido owned her body and mind for 18 years. From his prison cell, he had written to KCRA-3 that Jaycee Dugard was denied her constitutional right during the questioning at the parole office as she had requested for a lawyer. This came from a man that was used to owning her body and mind that he did not recognise her rights to be with her natural family. Obviously for him, the law of the jungle applied with the kidnapping and yet he demanded that his captive has constitutional rights to deny her identity. Such was his belief in his mental hold over her. Could he be proven right in the long term? Will history repeat itself and will Jaycee Dugard seek to free Phillip Garrido just like when Nancy Bocanegra worked to free him 25 years ago? Will Jaycee Dugard continue to respond to his commands in the long term?


Update Feb 11 2010 - Court submission by the prosecutor revealed that the following.

page 7, (16) - On or about Jan 28 2010, counsel for Phillip Garrido sent a letter to Ms Doe (Jaycee Dugard) which stated, "Mr. Garrido has asked me to convey to you that he does not harbor any ill will toward [Ms Doe} or the children and loves them very much." Ms. Doe immediately put the reference to "no ill will" in context that "I am not following the plan." Ms. Doe explained that "the plan" dictated should Mr. Garrido ever be arrested, they were to "keep in communication through lawyers." Ms Doe further indicated that her belief that the referral by her former captor and rapist to not harbor ill will was "another way of manipulating" her.

Sources
Brainwashing
Bonding with Rapist - Daily Mail, UK
KCRA 3
Guilt from bonding with kidnappers
MSNBC News- Jaycee Dugard's Diary: I want to be free (Feb 11 2010)