A woman from a family deeply involved with the Church of Scientology has shared insights into some of the purported disciplinary practices of the religion.
Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige, has been outspoken against the organization since her departure in 2005.
Jenna, now 41, represents the third generation of scientologists in her family, having been introduced to the faith at the tender age of two.
By the time she was eight, she had signed a billion-year contract with the Sea Org, committing herself to adhere to the organization’s doctrine and strict regulations for life.
A part of these regulations involves the separation of children from their parents, leading Jenna to be raised in a Scientology-affiliated school known as ‘The Ranch.’
Leaving behind the life crafted by Scientology is not a simple feat, as Jenna narrates in her book, Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.
Jenna continues to speak out against the church and has recently divulged the types of punishments members face for making mistakes.
In an interview, she described incidents where her uncle David would intervene.
“Like when he would meet people or they would mess up, they would get sent to the RPF [Rehabilitation Project Force] which is like, in the Sea Org, it’s like the highest punishment you can get where you have to wear all back, you can’t speak unless spoken to, you have to run everywhere you go and then you have to spend five hours a day getting intensive interrogation,” she explained.
According to Jenna, these individuals would then spend the remaining hours doing rigorous, physical labor.
She noted that some were assigned to the RPF for relatively minor infractions.
This could involve producing work of poor quality, being seen as unproductive, or harboring negative intentions toward the church.
Although Jenna details her eventual escape from one of the world’s most private religions, enduring E-meter interrogations, 25-hour weeks of manual labor, and constant study of L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings, she wasn’t the only family member to break away.
Jenna learned at 16 that her parents had left Scientology in 2000, yet she was forbidden from contacting them via telephone for a year, with all their letters being screened.
In 2004, Jenna and her then-husband, Dallas Hill, were dispatched to Australia for a church mission, which exposed them to public criticism of Scientology through the internet and TV for the first time. They exited the church a year later.
In 2012, her grandfather, Ron Miscavige Sr, also made the significant decision to leave the church after nearly five decades, followed by her grandmother Becky.