Former attendees of two Christian programs for at-risk youth said they had traumatizing experiences full of hard labor and strange punishments, according to an in-depth investigation by NBC News' Tyler Kingkade published Wednesday.

The programs, which are run by the same family on nearby ranches in rural Wyoming, include Trinity Teen Solutions for girls and Triangle Cross Ranch for boys. More than 20 women who attended the girls' ranch between 2007 and 2020 told NBC they were subjected to brutal manual labor that left them physically injured.

"From the time we woke up in the morning to the time we went back to sleep, we were always doing work. Always," 19-year-old Taybre Conrad told NBC. "And they were having us do the type of stuff that grown men do."

Former attendees said staff restricted their meals and forced them to dodge rattlesnakes on runs. Three women said they were tied to a goat with a leash for days after ranch employees called them "stubborn." ...