A four-part documentary directed by Rachel Dretzin, Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey tells the story of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), and its disgraced leader, Warren Jeffs. But what’s the true story behind the religion and how did it end up in the unholy place it is now?
How did the FLDS start?
The FLDS comes from the initial religion of the Mormons, otherwise known as Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While the Mormons did away with polygamy (the practice of allowing men to marry more than one woman) in 1890 so they could get a statehood for Utah, one fundamentalist splinter sect moved away in the 1930s and settled in Short Creek, also known as Colorado City, Arizona.
This group, the FLDS, still believed in polygamy, and carried it out. It was believed the more women a man married, the closer he would get to God. Within the sect, women were forced to dress the same: long prairie dresses that covered every part of their body, and their hair tied back in a bun. Women were made to pray on the hour every hour – the brickwork of one of the main buildings has ‘pray and obey’ written into it – and all members were completely forbidden from going to or knowing anything about the outside world. Anyone who was seen to be breaking the rules, or who the leader (known as ‘the prophet’) wanted rid of was cast out and ex-communicated on a whim: mothers had their children effectively kidnapped and trafficked, other young people were thrown out of their families with no support, no money and no idea how the world worked outside of the FLDS doctrine.
The authorities had been aware of the illegal activities of the group since 1953, when 36 men, 86 women, and 263 children were either arrested or taken into custody during a pre-dawn raid in Arizona. But it wasn’t enough to disband the sect, as after promising to stop practising polygamy, the men were place on probation and almost all of the women and children who were made wards of the state returned back to the Arizona ranch.
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When did Warren Jeffs get involved?
Warren Jeffs was made the prophet in 2002, taking over the role from his father. But far from being a fair and just spiritual leader, Jeffs was behind the mass abuse of the women and children in what was now a cult.
Jeffs married 78 females, 24 of which were underage children. His youngest abuse victim who he forced into marriage was just 14. He also orchestrated and oversaw the abuse of other women and children to other men within the cult; people who had no way out as they were following the only rules they knew, from their parents, their family and “God”.
As one survivor says in the documentary: “In our minds, the police, even the president of the United States, had no authority over us. Warren Jeffs was our president. He was the prophet. And how could you place a human over God?”
Briell Drecker was forced to marry Jeffs when she was just 18. She told The Guardian: “I was terrified. We had our ceremony and he asked me to come and sit on his lap. I just went foggy and didn’t respond.” She also explained that Jeffs gave her “some bad trainings”, an FLDS euphemism that often included sexual acts that Jeffs claimed were ordained by God. He referred to audio tapes – used in his court case – of how his wives had to please him sexually as ‘heavenly trainings’.
In 2006, Jeffs was charged with two counts of accomplice to rape and he went on the run, becoming one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals. He was arrested as part of a routine traffic check in Las Vegas, but no action was taken to help the community until 2008, when federal law enforcement agents raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas, following tip-offs of rape and abuse to a phone helpline. More than 400 children were rescued, making it the largest child custody case in US history.
In several clashing court cases, Jeffs – who was also charged with incest and sexual conduct with minors – was eventually extradited to Texas, and in 2011 found guilty of two sexual assaults of a child (for sex with a 12 and 15-year-old he had married), for which he was sentenced to life in prison plus twenty years and fined $10,000.
Is the FDLS still going now?
Remarkably, yes. Jeffs, who is still in prison now, continues to lead the cult from jail. Current FLDS members continue to consider Jeffs to be the prophet who speaks to God, and think he has has been wrongly convicted. Some believe that the total number of members could amount to between 6,000 and 10,000 people.
In the press notes for the documentary, the director says: “The stories these women told - of the process of systematic coercion and mind control exercised by the man they thought of as a religious prophet, Warren Jeffs - were far from alienating. After many months spent reporting this story, it was clear to me that these women could have been my daughter, my mother, or me. And it was also abundantly clear that they showed incredible courage and strength in leaving this religion-turned- criminal cult.”
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey streams on Netflix from June 8.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, speak to The Survivors Trust on 08088 010818 or thesurvivorstrust.org
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