For example, many people who become committed to Scientology are recruited into a sub-unit called the Sea Organization. These individuals sign a billion-year contract of service to Scientology. They are worked extremely hard and are paid a subsistence wage. They live under Spartan conditions in the larger Scientology facilities. They subordinate their families to the Scientology organization.
Parents turn control of their children over to the organization.
If this happens the individual will have to face a decision to either separate from the spouse or leave Scientology's service. Scientology personnel whose loyalty is suspect are sometimes sent to facilities that are little more than prisons. They may be subjected to months of punishment in the form of meaningless labor and made to live under abysmal conditions. One former Scientologist I interviewed was assigned to a prison ship that was anchored in the San Pedro harbor. The history of Scientology is one in which newly discovered courses and levels are constantly being marketed as people approach completion.