"The Hole" is the name of a detention building—also known as the SP Hole, the A to E Room, or the CMO Int trailers—operated by the Church of Scientology on Gold Base, a private compound near the town of Hemet in Riverside County, California. Dozens of its senior executives have been confined within the building for months or years. It consists of a set of double-wide trailers within a Scientology compound, joined together to form a suite of offices which were formerly used by the Church's international management team. According to former members of Scientology and media reports, from 2004, the Church's leader David Miscavige sent dozens of senior Scientology executives to the Hole. The Tampa Bay Times described it in a January 2013 article as:a place of confinement and humiliation where Scientology's management culture—always demanding—grew extreme. Inside, a who's who of Scientology leadership went at each other with brutal tongue lashings, and even hands and fists. They intimidated each other into crawling on their knees and standing in trash cans and confessing to things they hadn't done. They lived in degrading conditions, eating and sleeping in cramped spaces designed for office use.
The Hole at Gold Base (also known as Int Base)
David Miscavige, the current leader of the Church of Scientology
Aerial view of the Hole (the white-roofed building in the center of the photo). The maintenance garage, where makeshift showers were set up for the confined executives, is visible at the bottom right across the road
Aerial view across Gold Base. The lake into which executives were "overboarded" in the middle of the night can be seen at the far left of the photo.
Gold Base is the de facto international headquarters of the Church of Scientology, located north of San Jacinto, California, United States, about 85 miles (137 km) from Los Angeles. The heavily guarded compound comprises about fifty buildings surrounded by high fences topped with blades and watched around the clock by security personnel, cameras and motion detectors. The property is bisected by a public road, which is closely monitored by Scientology with cameras recording passing traffic.
Aerial view of Gold Base from the west
"Ultra Barrier" bladed fences at Gold Base.
A security guard videotaping the photographer.
Fencing at Gold Base showing motion-activated lights.