The Tragic Death Of Beyond Scared Straight Star Ashley Tropez
Ashley Tropez, who appeared on "Beyond Scared Straight," was sadly found dead by police on August 26. According to the San Bernardino Police's report, the former reality star was discovered with "traumatic injuries" in an empty residency in Victorville, California. Police suspected that Tropez and a person named Alexis Call were "squatting" in the abandoned building for some time. Sadly, authorities believe that Call killed Tropez for unknown reasons, and Call has since been taken into custody and charged with murder.
Tropez was just 17 years old when she was sent into the San Bernardino prison system by the social experiment reality TV show, "Beyond Scared Straight." At the time, Tropez was a self-admitted juvenile delinquent, who often got in trouble at school for selling marijuana, fighting, and stealing. She was cruelly treated by the guards and other inmates, but the goal of the prison immersion was to make Tropez realize the error of her ways and hopefully set her on a better path.
But it seems that Tropez's life post-"Beyond Scared Straight" may have led to her untimely and tragic death.
Ashley Tropez sadly continued her criminal lifestyle
One year after Ashley Tropez was supposedly "scared straight," the reality show caught up with Tropez to see where her life stood after seeing what prison was like as a teen. Sadly, the then-18-year-old admitted that she never planned on stopping her criminal activity. "After the jail visit, I can honestly say that Ashley's actually gotten worse," Tropez's aunt, Jennifer, told the camera crew.
In the "Beyond Scared Straight" revisit, Jennifer revealed that Tropez's uncle, Thomas, basically raised Tropez and exposed her to gang activity. "Before she even went to the jail, I knew it wasn't gonna scare her," Thomas explained in the episode. "How do you scare somebody who's been dealing with the police their whole life." At the end of the follow-up, it was unveiled that Tropez actually went to prison for 40 days on gun possession and robbery charges with three years of probation.
While there was hope of "rehabilitation” since the show claimed that Tropez was enrolled in online classes, she continued her involvement in gang activity since her family life was so intertwined with it. The emotional complexities behind joining a gang were seemingly disregarded by "Beyond Scared Straight," which is a source of criticism the show has drawn. According to the Daily Beast, studies have suggested that participation in "Beyond Scared Straight" has often resulted in an increase in criminal instances.