There is a debate among former Scientologists as to whether Shelly is being held against her will — spikes on the compound's fence face inwards, not outwards — or whether she is staying there voluntarily, tending to the church's most sacred texts. Another former Scientologist says he saw Shelly's mail being sorted at CST in 2010.
Author Janet Reitman wrote on page 341 of her book "Inside Scientology":
By 2006, one of those abruptly 'disappeared' from the RTC, and from Int, would be Miscavige's wife, Shelly, who was reportedly exiled to a Church of Scientology compound near Big Bear, California.
Big Bear is near San Bernadino.
Hall, however, said Shelly's exile at the CST compound may be voluntary — he says he spent years as a virtual and actual prisoner of the church, at a different site. Even after his periods of physical incarceration ended, he said, he continued to work for Miscavige because he believed in the religion.
Is Shelly being held against her will? "Yes and no," Hall says, "nobody wants to be held. … the answer is the Stockholm Syndrome."
Hall is now a freelance web designer.
One person who has visited the compound is "Angry Gay Pope," the nom de guerre of an Anonymous activist who has staged protests against Scientology. In 2010 he took these pictures of the CST compound in Twin peaks, Calif., documenting its spiked fences, razor wire, motion detectors, infra-red spotlights, satellite dishes, fuel tanks and mysterious semi-permanent trailers.