ABC NEWS' BRIAN ROSS INVESTIGATES THE SECRETIVE WORLD OF CHRISTIAN CAMPS THAT PRACTICE SO-CALLED "GAY CONVERSION" FOR TEENS

"A Boy Named Lucas" Airs on "20/20" on Friday, March 10

ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross and the ABC News investigative team follow the journey of Lucas Greenfield, a 16-year-old gay teen whose mother sent him to a series of Christian-run youth camps in Alabama that practice so-called "gay conversion therapy" for teens, a place where Lucas says beatings were commonplace.

Lucas told Ross that at one such facility, he was locked in solitary confinement, deprived of food and beaten. Following a dramatic escape, over the course of a year Lucas worked with prosecutors to investigate one camp where he was held: "The Saving Youth Foundation" in Alabama, which was ultimately shut down by authorities.

Around the country the issue of "gay conversion therapy" remains highly controversial, with five states now making it illegal for a licensed mental health care practitioner to practice. However, the "20/20" investigation found teenagers being sent too often to secretive, Christian-run residential youth camps across the country that claim they can change the declared sexual orientation of their children.

In a dramatic confrontation, Ross tracks down one of the Christian pastors accused of abuse by Lucas and other former students. The former director of the program, Pastor William Knott, where Lucas was held for more than a year, was later sentenced to 20 years in jail. The investigative team also went undercover with the mother of a gay teenager to investigate another facility where Lucas was sent and where he says he was beaten, and heard claims from the director that their strict regimen and religious training could change a gay teen's sexual orientation.

The report also focuses on 17-year-old Sarah Gibert, a small town girl from Texas who was sent to a girls Christian boarding school after she went to her high school prom with her girlfriend against the will of her parents. Sarah was able to leave only after her cousin, actor Jeremy Jordan, started a GoFundMe page that brought national attention to her case. The head of that program rejects "gay conversion therapy" as antiquated and ridiculous, but says doing nothing when teens engage in same-sex activity only allows them to "sink deeper into a lifestyle that God warns against," and says his program "is a place of refuge" for those teens.

In an emotional interview Jeremy tells Ross he came to his cousin's aid as "they were taking drastic measures and putting her away for being gay and she was terrified."

Ross also interviews Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, who insists that what he calls "sexual reorientation with spirituality" can help people choose not to engage in homosexual conduct, disputing leading medical groups and the U.S. Surgeon General, all of whom say that it does not work and may cause harm. Sprigg made clear he does not support any physical abuse in connection with such therapy and asserts that it works best with willing participants.

"A Boy Named Lucas" airs on "20/20" FRIDAY, MARCH 10 (10:01-11:00 p.m. ET), on the ABC Television Network.

"20/20" is anchored by Elizabeth Vargas and David Muir. David Sloan is senior executive producer.