In Stephen King’s novel The Institute, the kidnapped children are held in a secret facility called the Institute.
The organization abducts children with psychic or special abilities, including telepathy and telekinesis. They are separated from the outside world and subjected to experiments designed to develop and exploit their powers. The facility’s staff present their work as necessary for a larger purpose, but the children experience it as imprisonment and abuse.
The novel follows Luke Ellis after he is taken from his home and transported to the Institute. Other imprisoned children help him understand the facility and plan resistance. The story combines a captivity thriller with themes of institutional power, surveillance, and children confronting adults who claim moral authority.
The Institute was published in 2019. It is not the same organization as the Shop from Firestarter, although both are secretive institutions connected to experiments involving unusual mental abilities.