That's the only way I can rationalize his reluctance to not escape - just TERRIFIED of what he knows about Devlin and what he has SEEN Devlin DO.
This case is like a train wreck. It's terrifying, but still it's hard to look away. My heart breaks for these kids.
Yes I'm sure he was absolutely terrified. But the repeated sexual abuse is terrifying and humiliating enough to keep a child under a perv's control. It's hard for us to imagine, but then we haven't been through what Shawn and other kids have been through. Whether we can imagine it or not is irrelevant.