Yes, there seems to be a recurring theme of cruelty and hatefulness in the JW cult.
First you have the hateful practice of shunning hanging over your head, which is bad enough and probably scares off a lot of people from leaving.
Then to twist the knife even more, they let you know that if you come back, you'll have to suffer even more. They'll want you to "crawl back" as if you were some horrible, disgusting person, and to suffer humiliation over a long period of time. How long? You won't know, there's no set time, which is stressful but that's okay as they want this to be as stressful an experience as possible. To warn others off. During this time, you are treated with suspicion and derision. Pure emotional blackmail. What a vile and disgusting cult.
It's been a long time since I was in but I do remember one young brother who came back. No memories of when or why he was disfellowshipped. Only thing I remember is him sitting in the back, against the wall, in a chair place several feet behind the last row. And I remember his slumped posture and look of pure misery on his face. He looked like an abused dog. It really resonated with me. And frightened me. As it was meant to. Thankfully it wasn't enough to scare me off of escaping from that cult.
It's good that Brother Jeramy's friend had his eyes opened as to the real face of that cult. Hope he stays well away. Forever.