http://www.kathymoya.com/FICA/2006%20Fe ... 0abuse.htmTwo Others Complained of Being Choked at Camp Where Boy CollapsedPANAMA CITY, Fla. Two boys previously complained of being choked by guards at the Panama City boot camp where 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died after collapsing with breathing problems last month, records show.
The complaints, from October 2004 and February 2005, detail incidents in which guards applied to pressure to juveniles' necks to force them into compliance. In both cases, investigators with the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which operates the boot camp, found excessive force was not used.
The complaints were never investigated by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice because state regulations allow the sheriff's office to rule on abuse allegations at its own camp.
The records, obtained by The Miami Herald on Monday, have renewed calls among some legislators for changes in the state's juvenile justice system.
The Bay County boot camp's problems "go to the heart of what I believe is wrong with our juvenile justice system ... We want the punitive aspects of the adult corrections system, but we want to be able to do things to kids that we would never do to adults," said Rep. J.C. Planas, R-Miami and a former juvenile prosecutor.
The records also show that since 2003, the sheriff's office verified complaints that an officer forced several juveniles to strip and perform exercises at night and a complaint that a boy's face was smashed into the floor while he was doing push-ups.
Anderson, 14, of Panama City, died Jan. 6 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. He collapsed after he complained of breathing problems while doing exercises that were part of intake procedures at the camp. The sheriff's office has said officers restrained Anderson after he became uncooperative.
A final autopsy report has not been released, but a preliminary report has ruled out trauma or injury as the cause of death. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading an investigation of Anderson's death.
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen released a statement Jan. 17 that said a videotape of Martin's intake to the camp would raise "many questions, concerns and accusations."
"We must not leave you with the impression that this is going to have a good ending," the statement said. The tape has not been released because the investigation is ongoing.
Cynthia Lorenzo, a spokeswoman for DJJ, said juveniles in the agency's camps are allowed to call a hot line to report abuse and that posters with the hot line number are placed prominently at each of the state's boot camps.
The release of the new abuse allegations involving the camps prompted Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach and chairman of the House juvenile justice oversight committee, to renew his call for the DJJ to close down the camps.
"First and foremost, we have to ensure that the safety standards the department feels it must put in place apply to every kid in every program," Barreiro said.
House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, said Tuesday he was closely following the investigation.
"I want them to be deliberate and accurate. We have asked the Criminal Justice Appropriation's Committee to look into it," he said.
Bense said he was concerned that recidivism rates among juveniles sent to the camps were too high.
Information from: The Miami Herald,