Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: nite owl on February 10, 2006, 02:56:00 PM
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It's time to write letters to the local papers and authorities in Florida to demand the public release of the video detailing the beating of the boy who died after being admitted to a Florida Boot Camp. If this place is paid for by the taxpayers then we have a right to know what our money is being used for.
Here is some information about the public right to know act in Florida:
http://freeforallcandidates.com/RTKsunshine.htm (http://freeforallcandidates.com/RTKsunshine.htm)
Following is the email for letters to the editor of the Miami Hearald:
[email protected]
Fax: 305-376-8950
Slow Mail
The Readers Forum
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693
If a flood of letters comes in more will be done.
Be sure to include your name, address, phone number and limit letters to about 200 words.
:nworthy: :nworthy:
History gives us a kind of chart, and we dare not surrender even a small rushlight in the darkness. The hasty reformer who does not remember the past will find himself condemned to repeat it.
--John Buchan
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. A right of access to meetings of collegial public bodies
is recognized in the Florida Constitution, Article I, section 24,
effective July 1, 2003.
2. The term "open to the public" as used in the Florida
Sunshine Law means open to all who choose to attend.
3. The Sunshine Law of public access does not apply
to candidates for office, unless the candidate is an incumbent
seeking re-election, Op. Atty. Gen. Fla. 92-05 (1992).
4. Section 119.011(1), Florida Statutes defines
"public records" to include:
all documents, papers, letters, maps, books,
tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings,
data processing software or other material,
regardless of the physical form, characteristics,
or means of transmission, made or received
pursuant to law or ordinance, or in connection
with the transaction of official business by
any agency.
5. Any agency document, however, prepared, if circulated
for review, comment or information, is a public record
regardless of whether it is an official expression of policy,
or marked "preliminary" or "working draft" or similar label.
6. Article I, section 24, of the Florida Constitution,
establishes a constitutional right of access to any public record
made or received in connection with the official business of
any public body, officer, or employee or "persons acting on
their behalf"?except those records exempted by law pursuant
to that provision or made confidential
by the Constitution. This right of access to public records
applies to legislative, executive and judicial branches of
government; counties, municipalities and districts, etc.
7. However, the Florida Public Records Act which
is key to application of the constitutional provisions
does not apply to the State Legislature or the judiciary.
8. Private agencies acting on behalf of public agencies
also are covered, but that is a complex issue.
9. Shands facilities twice unsuccessfully have
tried to argue in Court that they are NOT bound by
public access provisions. The public is entitled to records
of Shands facilities and about the University of Florida.
10. Almost all e-mails to and from public employees
are public records we can access.
11. Records of outside attorney bills received by
the City's risk management office for the defense of
the municipality or for the defense of its employees,
e.g. GPD officers, are public records subject to disclosure.
12. Any local law or policy which tries to add
conditions or place restrictions on public record access
has little value. State law has preempted any local
regulation on this subject.
13. Every person who has custody of a public
record must disclose it, even though the City or University
or Shands may have a designated custodian of public
records. That includes all employees with the power
to release or communicate public records.
14. Any person can inspect public records. It is
the policy of this state that all state, county, and
municipal records shall be open for personal inspection.
15. The person seeking the records does not
have to show any purpose of specific condition to
inspect public records and to copy them?at a reasonable
cost?5 cents to 15 cents a page.
16. Gainesville employees other than the Clerk's
office regularly violate the law by denying a request
to inspect and/or copy public records, because, say,
the City Attorney, or the Equal Opportunity Charter
Officer claims?wrongly?that the request "lacks specifics."
17. State case law indicates that most public
records must be produced within a reasonable time
of the request, usually no more than 48-72 hours.
18. An unreasonable delay provides grounds
for a legal action.
19. Any request for inspection of public
records can be made orally, as well as in writing,
by mail, or other communication, as well as in person.
20. The public agency does NOT have
to give information. The requirement of access
only applies to existing public records.
21. If a public agency requests an exemption,
the custodian must identify the basis for the
exemption including the specific law allowing
for the exemption?that is, allowing for a specific
exception to the rule of public access.
22. A city can cover up information specifically
protected from access, e.g. the addresses of GPD
officers, but it still must allow inspection of the rest
of the records.
23. Public records must be open for inspection?
not necessarily copying?without charge UNLESS
the nature or volume of public records to be inspected
requires extensive use of information technology resources,
or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance, or both.
24. Gainesville?other than the cooperative
Clerk's office?too often hides behind that right to charge
by claiming everything requires extensive use of
information technology resources, or extensive
clerical or supervisory assistance, or both.
25. Even so the costs must be reasonable
based on actual labor or computer costs incurred
by the agency. You are entitled to an estimate in advance.
26. A small charge may be allowed for each
page you want to copy?not to inspect! You are entitled
to inspect without charge except as I have noted above.
27. On your behalf, an attorney can petition
for a writ of mandamus to the local circuit court if
he or she believes that the records holder is stonewalling.
That attorney can get fees for such violations. An
individual other than an attorney proceeding pro se
cannot get fees or usually even costs.
28. Such petitions are given top priority in
terms of court response.
29. During this campaign, Gabriel will try to
answer any question about City/University responses
to public record act requests.
30. The Florida Public Records Act task
force may continue after the election. The time
has come to take back access to public information
from the Gainesville Sun and the Independent Alligator.
They have not made good use of the law to protect
the public's right to know.
Of course, please feel free to ask questions beyond
those I have proposed. These provisions are the key
to a renewed and reawakened public interest. Good luck.
Paid political advertisement for Gabriel
for Gainesville City Commissioner-at-Large (2)
Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement. Can you conceive of any other measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order?
--Economist Milton Friedman
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February 10, 2006
Boot Camp Death Looks Like Murder-Public should view video
I've been researching the horrific abuse of America's institutionalized youth. The brutal death of Martin Lee Anderson at a Florida boot camp run by the sheriffs's department is outrageous. Sadly the type of abuse that caused his death is common in both private and public troubled youth programs and boot camps throughout the country.
Refusal to release the video showing a half-dozen large men sadistically restraining and beating a small 14-year old boy is illegal and a violation of Florida's constitution. Authorities often close ranks and records when a youth in a teen program dies or is injured. Apparently there have been other complaints about similar abuse that was systematically swept under the carpet. Now a boy is dead - his crime - going for a joy-ride in his grandma's car with four of his cousins. This could be anyone's child! The people of Florida and those elected to protect their rights must act now to safeguard Florida's disenfranchised institutionalized children.
There are thousands of individuals across the nation who have been victims of the unregulated troubled teen industry. Hundreds of children as young as 7- years old have died at the hands of those hired to care for them. Brutal restraints often result in death, that's why many states have out-lawed them.
Reports of horrific abuse that includes brutal restraint, hogtying, pole tying, beatings, starvation, denial of medical care, drugging, stripping, prolonged isolation in dark rooms often falls upon the deaf ears of authorities who usually act to support the teen boot camps and programs.
This tragedy is the tip of the iceberg. Child abuse in the guise of rehabilitation must stop. Hiding facts and records from the taxpayers who pay for the Panama City Boot Camp is political corruption at it's worse. We have a right to know that children are being tortured and sometimes killed while in the custody of the youth authority. Florida's troubled youth are not being rehabilitated - they are being tortured and murdered.
The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization.
--Sigmund Freud
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Here are some more Florida papers to add
Orlando Sentinel: [email protected] (http://mailto:[email protected])
St Petersburg Times: sptimes.com/letters[ This Message was edited by: cherish wisdom on 2006-02-10 19:37 ]
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A very good idea. The release of this video would definitely help our cause and effort to heighten public awareness and possible get more support for the Bill the end institutionalized child abuse. Keep writing those letters....
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Maybe this guy would be interested in continuing the story. He seems like he's got a good grasp on the situation.
Post URL: http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... =10#172522 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=13885&forum=9&start=10#172522)
On 2006-02-12 00:18:00, Anonymous wrote:
"http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13844383.htm
Posted on Sun, Feb. 12, 2006
It's old news that boot camps are bad news
BY FRED GRIMM [email protected]
Nothing about the sadistic abuse that boot camp guards heaped on Martin Lee Anderson should shock anyone. Kicking, punching, choking. We already knew all about that stuff. Not even the pummeling of the 14-year-old boy after he had collapsed into unconsciousness was so surprising.
Nor was the utter indifference of the boot camp nurse who watched the brutality unfold without intervening.
The novelty here was that this kid lasted only three horrific hours at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp. Then he died. That's the news. Not that kids in these programs are getting the hell beat out of them.
OLD STORY RESURRECTED
We all know what boot camps are about: gross intimidation, physical abuse and cruelty visited upon children. The cruelty suffered by Martin Lee Anderson at the boot camp in Panama City only resurrected an old story.
The fad to consign juvenile offenders to military-style boot camps started a dozen years ago and quickly spread to 27 states. And the reports that came out of these experiments had a numbing sameness. The camps nurtured sadistic guards and horrible abuse while 65 to 75 percent of its inmates were back in trouble within a year.
Georgia was among the first states to consign juvenile offenders to boot camps in 1990 and by the end of the decade, the U.S. Department of Justice had brought civil rights charges. The feds cataloged beatings, kickings, chokings -- oh, you can guess the details. Georgia closed the camps in 1999.
OTHERS ABANDON CAMPS
North Dakota, Colorado and Arizona abandoned boot camps after mounting allegations of abused kids were measured against miserable recidivism rates.
A series of shocking stories by the Baltimore Sun prompted Maryland to shutter its boot camps in 1999.
Stories that were shocking in 1999 can't be all that shocking in 2006. It can hardly be a surprise to officials in Tallahassee that the state's six juvenile detention boot camps are hell holes. Just across town, Aaron McNeece, the dean of Florida State University's College of Social Work, has studied the camps and told state officials and legislators that these programs were dangerous failures.
`WASTE OF MONEY'
''Everybody knows that they're a waste of time and money. Still, they keep going,'' he said.
Not even the death in Bay County, accompanied by videotaped evidence of horrific abuse, has prompted the Department of Juvenile Justice to cancel the boot camp's contract. ''The first story about this ran Jan. 7,'' said Judge Frank Orlando, who runs a youth law think-tank at Nova Southeastern University. ``The fact that this place is still open tells you how dysfunctional this state agency is.''
SHERIFFS' POLITICAL MUSCLE
Political power explains why boot camps thrive -- Florida's six camps are run by county sheriffs. ''They don't know the first thing about rehabilitation. But they know how to mess kids up in these boot camps,'' said Judge Orlando.
But sheriffs wield political clout. They managed, even while taking state operating funds, to keep their camps exempted from safeguards required for other juvenile lockups.
Besides, the public loves the notion of boot camps. We love TV news clips of rowdy kids lined up like Marines, getting the discipline we're so sure is all they need to right their lives.
Boot camps provides politicians with props for the 11 o'clock news, ''visible solutions to a serious social problem,'' McNeece call them. ``Whether they work or not is irrelevant.''
Martin Lee Anderson was incarcerated for taking his granny's car on a reckless joyride.
Here in Florida, despite a dozen years' worth of evidence to the contrary, we calculated that all the kid needed was brutal discipline and a dose of tough love.
We tough-loved Martin to death.
"
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Great article. Thanks for sharing.
A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.
--Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
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This is the narrow topic that first smacked me upside the head and made me want to go looking for fellow Straight, Incorporated vets in the first place.
In 98, when Brother Jeb first took office as governor of Florida, I had already heard of Batty Sembler, I just had no idea she was affiliated in any way w/ Str8. In the spring of that year, Brother Jeb came out w/ his plan for Florids, the crown jewel of which was the promise of $100k in funding for juvenile rehab.
THAT got my attention! I knew Büsh and Reagan were virtually synonymous terms in the political lexicon. And I remembered hearing about Nancy Reagan's visit to St. Pete str8. And, as hard as I had tried to forget or to not notice, I never could manage to get all the Just Say No propaganda out of my mind.
And now we come full circle. This is what he promised. You Neocon psychophants please take note. This is what Brother Jeb promised you. You were damned fools to not look under the hood then. Please wake the hell up and take a closer look at that pig in a poke.
http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/gove ... 05-02.html (http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/government/governorinitiatives/drugcontrol/articles/juvenile-10-05-02.html)
After all, who wouldn't prefer Middle Earth, unless they've been corrupted by a Ring of Power?
Jeff Elkins; Tolkien's Libertarian Vision
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Do you have all of the facts? Do you know if the kid had any undetected medical conditions before going to the camp? Do you know if the toxicology tests revealed he had taken any drugs, especially narcotics, prior to going to the camp?
Have you seen the video? Have you talked to witnesses?
Yes, it is a tragedy. Was it the fault of the guards? Maybe, maybe not. We just do not know yet.
HOWEVER, what you fail to mention and the public and news media fail to mention is that these are not little angels that are at these bootcamps. These are kids who are travelling down the wrong path, committing serious felonies and have burgeoning criminal careers ahead of them. They are heading toward a life of going into and getting out of prison. The boot camps have a better success rate considering recidivism than simple incarceration.
Getting back to this case, until you have all the facts, if you make a decision than YOU are an idiot.
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On 2006-02-14 20:53:00, Anonymous wrote:
" Do you have all of the facts? Do you know if the kid had any undetected medical conditions before going to the camp? Do you know if the toxicology tests revealed he had taken any drugs, especially narcotics, prior to going to the camp?
Have you seen the video? Have you talked to witnesses?
Yes, it is a tragedy. Was it the fault of the guards? Maybe, maybe not. We just do not know yet.
HOWEVER, what you fail to mention and the public and news media fail to mention is that these are not little angels that are at these bootcamps. These are kids who are travelling down the wrong path, committing serious felonies and have burgeoning criminal careers ahead of them. They are heading toward a life of going into and getting out of prison. The boot camps have a better success rate considering recidivism than simple incarceration.
Getting back to this case, until you have all the facts, if you make a decision than YOU are an idiot."
you're kidding right? personally...I would rather give the benefit of the doubt to the dead teen.
with respect to your ridiculous questions.
1. If he had undetected medical conditions or was potentially on narcotics when he arrived...then it should be the parents/facility that should recognize this and handle things appropriately/accordingly in ways that don't include subsequent death.
2. Have you seen the video? Talked to the witnesses? I didn't think so.
3. Did you know this particular teens history? No? Then why make a blanket generalization that all these children at these boot camps are future criminals?
We just want to see the video...and make our own decisions.
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On 2006-02-14 20:53:00, Anonymous wrote:
" Do you have all of the facts? Do you know if the kid had any undetected medical conditions before going to the camp? Do you know if the toxicology tests revealed he had taken any drugs, especially narcotics, prior to going to the camp?
Have you seen the video? Have you talked to witnesses?
Yes, it is a tragedy. Was it the fault of the guards? Maybe, maybe not. We just do not know yet.
HOWEVER, what you fail to mention and the public and news media fail to mention is that these are not little angels that are at these bootcamps. These are kids who are travelling down the wrong path, committing serious felonies and have burgeoning criminal careers ahead of them. They are heading toward a life of going into and getting out of prison. The boot camps have a better success rate considering recidivism than simple incarceration.
Getting back to this case, until you have all the facts, if you make a decision than YOU are an idiot."
Is there anything you wont do to villify teenagers and glorify or defend the authority figure(s), regardless of who fills the roles of either?
You make baseless, generalized declarations as if you somehow know the future and know they'll be criminals and have committed felonies as if even if that were true that would defend this behavior. It doesnt. Convicted felons in jails have more rights than children in bootcamps or programs.
And, if the kid was on drugs, THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE BLOOD WORK FIRST. THATS NEGLIGENCE!
Oh, and finally, guess what? Studies show that bootcamps really have no impact in recidivism, neither do jails - they HAVE however found teens who get a job are a lot less likely to commit crimes, though.
Wow, responsibiltiy and positive reinforcement and letting them grow up and have some freedom, WORKING. Imagine that?
:flame:
Based on what those who have seen that video have said, he was beaten up and thrown around like a rag doll, beaten until unconscious and continued to be beaten, and then had his nose lacerated trying to shove ammonia in there to wake him back up.
That is NOT okay. PERIOD. EVER. You cant treat adults that way - no matter WHAT they did, but yet youre defending beating the shit out of children?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?Religions are all alike; founded upon fables and mythologies.
--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President, author, scientist, architect, educator, and diplomat
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On 2006-02-14 20:53:00, Anonymous wrote:
" Do you have all of the facts? Do you know if the kid had any undetected medical conditions before going to the camp? Do you know if the toxicology tests revealed he had taken any drugs, especially narcotics, prior to going to the camp?
Have you seen the video? Have you talked to witnesses?
Yes, it is a tragedy. Was it the fault of the guards? Maybe, maybe not. We just do not know yet.
HOWEVER, what you fail to mention and the public and news media fail to mention is that these are not little angels that are at these bootcamps. These are kids who are travelling down the wrong path, committing serious felonies and have burgeoning criminal careers ahead of them. They are heading toward a life of going into and getting out of prison.
Have YOU fucking read any of the articles about this? Did you read the two state Reps description of what they saw on the tape? Did you read how this kid really didn't get into too much trouble at all other than joyriding in his grandma's car?
The boot camps have a better success rate considering recidivism than simple incarceration.
You're absolutely wrong. The National Institute of Health and the National Mental Health Association have issued reports stating how boot camps do virtually NOTHING to help and far often make the kids worse when they come out.
Think before you fucking speak.
Getting back to this case, until you have all the facts, if you make a decision than YOU are an idiot."
Which is exactly why we want the tape released and why people are fighting for that to happen.
Idiot. :roll:
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On 2006-02-14 20:53:00, Anonymous wrote:
HOWEVER, what you fail to mention and the public and news media fail to mention is that these are not little angels that are at these bootcamps. These are kids who are travelling down the wrong path, committing serious felonies and have burgeoning criminal careers ahead of them. They are heading toward a life of going into and getting out of prison. The boot camps have a better success rate considering recidivism than simple incarceration.
You do realize that this point is completely irrelevant, don't you? They killed a child. In the USA that is called murder. They beat a child. In the USA that is called child abuse. If any private citizen beats a child (delinquent or not) they would be charged with abuse and assault. Why is this any different? It isn't. You can't say it is okay because was a 'bad boy' and deserved it.
And in case you missed it, the articles about this incident point out that some politicians want these camps closed and are using the FACT of their HIGHER rate of recidivism as supporting argument.
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"The novelty here was that this kid lasted only three horrific hours at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp. Then he died. That's the news. Not that kids in these programs are getting the hell beat out of them."
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Probation Violation is a felony.
Lets not forget that it was the Probation Violation (cerfew) and NOT the joy ride in grandma's car that landed this kid in the boot camp.
Probation Violators usually have NO SAY during court,and are matter of factly sentenced to their punishment.
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On 2006-02-15 04:49:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Probation Violation is a felony.
Lets not forget that it was the Probation Violation (cerfew) and NOT the joy ride in grandma's car that landed this kid in the boot camp.
Probation Violators usually have NO SAY during court,and are matter of factly sentenced to their punishment."
What, seven months into probation he breaks curfew and is sentenced to death? That's rational.
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http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... =30#173507 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=13885&forum=9&start=30#173507)
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A boy is murdered. The murder is on video tape. The boys organs were so damaged that they could not be donated. Legisators are horrified by what they know and have seen.
Go ahead and conduct an investigation, but in the meantime, shouldn't the murderers be arrested? Shouldn't there be a murder trial?
Let's face it. If this event happened outside a boot camp, there would have been arrests made by now and not some cover-up call for an investigation (conducted by allies of the murderers).
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On 2006-02-15 06:29:00, Anonymous wrote:
"
On 2006-02-15 04:49:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Probation Violation is a felony.
Lets not forget that it was the Probation Violation (cerfew) and NOT the joy ride in grandma's car that landed this kid in the boot camp.
Probation Violators usually have NO SAY during court,and are matter of factly sentenced to their punishment."
What, seven months into probation he breaks curfew and is sentenced to death? That's rational."
No.Its the reality of Probation.I dont have statistics,but I know it is a fact that a VERY LARGE percentage of the jail is filled with probation violators.I have been in jail a long time and much of the population was there for probation violation.Its jamming up the court system.
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On 2006-02-16 01:42:00, Anonymous wrote:
No.Its the reality of Probation.
More like the reality of boot camps.
I dont have statistics,but I know it is a fact that a VERY LARGE percentage of the jail is filled with probation violators.I have been in jail a long time and much of the population was there for probation violation.Its jamming up the court system."
We're not talking about jail, we're talking about kids. This kid died for joyriding in his grandma's car and then breaking the probabtion he received from doing that. To top it all off his parents had no choice in where he was sent and they were told it would "help" him. Pretty fucking twisted if you ask me.
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Its over, it does not matter, its going to get ignored and swept under the rug now.
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I did my part, I wrote.
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On 2006-02-16 18:34:00, OverLordd wrote:
"Its over, it does not matter, its going to get ignored and swept under the rug now.
"
That's definitely a likely possibility. Let's hope for a different outcome.
The family needs to dispute the ME report like Brown Schools did. This guy sounds like the whack Brown hired to claimed that Moody died of 'excited delirium'.
"The Brown Schools, which owned the camp and based its administrative operations in Austin, have disputed the autopsy with their own expert,
who contends that Chase died from excited delirium, which means he became so agitated and enraged that his heart stopped. (Read more about
the medical argument of traumatic asphyxia vs. excited delirium at
statesman.com/specialreports/restraint/.)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... t=10#12818 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=874&forum=9&start=10#12818)
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thanks for the letters - :nworthy:
I give money for church organs in the hope the organ music will distract the congregation's attention from the rest of the service.
--Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist
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video
http://www.wftv.com/news/7297841/detail.html (http://www.wftv.com/news/7297841/detail.html)
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BOOTCAMP CLOSED!!!!!!
Whose next?
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On 2006-02-22 18:52:00, CCM girl 1989 wrote:
"BOOTCAMP CLOSED!!!!!!
Whose next?"
Clsoed? That remains to be seen:
"Since our youth in Bay County are of the utmost importance, we hope to soon institute a newly designed program upon which we have been working for several months," the letter stated.
Same shit, different day.
McKeithen was appointed by Bush. His super was appointed by Bush and created the program. What would you do in that situation?
McKeithen is promoting a 'new and revised' program that will in all likelihood be just as abusive. Common tactic to extinguish the heat of the moment.
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I have Fox News on, and Hannity and Colmes said it had been closed?
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Yes, and that will ease the publics minds, and deminish media attention- the problem's been solved, right? McKeithen will then carry on with his 'new and improved' program.
We'll have to keep our attention on him and his new program, to see what, if anything, changes. For what good it will do.