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