Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Public Sector Gulags => Topic started by: Antigen on January 11, 2006, 04:54:00 PM
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Teen?s death prompts calls to shut boot camp
Boy?s family says he was abused; program has 62 percent recidivism rate
Updated: 12:05 p.m. ET Jan. 11, 2006
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A Florida legislator is calling on the state to close its military-style boot camps for juvenile delinquents after a 14-year-old boy died just hours after entering one of the facilities.
?These programs are not working ... this shock-and-awe mentality on a kid,? said state Rep. Gustavo ?Gus? Barreiro, chairman of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. ?We need to shut these things down.?
Gov. Jeb Bush also believes lawmakers should take a hard look at the juvenile facilities. Asked about the boot camps Wednesday, Bush said: ?All of our programs ought to be under review.?
?We still have questions, questions on the autopsy and questions on the procedures,? Bush said.
The Department of Juvenile Justice is reviewing all sheriff?s office policies for the camps in light of last week?s death of Martin Lee Anderson, said spokeswoman Cynthia Lorenzo.
Anderson was sent to the Bay County Sheriff?s Office camp because of an arrest for grand theft.
He had to be restrained when he became uncooperative following exercises as part of the entry process at the Panama City camp, authorities said. He soon complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed. He died the next day a Pensacola hospital.
The family?s attorney says the boy was abused and has filed an intent to sue.
?There?s a lot that just doesn?t add up,? attorney Ben Crump said. He said the youngster had a cut lip, bloody nose and an abrasion on the side of his face.
The victim?s mother, Gina Jones, said her son was in good physical shape. He stood about 6-foot-1 and weighed about 140 pounds, she said.
Sheriff?s investigators have not completed a preliminary report on the youngster?s death, but a Bay County sheriff?s spokeswoman denied that Anderson was abused. The state gave the camp a good review in a June 2004 quality assurance report.
The state Department of Juvenile Justice?s records show that 62 percent of graduates from the several camps around the state are re-arrested after release. The camps are run by county sheriff?s offices under contract from the state.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10750051/GT1=7538 (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10750051/GT1=7538)
(there's a poll there, too!)Truth in matters of religion is simply the opinion that has survived.
--Oscar Wilde
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http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2006 ... 38629.html (http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2006/1/11/138629.html)
Boot camp controversy
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
The Polk County Juvenile Boot Camp recently received high honors from the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Sheriff Grady Judd is proud of that.
"In fact, we received the highest rating possible," Judd said. "Our boot camp does a great job. And our recidivism rate is about 46 percent."
Judd disagrees with the state lawmaker who wants to shut down the entire boot camp system after the death of a 14-year-old boy at a Panama City camp.
"They try to shock and awe a kid," said Gus Barreiro, who chairs the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. "It's really just basically trying to make a kid do things through intimidation."
Barreiro said he doesn't want to see another teenager die in the state's care. So, he's holding hearings in the Florida House about boot camps and their effectiveness.
"If the facts show what I really believe they're going to show, that they have the highest recidivism rate in the state of Florida and they're not being successful, then I just won't support funding it," Barreiro said.
Judd, however, said Polk County has proven the boot camp program can work as a deterrent to juvenile crime, and the state shouldn't throw out the entire program.
Sheriff Grady Judd said the camp has helped curb juvenile crime.
"The death is unfortunate, and certainly it needs to be completely investigated," Judd said. "But in our world don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
The Department of Juvenile Justice and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are conducting investigations into the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.
The boy's parents believes he was abused at the Panama City Boot Camp and said he was in good physical shape before he went there. Boot camp officials said the teenager had to be restrained when he became uncooperative last week.
Anderson complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed. He died the next day at a Pensacola Hospital.
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Poll results- what MSNBC fans think... :scared:
What do you think of boot camps for juvenile delinquents?
* 17487 responses
They go too far and create more hardened criminals.
15%
They should be used only in extreme cases.
12%
They could probably use some oversight, but overall, a good idea.
45%
Spare the rod and spoil the child: They should be used more widely.
23%
I'm not sure.
4%
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http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/12/State ... ot_c.shtml (http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/12/State/Close_juvenile_boot_c.shtml)
Close juvenile boot camps, legislator says
His proposal comes a week after a teen died after entering a Panhandle camp. But some lawmakers support the camps.
By Associated Press
Published January 12, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - A Republican lawmaker wants the state to close its military-style boot camps for juvenile offenders.
State Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, chairman of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee, called for eliminating the camps the week after 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died shortly after entering such a camp in Panama City.
"These programs are not working. ... We need to shut these things down," Barreiro said Wednesday.
But his counterpart in the Senate, Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, said he still supports the camps.
"Every once in a while something happens," Wise said. "It happens in prisons. It happens in real life, too. ... It's a shame. ... We just have to make sure we try to fix it."
(it's a shame? a shame? ::noway::)
Gov. Jeb Bush said lawmakers should take a hard look at the camps.
"When you look at recidivism rates, they have had a proven record of success," Bush said. "When you have a case where a child dies, I want you to pause and do the necessary investigations."
He said policies at the boot camps across the state may need to be standardized.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what the investigation yields," Bush said. :roll:
The state Department of Juvenile Justice's records show that 62 percent of graduates from the several camps around the state are arrested again after being released - a rate experts call high. The camps are run by county sheriffs' offices under contract from the state.
"Boot camps don't work," said Aaron McNeese, dean of Florida State University's College of Social Work, which has done some of the research.
Cynthia Lorenzo, a Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman, said the department is reviewing all of the sheriff's offices' policies for the camps in light of Anderson's death.
Anderson was sent to the Bay County Sheriff's Office camp after a June arrest for grand theft. He was doing push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises as part of the intake process Jan. 5 when he became uncooperative and had to be restrained :roll: , authorities said. He soon complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed. He was transferred to a Pensacola hospital and died early the next morning.
On Tuesday, Anderson's family filed an intent to sue. The family's attorney, Ben Crump, said the boy appeared to have been abused - he suffered a cut lip, a bloody nose and a scrape on the side of his face when he was restrained. A sheriff's spokeswoman denied that.
The victim's mother, Gina Jones, said her son was in good physical shape and enjoyed playing basketball. Anderson was about 6-foot-1 and weighed about 140 pounds, she said.
The Department of Juvenile Justice gave the Bay County camp a good review in a June 2004 quality assurance report, listing it as being in full compliance with state standards.
Sheriff's investigators have not completed a preliminary report on Anderson's death.
[Last modified January 12, 2006, 01:21:24]
:cry:
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martin was my friend....he didnt deserve this to happen to him. 14 year olds shouldnt be allowed to be addmitted into something like that when there that young, at least wait until there like 16...when there more matured and stronger and can handle the police bullying them. i know they abused him and fucked him up before he died. i've been in the exact same place before...ive seen what they do to kids...and its not right. you dont twist there arms around and shove them up against walls...who cares if there in "boot camp"....hes 14. Thats still child abuse, or actually in there case, manslaughter. I beleive boot camps should no longer be. It wont happen I know,becuse the system is so incredibly fucked up.But beleive me, I am going to see to it that these horrible people pay for what theve done...you dont kill a child and go on like nothing happened. Like I said, who cares if your the "drill instructor"..It still gives you absolutly no right to physically harm a child, a child is a child..and thats just not right.How would they feel if there child got locked up and had men 3 times there size over them screaming and pushing them around...and even maybe killing them.. im am sure they would be outraged, just as I am... and beleive me, you they wont get off easy...no they will not.
sorry, i just had to get that out.
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Darlin', thank you for writing that heartfelt note. FWIW, you're damned right and more and more people are starting to see it now. That's cold comfort, I know. There's nothing I can say, words are just not adequate. They killed your friend.
On 2006-01-18 17:27:00, Anonymous wrote:
It wont happen I know,becuse the system is so incredibly fucked up.
Just don't you believe that! Look, I was in a pretty messed up place in Florida too. I felt the same way. But we're the grown ups now. There may be nothing you can really do to fix this whole thing right now. But believe me, your words, your beliefs and the way you walk through life does have an impact; often more than you could ever imagine. I sleep better every day as more ppl like you decline to join in the turning away.
No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober
--Samuel Stiles
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Tape of teen who died at boot camp held back
Melissa Nelson | the Associated Press
Posted January 19, 2006
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... ines-state (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-bootcamp1906jan19,0,4951068.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state)
PENSACOLA -- Despite pressure from the family of a 14-year-old who died after collapsing at a juvenile boot camp, investigators said Wednesday they would not immediately release a tape showing what happened to the boy.
The tape shows Martin Lee Anderson's admission to the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp in Panama City on Jan. 5. Karen Mason, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said the tape is part of the department's investigation and would not be made public until the investigation is closed, which could take a month or longer.
"It would be incredibly inappropriate to release the tape before the state attorney has had a chance to review it and decide if it is evidence," said State Attorney Steve Meadows, who will decide whether criminal charges are brought in the teen's death.
Anderson had just arrived at the camp because of a grand theft charge. He was doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and other exercises that are part of the camp's physical fitness assessment when he became uncooperative and had to be restrained, the Sheriff's Office said.
He then complained of breathing problems and collapsed while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. He died early the next morning at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
Dr. Charles Siebert, medical examiner for Bay County, has ruled out trauma or an injury as the cause of death. Toxicology reports are pending.
On Tuesday, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen indicated the tape could cause public criticism of his department, but he didn't say why.
"When it is released and made public, there will be many questions, concerns and accusations. . . . We must not leave you with the impression that this is going to have a good ending. There is nothing good about the death of a 14-year-old young man," McKeithen said.
"As I find myself essentially handcuffed from releasing information concerning the unfortunate death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, I also find myself obligated to the citizens of Bay County, the family of Martin Anderson, and the media to in no way mislead them about the seriousness, the complexity and the perception of this incident."
Keisha Rice, an attorney for Anderson's family, called on investigators to release the tape, saying the family wants to view it. She said she and Benjamin Crump, another attorney for Anderson's family, also want to see the tape.
"It's obvious something terrible happened to young Martin Anderson, and we look forward to being able to review the tape so that we can find out the truth for ourselves. Martin's parents are haunted by the same questions everyone else wants to know -- since FDLE isn't going to alter the tape in any way while it is in their possession, then why won't they release it now? What's their excuse for holding it another month?" Rice said.
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Same article, less hacked about ...
Published Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Investigators won't soon release tape of Bay County camp death
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer
PENSACOLA, Fla.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... /601180767 (http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060118/APN/601180767)
Despite pressure from the family of a 14-year-old who died after collapsing during admission to a juvenile boot camp, investigators said Wednesday they would not immediately release a tape showing what happened.
The tape shows Martin Lee Anderson's Jan. 5 admission to the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp in Panama City. Karen Mason, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said the tape is part of the department's ongoing investigation and would not be made public until the investigation is closed, which could take a month or longer depending on criminal charges.
"It would be incredibly inappropriate to release the tape before the state attorney has had a chance to review it and decide if it is evidence," said State Attorney Steve Meadows, who will decide if criminal charges are brought in the teen's death.
Anderson had just arrived at the camp because of a grand theft charge. He was doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and other exercises that are part of the camp's physical fitness assessment when he became uncooperative and had to be restrained, the sheriff's office said.
He then complained of breathing problems and collapsed while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. He died early the next morning at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
Dr. Charles Siebert, medical examiner for Bay County, has ruled out trauma or an injury as the cause of death. Toxicology reports are pending.
On Tuesday, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen indicated the tape could cause public criticism of his department, but didn't say why.
"When it is released and made public, there will be many questions, concerns and accusations ... We must not leave you with the impression that this is going to have a good ending. There is nothing good about the death of a 14-year-old young man," McKeithen said.
"As I find myself essentially handcuffed from releasing information concerning the unfortunate death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, I also find myself obligated to the citizens of Bay County, the family of Martin Anderson, and the media to in no way mislead them about the seriousness, the complexity and the perception of this incident."
Keisha Rice, an attorney for Anderson's family, called on investigators to release the tape, saying the family wants to view it. She said she and Benjamin Crump, another attorney for Anderson's family also want to see the tape.
"It's obvious something terrible happened to young Martin Anderson and we look forward to being able to review the tape so that we can find out the truth for ourselves. Martin's parents are haunted by the same questions everyone else wants to know - since FDLE isn't going to alter the tape in any way while it is in their possession, then why won't they release it now? What's their excuse for holding it another month," Rice said, reading a statement from the attorneys.
But Mason of the FDLE said releasing the tape would hurt the investigation.
"We owe it to the family to do a thorough, methodical, professional investigation. We aren't going to compromise that by the piecemeal release of evidence. The tape is one of several pieces of the puzzle," she said.
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MIAMI HERALD WATCHDOG
Guards seen beating teen in video
Two South Florida lawmakers who saw a video of a teen's final hours say he was abused at a juvenile boot camp. The boy died later that day.
By CAROL MARBIN MILLER
[email protected]
A 14-year-old boy was ''brutally'' beaten by guards and ''flung around like a rag doll'' at a boot camp for juvenile delinquents in Panama City hours before he died at a Panhandle hospital, according to two lawmakers who on Wednesday saw a videotape of the incident.
The video, which recorded the last 20 to 30 minutes of the teen's stay at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp, shows officers at times kicking, punching and choking Martin Lee Anderson after he refused, or was unable, to comply with officers' orders to run or do other exercises, the legislators said.
Martin, of Panama City, died Jan. 6 at Pensacola's Sacred Heart Hospital, hours after he was admitted to the boot camp, which is operated under a contract with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
The state Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating Martin's death, showed the camp videotape to two members of the Florida House of Representatives who oversee youth corrections, and at least four members of the governor's staff at FDLE headquarters Wednesday morning.
Clearly shaken, state Rep. Gus Barreiro told The Miami Herald that the tape depicted ''the most heinous treatment of a human being'' he had ever seen. ``It was obvious to me the kid was unconscious, and they were still abusing him. People will be outraged when they see this tape, and they should be outraged.
''This could be anybody's son,'' added Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican who chairs the House Juvenile Justice Appropriations Committee, and has headed a separate committee investigating alleged abuses in DJJ facilities.
State Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat who investigated dozens of alleged police brutality cases as head of the U.S. attorney's office civil-rights division in Miami for a decade, also saw the video.
''There's no question that the force used here was well beyond what was necessary for the situation,'' Gelber said. ``The truth is that this kid died in custody. . . . What we saw was very, very distressing.''
GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
A spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush confirmed that four staffers from his office viewed the tape, but he declined to discuss what they saw. The officials were Bush Chief of Staff Mark Kaplan, Public Safety Policy Director Randy Ball, Deputy Chief of Staff Carol Gormley, and legal advisor Vicki Brennan.
''They viewed the video in light of their duties overseeing the [juvenile justice] agency,'' said Bush spokesman Russell Schweiss. ``They thought it was appropriate to help them understand the incident.''
FDLE officials and the Bay County Sheriff's Office declined to discuss the contents of the tape Wednesday. The FDLE also denied a request from The Miami Herald for a copy.
''We believe, in good faith, that this video is not a public record at this time,'' said FDLE spokesman Tom Berlinger. ``The limited disclosure that took place this morning was to government officials who have oversight authority of state government agencies.''
The Miami Herald was not able to reach a spokeswoman for the Department of Juvenile Justice, which has consistently declined to discuss the investigation.
`MANY QUESTIONS'
On Jan. 17, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen issued a terse statement, saying release of the tape will raise ``many questions, concerns and accusations.''
''We must not leave you with the impression that this is going to have a good ending,'' he wrote.
Said Barreiro on Wednesday: ``I now know why the sheriff was so concerned.''
Reached by telephone in Panama City on Wednesday night, Martin's parents expressed outrage and sadness at hearing of the tape's contents.
''I want justice; that's what I want,'' said Robert Anderson, Martin's father. ``But I can't really get it, because my son is gone.''
''What the hell is a [large] man doing putting his knee into my son's back?'' Anderson said. ``He was only 14. He weighed less than 140 pounds.''
Said Benjamin Crump, the family's Tallahassee attorney: ``This is just too painful. To say that the family is devastated by this news is an understatement. Losing a child is hard enough.''
Juvenile justice officials have said Martin may have bled to death. No autopsy report has been made public. Barreiro and Gelber said they were told by the FDLE that Martin displayed no visible bruising.
Martin was arrested after he and four cousins took their grandmother's car from a church parking lot during Sunday services, and then crashed it. Though the grandmother did not wish to press charges, the youths all were arrested on grand-theft charges, Crump said.
The teen was in the admissions area of the boot camp Jan. 5 when he was ordered by drill instructors, along with several other youths, to perform exercises. While the youths were being initiated into the program, an officer held a video camera and zoomed in to film moments when youths were being restrained, Barreiro said he was told.
As the video begins, several other youths are seen being held up against a wooden fence as drill instructors yell at them. Martin, in what has been described by juvenile justice officials as a ''restraint,'' is first seen being held down on the ground by two officers, with his arms spread out, Barreiro said.
One officer is seen with his knee pushing into his back. Though the tape contains no sound, the officers appear to be yelling at the teen, Barreiro said.
After a minute or two, Martin stands up and attempts to run around the camp's track, Barreiro said. Officers ''rush'' to hold him up against the wooden fence, ''with his arms spread out like a crucifix,'' Barreiro said. Then four guards are seen holding Martin to the ground, with one officer pushing his knee into the youth's back.
As Martin gets up to run again, he is clearly ''stumbling,'' unable to run or walk, Barreiro said.
REWIND REQUEST
What happened next, Barreiro said, was so disturbing he asked the FDLE agent showing the tape to rewind several times. On screen, a guard is seen apparently choking Martin by pushing his forearm against his throat, Barreiro and Gelber said.
The youth is once again encouraged to begin running, but again he stumbles and falls down, Barreiro said: ``He is like a rag doll . . . They are holding him up.''
Said Gelber: ``They are moving his body around like a sack of potatoes.''
Then, both lawmakers said, an officer either kicks or knees Martin in the back of his knees so that he falls down. ''When he's on the ground,'' Barreiro said, ``they start punching him in the arms. He's like comatose, and they are punching and punching.''
Moments later, the lawmakers say, officers yank Martin by the head and jerk it back. Once again, Barreiro said, they place Martin in what appears to be a type of choke hold.
''That was pretty violent,'' Gelber said of what he called the ''jolting'' of the teen's head. ``You could see from the very beginning [Martin] had a problem. His legs were rubbery. The kid was fainting and losing consciousness repeatedly.''
At some point, officers appeared to be pushing an object -- the lawmakers said they were told it was ammonia to help Martin regain consciousness -- forcefully into his nose. Juvenile justice officials have previously said Martin bled profusely from some injury to his nose.
Gelber said he was particularly struck by the apparent lack of any urgency or concern on the part of the boot-camp officers -- and a nurse who appeared to stand by doing little -- while Martin was clearly in grave distress for about 20 minutes.
''This was too long a period of time to not have sought medical attention,'' Gelber said. ``Giving the officers the benefit of all doubt, it's hard to divine what the possible justification was for their treatment of the juvenile.''
Crump, the family's attorney, described Martin on Wednesday as ''a good kid'' who made honor roll on his last report card, and played basketball for his school team.
''It is not the policy of our country to kill a kid for going joyriding in his grandmother's car,'' Crump said.
Miami Herald staff writers Marc Caputo and Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.
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On 2006-02-09 06:31:00, Anonymous wrote:
''It is not the policy of our country to kill a kid for going joyriding in his grandmother's car,'' Crump said.
It's become the policy of this country to beat them into submission either psychologically or physically.
This is so sad yet all to familiar and predictable. Things aren't going to change until this whole culture is exposed. This will end up being explained away as some isolated incident, a cursory "investigation" may be done, the drill instructors will be discilplined and the sheep will feel better. Whew! Thank god we got those bad apples. :roll: Nothing will change until regular folk realize that the very nature and basis of TC/RTC/Bootcamp/ or whatever euphemism they use for Behavior Modification and Thought Reform camps is fucked up from the very start. In addition to the obvious mindraping that goes on in all of them, it just breeds and attracts these kind of sadistic fucks.
Hopefully when the tape finally does make it out to the general public it'll be a few steps towards bursting the bubble.
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http://www.kathymoya.com/FICA/index.html (http://www.kathymoya.com/FICA/index.html)
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/10/State ... show.shtml (http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/10/State/Lawmakers__Video_show.shtml)
Lawmakers: Video shows beating
They say the actions of the boot camp's guards were brutal. Now, the dead youth's family may sue.
By Associated Press
Published February 10, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TALLAHASSEE - A videotape shows guards brutally beating a 14-year-old boy at a military-style boot camp for juvenile offenders not long before he died, two lawmakers said Thursday.
The state is refusing to make the tape public.
Martin Lee Anderson of Panama City died Jan. 6 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. He collapsed after complaining of breathing problems while doing exercises that were part of intake procedures at the camp. The Bay County Sheriff's Office has said officers restrained him after he became uncooperative.
State Rep. Gus Barreiro called the videotape horrific, saying he had "never seen any kid being brutalized . . . the way I saw this young man being brutalized."
"Even towards the end of the videotape, where you could just see there was pretty much nothing left of Martin, they came out with a couple cups of water and splashed him in the face," Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican, said. "When you see stuff like that, you want to go through the TV and say, "Enough is enough. Please stop hitting this kid.' "
An attorney for the family, Ben Crump, said the guards forced ammonia tablets up Anderson's nose, trying to keep the youth conscious.
"We can never ever let anything like this happen again and if we don't get this videotape out, people will never know the truth," said Crump, who demanded the tape's release on behalf of the family at a Panama City news conference Thursday. "I don't think there's any question there was excessive force," said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat from Miami Beach and former federal prosecutor familiar with custody cases, who also saw the videotape.
"I think (the public is) going to be shocked at the treatment of this kid and the lack of attention that was paid to his core health needs," Gelber said. "This is a relatively small kid with a half a dozen of pretty strong men and he seemed to be phasing in and out of consciousness."
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen issued a prepared statement accusing Barreiro and Gelber of overreacting with "irresponsible, premature and incorrect statements" that "add fuel to an already volatile situation."
Bay County authorities and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have refused to make the tape of the incident public, but Barreiro and Gelber said it would be released soon. FDLE spokeswoman Karen Mason said the tape remains a part of the investigation and doesn't fall under the state's open records requirements. "It's absurd," said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. "Technically they may be able to claim the exemption ... (but) this is an issue of critical public concern.."
Gov. Jeb Bush said he had not seen the tape but was aware of the contents. Several of his aides had seen it.
"When you have someone in the custody of the state, irrespective (of) their reasons of being there, who dies, it's a concern," Bush said. "Absolutely we're concerned."
Anderson's family said they plan to sue Bay County and the state Department of Juvenile Justice, which oversees boot camp programs
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If these Reps are as upset as they say they are in the press it might be worth it to drop them an email explaining that this kind of shit goes on every day in these places. Maybe give them a little history lesson on exactly what kind of a culture they're dealing with, how far back it goes and the political ties. It may not help, but it couldn't hurt either.
Dan Gelber http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/ ... ssionId=41 (http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/emailrepresentative.aspx?MemberId=4225&SessionId=41)
Gus Barreiro [email protected]
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The fact of the matter is that we are in a Nazi dictatorship. Our present dictator--the first in our nations' history but probably the first of many Republican dictators--just appointed an Italian fascist to the Supreme Court. Boot Camps? They are just practicing for torturing more and more and more Americans. They are already wiretapping us and selecting us. We have become Nazi Germany. It is interesting that Hitler surrounded himself with sexual perverts and so does Dictator Bush.
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http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... =10#172472 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=13885&forum=9&start=10#172472)
On 2006-02-11 20:05:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Looks like the pressure is working. The tape is likely to be released soon...
In a statement on Friday, Tunnell said he is considering releasing the video with the images of other juveniles digitally obscured because of comments made by the legislators who viewed it. "The premature disclosure as reported in the press has skewed this normal process," he said. "We now fear that public perception will be based on hearsay rather than reality." He called the legislators' comments "premature at best" and "irresponsible at worst." [/b]
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 849637.htm (http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/13849637.htm)
Parents demand answers in son's boot camp death
MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Martin Lee Anderson played basketball and hung out with other kids in this hardscrabble neighborhood of barred windows and attack dogs that surrounds the cemetery where he was buried last month.
He made the honor roll last year and had not been in serious trouble before he and four cousins were arrested last June for taking their grandmother's Jeep Cherokee from a church parking lot and crashing it.
Although 14-year-old Anderson wasn't the driver, he was charged with grand theft. Other problems followed, including suspension from school and an arrest for trespassing.
On Jan. 5, he was admited to the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp. Two South Florida legislators who have seen a video tape of his last conscious moments say he was brutally beaten by guards who kicked and punched him.
Anderson's death has led some state leaders to demand changes at Florida's military-style boot camps.
Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, who viewed the video last week said it shows a brutal beating.
"Even toward the end of the videotape, where you could just see there was pretty much nothing left of Martin, they came out with a couple of cups of water and splashed him in the face," Barreiro said.
"When you see stuff like that you just want to go through the TV and say, 'Enough is enough. Please stop hitting this kid," he said.
Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, a former federal prosecutor, also expressed outrage after viewing the tape, and said he did not think there was any question that excessive force was used.
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen released a statement calling Barreiro and Gelber "loose cannon politicians," and said the two made "irresponsible premature and incorrect statements."
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has said Barreiro and Gelber were allowed to view the tape because they serve on the Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. Several members of Gov. Jeb Bush's staff also were allowed to view the tape.
But Anderson's parents, Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, have not been allowed to see the last conscious moments of their son's life.
"No human being on this earth should go through what my son went though. I just wish they could have done me like that instead of it being him," Robert Anderson said.
Anderson's family wants the video of his admission to the camp made public, but FDLE has refused to release the tape, saying it is part of the ongoing investigation. "I feel I need to see it. I feel I should be the one to see it," Anderson said.
The highly rated Bay County program for juvenile offenders was developed by Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy M. Tunnell when he was Bay County sheriff.
In a statement on Friday, Tunnell said he is considering releasing the video with the images of other juveniles digitally obscured because of comments made by the legislators who viewed it. "The premature disclosure as reported in the press has skewed this normal process," he said. "We now fear that public perception will be based on hearsay rather than reality." He called the legislators' comments "premature at best" and "irresponsible at worst."
Jones recalled dropping her son off at the camp, when he said he would do whatever it took to succeed. She said she will always regret promising him as they parted that things would be OK for the next six months. "What was my baby thinking when he was down on the ground and they were doing those things to him? Was he thinking that 'my mom said it would be OK' when they had their knees in his back?" Jones said.
The Bay County Sheriff's Office has said Anderson collapsed after he was restrained by guards while doing push ups and other exercises that were part his admission to the camp. The medical examiner for Bay County is awaiting toxicology reports before releasing his findings. He has said trauma did not appear to be the cause of death.
In several news conferences since her son's death Jones has appeared holding pictures of him smiling or playing basketball. Last week, she carried a picture of him laying in a coffin in a suit.
"This is my baby the day before his 15th birthday," she said weeping. She said doctors told her that her son's kidneys and liver were too badly damaged from what happened to him at the camp to be donated. Anderson told The Associated Press that he is dealing with his son's death by keeping his anger under tight control. "There is so much I want to say but I know it wouldn't be good right now," he said, standing on the street in front of his home, which is just a block a way from the cemetery where his son is buried. Jones lives in the same neighborhood several blocks away and her mother also lives nearby. Martin Anderson lived with his mother. Anderson works for a moving company and said he had talked with his son about his plans to get his own truck and have his son ride along with him. He said the boy was excited about the plan. "Now he'll be with me in spirit only," he said. Anderson walks over to the cemetery every day and looks at the collection of plastic flowers and dried roses that cover his son's still unmarked grave. Jones said she tries to show her anger when she talks about her son in public, but when she's alone she remembers her last moments with him and she cries.
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This is one of the most heart-wrenching stories I've read. My god, this is just horribly sad.
Those people who beat this child to death need to be locked up for the rest of their life. They took a young boy's life away in cold blood. :cry:
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Did everybody else notice the term the officers used for the beating: "restraint". Remember this, when reading through this forum what a restraint can actully entail. This is a telling story, about the entire boot camp industry. It is brutal and unnecessary.
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I am absolutely astounded at the viewing of the video of the abuse of this young man. Never have a seen a nurse stand by and watch a human being hit until he goes down. It is reminescent of Auswitcz. The Drill Instructors and the Nurse should be held completely responsible. I wonder how they could handle doing what they made him do.
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This law breaker will not be rearrested. So who cares! :grin:
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Florida is now saying that the kid died of sickle cell "trait". Riiiight...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/16/boot.camp/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/16/boot.camp/index.html)
BTW CNN had a brief piece about this on Anderson Cooper last night. They were too nice to the staff but did show some of the video.For more than a hundred years much complaint has been made of the unmethodical way in which schools are conducted...with what result? Schools remain exactly as they were.
--Comenius,1632
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This topic kinda got spread out into mutliple threads in the TTI forum.
More here... and don't miss the political connections on page 4 of this thread:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... forum=9&51 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=13885&forum=9&51)
Both the investigator and the sheriff were appointed by Jeb Bush and are intimately involved with DFAF, for starters.
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... forum=9&19 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=14011&forum=9&19)
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... forum=9&11 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?topic=14030&forum=9&11)
And another is this forum:
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?So ... 51&start=0 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?Sort=&topic=14020&forum=51&start=0)
[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2006-02-18 13:38 ]
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On 2006-02-12 08:41:00, Anonymous wrote:
"Did everybody else notice the term the officers used for the beating: "restraint". Remember this, when reading through this forum what a restraint can actully entail. This is a telling story, about the entire boot camp industry. It is brutal and unnecessary."
Absolutely, right on.
Not just the 'boot camp' industry. Most probably don't go to this extreme, but this could happen in a wilderness program or other residential BM program that allows restrain/abuse. Frequently it's broken/sprain arms, bones twisted out of the joint, dislocated jaws, faces rubbed in the mud/gravel, etc. Just takes the right situation with the right sadist.
It's a miracle there are not more deaths. And we have NO clue how many injuries there have been in programs.
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I'm an ex recruit from the Polk County Juvenile Boot Camp and I strongly disagree with what Rep. Gustavo Barreiro said about shutting down the boot camps and how they aren't working. :flame:
Before I entered the boot camp, I was a lost cause. It was my fourth program, no one else wanted to put up with me. I was an angry teenager, I had no respect for authority. When I got there I knew I wasn't in control anymore. I hated the Drill Instructors yelling at me, but it was the only thing that got through to me. The boot camps are all about tough love. I stayed at the boot camp nine months and graduated successfully. I went in there hating a lot of Drill Instructors and I left loving them. I'm not a perfect person, but I think if it wasn't for the boot camp I would of ended up in prison.
It's tragic what happend to that 14 year old boy, but I don't think that all the other boot camps should be closed down. Behind the hard fronts, the Drill Instructors put on, they are really caring people with big hearts. :grin:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome)
You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, intelligent enough.
--Aldous Huxley, author
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I am still so disturbed by the images I saw on that tape. I did more research on this yesterday and found dozens of stories of kids killed in these gulags. Isn't there something that could help this situation?
There's a petition for a law for better regulation of these places that also includes federal funding. here's a link to that site...
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/hr1738/ (http://www.PetitionOnline.com/hr1738/)
I hope that all camps are not all as dangerous as the ones I've been reading about. But even one death (oh, sorry, they call them 'incidents') in these places is too many.
As to the person who wrote in defense of the camp - glad to hear you had good outcomes. But that doesn't justify the egregious assault and/or neglect that many young people suffer at these places.
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Well, here's an example of what we're up against.
http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.p ... spiracies/ (http://www.cincinnatibeacon.com/index.php/magaddiction/comments/boot_camp_political_conspiracies/)
Deeply engrained religious indoctrination.
Even when we put together all of the solid documentation showing these sadistic lunatics for who and what they are, people simply refuse to see it. We ought to be grateful that our government monopoly schools are such a failure. If today's 18 year olds could do arithmetic, they'd be out buying enough rope to hang everybody over 40.
--Alan Handleman on Social Security
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you people are fucking nuts and need serious help. Nazi dictatorship? you have to be shittin me. Your so obsessed that the man is keeping you down you miss the point. Yeah some boot camps do some bad crap and need to be looked at but shut them down? what kind of dumb ass knee jerk reaction is that? Oh so a car hit and killed someone take em all off the road? no regulate them. think before you engage your damn fingers
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Obviously you never spent any time in the "care" of any of DFAF's other programs. Knee jerk? Fuck off!
I cannot believe in the immortality of the soul.... No, all this talk of an existence for us, as individuals, beyond the grave is wrong. It is born of our tenacity of life -- our desire to go on living -- our dread of coming to an end.
--Thomas Edison, American inventor
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No child should be abused or neglected for the sake of profit. Teens and pre-teens have testified to being abducted, incarcerated, abused, and neglected in for-profit private residential facilities, boot camps, wilderness programs, and boarding schools, as well as state-funded juvenile justice facilities ... an industry that is largely unregulated. As a parent and survivor of one of these torture camps, I am shocked that this is still going on in America. We go to war to liberate the Iraqi people from the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein. We judge third world countries for sweat shops. Who will liberate our children from abusive treatment centers? We have thousands of our children in these torture camps. This is not a new problem! I was abused at Green River Boys Camp in 1974, which means that it?s been going on for at least thirty-two years! We can find one hundred and sixteen stories of children that have died, committed suicide, or been murdered in these camps at http://www.caica.org/NEWS%20Deaths%20Li ... mitted.htm (http://www.caica.org/NEWS%20Deaths%20List%20of%20Names%20-names%20omitted.htm) I know of two more victims from camps in Kentucky. As a survivor of thirty two years I can tell you of the long term devastation effects of having lived in one of these camps. So can sociologists like Dr. Ann Marie Charvat, who testified in the capital murder case of Anthony Darrell Hines. I have learned of several people on death row and in prison for murder that were former residents of Green River Boys Camp. I believe if we actually knew how many people have committed suicide and violent crimes, after having been abused in torture camps, we would all be shocked. Parents are told that these camps will change their children, and this I can vouch from experience. But if they knew what they change them into, they wouldn?t approve.
For more info contact http://www.parentadvocates.org (http://www.parentadvocates.org)
http://www.caica.org (http://www.caica.org)
http://www.isaccorp.org (http://www.isaccorp.org)
[email protected] (http://mailto:[email protected])
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On 2006-04-03 04:14:00, mandelduke wrote:
Parents are told that these camps will change their children, and this I can vouch from experience. But if they knew what they change them into, they wouldn?t approve.
That's the part that concerns me most. Maybe I developed a healthy aversion to the concept based on my own experience. But isn't that a chilling phrase? "Don't worry, Mrs. Jones, we'll change your child for you in no time!" Fuck! If anyone said anything like that to me, I'd grab hold of my kids and run the other way!
I know what this routine did to my family. While you were locked up in the public sector thought reform experiment, my parents actually paid Art Barker to reprogram 4/5 of my elder brothers and sisters. By `80, it was my turn and I got the "new and improved" regimin at Straight, Inc.
There is no more family. 6 kids raising or having raised 8 grandkids; no two families in the same state. The only terms by which I can have any part of their occasional get togethers is if I play along w/ their view of me and my one brother as total fuckups. He and I never completed our programs; therefore we were cut off from all manner of familial supprt. They were trying to help us, you see, to reach our "rock bottoms" on our own w/o any toxic "enabling". Sympathy kills, remember?
So now we're all coasting into or in the midst of middle age. I wouldn't even know if my mother has already died or if any of my nieces or nephews have kids of their own, cept for one I know of and we don't really communicate either.
If it had just been my crazy assed family having joined a crazy assed cult, I wouldn't be speaking of it publicly today. It just wouldn't be relavent or interesting, except as a tragic human interest story, to the vast majority of readers.
But if you put together the private sector thought reform gulags w/ the public sector programs like Green River then do the math, this ammounts to a total scorched earth maneuver on family and community throughout the land.
THAT is what keeps me up at night!
Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them.
--Thomas Paine
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For my grade 11 english class we are writing pro/con essays and i have chosen the topic of boot camps. Now im not exactly sure if i should either write it on PRO or CON for boot camps, so if there is anyone out there who feels strongly about the topic, could they please leave some quality resources for me about either PRO or CON for boot camps. Thank you, your resources will be greatly appreciated.
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Canadian resources would be preferred, but id accept US as well, ive looked everywhere and i haven't found much, even on government websites
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That is quite the observation you made there, and fairly accurate as well. This so called Nazi America is filled with capitalistic tyrants who are trying to gain power in the most desperate attempts. The 9/11 conspiracy is a saddening attempt by the Americans to gain control over the Middle East Oil Fields. Whoever does not believe that 9/11 was not a conspiracy, STOP LISTENING TO WHAT THE GOVERNMENT TELLS YOU. Luckily we have a few real heroes out there such as Alex Jones and Micheal Moore who actually went out and found evidence for us.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... cy&pl=true (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2023320890224991194&q=9%2F11+conspiracy&pl=true)
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Legislator has eye on juvenile justice
Barreiro says 'dream job' would be running DJJ
By Bill Cotterell
DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR
MIAMI - State Rep. Gus Barreiro has a simple explanation of why he is so deeply involved in Florida's juvenile justice system.
"I was that kid," the Miami lawmaker told an interviewer. "I grew up with a single mom, and if it hadn't been for a couple of strong male mentors in my life, I probably would have taken a wrong turn as a young man."
That kid, this year, was Martin Lee Anderson, the 14-year-old who died Jan. 6 after being beaten by guards at a Bay County juvenile boot camp. The boy's videotaped ordeal - which brought thousands marching on the Capitol and galvanized lawmakers to replace boot camps with a more structured educational environment - was a familiar tale for Barreiro.
He decided to get into public office 20 years ago, when he ran a group home for boys in Wisconsin. A teenager committed suicide after being removed for lack of state funding.
As a state legislator, Barreiro became a vocal critic of the Department of Juvenile Justice in 2003 after 17-year-old Omar Paisley died of a ruptured appendix in a juvenile jail - despite days of pleading for medical help.
"That's the biggest frustration I've had," Barreiro said. "It takes tragedy to get anything done."
Barreiro, term-limited out of his House seat this year, wants to be secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice. But House Speaker-designate Marco Rubio, R-Miami, has approached him about working as a senior policy adviser, and Barreiro hasn't ruled out running for the state Senate.
Whatever he does, Barreiro said, he will stay involved in juvenile issues. As head of the House justice appropriations committee, he championed the bill that abolished boot camps - signed by Gov. Jeb Bush on May 31 as the Martin Lee Anderson Act - and won commendations from the legislative black caucus for his work.
That's rare for a conservative Republican. But amid the photos GOP lawmakers like to collect, showing themselves shaking hands with men named Bush, there are a "human-rights award" from the Citizens Commission on Human Relations, the Martin Luther King Award from the United Teachers of Dade Unity Caucus "for his contributions to civil and human rights" and a trophy from the Florida Children's forum "for commitment and leadership on behalf of Florida's youngest citizens."
There's also a football helmet signed by Joe Namath, a 1980 team photo of the Fighting Saints of Mount Senario College and several bits of Harley Davidson memorabilia. "Grab life by the throttle and don't look back" is the inscription on one little motorcycle model.
"Gus could be described as the best Democrat in the Republican caucus," said Luis Garcia, a retired Miami Beach fire chief who is running to succeed him. "Sometimes, I think he's had to pay for that."
Garcia, a Democrat and Miami Beach city commissioner, said Barreiro has broad bipartisan support in "a very diverse district" that bridges Biscayne Bay.
Barreiro, 46, was born in Cuba and came to Florida in 1964. A football scholarship took him to Mount Senario, a small Wisconsin college with specialties in criminal justice and public administration, but he dropped out.
He married and raised a daughter while running a juvenile group home for nine years. Barreiro returned to Miami in 1989 as co-director of the Dade Marine Institute for young offenders, then operated a rose-growing nursery and a golf shop.
In 1998, he succeeded his younger brother, Bruno - now a Miami-Dade County commissioner - in a 60-percent Hispanic district that stretches from the mansions of Fisher Island to the public-housing projects of Miami's inner city.
Barreiro said he asked former House Speaker John Thrasher to put him on "what was considered a punishment committee" by other legislators - juvenile justice. As a newcomer, he even fought Gov. Jeb Bush to get juveniles some exemption from the "10-20-Life" mandatory sentencing gun law.
After the Paisley death, he chaired a select committee on juvenile issues. Numerous DJJ employees quit or were suspended, staff training was upgraded and more cameras were put in juvenile detention facilities.
Barreiro also demanded the resignation of the late Bill Bankhead, then secretary of DJJ. When Bankhead's failing health forced him to resign, Barreiro sought the job but Bush chose Secretary Anthony Schembri.
"Gus Barreiro is an advocate for kids in the juvenile justice system," Schembri said, declining to discuss specifics. "I like to work with any legislator who is as passionate about the well-being of youth as I am."
Barreiro supports Attorney General Charlie Crist for governor. If Crist wins, Barreiro makes no secret of his availability.
"My dream job would be secretary of Juvenile Justice. I would do it for free," he said. "The department needs to have a major overhaul in the sense of the culture that's there.
"You really have to have leadership from the top that really sends a message throughout the department - 'We're here because of the kids, so let's get excited about it.' It's a great privilege to work with kids when you have an opportunity to change their lives."
Contact Bill Cotterell at
(850) 671-6545 or [email protected]
Originally published June 12, 2006
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State knows what works but prefers what's cheap
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Saturday, June 10, 2006
After guards at a North Florida juvenile boot camp beat a 14-year-old until he collapsed and later died, no one is sorry to see Florida's six military-style camps closed. But Gov. Bush's signature last week on the Martin Lee Anderson Act failed to preserve the most successful program in the state for turning around 14- to 18-year-old boys who have repeatedly committed felonies.
Even though state officials and lawmakers touted the Martin County Juvenile Offender Training Center as the model for the state's new "sheriff's training and respect" (STAR) programs, legislative staffers wrote the law before getting feedback from Martin Sheriff Robert Crowder's staff. Said the sheriff: "I'm not sure what they've created."
Sheriff Crowder, who awarded high school diplomas Friday to the final 15 graduates of his program, is disappointed. The Legislature, though, gave him no choice but to close his program June 30. Asked by lawmakers early this year how much it would take to run his successful program, which has led to about 200 "delinquent" teens earning high school diplomas, Sheriff Crowder answered $3.6 million. The state still came up about $1 million short. "I've been fighting this battle with the state of Florida for 12 years, and I just can't keep doing it," Sheriff Crowder said. "If we continued to water the program down, we were going to be doomed for failure. It's their job, and they have drastically neglected it."
The new law, named in memory of a teen sent to the boot camp for taking his grandmother's Jeep Cherokee on a joy ride, correctly bans the use of stun guns, pepper spray, certain restraints and psychological intimidation, and ammonia capsules. Martin Anderson, the Hillsborough County medical examiner said, was suffocated by guards who placed their hands over his mouth while stuffing ammonia capsules into his nose.
Lawmakers vowed reform after a videotape showed the heinous abuse. But they didn't back it up with money. While applauding Sheriff Crowder's nearly 80 percent success rate, Rep. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, called Sheriff Crowder's budget request a "subjective" amount. "Other boot camps didn't need that level." No, and other boot camps had much lower rates of success.
"The state of Florida needs to realize," Sheriff Crowder said, "you cannot run quality on the cheap." Until that happens, the Martin Lee Anderson Act will be reform in name only.
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Posted on Wed, Jul. 12, 2006email thisprint thisreprint or license this
Boy's family sues agencies for $40 million in boot camp death
BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The family of a 14-year-old boy who died hours after being manhandled by guards at a juvenile boot camp sued Wednesday, seeking more than $40 million in damages from state and local agencies, their attorney said.
Ben Crump, who represents the family of Martin Lee Anderson, filed the suit against the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which ran the camp under contract with the state. He said Bay County sheriff's officials rejected an offer to settle for its insurance policy limit of $3 million.
The boy's January death led to protests in the Capitol and Gov. Jeb Bush's office, the resignation of the head of the state's law enforcement agency and the elimination of military-style boot camps. Anderson died in Pensacola after his videotaped ordeal with guards in the Panama City boot camp.
"A video proves that as seven guards punished Martin by kicking, punching, kneeing, choking and slamming him while they jammed ammonia tablets up his nose and covered his mouth, a nurse watched him slip in and out of consciousness," Crump said. "These heinous, malicious, and torturous treatments led to his death."
The lawsuit was filed late Wednesday in Leon County Circuit Court, which includes the capital city of Tallahassee.
"Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of Martin Lee Anderson," DJJ Secretary Anthony Schembri said. "While unable to comment on the pending lawsuit, the department remains committed to the safety of the youth in its care."
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen said no settlement has been reached because it would be premature to do so.
"The investigation is incomplete and still pending at this time," McKeithen said in a statement released from his office Wednesday.
State Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican who led the push to revamp the juvenile program, was outraged that Bay County officials rejected the settlement offer.
"It's a disgrace," Barreiro said. "You're asking a community to put a value on a kid and they're saying he's not even worth $3 million? That's unacceptable."
Crump said he based the $40 million figure largely on a similar Texas case where a jury in 2003 awarded the family of Bryan Alexander $40.1 million after the 18-year-old died after two months in a boot camp. Alexander was forced to complete intense physical programs despite his pleas for medical help, Crump said.
Anderson collapsed after an intense workout at the camp, where he was sent for a probation violation for trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot.
An initial autopsy found his death was natural, caused by complications of a usually harmless blood disorder called sickle cell trait. His body then was exhumed and a second autopsy concluded he died of suffocation when guards had covered his mouth while forcing ammonia capsules up his nose trying to revive him.
Waylon Graham, the attorney for Lt. Charles Helms, the highest ranking officer who was on the exercise yard with Anderson, said the case appears to be about money.
"None of these officers set out to harm this young man in any way," Graham said. "I think this has turned into a game of money and that is what this is all about at this point, is how much money are they going to get."
A special prosecutor, Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober, is still investigating the death to determine whether to charge any of the guards. Ober spokeswoman Robin Menendez declined to comment Wednesday.
The head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Guy Tunnell, resigned in April after questions arose about his involvement in the investigation. He started the boot camp in his previous job as Bay County sheriff.
The fallout from the teenager's death also partially consumed the Legislature at its spring session. It passed a bill to replace the state's remaining boot camps with residential facilities for juvenile offenders. Physical discipline will be prohibited and the focus will be on education, job training, community service and counseling.
Florida had five juvenile boot camps at the time of Anderson's death. Sheriffs in Pinellas and Manatee counties closed their juvenile boot camps at the end of June just before the new law took effect July 1, leaving the state with just one facility in Polk County.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 022215.htm (http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/breaking_news/15022215.htm)
More on Bryan Alexander
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/bootcamp (http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/bootcamp)
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?secti ... id=3561897 (http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=state&id=3561897)
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Suing the Drill Instructors
The parents of a teenager who died after a beating at a juvenile boot camp in Panama City are asking a federal judge to let them sue the deputies responsible for that beating.
Fourteen-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died in January, just one day after being admitted to the Bay County Boot Camp.
Anderson?s ordeal was captured on videotape and that tape the centerpiece of a $40 million lawsuit filed by Anderson?s parents.
Attorney Ben Crump says they only wanted to sue the Sheriff?s office and the Department of Juvenile Justice, but a recent ruling by a federal judge forced them to include the seven deputies who can be seen on the videotape.
Crump is the attorney for Anderson's parents, "It makes it more complicated. We had sought to keep it very simple and straightforward. If a jury wants to believe what happened on this videotape was wrong, then they are holding the Sheriff?s Department and the Department of Juvenile Justice responsible."
He went on to say, "And we didn?t want to have it where we had individual deputies having to point fingers at the sheriff and the sheriff having to point fingers at the deputies. We were hoping to avoid all of that.?
The state attorney from Hillsborough County is also conducting an investigation into Anderson?s death and the deputies could end up facing criminal charges, but it will be several weeks before the inquiry is complete.
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/4501201.html (http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/4501201.html)
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Boot camp ex-guards, nurse charged in boy's death
POSTED: 11:49 a.m. EST, November 28, 2006
Story Highlights
? 7 ex-boot camp guards and a nurse were charged with aggravated manslaughter
? Martin Lee Anderson, 14, collapsed and died after being roughed up by guards
?The incident involving the teen was captured on videotape
? A special prosecutor was called in to investigate
PENSACOLA, Florida (AP) -- Seven former guards and a nurse at a military-style boot camp for juvenile offenders were charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of a teenage boy whose rough handling by the guards was videotaped, a special prosecutor said Tuesday.
The announcement by Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober comes almost 11 months after Martin Lee Anderson, 14, collapsed in the exercise yard at the Bay County sheriff's camp in Panama City.
Guards said he was uncooperative and refused to continue participating in exercises. He died early January 6 in Pensacola.
Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Anderson's parents, was in Panama City with the family Tuesday and did not immediately return a call for comment.
The boy's death sparked protests that led to the elimination of the military-style boot camp system and the resignation of the state's top law enforcement officer. His family had also demanded that the guards be charged in the boy's death.
If convicted, the former guards and the nurse who watched the altercation could face up to 30 years in prison. (Watch how a videotape led to charges )
Bob Pell, an attorney who represents former guard Joseph Walsh II, said he learned of the decision to charge his client from The Associated Press.
"I didn't anticipate it. I was hoping cooler heads would prevail, but we will deal with this as it comes down. We understood the political pressure that was brought to bear," he said.
An initial autopsy by medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert found Anderson died of complications of sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Ober in February to investigate the death after the state attorney for Bay County asked to be removed from the case citing close ties with local law enforcement.
Ober ordered a second autopsy by Dr. Vernard Adams, the medical examiner for Hillsborough County. Adams determined Anderson's death was caused by suffocation due to the actions of the guards.
He said the guards' hands blocked the boy's mouth, and the "forced inhalation of ammonia fumes" caused his vocal cords to spasm, blocking his upper airway.
The guards had said in an incident report that they used ammonia capsules five times on Anderson to gain his cooperation.
Siebert has consistently stood by his findings.
"We'll obviously follow the developments of this case closely and hope at the end of the day that justice will be served," Bush said Tuesday. "We also hope that once the process is completed that Martin Lee Anderson's family will have the answers to the questions that they legitimately have."
Anderson's family has sued the state Department of Juvenile Justice, which oversaw the boot camp system, and the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which ran the camp, seeking more than $40 million in damages.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/28/bootc ... index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/28/bootcamp.death.ap/index.html)
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Birds of a feather flock together, huh?
Washed up cops/military and dirty politicians and beaurocrats... oh how I hope they get such a warm spot in hell when this all comes to an end.
At any rate, I saved the florida times-union paper with on the front page saying they're being charged with the death of that kid. I want to fuckin' FRAME THAT :rofl:
But yeah, it is a shame, isn't it? Someone has to die before anything happens, even though any idiot when asked about a bootcamp knows its meant to be a place where you're hurt, terrified, humiliated, and 'broken down', and any competent psychologist (or anyone with common sense) knows that wont fix or treat anything... well, except washed up military/cops, dirty politicians and beaurocrats.