Abuse documented at school
MARIANNA (AP) – Last year the Department of Juvenile Justice acknowledge horrific beatings that occurred at a north Florida reform school decades earlier while staying quiet about more recent abuse cases.
The same month DJJ invited former inmates to the Arthur G. Dozier School to acknowledge the severe abuse they suffered in the 1950s and ’60s, a guard at the detention center pushed a boy and then jumped on his back, injuring the boy’s neck.
Two months before the October 2008 ceremony, when a tree was planted and a plaque was placed on the building where boys were beaten, a guard chased down a boy, slammed him against a fence and punched him, breaking his nose. Two months after the ceremony, two boys reported that a guard showed them pornography.
These are just some of the abuse and neglect cases the Department of Children and Families investigated at the school over the last five years, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The newspaper found that abuse at the school hasn’t just been a thing of the past.
A review found a number of disturbing cases: A guard allegedly ordered a group of juvenile offenders to jump another boy in the showers, away from surveillance cameras, and turned out the lights. Another stuffed a boy in a laundry bag and when the boy tried to chew through the strings, the guard encouraged others to punch, pinch and kick him.
Among others:
– In January 2006, a guard grabbed a boy by his neck, slammed him against the wall and headbutted him, breaking two bones in the boy’s nose.
– In July 2006, two staffers did nothing about a diabetic boy was unresponsive for 20 minutes with low blood sugar. Other boys called for help.
– In March 2008, a sexual offender performed oral sex on two others in the showers, though showers are supposed to be supervised.
Department of Juvenile Justice spokesman Frank Penela said the culture at Dozier and other juvenile programs has improved since former state Rep. Frank Peterman took over the agency in 2008.
“Secretary Peterman has a zero-tolerance policy for hurting kids,” Penela said. “If any (allegation of abuse) is substantiated, it will usually result in a termination.”
He said Thursday that employees identified in the DCF reports were already fired or had resigned.