Private boot camps in Florida for
the children of wealthy parents who want them to attend
"character-building" courses were under scrutiny at the weekend
after a 13-year-old boy collapsed and died.
The unnamed teenager died hours
after taking part in a relay race in a temperature of 34C during
a camping expedition with 32 others from a privately run
Christian military academy in Fort Lauderdale.
"He got up in the middle of the
night and was incoherent, and then he passed out," said Major
Ron Simpson of the North Miami police department, which has
launched an investigation into the death at the Oleta River
state park.
Private camps such as the Back to
Basics Military Academy, which employs National Guard-certified
drill instructors, are popular with parents looking to instil
military-style discipline in their children.
Lynda Browne, the principal of
the academy, said the children aged nine to 15 had been on a
four-day orientation camp in preparation for today's first day
of school.
"The children get the very best
of care. Under no circumstances are our students brutalised, nor
are they maligned verbally. They are treated with the utmost
respect," she said.
She added that all of the
children had been fed, watered and well cared for during various
leadership exercises which, according to the Miami Herald,
include marching in military fatigues.
A classmate of the dead boy,
Joanna Miller, 12, was quoted as saying: "He was not eating and
when he was supposed to drink water, he didn't want to."
The boy's mother told the
principal that her son "wasn't the most physical, strong or
athletic child".
An ambulance was called to the
camp at 3am after the boy passed out in his tent, and he died
later in hospital. A postmortem will take place today.
In January Martin Lee Anderson,
14, died of injuries sustained at a state boot camp when guards
at the Bay County sheriff's department boot camp in Panama City
beat him, an episode caught on video. The subsequent outcry led
to the closure of Florida's five state-run facilities for
juvenile offenders in June.
State-run boot camps gained
popularity in Florida in the 1990s as alternatives to prison.
Supporters point to low rates of repeat offences among graduates
but critics say violence against inmates by guards was
commonplace.
