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Two others complained of being choked at
camp where boy collapsed
an Associated Press report 02/07/06
PANAMA CITY - Two boys previously complained of being
choked by guards at the Panama City boot camp where 14-year-old Martin Lee
Anderson died after collapsing with breathing problems last month, records show.
The complaints, from October 2004 and February 2005, detail
incidents in which guards applied to pressure to juveniles' necks to force them
into compliance. In both cases, investigators with the Bay County Sheriff's
Office, which operates the boot camp, found excessive force was not used.
The complaints were never investigated by the Florida
Department of Juvenile Justice because state regulations allow the sheriff's
office to rule on abuse allegations at its own camp.
The records, obtained by The Miami Herald on Monday, have
renewed calls among some legislators for changes in the state's juvenile justice
system.
The Bay County boot camp's problems "go to the heart of
what I believe is wrong with our juvenile justice system ... We want the
punitive aspects of the adult corrections system, but we want to be able to do
things to kids that we would never do to adults," said Rep. J.C. Planas, R-Miami
and a former juvenile prosecutor.
The records also show that since 2003, the sheriff's office
verified complaints that an officer forced several juveniles to strip and
perform exercises at night and a complaint that a boy's face was smashed into
the floor while he was doing push-ups.
Anderson, 14, of Panama City, died Jan. 6 at Sacred Heart
Hospital in Pensacola. He collapsed after he complained of breathing problems
while doing exercises that were part of intake procedures at the camp. The
sheriff's office has said officers restrained Anderson after he became
uncooperative.
A final autopsy report has not been released, but a
preliminary report has ruled out trauma or injury as the cause of death. The
Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading an investigation of Anderson's
death.
Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen released a statement
Jan. 17 that said a videotape of Martin's intake to the camp would raise "many
questions, concerns and accusations."
"We must not leave you with the impression that this is
going to have a good ending," the statement said. The tape has not been released
because the investigation is ongoing.
Cynthia Lorenzo, a spokeswoman for DJJ, said juveniles in
the agency's camps are allowed to call a hot line to report abuse and that
posters with the hot line number are placed prominently at each of the state's
boot camps.
The release of the new abuse allegations involving the
camps prompted Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach and chairman of the House
juvenile justice oversight committee, to renew his call for the DJJ to close
down the camps.
"First and foremost, we have to ensure that the safety
standards the department feels it must put in place apply to every kid in every
program," Barreiro said.
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