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Posted on Thu, Mar. 02, 2006
MIAMI HERALD WATCHDOG
Boot Camp Manual Limits Use of Force
The Bay Boot Camp's own rules allow physical force only to protect lives
and property, but juvenile justice critics charge the rules were not
followed.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com
Officers at a Panama City boot camp who punched,
kneed and used painful pressure points on a 14-year-old unwilling -- or
unable -- to run laps were supposed to use physical force only ''as a
last resort,'' according to camp records obtained by The Miami Herald.
The Bay County Sheriff's Office, which operates the
boot camp, allows officers to use physical force only ''to protect
others and/or themselves from bodily harm and to maintain order and
security in the facility,'' says a lengthy policy and procedures manual
that governs the camp.
''Written policy, procedure and practice document
that the use of countermoves, control techniques or pressure points are
used as a last resort,'' says the manual, which originated as a set of
standards for boot camps written by the state Department of Juvenile
Justice.
Yet in the days immediately following the Jan. 6
death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Bay Boot
Camp said force was used against Martin simply because he was
''uncooperative.'' No camp official ever said he was violent or
physically aggressive, and a 20- minute video of the incidents show the
teen virtually limp throughout the ordeal.
''They adopted the rules in name only,'' said state
Rep. J.C. Planas, a Miami Republican and former juvenile court
prosecutor. ``Everything we saw on that tape shows they were not
prepared to go by the rules to begin with.''
WANTS CAMPS CLOSED
On Wednesday, Planas repeated his call for state
officials to shut down all five juvenile justice boot camps. 'The
problem is you have unsupervised guards who are poorly trained. We have
a culture of `We don't know the system is broken yet.' Well, a child is
dead. The system is broken.''
Spokesmen and lawyers for Bay County Sheriff Frank
McKeithen declined to comment, citing the ongoing criminal
investigation. Citing the same reason, DJJ also declined comment.
''Whether [officers] acted outside the boundaries,
we'll await the results of the investigation regarding that,'' DJJ
spokeswoman Cynthia Lorenzo said. A separate DJJ review of agency
policies for boot camps also is ongoing, she said.
The tape of Martin's final moments shows him in the
grasp of about eight officers, offering no resistance as the guards
repeatedly punch him in the arms, thrust their knees into his back to
make him fall to the ground, twist his wrists and apply painful
''pressure points'' to his neck and head.
WITNESS SPEAKS
Another 14-year-old on the exercise yard that day
told The Miami Herald that Martin stumbled on his last lap around a
running track, and was immediately screamed at by the guards, who then
used physical force on him.
The witness, Aaron Swartz, said the use of such
force was common against ''offenders'' who did not perform simple tasks,
such as exercising quickly enough, or staring forward.
State law-enforcement guidelines, like Bay
County's, generally adhere to a basic principle: Use only the necessary
force to achieve control and compliance.
The state's 624-page training manual outlines a
number of use-of-force scenarios, but none is quite like Martin's. The
manual, though, says it is permissible for officers to use ''pain
compliance'' -- pressure points and takedowns -- to get nonviolent
protesters to obey orders.
It says: ``There is strength in numbers. With
backup, you may not need to use as much force.''
According to the video, officers struck Martin in
the thighs with their knees, which the manual notes ''could cause
incapacitation of the leg,'' and he was hit with hammer-fist strikes 14
times on the forearms. The manual says such blows are ``one of the more
powerful strikes you can use.''
Boot camp officials told Martin's mother that drill
instructors, as the officers are called, ''counseled'' her son because
he was ''uncooperative'' and was not ''following commands,'' said
Benjamin Crump, the family's attorney. Later, Jones was told her son was
``restrained.''
''They tried to make it sound very mild, what they
did,'' Crump said. ``Nothing as physical as what we saw in the video.''
Martin's lengthy manhandling by camp staff Jan. 5
conflicts with the camp's written policy for managing the behavior of
often unruly youths. Punishment, or ''sanctions,'' the manual says,
``will be employed only as a last resort and only after all reasonable
efforts to work with the youth to bring the youth's behavior within the
control of the staff.''
OTHER POLICIES
The manual includes a wide variety of policies --
such as dealing with street gangs, backgrounding new employees and
handling special diets, sanitation and poison control -- adopted from 13
detailed standards originally written by DJJ.
''Staff should never use force on offenders in a
capricious or retaliatory manner,'' the Bay boot camp manual says.
``Force shall be used only at times and to the degree necessary to
control an offender's behavior.''
It adds: ``In the performance of their duties,
staff may use necessary non-deadly force to protect others and/or
themselves from bodily harm and to maintain order and security in the
facility.''
BANNED PAIN INFLICTION
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who runs one of the
state's better-performing boot camps, said his department has long
banned inflicting pain on nonthreatening youth. While he wouldn't
comment on the video, he said that in some circumstances force must be
used but in an appropriate manner.
''Some of these kids are tough. They're not here
from Sunday school,'' Judd said, noting that boot camps are a benefit to
many children, who wind up improving their grades and living crime-free
lives.
State Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat and
former federal prosecutor who sits on the powerful House Criminal
Justice Appropriations Committee, which has been looking into the
state's boot camps, said he had assumed the boot camp's manual did not
allow for the use of force simply to gain obedience with commands.
''You can't hit children to get them to change
their minds,'' Gelber said. ``Not a teacher, not a coach, not a parent.
You can't hit, you can't punch, you can't strike, and you can't bend a
body in ways it's not supposed to go. It's just not permissible,
especially when a child is in the custody of the state.
``To have a rule that allows the infliction of pain
in order to gain compliance is to have a rule endorsing torture.''
Herald staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this
report.
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