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Boot Camps To Close In Deal To Spend More On Juvenile Justice

POSTED: 4:15 pm EDT April 26, 2006
Florida's juvenile boot camp system will be shut down and more money will be poured into a less militaristic program for dealing with young offenders, according to a compromise state lawmakers reached Wednesday.

House and Senate negotiators approved another $32.6 million in response to the growing furor following the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, who was roughed up by guards at a Panama City boot camp. His death sparked protests at the Capitol last week.

The agreement increases juvenile justice spending to nearly $699.5 million in the budget year beginning July 1 if approved by the full House and Senate.

Youngsters who come into the system now must receive a physical by a registered nurse upon entering and leaving any facility. They will also have a hotline number available to make complaints about any excessively abusive behavior by guards.

The changes also create a pilot program for Jacksonville and Orlando facilities where the parents of troubled teens could avoid having to pay for some damages or legal costs that result from their children's behavior. In order to qualify, they would have to complete state-sponsored parental counseling.

Gov. Jeb Bush, who had been a strong supporter of the boot camps, has said he backs the new initiatives, one of which is named after Anderson.

"Unfortunately it has taken the death of a young man to get to this point," said Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican who chairs the House Juvenile Justice Appropriations Committee. "There has never been an increase like that."

Under the agreement, the state's remaining four boot camps would be replaced with STAR, an acronym for Sheriff's Training and Respect. Sheriffs, who ran the boot camps, also will operate the newly designed program.

The STAR program will largely reflect Martin County's three-tiered, yearlong program that focuses on self-esteem and aftercare and prohibits physical interaction between guards and children.

"Now there won't be any more children being abused while in the custody of the state," said attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Anderson's parents in a lawsuit against the Bay County Sheriff's office, which operated the camp, and the state Department of Juvenile Justice. "It is something good to have a legacy knowing that his death wasn't in vain."

The Panama City military-style camp was shut after Anderson's death, which remains under investigation after a medical examiner initially determined he died not from the altercation but from sickle cell trait. That condition, which many blacks have, is ordinarily not fatal. The family disputes that finding.

The handling of the investigation led to the protest march to the Capitol last week that was attended by the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, a one-day sit-in at Bush's office and the resignation of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell.

Tunnell opened the Panama City boot camp when he served as Bay County sheriff and was criticized for sending e-mails to the current sheriff knocking those who questioned its effectiveness.

Because of the complaints, Bush turned the investigation over to Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober and a second autopsy is being conducted.

 

 

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