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Representative Miller Statement
on Justice Department Announcement on Martin Lee Anderson Case
Thursday, February 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative George Miller
(D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education Committee, issued the
following statement today on the U.S. Justice Department’s announcement
that it will investigate the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson at
a Florida boot camp:
“The U.S. Justice Department today agreed to
investigate the death of a 14-year-old boy at a boot camp in Florida. I
am extremely encouraged by this decision. According to media reports,
Martin Lee Anderson was beaten to death by guards at the boot camp, a
nightmare that was captured on videotape. There is nothing more
horrifying than the death of a child in the hands of the very people who
are entrusted to help him.
“Today, hundreds of boot camps – both public and
private – operate nationwide. The Bay County, Florida, Sheriff’s
Department facility where Anderson died was publicly managed and
operated, and it was licensed by the state. Hundreds of privately-run
boot camps – sometimes called ‘behavior modification facilities’ – are
not licensed or regulated at all, and a number of allegations of
physical, sexual, and emotional abuse have been made against those
programs by children and their parents. Deaths have also been reported.
It is clear that where no licensing standards exist, they must be
instituted; and where they are too weak, they must be strengthened. And
no federal dollars should support facilities that fail to meet anything
but the highest standards.
“This investigation should be the beginning of a
serious, aggressive, and comprehensive effort by federal agencies and
the Congress to make sure that children are totally safe when they are
sent – either by the state or by their parents – to residential
programs. No program should operate in the United States without meeting
minimum standards, without regulations, or with poorly trained or
abusive staff. Martin Lee Anderson’s death was a terrible tragedy. We
must not allow his death to be in vain.”
Miller has requested a government investigation of
residential treatment facilities. The Government Accountability Office
has agreed to conduct that investigation. For more information,
click here.
Miller has also introduced legislation to help
states create licensing standards for residential treatment programs.
For more information on that legislation,
click here.
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