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Boot camp fallout
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
A second autopsy performed in Tampa on Monday
revealed 14-year-old Martin Anderson didn't die of natural causes or
a blood disease two months ago.
A videotaped beating by camp guards may be to
blame.
While a special prosecutor isn't ready to
announce the official cause of death, the new results are fueling an
already-intense debate about the way the state's boot camps are run.
It's a late addition to this year's legislative
agenda, and people on both sides of the issue say rightly so.
What's at stake isn't just one family's grief.
It's a system almost everyone agrees needs fixing -- boot camps and
detention facilities where military-style obedience is a fact of
life.
"In some cases, jails are better than what
they're experiencing in the detention centers and the boot camps,
and we certainly don't want them in jail," Reverend Bruce White of
the Pinellas County Juvenile Justice Council said.
The experience they're pointing to is fast
becoming one of the most talked-about topics at the Capitol. Members
of the state House Juvenile Justice Committee all agree the boot
camp system needs fixing.
"It's frustrating as a policymaker to
continuously deal with failed systems and not having a way out,"
Republican Mitch Needelman of Melbourne said. "If there's some way
we can duplicate that process and look at the DJJ (Department of
Juvenile Justice – link this http://www.djj.state.fl.us/ ), maybe we
can get away from crisis management and get back to turning these
kids around."
Committee co-chair Needelman pointed to the
most successful of the state's four other boot camps in Martin
County. However, it also happens to be on this year's budget
chopping-block. Some said there's a simple fix. Take the money the
now-closed Bay County camp was receiving and give it to the Martin
County camp.
"Whether it's a dollar or $800,000, we're going
to give it to you because we don't want you to shut down and we want
to make sure that you're the one we're duplicating," Republican
Gustavo Barreiro from Miami said.
If the system really does need fixing there are
also calls for greater accountability. Maybe taking the way schools
are rated and crafting a report card for boot camps. But a system
like that could take years to create.
Another proposal on the committee's agenda is
to take some of the Bay County money to fund an after-care program
at a Sarasota County boot camp. The Martin County sheriff said a
similar program made his camp successful.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2006/3/15/148859.html
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