Hundreds of people who say they were physically or sexually abused at two public schools in Florida are in line to receive tens of thousands of dollars in restitution from the state, after Florida lawmakers formally apologized for the horrors they endured as children. 50 years ago.
At its height in the 1960s, 500 boys were housed at what is now known as the Dozier School for Boys, most of them for minor offenses such as petty theft, truancy or running away from home. Orphaned and abandoned children were also sent to this school, which was open for over a century.
In recent years, hundreds of men have come forward to tell stories of brutal beatings, sexual abuse, deaths and disappearances from the notorious school in the panhandle town of Marianna. About 100 boys died between 1900 and 1973 at Dozier, some from gunshot wounds or trauma. Some of the bodies of the boys were sent by ship back to their homes. Others were buried in unmarked graves that researchers recently discovered.
Trusted and exciting news every day, right in your inbox
See for yourself — Yodel is your go-to source for daily news, entertainment and exciting news.
Ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline, the state of Florida received more than 800 refund requests from people who were held at the Dozier school and its sister school in Okeechobee, Fla., testifying to the mental, physical and sexual abuse they endured at their hands. of school staff. Last year, state lawmakers allocated $20 million to be distributed equally to school victims.
Bryant Middleton was among those who spoke publicly in 2017, when lawmakers officially acknowledged the abuse. Middleton recalled being spanked six times for infractions that included eating blackberries on the phone and pronouncing a teacher's name wrong after being sent to Dozier between 1959 and 1961.
“I have seen a lot in my life. A lot of brutality, a lot of terror, a lot of death,” said Middleton, who served more than 20 years in the Army, including the Vietnam War. I'd rather be sent back to the jungles of Vietnam than spend a day at the Florida School for Boys.”
Allegations of abuse have been ongoing at the Dozier school since it opened in 1900, with reports that children were chained to the walls with irons. Then Gov. Claude Kirk visited in 1968, and found the facility in poor condition with a leaking ceiling, holes in the walls, no winter heating and buckets used as toilets.
“If one of your children was kept under those conditions,” Kirk said at the time, “you'd be up there with guns.”
Florida officials closed Dozier in 2011, following a state and federal investigation and news reports documenting the abuse.
As men who were bullied in schools wait for restitution, their resilience is honored in the new film “Nickel Boys”, based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Whitehead said Dozier served as a role model for the book, which he hopes will raise awareness “so that the victims and their stories are not forgotten.”
___ Kate Payne is a member of the Associated Press/Reporting America Statehouse News Initiative team. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on hidden stories.
Source link
