DOZIER “School of Horrors” To Close For Good On June 30th.
ST PETE TIMES…The news comes decades too late for generations of abused young men. But the state of Florida finally has stopped defending a culture of horrific abuse and will shut down a North Florida school for boys at the end of June after more than a century of looking the other way. The courage of former students who recounted the abuse they endured, renewed public scrutiny and a state financial crisis combined to force a decision that should have been made years ago.
The Department of Juvenile Justice announced Thursday, 5/26/2011, that the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys — recently renamed the innocuous North Florida Youth Development Center — will be shut down and its 63 detainees will be sent to other facilities. The state will save more than $14 million and focus more on forward-looking prevention and community-based services. Gov. Rick Scott’s administration deserves credit for finally putting a stop to a pattern of state-sanctioned abuse that governors from both political parties refused to address.
The shameful history of this facility and the failure of the state’s leaders to deal with it leaves a permanent stain. In the early 1900s, boys were kept there in irons and beaten with a leather strap. By the 1950s, it was the largest boys’ school in the country even as the reports of beatings continued. In 2008, a group of men who were confined there in the 1950s and ’60s filed a lawsuit claiming horrible abuse.
An investigation by the St. Petersburg Times uncovered evidence of mysterious deaths or abuse in nearly every decade of the institution’s existence. Times reporters Ben Montgomery and Waveney Ann Moore described the permanent physical and emotional scars the experience left on generations of boys who left the facility worse off than when they arrived, MORE FROM THIS SOURCE
Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida also known as the Florida State Reform School, questions still remain about individuals buried at the Dozier “Boot Hill” Cemetery, herein referred to as the “School Cemetery,” on the North Side or “Number 2” side and was there a second Cemetery on the South Side or “Number 1″?
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) report of May 14th, 2009 indicates that 10 persons died in a 1914 School fire, another 21 individuals (6 had no death certificate issued) are listed (from 1919 to 1952) to have died from a variety of injuries, murder or sickness and found to have been buried (31) in the School’s Cemetery through documentation in the School ledgers, The Yellow Jacket newspaper, and death certificates.
“Find A Grave” source indicates that there are supposed to be 65 bodies buried at the Florida Industrial School for Boys, the names are individually listed see link click here, this source indicates that 15 boys died between 1932 to 1936, 3 were White Boys and 12 were “Colored boys”, C/M indicates Colored Male;
1). Brinson, James 45678576 C/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School
2). Buckley, Joshua 45678920 C/M d. 1935 Florida Industrial School…
3). Cato, Robert 45669559 C/M d. Feb. 24, 1935 Florida Industrial School…
4). Denson, Jesse 45678747 C/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School…
5). Hammond, James (Joseph) 45669658 C/M d. May 2, 1936 Florida Industrial School
6). Harrell, Lonnie 45678483 W/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School…
7). Heading, Willie 45678614 C/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School…
8). Huff, Grady 45669604 W/M d. Mar. 4, 1935 Florida Industrial School…
9). Nelson, Richard 45669478 C/M d. Feb. 23, 1935 Florida Industrial School…
10). Nipper, Sam 45678650 C/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School…
11). Pender, Dary 45678809 C/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School…
12). Shaw, Archie 45678881 C/M d. 1932 Florida Industrial School…
13). Smith, Lee 45669267 C/M d. Jan. 5, 1932 Florida Industrial School…
14). Stephens, Joe 45669369 C/M d. May 9, 1932 Florida Industrial School…
15). Vanadoe, Thomas 45669415 W/M d. Oct. 26, 1934 Florida Industrial School…
The FDLE Report indicates that from 1932 to 1936 only 7 boys died, 5 “Colored Males” and 2 White Males at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, Florida also known as the Florida State Reform School facility.
1). Lee Smith C/M 01/05/1932
2). Joe Stephens C/M 05/09/1932 Flu
3). Thomas Varnadoe W/M 10/26/1934 Pneumonia
4). Richard Nelson C/M 02/23/1935 Influenza Baltzell Hospital,
5). Robert Cato C/M 02/24/1935 Influenza Baltzell Hospital,
6). Grady Huff W/M 03/04/1935 Illness/Cemetery Miller Davidson
7). James (Joseph) Hammond C/M 05/02/1936
Florida Industrial School for Boys, Grave Search Results, Records 1 of 65 total matches. Cemetery notes and/or description: This small field is located in the woods on the present grounds of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, a state juvenile correction facility.
Originally known as the Florida State Reform School (Established in 1900) and later the Florida Industrial School for Boys, the institution has a notorious reputation as an abusive place in its earlier years, complete with a torture chamber known as the “White House”.
The cemetery was active from about 1914 to 1952. Since death certificates were not required prior to 1917 and subsequent records are not complete, it is not known how many people are interred here. State Investigators believe at least 81 are buried here and at another location about 500 yards to the north. The argument for two locations is bolstered by the fact that it was not the custom in the days when the cemetery was active to bury whites and coloreds at the same site (The races were segregated at this facility).
31 metal crosses were erected at this location near extant shallow indentations in the ground in 1996 to replace concrete/rebar crosses from the 1960′s that had been removed and stored near the site…It is believed wooden crosses or no markers were originally employed…
SEE MORE ARTICLES ON THE DOZIER SCHOOL OF HORRORS;
The “White House Boys” Roger Kiser, Dick Colon, Robert Straley, Michael O’McCarthy and others have retained private investigator Bill Warner of Sarasota Fl to handle the background checks and research into the individuals responsible for the horrific events that took place at the Florida School For Boys, aka The Dozier School For Boys in Marianna Fl, see the “White House Boys” website at this link, click here.
Mar 12, 2009
Troy Warren appears to have the record for escape attempts from the Dozier School for boys, he says they always found him, they being the K-9 Unit run by “Ollie” the Dog Man. When the Dozier School for boys K-9 guards …
Feb 05, 2009
Former Marianna Dozier School For Boys Inmates File Lawsuit Against “One Armed Man Troy Tidwell” and The Florida Department of Agriculture Et Al. WMBB ABC NEWS TV-13 PANAMA CITY FLORIDA… Former Dozier Inmates File …
Feb 05, 2009
Dozier School for Boys guard, Troy Elmer Tidwell was 10 years old and living in Marianna Fl when Claude Neal (Mr. Neal appears to have been innocent of any crimes and was hung and mutilated just for being “black”) was …
Feb 05, 2009
Dozier School for Boys guard, Troy Elmer Tidwell was 10 years old and living in Marianna Fl when Claude Neal (Mr. Neal appears to have been innocent of any crimes and was hung and mutilated just for being “black”) was …
Dec 20, 2008
However, over the months things had gotten out of hand at the Florida School for Boys at Marianna, now known as the Dozier G. School for Boys. Boys were being beaten, some almost beyond recognition, for the simplest of …
Dec 19, 2008
Some very disturbing phone calls have been coming into my offices since I posted an article about the “White House Boys” and the unbelievable torture endured by boys as young as 8 years old at the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna Fl …
Dec 25, 2008
From information obtained during recent phone interviews with former child inmates at the Dozier School for Boys, (who were beaten in the school at the hands of men like guard Troy Tidwell), it appears that there is a much deeper, …
Dec 23, 2008
When Robert Straley arrived at the old Marianna School for Boys, he says the place didn’t look that bad. “My first impression was how beautiful the place was. The cottages were lined in rows of three,” Straley, a white house boys …
Mar 30, 2009
rambo is the first black man to publicly come forward about his time at what is now called the arthur g. dozier school for boys. stories of horrific abuse at the formerly segregated reform school began to make news last year. four men, …
Dec 10, 2008
The four believe many of the boys who were sent to the White House were killed and their remains buried on the grounds of what is now known as the Dozier School for Boys. Reached at his home in the Florida panhandle, Middleton, 64, …
Feb 24, 2009
more prisoner abuse in marianna fl, see my prior post on marianna fl, thursday, february 05, 2009, former marianna dozier school for boys inmates file lawsuit against “one armed man troy tidwell” and the florida department of …
Bill Warner Private Investigator, SEX, CRIME, CHEATERS & TERRORISM at www.wbipi.com
