SB 1780 — Victims of Reform School Abuse

Florida Senate - 2018 CS for SB 1780 By Senatorthe RousonCommittee 19-01086C-18on 20181780__Criminal AJustice; bill to be entitled An act relating to victims of reform school abuse;

and Senator Rouson 591-02586-18 20181780c1 A bill to be entitled An act relating to victims of reform school abuse;

Dozier School for Boys,” and the “Dozier School,” was opened by the state in 1900 in Marianna to house children who had committed minor criminal offenses, such as incorrigibility, truancy, and smoking, as well as more serious offenses, such as theft and murder, and WHEREAS, throughout the Dozier School’s history, reports of abuse, suspicious deaths, and threats of closure plagued the school, and WHEREAS, many former students of the Dozier School have sworn under oath that they were beaten at a facility located on the school grounds known as the “White House,” and WHEREAS, a psychologist employed at the Dozier School testified under oath at a 1958 United States Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that boys at the school were beaten by an administrator, that the blows were severe and dealt with great force with a full arm swing over the head and down, that a leather strap approximately 10 inches long was used, and that the beatings were “brutality,” and WHEREAS, a former Dozier School employee stated in interviews with law enforcement that, in 1962, several employees of the school were removed from the facility based upon allegations that they made sexual advances toward boys at the facility, and WHEREAS, a forensic investigation funded by the Legislature and conducted from 2013 to 2016 by the University of South Florida found incomplete records regarding deaths and 45 burials that occurred at the Dozier School between 1900 and 1960 and found that families were often notified of the death after the child was buried or were denied access to their child’s remains at the time of burial, and WHEREAS, the excavations conducted as part of the forensic investigation revealed more burials than reported in official records, and WHEREAS, in 1955, this state opened a new reform school in Okeechobee called the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee, referred to in this act as “the Okeechobee School,” to address overcrowding at the Dozier School, and staff members of the Dozier School were transferred to the Okeechobee School, where similar disciplinary practices were implemented, and WHEREAS, many former students of the Okeechobee School have sworn under oath that they were beaten at a facility on school grounds known as the “Adjustment Unit,” and WHEREAS, more than 500 former students of the Dozier School and the Okeechobee School have come forward with reports of physical, mental, and sexual abuse by school staff during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s and the resulting trauma that has endured throughout their lives, and WHEREAS, during the 2017 legislative session, the Legislature unanimously issued a formal apology to the victims of abuse with the passage of CS/SR 1440 and CS/SRCS/HR 1335, expressing regret for the treatment of boys who were sent to the Dozier School and the Okeechobee School;