New claims of abuse at Florida boys camp

[seafan]

New claims of abuse at boys camp


As law enforcement investigates allegations of abuse, officials at the governor's office sent a team to a North Florida town to ensure the safety of juvenile delinquents.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND MARC CAPUTO
October 14, 2006

GREENVILLE - Three separate state agencies are investigating whether caretakers used banned, excessive and harmful restraints at a camp for delinquent boys, some of whom are mentally retarded or have other special needs.
At least one youth might have suffered a broken collarbone at the Greenville Hills Academy in Greenville just last week, according to records obtained by The Miami Herald. One 16-year-old claimed he was ``choked.''
And in another episode, guards also reported using a technique called a wrist lock that was banned two years ago by Anthony Schembri, secretary of the state Department of Juvenile Justice, an agency still reeling from the death of a 14year-old at another Panhandle facility earlier this year.

The DJJ is investigating Greenville along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Children & Families. The agencies declined to give any details other than to confirm the investigation into the academy, which has been the subject of 30 verified abuse or neglect claims made to a state telephone hot line in two years.

snip

The camp has a history of complaints from the teens housed there. Youths filed 286 reports of abuse or neglect with the DCF child abuse hot line from September 2004 through June 2006 -- an average of about 13 reports each month, according to DCF abuse records obtained by The Miami Herald. Thirty reports were verified.
The investigation of Greenville Hills comes at a particularly sensitive time for Florida's troubled juvenile justice agency.
A special prosecutor in Tampa is nearing the end of a nearly yearlong investigation into the Jan. 6 death of Martin Lee Anderson, who officials say was asphyxiated by guards restraining him at a Panama City boot camp.

snip

Roy Miller, whose Tallahassee-based Florida Children's Campaign has been a vocal critic of the state's youth corrections effort, called the allegations ``very upsetting.''
'The administration has described every abuse incident as `isolated.' They are not isolated. The system is in crisis. We have gone on record as saying these programs cannot guarantee the health and safety of our children,'' Miller said.
State Rep. Mitch Needelman, a Melbourne Republican who is vice chair of the House Juvenile Justice Committee and sits on a separate DJJ oversight committee, said he was ''disappointed'' that DJJ officials failed to alert him to the investigation before a reporter started asking questions.

snip

[malaise]

1. Children's Homes

are invariably worst than the worse parents or guardians. These camps are run by inhumane criminals.I wonder how many Foley types are on this Board?

[seasat]

2. As you've posted before Crist won't investigate this.

One of the main reason, IMHO, is that if he investigates this program, he'll have to investigate Mel Sembler's pet project, The Straights (LINK). It is a youth rehab group that has had numerous complaints lodged against it in Florida (and other states) for its rough tactics.

Charlie Crist and Brett Sembler (Mel's son) are good friends going back to their high school days. Brett Sembler is also Charlie's Campaign manager (LINK). The Semblers had funneled over $25,000 to Charlie's campaign and hosted fund raisers for much more.

It's also no coincidence that the Semblers are one of the largest developers in Florida. They specialize in putting up cheesy strip malls. They'll be the primary benificiaries of Charlie's property tax property tax proposals. It'll put dozens of small businesses out of business and make it cheaper for them to snap up commercially zoned property for heavy development.

[seafan]

3. Yes, Mel Sembler's son Brent Sembler is Crist's campaign finance chairman.

http://sembler.com/company.php?id=6


Crist's very close ties with the Semblers make it very unlikely that he will ever initiate any investigations concerning child abuse at facilities such as this. Charlie knows which side of his bread the butter is on.


I swear, eradicating kudzu vines is easier than rooting out the GOP corruption in Florida.

[Zhade]

4. Ah, another chance to mention lieberman's link to Sembler.

See my sig line.

lieberman is fucking SCUM, taking money from this guy!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Ejebulation.

:hide:

[xchrom]

6. too bad it wasn't pre-ejebulation.

[sandnsea]

7. Better close them all

Using DC page logic, if you can't protect the kids from the adults, better close the programs. These kids deserve as much protection from out of control adults as House pages do.