Boot camp whistle-blower complaint filed (Florida death of 14 year old Martin Anderson)

[seafan]

Boot camp whistle-blower complaint filed

BY MARC CAPUTO
November 18, 2006

A former inspector general has filed a whistle-blower complaint against Florida's juvenile-justice agency that alleges he was fired because he ''wouldn't go along with misrepresentations'' related to the death of a 14-year-old ward of a Panama City boot camp.
Steve Meredith said Friday that, despite a clean work record for a decade, he was fired Aug. 4 without explanation from the Department of Juvenile Justice. He said he initially believed race played a factor in his termination, but said that current DJJ employees he wouldn't name have told him his outspoken views on Martin Lee Anderson's death played a role.

DJJ spokeswoman Cynthia Lorenzo said the agency ''emphatically denies'' Meredith's claims.

''His termination was entirely unrelated to Martin Lee Anderson,'' she said, refusing to list the cause of his firing ''out of respect and courtesy'' for Meredith, who served at the will of the administration.
Martin's parents are suing DJJ, the boot camp and its guards in federal court. His Jan. 6 death is under investigation still and no charges have been brought. The guards and a nurse at the boot camp say they were all following procedure.

Meredith said they clearly weren't.

On the day of Martin's death, Meredith said he and two other DJJ employees viewed the videotape of guards beating, body-slamming, wristlocking and pressure-pointing Martin as they shoved ammonia capsules in his face in an apparent effort to either revive the lifeless-looking boy or punish him.
Meredith, the agency's acting inspector general, then joined a conference call with DJJ Secretary Anthony Schembri and other senior level staff in which, he said, he noted the violations of DJJ policy by guards of the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which ran the camp.

'The secretary had asked a question about how bad this is . . . either I made the statement or he asked: `Was this as bad as Rodney King?' '' Meredith recalled.

''Absolutely,'' he said he responded. ``Yes it was.''

snip

[sakabatou]

1. Fuckers...

Especially Cynthia Lorenzo

[AX10]

2. Boot Camps have no place in a civil society.

[harpboy_ak]

3. This is why I won't visit Florida

Florida gets NONE of my travel dollars because of stupid things like this, and like sentencing a mentally retarded 13 year old to life in prison for killing another child by imitating TV "wrestlers".

Both Texas and Florida are on my no-visit list now because of their totally corrupt justice systems, where the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, and poor get screwed by elected judges and prosecutors, products of corrupted election campaigns.

[AX10]

5. Exactly!

One of the "cheap consolation prizes" of global warming is that Florida will drown into the sea.

[IntiRaymi]

6. That is why protecting the weak is the noblest of occupations.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Their official form of addressing youngsters in need is hideous.

You may remember they can't/won't keep track of their children in foster homes, lose some of them altogether.

The way they treat their children in their control in juvenile detention is grave. You might remember a young boy who got appendicitis around a year ago, begged for help for days, was steadfastly ignored, and died in his cell.

Similar things have happened there, too.

Then there's the ADULT prison system which is a blasphemy, with their enthusiasm for "Old Sparky," their electric chair which produced flames towering above the head of one "client" before they stopped using it. Then there's their record of throwing people in prison and refusing to let them out when it has been indicated the men are innocent.

For years it seemed as if the two _Bush brothers were having a race/game to see which one could kill the most men charged with murder.

Hideous state government.

[jpak]

4. This was murder and FL GOP is participating in a cover-up

Old Timey Racism at its worst...

[Trillo]

8. This type of discrimination,

Isn't it common knowledge in private business? "Keep your mouth shut." "Don't go against the boss." "Do what the boss says."

It was common knowledge for me, but perhaps I was just lucky that others told me? Don't keep your mouth shut, and you won't have a job. A job is a privilege, dontcha know?

I guess one thing that makes this case heinous, besides the death of the youngster, is that it occurred in what should be a government, or public, function, of We the People. However, this "boot camp" is probably a contractor, and hence, is likely privatized.

So much for Freedom of Speech, and all the other things they taught us in school about what rights our government is supposed to protect, and which infers that we citizens are to protect for each other.

While I'm certainly not looking forward to the process of our civilization transforming back to hunter-gatherers and the process of great numbers of people dying off, it seems that if any survive the coming environmental catastrophes, the world that may be left for those few that do survive has the opportunity to offer a much more natural existence.

The wonderful thing about Mother Nature is that she doesn't lie to us, she doesn't demand that we spend every waking moment involved in a survival activity that benefits the boss.