More graves discovered in 100-year-old Florida school abuse scandal

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Raw Story

New investigation puts deaths at nearly 100 since 1900 – many young, black males sent to the institution for minor infractions

The scale of abuse at a notorious youth residential school in Florida has been laid bare with the release of a report by investigators who say they have evidence of almost 100 deaths at the institution.

Investigators say they believe more graves are yet to be uncovered at the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, which closed a year ago following revelations of the widespread physical and sexual abuse of youths sent there since early last century.

It means the enormity of the outrage, in which survivors have told gruesome stories of regular beatings, rapes and even murders by staff members, is much greater than reported by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in 2010, when the agency announced the presence of 31 grave sites.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/11/more-graves-discovered-in-100-year-old-florida-school-abuse-scandal/

[secondwind]

1. There just are NO words.....

[Drale]

2. Unfortunately this was not uncommon at the time

Read the book State Boys Rebellion. Its about the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center and the boys who were unfairly sent there for no other reason than they were not wanted by anyone in society.

[obamanut2012]

9. I did -- that was a terrififc book

[Blue_Tires]

10. Very true

I remember stories about a similar "reform" school in Maryland...

[littlewolf]

13. I read that book .. made me ill .... nt

[jwirr]

3. Has this been privately run or is this state run?

[madfloridian]

5. State run.

[SoapBox]

4. ...makes me sick to my stomach.

"...deaths at the reform school from 1900 to 1960."

“The cause and manner of death for the majority of cases are unknown. Where causes could be documented, the most common were infectious disease, fires, physical trauma and drowning.”

My gawd...read the whole article folks and be prepared to feel ill.

This is the shit that Nazi killers did.

[secondvariety]

6. More info;

http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/usf-report-reveals-more-deaths-and-graves-at-dozier-than-state-admitted/1265472


Here's an article on how the state of Florida ignores child abuse-as long as it's in Gods' name. Long read but the incompetence of the state "leaders" is appalling.

http://tampabay.com/faccca/

[L0oniX]

7. God bless America!

[Posteritatis]

8. To be fair, residential schools like that seem to be cesspits everywhere.

There's some incredibly ugly history with them in Canada, particularly with regards to First Nations peoples. There's also one in my town - a few blocks from where I live right now, actually - that was built for black orphans and was spectacularly, spectacularly abusive to them as well.

One of the local newspapers did a fairly incredible calling-out of them over it a month or so ago that at least put the place under all kinds of microscopes, so hopefully there'll be some charges soon. The broader problem of the things up here we'll probably still be dealing with for decades to come. It's sad, and it's infuriating, and which it is at any given time is pretty much a coin-toss sort of thing.

[AldoLeopold]

11. I'm a fervent anti-humanist

and this just chilled me spine. It confirms my anti-humanity, but its also the most horrific and apparently under-reported news story like...EVER.

[Tempest]

12. And they're still doing it today

With the school to prison pipeline.

[csziggy]

14. First hand accounts from men who spent their childhoods there

By ROGER DEAN KISER, SR

INTRODUCTION
My story and the stories of some three hundred other men, contained on this web site, will give the readers some idea of the terrible abusive and bloody horrors that were suffered by these men when they were children. Children, some as young as nine, who ran away from physically, sexually or verbally abusive homes; yet were labeled as incorrigible children by the juvenile court system of Florida. Under court order these children were sent away too physically work on state owned farms located at The Florida School for Boys at Marianna. In addition these same children were used by the local Marianna, Jackson County community working on ranches and unloading railroad cars for as long as twelve hours a day without any pay whatsoever. That in itself was terrible but nothing compared to what was happening behind closed doors at the institution.
http://www.thewhitehouseboys.com/

[Octafish]

15. Power not only corrupts, it perverts.

Thank you for the heads-up on the eyewitness narratives, csziggy. The stories make clear what the powerful want hidden.