In June, Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a new law that sets aside $20 million to help people who were hurt at a notorious reform school, The New York Times reports.
Grounds at Dozier (Abandoned Atlas Foundation)The school was known as the Arthur G Dozier School for Boys. It was widely known that school officials treated students badly, including forced labor, brutal floggings, and sexual abuse.
Some of the men who went to this school many years ago have been telling their stories to lawmakers in Tallahassee for about 15 years. Finally, in 2017, the state officially apologized. Now, this new law gives money to these men for what they went through. It’s meant to help them find some closure and justice.
Men who were at the school between 1940 and 1975 and were hurt mentally, physically, or sexually by the school staff can ask for money to make up for what happened to them.
“Daily, that pain is still with me,” the Times quoted Richard Huntly, who leads the Black Boys at Dozier Reform School, a survivors’ group, as saying after describing being beaten so fiercely at 11 years old that he felt as though his mind had left his body. “I’m 77 years old now. That lives with me daily. I can’t help it.”
The Civil Rights Division of the US Justice Department published a report in 2011 regarding school staff members cited for their use of excessive force, inappropriate isolation, and extension of confinement. Here’s an excerpt from the report:
