They finally closed the Marianna, FL school for boys in 2011.

[madfloridian]

It was way past time for it to be shut down.

It happened in great part because the boys who were abused there years ago got together, got organized, and called themselves The White House Boys. In 2008 they had a plaque put on the building where they had been beaten.

In memory of the children who passed these doors, we acknowledge their tribulations and offer our hope that they have found some measure of peace.

May this building stand as a reminder of the need to remain vigilant in protecting our children as we help them seek a brighter future

But at the time they put up the plaque they were not allowed inside the school, and they had no idea the abuse was still going on. This article shares who was being hired there in the last few years, in addition to some horror stories very hard to read.

From a Tampa Bay Times article in 2009:

Florida juvenile justice: 100 years of hell at the Dozier School for Boys

As to what it took to work at Dozier, the state had two requirements. You had to be 19 or older and have a high school diploma or the equivalent.

In the past two years, one guard came to work reeking of alcohol and was referred to counseling. Another came in high on cocaine and marijuana. And another admitted to being a habitual drug abuser after he came to work high and was sent to the emergency room.

In 2005, the school hired James Edge. Three years before, the 265-pound man with a snake tattoo on his leg was arrested for domestic battery and violating a protective order. According to his wife's sworn complaint, Edge wrenched her arm behind her back, fracturing her shoulder.

Edge is the same officer involved in the May 2008 scuffle in which a boy's ear was split open. The following month, records show, he bloodied a boy's nose and slammed him against a fence, cutting his thumbs. Then Edge was fired. Officials now say they are investigating his hiring.

Guard Arthur Edmon Jr. posted photos on his MySpace page in which he makes obscene gestures and poses on a cash-covered table (caption: "f--- u haters"). He also posted a homemade rap video of friends dunking a basketball and pointing a gun at the camera.

Guard Frank Bernaldo has a MySpace page that contains sexual images and language and the following biographical nugget: "I like to go hunting but not for animals, only for people who piss me off."

The plaque at the old "White House" angered some citizens of Marianna, FL, and they wanted it taken down. I was very angry when one of our state Democratic senators told them he would try to get it removed.

A Florida Democratic state Senator, Al Lawson, denied he had ever heard any complaints. To his credit he later expressed concern. But here is the worst part. While he was later speaking at a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Marianna, someone in the audience asked that the plaque that was put up to seal the White House be taken down.

He agreed to try to get it taken down. That is to his shame.

The Times reporters said that 11 days later a boy was "kicked and stomped" by other inmates, then he was placed in isolation. He was denied the right to call the abuse hotline.

If I were to meet Al Lawson, a Democrat, face to face I would ask him why in the world he would agree to take down a plaque which vowed no more abuse to Florida's children

Over 100 years, but now it is finally shut down. Good for the White House boys for their courageous organizing and activism.