32 graves found at reform school

[alfredo]

Those of you who are too young to remember corporal punishment at school should read this. In some schools it did get out of control. I was a problem student, and remember the beatings like they were yesterday. They believed hitting a kid was the cure for any problem.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/09/reform.school.graves/index.html

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has ordered an investigation to determine whether the remains of 32 students were buried decades ago in shallow graves on the grounds of a former reform school for boys.


Authorities are investigating whether boys were beaten decades ago in this building, known as the White House.

The governor's action came at the urging of four former residents of what was known as the Florida School for Boys. The four alleged that students were abused and killed by guards decades ago at the school in Marianna, Florida, just south of the Georgia border.

[derby378]

1. Can the investigators check out the Roloff Homes in Corpus Christi?

Horrific cases of physical abuse down there over the last 30 years or so, too. We want charges.

[noonwitch]

5. Were you affected as a resident?

You could contact a lawyer and sue.
You could report them to the state licensing bureau.

[derby378]

6. Fortunately, I never went there...

...and our state government has been quite reluctant to do anything about it, since it's a "Christian" home for at-risk teens.

[alfredo]

8. Go to the media.

[ogneopasno]

2. Oh, and a "reform school" is even worse. Those poor children. They need justice.

[alfredo]

9. You aren't reformed there, you are warehoused.

[teverton1]

3. hmmm...

now they just bury your soul instead.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

4. I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL IN FLORIDA IN THE LATE 50S THE WARNING

"IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE..... YOU WILL GO TO MARIANNA

[alfredo]

7. They put us "trouble makers" into special all boys classes where the beatings

were daily. The paddling was so severe that some had to be helped to their feet, or held up so the paddling could continue. The worst were when they paddled the back of the legs or bottoms of the feet. Getting hit on the back of the thigh takes your legs out from under you. Being hit on the bottom of the feet makes the feet swell. Putting on your shoes is very painful after that. those beating sere done with a cane. Classmates were enlisted to hold the victim down. Palestinian hanging and hanging by the thumbs was also used.

Palestinian hanging is your hands are tied behind you and then you are hoisted up off he ground.

If you wonder why I am so against torture, I can speak with some authority about the horrors. It is to break a person, bend them to the will of the torturer. I never broke, I never gave in. Some did break, but they ceased to be the person I knew. They became the ones who held me down so the cane could find its mark. I will be scarred for the rest of my life, but I feel fortunate compared to the ones who broke and joined in on the abuse.

[knitter4democracy]

12. Oh my god. I am so very sorry for what you went through.

Frankly, that kind of story disgusts me down in my gut. The thought of anyone doing that to my kids makes me more than a little angry. It turns me into a mama bear kind of rage. I went to college with education majors who were for corporal punishment, and I just plain didn't get it. There are better ways to engage a mind than to torture the hell out of it.

[alfredo]

15. What I went through isn't within miles of what bush's victims have

had to endure. I endured enough to know for sure that torture is an evil that should never be forgiven. After the junta leaves office 01 20 09, efforts should begin to bring them to justice, if not in the US then in a foreign court.

[knitter4democracy]

16. I think it should be the World Court.

I think it would send a very powerful message to the world if we sent them there ourselves and said it was time for justice.

[smokey nj]

10. Thank you for the link.That's just heartbreaking.

By the time I went to school the nuns had pretty much given up corporal punishment in favor of psychological abuse and public humiliation, although I do remember a few incidents. The worst one I remember involved my fourth grade teacher slamming a boy's head into the blackboard.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Daaaang!

In Florida, no less.

[Quantess]

13. One boy was sent there for beatings for getting low grades

the article said.

[flvegan]

14. I saw a long segment on this yesterday here.

The survivor they spoke to talked about the strap from which they'd get 16 lashes, and if you couldn't take the 16 in a row, you got 16 more. I was horrified listening to how they were treated at "the white house".