Boot camp fallout

Thursday, March 30, 2006

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Martin Anderson died Jan. 6.

A second autopsy performed in Tampa on Monday revealed 14-year-old Martin Anderson didn't die of natural causes or a blood disease two months ago.

A videotaped beating by camp guards may be to blame.

While a special prosecutor isn't ready to announce the official cause of death, the new results are fueling an already-intense debate about the way the state's boot camps are run.

It's a late addition to this year's legislative agenda, and people on both sides of the issue say rightly so.

What's at stake isn't just one family's grief. It's a system almost everyone agrees needs fixing -- boot camps and detention facilities where military-style obedience is a fact of life.

"In some cases, jails are better than what they're experiencing in the detention centers and the boot camps, and we certainly don't want them in jail," Reverend Bruce White of the Pinellas County Juvenile Justice Council said.

The experience they're pointing to is fast becoming one of the most talked-about topics at the capitol. Members of the state House Juvenile Justice Committee all agree the boot camp system needs fixing.

"It's frustrating as a policymaker to continuously deal with failed systems and not having a way out," Republican Mitch Needelman of Melbourne said. "If there's some way we can duplicate that process and look at the DJJ (Department of Juvenile Justice), maybe we can get away from crisis management and get back to turning these kids around."

Committee co-chair Needelman pointed to the most successful of the state's four other boot camps in Martin County. However, it also happens to be on this year's budget chopping-block.

The surveillance tape shows the 5-foot-11 Anderson limp and not responding during the beating.

Some said there's a simple fix. Take the money the now-closed Bay County camp was receiving and give it to the Martin County camp.

"Whether it's a dollar or $800,000, we're going to give it to you because we don't want you to shut down and we want to make sure that you're the one we're duplicating," Republican Gustavo Barreiro from Miami said.

If the system really does need fixing there are also calls for greater accountability. Maybe taking the way schools are rated and crafting a report card for boot camps. But a system like that could take years to create.

Another proposal on the committee's agenda is to take some of the Bay County money to fund an after-care program at a Sarasota County boot camp. The Martin County sheriff said a similar program made his camp successful.