State leaders met Tuesday to discuss the future of the now shuttered Dozier School for Boys, a state-owned institution where staffers are alleged to have beaten, raped and murdered inmates in the 1950s and 60s.
The land the school sits on in the Panhandle town of Marianna still belongs to the state, and Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet weighed redevelopment options, including turning the site into a state park or a public school.
A succession of men who spent time at Dozier as youths, however, implored the Cabinet to shelve such proposals, at least until the land has been further scoured for human remains.
A University of South Florida anthropology team has uncovered 55 unmarked graves, 20 more than a previous state estimate.
"That property, until they find the remaining bodies, they should never let any kind of buildings be put on that property. Those boys, you know, when we were sent there, we didn't expect to be beaten and we certainly didn't expect to die," said Charles Fudge, a Citrus County resident who was sent to Dozier in the early 1960s.
The Cabinet chose not to pursue redeveloping the site until the USF researchers complete DNA analyses of the uncovered human remains. Once identified, the remains will be returned to victims' families. Some Cabinet members suggested the state should cover the costs of funeral services.