Over 800 applications for restitution have been filed by victims of abuse at Florida’s reform schools, following a formal apology from lawmakers
Marianna: So, it turns out that hundreds of folks are stepping up to claim restitution for the abuse they faced at Florida’s reform schools. This all comes after lawmakers finally said sorry for the terrible things that happened over 50 years ago.
Back in the 1960s, the Dozier School for Boys was packed with around 500 boys, many of whom were just there for minor stuff like skipping school or petty theft. Some were orphans or had been abandoned. The school was around for more than a century, and it’s got a pretty dark history.
Recently, a lot of men have come forward to share their stories of the awful beatings and sexual assaults they endured there. It’s heartbreaking to think that nearly 100 boys died at Dozier between 1900 and 1973, with some of them suffering from gunshot wounds or severe injuries. Some were sent home, while others were buried in unmarked graves that were only found recently.
With a deadline coming up on December 31, Florida has already received over 800 applications for restitution from those who were at Dozier and another school in Okeechobee. Last year, lawmakers set aside $20 million to help the surviving victims.
One of the guys, Bryant Middleton, spoke out back in 2017 when lawmakers acknowledged the abuse. He shared how he was beaten multiple times for things like eating blackberries off a fence. He was at Dozier from 1959 to 1961, and he’s seen a lot of brutality in his life, even serving over 20 years in the Army.
Middleton said he’d rather go back to the jungles of Vietnam than spend another day at that school. That really says a lot about what those boys went through.
Allegations of abuse have been around since the school opened in 1900. There were reports of kids being chained up and living in terrible conditions. When then-Gov. Claude Kirk visited in 1968, he found the place falling apart, with leaky ceilings and no proper toilets.
He famously said that if it were one of your kids in those conditions, you’d be ready to fight. Dozier was finally shut down in 2011 after investigations and news reports revealed the truth about the abuse.
As these men wait for their restitution, their stories are being honored in a new film called “Nickel Boys,” based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Whitehead has said that Dozier inspired the book, and he hopes it helps keep the victims’ stories alive.
