Bill Text: FL S0048 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relief/Victims at Fla. Reform School for Boys/DJJ

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on The Special Master on Claim Bills [S0048 Detail]

Download: Florida-2010-S0048-Introduced.html

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Florida Senate - 2010                              (NP)    SB 48 
 
By Senator Joyner 
18-00126-10                                             201048__ 
1                        A bill to be entitled 
2         An act for the relief of the victims who were abused 
3         while confined to the Florida Reform School for Boys 
4         located in Marianna and Okeechobee; providing for an 
5         appropriation to compensate them for injuries and 
6         damages sustained as result of the abuses perpetrated 
7         by the personnel of the reform schools; providing a 
8         limitation on the payment of fees and costs; providing 
9         an effective date. 
10 
11         WHEREAS, during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, certain minors 
12  were sent to the Florida School for Boys located in Marianna and 
13  Okeechobee, Florida, and 
14         WHEREAS, some of the boys who were sent to those reform 
15  schools were physically and psychologically abused by the 
16  personnel operating the reform schools in Marianna and 
17  Okeechobee, which included beatings while the boys were forced 
18  to lie face down on a blood-stained cot and being struck 
19  repeatedly with a leather razor strap, and 
20         WHEREAS, at the reform school in Marianna these beatings 
21  were inflicted in a building known as the “White House,” and 
22         WHEREAS, the boys were segregated at the reform schools 
23  into white and black areas; however, both races were subjected 
24  to beatings in the “White House,” and 
25         WHEREAS, some boys as young as 10 years of age were 
26  severely beaten, requiring that pieces of their cotton underwear 
27  be extracted from the boys’ flesh, and 
28         WHEREAS, other victims needed medical treatment and were 
29  left with permanent scars, and 
30         WHEREAS, the personnel of the reform schools who 
31  perpetrated such beatings would make monetary bets on which of 
32  them could draw blood first from the boys, and 
33         WHEREAS, some of the boys were sexually assaulted by the 
34  reform schools’ personnel, and 
35         WHEREAS, after being beaten, some boys were placed in 
36  solitary confinement for as many as 30 days in an approximately 
37  8-feet-by-8-feet cell having no lights or windows, containing 
38  only a bunk with a mattress and no sheets, and a bucket to be 
39  used as a toilet, which was known as the “hole,” and 
40         WHEREAS, similar abuses occurred at the reform schools 
41  located in Marianna and Okeechobee and were considered a 
42  standard, accepted practice and procedure for administering 
43  discipline at the schools, and 
44         WHEREAS, the victims have suffered and continue to suffer 
45  physical and emotional injuries, and 
46         WHEREAS, certain victims have filed a lawsuit in the 
47  Pinellas County Circuit Court seeking class-action status, 
48  claiming wrongful incarceration, and seeking redress for the 
49  abuse and mistreatment they suffered while confined to the 
50  Florida School for Boys in Marianna and Okeechobee, and 
51         WHEREAS, those victims who have filed the class-action 
52  lawsuit are willing to have the court action stayed while the 
53  Legislature considers the relief requested in this act, and 
54         WHEREAS, favorable consideration of the relief requested in 
55  this act would spare the state a significant amount of time and 
56  resources, NOW, THEREFORE, 
57 
58  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
59 
60         Section 1. The sum of $      is appropriated from the 
61  General Revenue Fund to the Department of Juvenile Justice for 
62  the relief of the victims who were abused while confined to the 
63  Florida Reform School for Boys in Marianna and Okeechobee and 
64  sustained injuries and damages as a result of such abuses 
65  perpetrated by the personnel of the reform schools. 
66         Section 2. The Chief Financial Officer is directed to draw 
67  a warrant in favor of the victims who were abused while confined 
68  to the Florida Reform School for Boys in Marianna and Okeechobee 
69  in the sum of $      upon funds in the State Treasury, and the 
70  Chief Financial Officer is directed to pay the same out of such 
71  funds in the State Treasury. 
72         Section 3. The Legislature may not be deemed by this act to 
73  have waived any defense of sovereign immunity or to have 
74  increased the limits of liability on behalf of the state or any 
75  person or entity subject to the provisions of s. 768.28, Florida 
76  Statutes, or any other law. 
77         Section 4. The amount awarded under this act is intended to 
78  provide the sole compensation for all present and future claims 
79  arising out of the factual situation described in this act which 
80  resulted in injuries to the victims who were abused while 
81  confined to the Florida Reform School for Boys in Marianna and 
82  Okeechobee. The total amount paid for attorney’s fees, lobbying 
83  fees, costs, and other similar expenses relating to this claim 
84  may not exceed 25 percent of the amount awarded under this act. 
85         Section 5. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.