TALLAHASSEE — Gina Jones stood in the Capitol rotunda Wednesday and pointed to blown-up, before-and-after pictures of her 14-year-old son.

The before picture showed Martin Lee Anderson bearing a wide smile, before the honor roll student was arrested with some friends for taking a relative's car, his first offense.

The other picture showed a bloated Anderson in his coffin, the result of an hourslong stay in the Bay County Boot Camp he was sent to after his arrest.

Jones said her son's death Jan. 6, a day after she says guards pummeled him at the juvenile boot camp in Panama City, is symptomatic of the state-sponsored program.

"My baby was murdered," Jones said. "Don't let another child come out like my baby."

Her message is gaining steam.

A House committee held a daylong hearing Wednesday about the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice's six boot camps, and other legislators called for either a moratorium on the discipline-based camps or an elimination of the program.

"The rest of the boot camps that are open now must be closed," said Rep. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville. "They need to be boarded up with Martin's picture on the gate and on the door."

Bay County sheriff's spokeswoman Ruth Sasser declined comment to The Associated Press because of the ongoing investigation. The sheriff's office, which runs the camp, has said the boy was restrained after he became uncooperative.

Federal probe sought

In other developments Wednesday, the legislature's black caucus urged the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to remove himself from the investigation because he previously had been Bay County sheriff. But Gov. Jeb Bush said he remained confident in FDLE Commissioner Guy Tunnell and didn't plan to make any decisions until the investigation is completed. Some legislators weren't as confident.

The Florida Southern Christian Leadership Conference asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate all deaths in Florida's juvenile system during the past five years, including Anderson's.

Lawmakers and the NAACP also asked for arrests in the Anderson beating and called on Bush to appoint a special prosecutor.

And the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators and the NAACP joined a media lawsuit to gain access to the video of the boy's beating. The FDLE has refused to release the tape but has shown it to two representatives of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. The Miami Herald and CNN have filed suit to review it.

Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, spoke with the family about the boy's condition after his death, saying they didn't need to see any videotape to know that he was beaten beyond any appropriate level, even in a military-style boot camp.

"I don't think that he's the only child that ever went through any boot camp in Florida that was beaten to a pulp," Wilson said. "Unfortunately, he passed away. But if we go back and look at previous tapes from that reception, I am sure that we will see many other Martins who did not pass away."

Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, one of the two representatives to view the tape, said it does not show a "bloodlust attack" of punches and kicks. But Gelber said he saw excessive force in a roughly 20-minute series where four to six guards, watched by an idle nurse, forcefully restrained and dragged Anderson around a yard while inflicting vicious blows.

"It almost seemed like the officers thought this was what they should be doing," Gelber said. "Although it looked to me that this kid didn't need anything close to that kind of control, he needed health care."

Even as the debate raged about the details of Anderson's death, the focus seemed to be on the boot camp system as a whole.

Boot camps are a sentencing option between probation and incarceration. The goal of the military-style programs, which are contracted out by the juvenile justice department to sheriff's offices, is to provide an "intensive educational and physical training and rehabilitative program" that is directed at "replacing criminal thinking with moral thinking, beliefs and values."

The programs have fallen short, legislators were told, for three reasons.

First, there are no standard rules for how juveniles can be treated. The juvenile justice department's inspector general cited an example in a report under the subhead, "Aerosol and Chemical Agents."

The Bay County Boot Camp authorizes only ammonia capsules to restrain juveniles, the Manatee County Boot Camp authorizes only pepper spray, the Pinellas County Boot Camp requires Department of Juvenile Justice consent to use either, the Martin County Juvenile Offender Training Center prohibits both and the Polk County Juvenile Boot Camp's policies don't address the issue at all.

There also are almost no limitations on who can physically handle a child, meaning deputies, corrections officers and non-sworn boot camp employees can handle or restrain juveniles, legislators were told.

Thirdly, the department has failed to use its own data showing how poorly some camps are performing, which angered members of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee Wednesday.

"They sort of created a vacuum where these programs operate in without apparently much oversight or review," Gelber said.

Among 74 residential programs the department runs for moderate risk offenders, three of the boot camps were among the bottom 10 in recidivism rates. Other residential programs include halfway houses and training programs. Recidivism rates show how many people commit another offense after they are released from custody and are the generally accepted measure of a rehabilitation program's success.

Committee Chairman Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami Beach pointed to only one boot camp — Martin County's — that showed an exemplary record of straightening out juveniles with only a 22 percent recidivism rate, the lowest of the department's 74 residential programs.

Martin incorporates families

Barreiro said that's because Martin Sheriff Robert Crowder has not run the camp like the other camps. Instead he has hired people who are especially committed to rehabilitating children and has incorporated juveniles' families into their rehab.

But the Martin program is scheduled to end this year because Crowder has said the state is not providing enough money to allow him to continue its operation.

The realization Wednesday of its success, and the fact that the juvenile justice department has not sought more money for its best boot camp, led many on the committee to wonder whether Crowder's program should not only be saved but also be made the role model for the rest of the state.

"If they're doing such a great job, then maybe we can use that boot camp to create rules, policies and accountability within the other boot camps," said Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Orlando.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/02/16/m1a_bootcamp_0216.html

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