Changes To Juvenile Justice System
When Martin Anderson died, about 130 youths in Florida were incarcerated in state-run boot camps. Before Anderson's death, the state had received more than 180 complaints about excessive force at the Panama City boot camp.
In mid-February, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen ended his office's contract with the state to operate the Panama City boot camp where Anderson was beaten. In a letter to Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) head Anthony J. Schembri, McKeithen wrote, "I believe the integrity of the boot camp in Bay County has been compromised, leaving the effectiveness of this program virtually paralyzed."
McKeithen also immediately banned the use of ammonia-inhalant capsules at the Panama City boot camp. McKeithen's announcement came about three weeks before Anderson's body was exhumed for his second autopsy, in which one pathologist concluded that the teen died from ammonia fumes.
At around the same time, DJJ ordered state sheriffs to do away with violent measures such as punching and kicking at the state's boot camps, and directed nurses to call 9-1-1 at the first sign of a problem.
In late April, the Florida Legislature voted to close the state's five juvenile boot camps. The camps were replaced by a less-militaristic program called STAR, which prohibited physical intervention against juvenile inmates. The STAR program had been almost 80 percent effective in test runs around the state at preventing recidivism among inmates.
The bill that enacted the STAR program was renamed the "Martin Lee Anderson Act" by the legislature. Bush signed the bill into law on June 1, 2006.
There was no funding made available for the increased costs of the STAR program, forcing many juvenile detention facilities to close their doors.
Read more about this topic: Martin Anderson Case
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