NAACP Want Fla. Juvenile Boot Camps Closed

By BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The NAACP and black legislators demanded Tuesday that the state immediately close its boot camps for juvenile delinquents after a 14-year-old boy died hours after entering one of the facilities.

A videotape that some state lawmakers have said shows guards beating Martin Lee Anderson has yet to be made public. The Miami Herald and CNN sued the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday to obtain its release.

"Obviously there is something to hide," said state Rep. Audrey Gibson, a Democrat. "We expect some answers why our black young men are dying."

Anderson died Jan. 6 at a Pensacola hospital, a day after he entered the camp because of an arrest for theft.

He complained of breathing difficulties and collapsed during exercises that were part of the entry process at the camp, which was run by the Bay County Sheriff's Office. Authorities have said the boy had to be restrained when he became uncooperative.

The Florida State Conference of the NAACP wants an independent investigation by either an independent prosecutor or the U.S. Attorney for civil rights violations.

Gov. Jeb Bush said the tape would be released upon completion of the investigation in the next few days. The state's legislative black caucus could initiate a bill to eliminate the boot camps, Bush said.

"If boot camps need to be abolished they have the recourse to submit a bill to whatever the appropriate committee is and turn that bill into a law," he said. "There will be ample time to look at the policy."

Two other black teenagers have died in state custody in the past three years.

Willie Lawrence Durden III, 17, was found unconscious in his cell at a Citrus County juvenile corrections center in October, and Omar Paisley, also 17, died from a burst appendix that went untreated in June 2003 at a juvenile detention facility in Miami. The state paid Paisley's mother $1.45 million to settle a lawsuit filed over his death.