April 5, 2006
JUVENILE JUSTICE
Chief says his hands were tied on
camp's use of force
Florida's juvenile justice chief says there was
little he could have done to intervene in the
aggressive use of force on kids at a juvenile boot
camp, prompting a lawmaker to question his honesty.
TALLAHASSEE
- The state's juvenile-justice chief said
Tuesday he didn't step in to stop what appeared to
be excessive use of force at a Panama City juvenile
boot camp for three years for two reasons: He was
unaware of 180 use-of-force reports from the camp,
and his hands were tied because the sheriff who ran
the camp was an elected official separate from his
agency.
`NOT CONSTRAINED'
Anthony Schembri, secretary of the Department of
Juvenile Justice, made his comments in response to a
story Sunday in The Miami Herald detailing how teens
were manhandled for minor infractions -- for simply
shrugging, smiling or smirking.
Schembri said that the rules at sheriff-run camps
have long been more hands-on than the rules
governing any other juvenile detention facility.
''They're not constrained to follow them. They
have a higher system. They're an elected official.
They discipline their own people. I discipline my
people. They discipline their people, and they
should be doing that when they use excessive
force,'' Schembri said.
``I would have handled those cases a lot
different, and I have.''
Schembri's statement provoked an instant rebuke
from state Rep. Gus Barreiro, the Miami Beach
Republican who chairs a criminal justice budget
committee that funds DJJ.
LOSING CREDIBILITY
''There's nothing he says that's credible
anymore,'' Barreiro said, referring to misstatements
Schembri has made, particularly in the case of
14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson's death on Jan. 6
after he was beaten by guards at the Bay Boot Camp
in Panama City.
''He's the head of this agency, these kids are in
his care,'' Barreiro said.
``For him not to take responsibility is a
surprise. The sheriffs are on contract with DJJ, so
Schembri's still in charge.''
Schembri and Barreiro began clashing late last
year when Barreiro's committee lambasted DJJ for
placing a severely developmentally disabled child
with a sexual offender, who allegedly changed the
disabled child's diapers and raped him as well.
During an Oct. 20 committee meeting, Schembri
told lawmakers he was vehemently opposed to the use
of excessive force on kids and that, as the man in
charge, he was going to fix problems and own up to
them.
He also said he ''fired'' 300 employees for using
excessive force -- a number that he now says is
closer to 60.
180 REPORTS OF FORCE
According to The Miami Herald's review of the Bay
Boot Camp's use-of-force reports, 173 of the 180
incidents were deemed ''appropriate'' by
administrators.
`TICKING TIME BOMB'
Of the seven others, four were unresolved and
three were found inappropriate.
''That was a ticking time bomb: 180 incidents of
use of force,'' Barreiro said.
