Sheriff is
sad to see end of local boot camp
MANATEE COUNTY -- One of the
original champions of juvenile boot camps says more teens will
fall through the cracks now that the military-style facilities
have closed in Florida.
Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells, who opened the state's
first camp near Port Manatee in 1993, says the teens may end up
"warehoused" in facilities that offer a lower quality of
education than that provided at the camp.
The juveniles also might not get the discipline and
regimentation that Wells says helped turn lives around at the
boot camp.
"It tore my gut apart to have to close the camp," Wells said.
"The kids are the real losers here."
Florida lawmakers abolished the military-style boot camps after
14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson died at a Panama City boot camp
in January.
The teen was punched, kicked and kneed by guards.
A law named in Anderson's honor created a replacement program
called STAR, which stands for Sheriff's Training and Respect. It
bans physical discipline by guards and focuses on education, job
training, community service and counseling.
But only one of the five juvenile boot camps open in January --
Polk County's -- chose to reopen under the new law, said Tara
Collins, a Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman.
In Manatee County, Wells said the state did not provide enough
money to run the STAR program, which called in part for
additional training for employees and more medical staff at the
compound.
Last year the county paid about $200,000 to help run the boot
camp, which was mostly state-funded.
He said county taxpayers would have had to pitch in more than $1
million a year to pay for the new STAR program.
"I just refused to ask the county to pick that up," Wells said.
He added that it seemed unreasonable to ask taxpayers to
supplement that much money for a state-funded program.
"We've been priced out of the boot camp business," Wells said.
Manatee County graduated its final platoon May 18. The barracks
in North Manatee now sit empty.
Wells said a few legislators jumped to conclusions after
Anderson's death, and they "threw a net and dragged every boot
camp in the boat with Bay County."
Wells said he thinks Juvenile Justice will "have a difficult
time in determining what to do with these kids that they've been
sending to us."
"I don't like to think about what the future holds," he added.
Collins of Juvenile Justice said teens who would have gone to
boot camps will be assigned to other residential facilities, all
of which provide education and discipline.
For example, teens in Manatee County could land in the DeSoto
Juvenile Correctional Facility in Arcadia or the Manatee
Adolescent Treatment Services Halfway House in Bradenton.
"We try to place them as close to home as possible," she said.
She said there are a large number of juvenile facilities in the
state, so there's no concern that they will become overcrowded.
Even if Wells had asked county commissioners to help fund the
STAR program, it could have been a tough sell.
County Commissioner Ron Getman said the boot camp was
well-respected and well-run, but that many of the teens in the
program were from other communities, like Fort Myers.
He said the more than $1 million needed for the STAR program
might be better used by putting more deputies on the road.
"The impact of the deputy on the street is the best use of each
dollar that we give to the sheriff," Getman said. "That has a
direct effect on the quality of life on our community and the
safety of our residents."
Wells opened the Manatee boot camp 13 years ago as a tough-love
alternative to jail.
Two platoons of no more than 15 recruits spent six months at the
camp. The teens got their hair cut short. They stood at
attention. They addressed people with a "sir" or "ma'am."
Their exhausting schedule started at about 4:30 a.m. and
included room inspections, physical training exercises and
classwork, said Manatee sheriff's spokesman Randy Warren.
Among boot camps, Wells said, Manatee's program stood out for
its commitment to education. It wasn't uncommon for a recruit to
advance three to five grade levels in reading, writing or math.
Many teens received their GED, he said.
In 13 years, about 700 recruits graduated from the program,
Warren said.
The recidivism rate hovered around 50 percent, Wells said.
In March 2003, Gov. Jeb Bush wrote a letter to Wells,
congratulating him on the camp's 10th anniversary.
"Through your guidance, strict discipline, rigorous training,
and educational opportunities, these young men will face a
brighter future," Bush wrote.
Wells still runs two juvenile facilities, the Omega Juvenile
Prison and the Youth Academy, a residential facility for
juvenile offenders.
Both are located on the same property as the boot camp. Wells
said he has no plans to expand either facility.
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