For as long as there has been a school , Children have had school yard fight's.
Parents and teachers dealt with !
Then came ZERO TOLERANCE !
Now Children relive nightmares through the Juvenile Justice System!
The Diary of Christopher Sholly
The Diary of Christopher Sholly
Christopher Sholly
No. 127087
Department of Corrections
November 2005
Diary compiled by Dawn Chase, Christopher's mother.
Christopher Sholly can be contacted at cantbetouched319@yahoo.com
03/04/2002 Greenville Hills Academy The lawn mower
I was sent to Greenville Hills Academy. I was sent there for violating probation, and I violated by trying to commit suicide, I am 13 years old at this time. I regret trying to do this now. When I got to Greenville Hills Academy, I was beat up by the Staff that worked at the cottage, Merit Cottage. I have no idea why the staff beat me up. I was scared and confused. I did the only thing I could think of, I kept my mouth shut and stayed to myself. Well, the next morning I got up and seen some bad things. I seen one boy, by the name of Tylor Clarry, being hit by the staff. I seen other youths being abused also. I went to school and took some tests, When I went back to the cottage, the staff somehow found out that I could not read or write at the time. The Staff's name was Mr. Jones. The staff started calling telling me to read the posters on the wall, and I couldn't do it. I told him "I can't read that." He grabbed a dictionary and told me to look up a word. I forget what the word was, but I think it was "medical". I took the dictionary and began flipping through the pages. I did this for close to ten seconds before Mr. Jones grabbed the dictionary out of my hands and threw the book on the table and called me stupid and retard. He told me to go and stand in the corner until he told me to sit down. I said "NO", and he said if I didn't do as he told me, he would beat me up. I didn't want to get my tail whooped again, so I did it. All throughout the day the staff messed with me, called me a white piece of sh**, and poked names and cussing at me. After about 4 days on, another boy kept trying me, so we fought. After the fight, the staff grabbed me and dragged me into a back room, no camera's there. It must have been a weight room cause there were weights in it. The two staff threw me up against the wall and got in my face and said, "why the f*** did you fight, this is my house and I don't take no sh**!. "They both were yelling at me and spit was flying into my face. I was not worried about the yelling, I was worried about them beating me up. After they were done yelling at me, they threw me on the floor and jumped on my back and held me down. They grabbed my arms, legs, and hands, and restrained me. They bent my legs over my back, all the way until the tips of my feet touched the back of my head. One staff was pulling my legs, the other pulling on my head. The position they put me in was widely called "the lawn mower". It hurt so bad, I thought I was going to pass out. After they were done, the staff punched me and kicked me a few times each. All the while, I was laying on the ground crying and pleading them to stop. But they wouldn't stop. All throughout my days at Greenville Hills Academy, I went through hell. This that I am going to write below are the things that the staff used to do to me and others there; The Staff used to beat us up everyday. They used to only let us have around a minute of two to eat our food. (THIS IS EVIDENT AS MY SON HAD A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WEIGHT LOSS WHILE THERE) They used to make us wait a very long time to use the rest room,. If we used the bathroom on ourselves, the staff would make us wash our clothes out in a five gallon bucket and no gloves with cold water. Most of the kids there used the bathroom on themselves, because the staff would make us hold it for so long. I, came close to using a number 2 on myself at school. The staff wouldn't let me go to the bathroom. I begged her for like ten minutes and she finally let me go to the bathroom. The staff used to mentally abuse us as well. They would call us names, and make fun of us. They used to tell us that we youths would never be anything in life.
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03/10/2002 Greenville Hills Academy I am not going to give up
As I said during my stay at Greenville Hills Academy, it was hell everyday. I heard nothing but Staff yelling and screaming at us kids, beating up on us, slapping us in the back of the head. This boy Tylor Clarie had to use the bathroom and the staff would not let him! He held it for an hour and then at the end of the hour he used it in his pants and the staff made him sit on the floor for an hour and a half in it, it was number 2! I was sitting at this table and these two boys were doing sign language and I was watching them, and I started to do it to. The staff saw me and started to yell at me, I tried to tell them what I was doing, and then Mr. Jones told me to stand up and I did, then he told me to sit back down, when I did, he yanked me up by my shirt collar and threw me against the wall. Then he was choking me and threw me on the ground and pushed my face onto the tiled floor, and sat on me for twenty minutes. Then he got off me and told me to lay completely flat on the ground. This boy Justin Groover was horsing around and the staff made him stand in the corner for three hours. The kids in the program are only allowed to take take a number 1 (urinate) two times a day, and you are only allowed to take a number 2 one time a day. You are only allowed to get three drinks of water a day. You have 2 hours of physical training, and if you mess up while your doing it, everyone has to start over again. When you go to dinner, lunch, and breakfast, if you talk at all you have to stand in a corner for half the time you have to eat, until everyone is done eating. When you get out of the corner you only have ONE minute to eat and if you don't eat at least half of your meal you get in to BIG trouble. When you get back to the cottage, you have to stand in the corner. You only have three minutes to take a shower and if your not done in the three minutes you have to stand in the corner naked. You have to wear a sweater ALL day no matter how hot it is. When we have bathroom breaks you only have 15 seconds to go to the bathroom, and only two minutes to take a number two. After you get done with 2 hours of PT you only have five seconds to get a drink of water. If you take longer then the five seconds you have to stand in a corner or sit in a chair with your hands on your knees looking straight ahead. If you prop your foot up on a desk in school, you either have to stand in a corner or sit in the chair looking straight ahead with your hands on your knees. If you do something wrong, they will take you back into room and restrain you by making you lay on your stomach with your hands behind your back while they bend your legs toward the back of your head. They will do it for 20 -25 minutes. We also only get 2 minutes to wash and brush our teeth.
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09/09/2002 Greenville Hills Academy I will be home soon I know it
Dear Mom, I have been doing good, and I have been controlling my anger and ignoring my peers. Most of the have stopped because I have been ignoring them, I am doing as I am told to do, and love you very much. Today I got 3 bonus days for making Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. That means I am on track. I have been here now for 182 days and right now I have 71 and a 1/2 positive days. I did not get any MALS on Saturday and Sunday and I have not gotten in anymore fights, and it seems like the staff have not had to yell at me that much. My Counselor Denise Grahm, told me that I leave in January to come home! If I make 47 days I think I will come home sooner. How are things at home? I have not been able to call home because my Counselor Ms. Grahm has not been here but she is now and I will call you soon. Please write me back. I am going to try to make my days and come home and be good and do everything you tell me to do, and you can call me too if I do not call you. You can only call me one time a week. It has to be before 9:00 pm, or 8:00 your time there. I love you and miss you. I love all of you, love your Christopher. I will be home soon I know it!! and my Counselor said if I can control my anger I might be able to come home before January and I am going to work hard on that. and I meant that.. and I am not going to give up! Love you all, I think of you all everyday, all day. Call or write. Love your Christopher :(
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10/06/2002 Greenville Hills Academy Yes, he has marks on him
I received a phone call from my son Christopher Sholly and his Counselor, Deneice Graham. My son began by telling me a horrific Story of a Guard there, so called "restraining him" and at the same time delivering blows to his back and head with a closed fist, and choking him, leaving marks around his neck and bruises on his arms and various parts of his body. I was able to speak to his counselor, Deniece Graham, and she then confirmed my question of whether or not there were bruises and marks about his neck, and body. Her answer to me was "yes, he has marks on him". I immediately called and reported the abuse to the Abuse Hot line for Florida's Department of Human Services. The Counselor on the other end of the phone, took the report and a investigator was sent out. My Son was told that his story was typical and hard to believe, because so many kids have falsely accused the staff in these facilities, just to get back at them. Yet he had bruises, I later found out that the HRS/DCF investigator was related to the staff member that hurt my son.
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10/08/2002 Greenville Hills Academy I'm going to beat you to a pulp
I made a phone call to my son at Greenville HIlls Academy to see how he was doing. He explained to me that he was taken into Ms. Thompson's Office who is the Assistant Director, along with the Guard that abused him, and was told by the Guard, in his exact words, "If I have to lay my hands on you one more time, I'm going to beat you to a pulp" this Guard was none other then Rodney Baynard the very Guard with the past criminal history, and lied on his employment application, and the very Man that broke my sons arm almost exactly a month later. I called the Regional offices about this, and by now they were probably sick of hearing about all the abuse I was reporting and nobody believed me. My son was moved to a different cottage to keep him away from this man, Rodney Baynard. I was told that Mr. Tallon would be making a surprise visit to Greenville Hills and he was going to speak to my son. He did in fact do this. My son then told me, that after the visit with Mr. Tallon, he was then taken into a back office of Ms Thompson and told, that "if he didn't straighten up, keep his mouth shut, he would be sent off to another program and have to start all over from day one of his sentencing with no serve time given!" I had begged for months to have my son moved from all of the abuse going on.
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11/17/2002 Greenville Hills Academy Get him the hell out of there
Rodney Baynard broke my sons arm. The doctors confirmed that much force was used to break the arm in the area that was broke. The x-rays confirmed a break on the upper dorsal section of his left humorous, a Salter 1 fracture, near the growth plate. I called Vicki Burnett and told her what happened, and she acted shocked, and asked me "what can I do?, to make this better" I said GET HIM THE HELL OUT OF THERE, like I've begged you to do now for months. I said he NEEDS to come home now, he has been there way too long! She said I can't do that. He was then transferred out of that program in two days, sent to Okaloosa Youth Development Center OYDC in Crestview FL. NO time served or given, both programs were low risk. It took him getting a broken arm to get transferred out of GHA!!! This is what I mean when I say.. LISTEN TO THE PARENTS!!! THE KIDS TELL US EVERYTHING!!! THEY ARE NOT TELLING FALSE TALES!!! This incident was investigated by the IG's office, and of course the staff say it was all Christopher's fault, and it was an accident. This man was also guilty of breaking two other boys arms and it was just before my son's arm was broke. I believe the assault was on purpose, this man was not even suppose to have contact with my son, as they had moved him to a different cottage, yet why was he able to have access to him? He also threatened to "beat him to a pulp" a month prior. NO ACCIDENT! NO arrest on Rodney Baynard. It was my understanding that Deniece Graham quite working there as well. During the Ig's investigation, the investigator had no idea about Rodney Baynard's criminal past record, that was found out by myself, and I then alerted the IG's office in which they did the investigation on him and found all history to be true.
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11/18/2002 Okaloosa Youth Development Center It's a money making business
My Son was transferred to Okaloosa Youth Development Center (OYDC) after the horrible abuse that occurred at Greenville Hills Academy (GHA). He was made to START THIS PROGRAM ALL OVER! He only had approximately another 47 days left before he was to leave GHA. Faye Finnigan was the Administrator of OYDC and did a fine job while she was there, my son seemed to adjust quite well there with her as Administrator. OYDC is another privately run facility. You know the longer these places hole a child there, the more money they can collect from the state. Its a money making business, and they are ripping us off. They pumped him back up on meds stating he was mentally ill, without MY permission. Christopher had only one month left there when we got word that Faye Finnigan was transferring down to south Florida area, due to a personal move as well. As soon as Faye Finnigan left, my Son over heard Staff talking and he heard Mr. Robinson say " now these kids are really going to have some REAL discipline, no more babying them!" That's when all hell started breaking loose. Mr. Winston would try and provoke my son by making snide sexual comments about me and my daughter, Christopher's sister, stating he was going to F*** us both! My son witnessed another youth by the name of Keith Johnson being picked up over Mr. Robinson's head and literally slammed to the floor, twice. My son was then instructed to clean up Keith's Johnson's blood off the floor without the use of any gloves. This "DRAMA" all started after Faye Finnigan left, and Marvin Bliss took over the position. My Son stated that the staff didn't act this way with Ms Faye Finnigan there as Superintendent. On April 24, 2003 my son and another client were kidding around while putting up their belongings in the closet. Mr. Winston saw them playing, and went over and yanked my son by the arm with such force, that my son bounced off of him. Mr. Winston then proceeded to try and slam my son face first into the concrete floor, and my son grabbed his shirt to stop from getting injured. Mind you he had a broken arm already! Law Enforcement was called in and now Christopher has another battery charge on him, even after the staff stated Christopher did not intentionally try to strike him, but was only trying to keep from falling. Notice now, all of this and another charge AFTER I REPORTED ABUSE GOING ON. On May 04, 2003 I visited OYDC and confronted the supervisors on duty for the evening shift, and I now know what is happening in OYDC, and if any of them lay another hand on my Son, I will call the police myself and press charges for assault. Of course the Staff there denied any of the accusations. I've talked with other parents and boys that have since been released from this program, and they ALL tell me basically the same stories. Not everyone is lying. Now that the so called "CAT" has been left out of the bag, and people are becoming aware of what actually is happening under Marvin Bliss, MY SON IS NOW BEING RECOMMENDED FOR TRANSFER to another program and START ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!!! Marvin Bliss did not want to hear of the things happening in his new kingdom, and was hateful about hearing the accusations, and denied them happening. He wanted Christopher out of there. MY son has had to be transferred and each time, very close to getting out of these hell holes. Mind you as long as Faye Finnigan was in charge of OYDC, there was no problems. Next stop... Jackson Juvenile Offenders Program. Marianna, Florida, two hours away from home.
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02/08/2005 Aurther G Dozier School for Boys Another attempt to mess with my time
Aurther G Dozier School for Boys, Marianna FL Today, Ms. Harvy tried to set me up. She tried to get tobacco dip planted on me. She sent a group of offenders over to me on the rec field. I and Anthony Johnson were sitting under a tree talking. The offenders she sent over to us to post up around us, were: Williams, Brown, McClain, Hammonds, and Nolen. They came around us, and surrounded us. Williams and McClain went behind us poking around on the ground. They dropped something on the ground, then picked it back up and said, "YEAHHHHHH we got you... what this??? I said, "I don't know, what is it?" They all went running over to Ms. Harvy and told her they got it, that we, Anthony and I had it( the dip) This happened around 5:00 pm. Ms. Harvy said, "SHOLLY, YOU HAD THIS???" I told her "NO, I didn't", what is it???" For one, I don't use tobacco in any form, and two, this is just another attempt to mess with my time in a program, and get back at me for telling my Mom about all the abuse they were doing.
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06/2003-07/2005 Jackson Juvenile Offenders Center gDozier gADULT JAIL Please someone HELP ME
I arrive at JJOCC and the first thing the doctor does is take me off all the meds. I still had to start this program ALL over again too!!! JJOCC is a year program! I start feeling better physically, and able to think more clearly. The staff there were kind and helpful. This was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT setting here. I felt safe for once. Mr. Odom was a really great staff member and senior supervisor there, Mr. Singletary, and Warren Reeves both Administrators, were kind and helpful to me. Mr. Odom did Navy duty with my father, and knew our family. Small world. I did very well there. This is a State owned facility, not privately run. In Oct-Nov of 2004 I was transferred to Aurthur G Dozier because there was two or three boys over at Dozier that were flight risks, and they needed to be put in a more secure facility, so I was transferred with ALL MY CREDITS EARNED THIS TIME, and only had till January of 2005 till I was to come home!!! Of course now you all know that NEVER happened. I started seeing abuse and called my Mother to let her know what this place was doing, and she called in all the abuse. Pretty soon I had staff on my back and constantly harassing and provoking me. I was falsely accused of hitting Mr. Wilson, and sent to Adult courts. I ASK YOU NOW, WHY WOULD I HIT ANYONE WITH ONLY 20-30 DAYS LEFT BEFORE GOING HOME? I want to get on with MY life, I want to finish High School, and I want to go to college to be a LAWYER!!! WHY?????????? WHY??????? Can't they let me just go home????? I was told by my public defender that there was nothing he could do to defend me!!! My mother had more then enough evidence proving that all this is in retaliation for reporting abuse. I just turned 17 on April 23, I've never been able to play sports in high school, never been to a dance, have not seen my home in almost 4 years, and now I am sitting in Jackson County Correctional Center Adult Jail for something I did not do!!! I've been beaten physically so much in my time in custody by total strangers, and very big men, then I have ever endured. I can't take anymore of this, and sometimes feel like I just want to do my self in!! This is NO way for anyone to live. I got into an argument with some adult and got in a fight with him in the same cell block, crazy man. Now I'm sitting in Confinement till Aug 2!!! Please someone HELP ME!! MY mom now can't even help me cause they sentenced me as an Adult. I'm not an adult, I'm just a kid, I want to be home with my family. I'M SO SICK OF ALL OF THIS!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! PLEASE GOD HELP ME!!!!!!!
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07/19/05 DOC Lake Butler I have not lost hope
Dear Mom, If you recieved this letter, it means that Lake Butler has come and picked me up from the adult jail here in Marianna. They came to pick me up on Wednesday morning around 2:00-3:00 am in the morning. I will call you as soon as I get a chance. I hope that Mr. Schembrie is still sending out the order to place me at JJOCC or Pensacola Boys Base. I have not lost hope!!! The reason I haven't called you in the past week is because a Man in the same pod told me to shut the F*** up and I told him back to shut up. Then the Man stood up and pushed me in the face, and I just couldn't take it anymore, I snapped and got in a fight with him, he jumped me first!!! I didn't want to fight, but had to try and defend myself from him. I just can't believe the way these grown men act!!! Hateful and mean!!! The jailhouse staff put us both in lockdown the whole week. I was waiting for a response from what the staff were going to do. Then Lake Butler came and picked me up. I hope everything is good at home. Did Ryan come home? (Ryan is his brother, my oldest son) I hope he is. How's Tarah and Wayne doing? Is the wedding still in September? (Tarah is his sister, my oldest child age 22 and in college) I feel really down I can't be there for her wedding. I miss you guys so much. But I know all this will be over real soon. When this is all over, me and Ryan can hang out and catch up just being brothers. Me and you can do a lot of art stuff Mom. Me and Dad can go fishing again!! Me and Tarah can hang out and just talk. I'm looking forward to making a lot up, and having a lot of fun with the best family ever to walk the land of earth. I love and miss you so much. I love all of you So much!! I will get in contact with you as soon as I can. This letter should get to you around 3 days. I love you lots and lots. With a bundle of love, Your Christopher
~Christopher Sholly's letter to mom Dawn Chase 850-983-6777
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07/22/05 DOC Lake Butler Thinking of you always
Dear Mom, Whats up Mom? Well, I'm at Lake Butler. Its nothing like I expected. Its ok. If you do what the Staff say, you got no problems. I'm doing good. I got a few people here that I know, that are watching out for me. Nobody's messing with me at all. I hope you got my last letter. I miss you so much Mom. I don't know when I'll be able to call you. But as soon as I can, I will. The Staff are ok. As long as I give them respect, they will respect me. Have you heard ANYTHING from Secretary Schembri? I hope so. So, hows everything at home? I been here since the 20th of July. I talk to my classification officer on Tuesday. I'll let you know what happens. I might have to be here for almost a month. But I really don't know yet. How is Tarah doing? Tell her to write me, and give her my address. Mom, I need some money. I have to buy hygene stuff and envelopes, and paper. Please send me about 40 or 50.00. You can send it by Western Union will get it to me the next day. Try to see if you can contact Cathy Corry or Somebody. I love you so much. The food is ok. I'm gaining weight and working on some weights. I got 115lbs up aobut 8 times. I can lift more. I don't know if they are going to send me to another camp or not. But try to contact Mr. Schembri and see about me going to jjocc or boys base. I miss you so much!!! I want to see you so bad, I am about 5 or 6 hours away. I hate it. But I'll be home soon!!! As soon as I get another envelope, I'll write you back. Tell Ryan I love him so much. You have to write the address exactly as on the envelope. Give it to Tarah too and Ryan. I love you and miss you so very much. Can't waite to se you and hang out. If Can, send pictures of Ryan, Tarah, you and everybody else. Only 3 pictures allowed per envelope. Tell Tarah I said happy Bithday, with love and kisses. Oh Mom, the Harry Potter book has come out. Its called Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince!! Will you see about getting it for when I come home? Thinking of you all always, Your Christopher ~Christopher Sholly's letter to mom Dawn Chase 850-983-6777
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07/30/05 Postscript
In regards to my son Christopher Sholly, I want to thank all of you that have listened, and prayed with us about all the corruption in this system to all our children. Parents, please, please, make yourselves very aware of what is exactly going on with your children!! Encourage them to tell you everything, and please make your voices heard. My voice has not been heard by DJJ. Mr.Schembri did not excersise his full power on saving my son from an adult system. I was told it is VERY rare that kids above age 16 ever get transferred to a DJJ facility after they have been placed in DOC custody. WHY THEN, even have this Florida Statute? Makes no sense. I was told that Christopher will be sent to a faciltiy for youthful offenders. This state has failed my son, and many other children, and something needs to be done about it. Thank you again for so much of your support, and those JDO's that are truly caring of our kids, more power to you all to stand for what is right, please help with making a difference. I will continue to keep everyone up to date on Chris, and please continue your prayers for him and all the other children that feel so hopeless. :(
~Dawn Chase 850-983-6777
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Hi Cathy, here is the link to my boy. He looks so scared and confused in this picture. He is breaking out all over!! [
Here is his address
Christopher Sholly DC# 0-127087
North Florida Reception Center
P.O box 628 I-2207
Lower Lake Butler, FL 32054-0628
I'm in tears right now, as I found his information. I just am so lost and feel so betrayed by my own State and this department. I'm going to try and get him some money to him there as soon as I get my check this month. Thank you, Dawn
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01/29/06 Message to DJJ employees
Yes.. my son Christopher Sholly is now home, but bears many scars physically and emotionally. These Scars are from Acne on his face that was never treated while in custody, he has teeth that need fillings because they neglected to give proper dental care, he is emotionally hurt, and an angry person right now. He was attacked on a dailey basis while he served at Indian River Correctional for something he never did. You see, he was accused of hitting a staff member, yet the tape came up missing! At the time he only had approx 20 days left at Aurther G Dozier.. but since Ed Leeks was close to retirement, he didn't want anything to blacken his record. Christopher would call me from Dozier weekly and report the abuse that he had witnessed by staff members there.. I then alerted DCF, and of course, they made sure Chris was out of Dozier by having him charged as an adult, so he couldn't report to me what was actually going on there. He received 1 year for it, in an adult facilty for young men. He was hit in the back of the head by another inmate there with a combination lock, and they neglected to put stitches in it, and he needed them at that time. This nightmare in 2002 for our family, and its still a nightmare for Christopher. He has been denied any rights. Rights of obtaining an education,the right to go back to school. He has nightmares every night when he is sleeping. I have one warning to you staff members that see fit to mistreat and hurt our Children in your care... I will find you, and see justice brought to you. I am one angry Mother, human being, and am appauld at this State. You Staff, all of you make me sick coming on here and airing out worktime dirty laundry. Who cares who is sleeping with who??? Who cares if you have to deal with an ass of a boss... Your job is to supervise the kids in custody, and not beat up on them or mistreat them and play head games. How would you like it if someone treated your own children that way?? What would you do if someone broke your childs arm??? Get over yourselves already. Racism is horrible in these places. My son said that when he was in one of the facilitys in route to come home, The staff were walking around with little red balls in their pockets, symbolizing racism KKK. They were beating up the black inmates for no good reason. Then in other places, he said that the Black Staff members would beat up the white inmates for no reason. What the hell is this madness, and who do these people think they are???????? There will one day be a complete judgement on all of you that hurt and abuse your fellow man and children, and I hope it is very soon! Another boy died... well, this seems like the norm now a days in these places. I hope to God that the parents of that child sue this state for everything that its worth, and imprison those responsible for it. Please Parents, if your child has been a victim.. PLEASE call. ~Dawn Chase DawnChs@aol.com 850-983-6777
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01/29/06 YAHOO discussion group
In my attempt to locate all the family's that have had terrible problems with DJJ abusing their children, I've started a yahoo group. If you are a parent, or a concerned citizen, please feel free to join. This group is for the parents, JDO's that have witnessed abuse, and also anyone that is a representative of DJJ. You may find it here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/abuseinfloridadjj/ ~Dawn Chase DawnChs@aol.com 850-983-6777
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02/05/06 Hello..Im christopher sholly
Christopher Sholly Diary entry: Hello..Im christopher sholly..Yes I am home now and well.I want to tell a little about what I have been through in life..so people can know of the dangers out in the world.I have been through many DJJ places and have been to prison..i have been beaten and beaten, locked away in cells that were cold enough to make my feet, hands and face blue..I have been there where many kids are at today..the things that I had to go through were not right, I did not, not ask to be treated the way that I was.It was not right for them staff members and C/Os to treat me the way they did.It was wrong.no person deserves to be treated like that..i have seen many things as well.I have seen many things in DJJ and in DOC.the way the staff erase or turn off the cameras. the way they beat up the kids, the way they take the kids mail and throw it away , the way the staff would take pictures of kids mother and rip it up and throw it away..yes its true that they do this..I have seen it with my own eyes..And i have had it done to myself...I remeber one time when I had my release papers ripped up right in front of me..it tore my heart apart to see that..I have also been charged with false charges..I remember when a staff restrained me and beat me up, and then went and said that I had hit him..thats what they do, they go and beat up the kids and then they say that the kid hit them by swinging back or something.just to get the boy in deep trouble..when a staff member finds out that you are about to go home, they will pester you and mess with you and beat you up to make you so angry and lose your chances of going home..they get a thrill out of seeing you not be able to go home and be with your family..the staff abused me phsicaly, emotionaly and mentaly..they will do anything just to make your life horrible..the staff dont care if you go home or stay there..they want you to not go home. I have been jumped by staff, and by the other inmates..you know why the inmates jumped on me..it was because the staff made them do it..they didnt want it to happen..but they knew that if they didnt do it, that they would get beat by the staff...I have seen and experienced so much..I have had nightmares of past moments.of staff hitting me over the back with a metal chair A staff hit me over the back with a metal chair when I was on my hands and knees on the floor..it hurt so bad.then he kicked me in the head..it hurt and it felt like my life had ended when I was in those places.The way I was treated made me feel unalive.it made me feel like I was trapped in a spiders web..I was the victim in the web ,trapped by the sticky web,the web was the place I was at,,and the spider was the staff..thats the way I felt..I could feel the hate and the danger around me..i knew that at anytime a staff could walk up behind me and just kick me in the back or punch me while I was walking in line..and that did happen to me..and to others...I understand and know what it feels like to be treated like a slave, to be tortured and feel like you are in hell.I have been through the hell on earth....I will have more to type..but that is all for now..If you have any ?s or comments you may email me at cantbetouched319@yahoo.com - .thank you... ~christopher sholly
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02/05/06 RE: "DJJ's policy and procedures are catered to baby the criminals we call kids..."
After reading what my Son, Christopher Sholly has gone through, and reading about the boys that have died in custody, you post this idiotic statement? Obviously you live in a fantasy world, and know NOTHING about what goes on behind the closed doors of these facilities. Read the facts and the stories of the parents and the children that have had to deal with DJJ,before you open up your mouth. For all I know by your statement, you could have been one of the staff that hurt my boy! My son was treated far worse then any murderer or rapist, or robber... he was 13 years old when this nightmare began, and he was sent to DJJ for fighting in school!! NORMAL KIDS STUFF!!! It was a bad behavior that should have been given to the parents to deal with, not taken and thrown in DJJ for it!!! He is now 17 years old and just came home for good on Dec 23rd. My son's release papers were ripped up in front of him while he was at that first program Greenville Hills Academy by Mr.Damian Choice. Then when Rodney Baynard broke my sons arm, there at Greenville Hills, DCF WAS called in... guess who the investigator was? Sheila Choice... Damian Choice'sister or reletive!!!!!!!!! There were other reletives working there as well that knew workers at DCF. No wonder the State Attorney never got the report on Rodney Baynard, and the incident was blamed on Chris, a little guy at the time of only about 113 pounds, against a man that was over 200 pounds. Since my son has been home, things are starting to come out now, names are being named. ~Dawn Chase DawnChs@aol.com 850-983-6777
[Re: 02/04/06 DJJ's policy and procedures are catered to baby the criminals we call kids...]
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02/05/06 "...you can just feel that something bad is about to happen"
I am Christopher Sholly: you know how when you are in a place and you can just feel that something bad is about to happen, well could you imagine having that feeling for 4 years ?.I did have that feeling for 4 years,and it didnt feel good to have that feeling, because most of the time the bad thing was going to happen to you.I remember names of staff at GHA, and at OYDC, and at Arthur G. Dozier School, and in DOC.First of all,the prison facilities that I was at are:Indian River CI, Lancaster CI, Lake Butler, and CFRC..Those are all the prisons that I was at, and boy did I see something in those places.The names that I can remember of Staff at GHA that abused me and other youths there are as follows: Mr.Jones, Mr.Choice, Mr.Williams, Mr. mactear, Mr Baynard, Ms.Dickie, Ms. hopkins, Mr.Blue, Mr.Joseph, Ms.Thompson, and many more that I cannot remember at this moment..there was so many that would beat us and make us do PTs for hours and hours, while wearing sweat pants and sweat shirts, in 90-100 degree heat,when we did PTs (physical trainning).we would have to do it for hours, like 3 to 5 hours, if we messed up, we were taken to a back room and then beat up..and restrained, then we were thrown back outside and made to PT again over and over again.I remember that one time I was throwing up from doing so much PTs, and when I stoped to bend over and throw up, I was kicked in the Butt by a staff known as Mr.Choice.I fell over and rolled on the ground, still throwing up,and then he came over and yanked me up by my shirt and tossed me on the ground.I was small at the time, and this man was huge..he was yelling at me and telling me to keep on Running around the field..I was having trouble doing this, so he got even madder and started to kick me in the side..He then called another staff over and they took me into the back room with wieghts in it, and they threw me around and punched me and threw me up against the wall..and then They put me into the LAWN MOWER..it hurt so bad..I passed out and they woke me up and told me to get outside and start running again..they told me that if I told anyone or called abuse that they would beat my ass and hurt me.the other staffs name was Mr.jones..when we did Pts, there was no breaks, or getting any water,or using the rest room they even made boys with Asthma do the PTs.we were running up and down a big steep hill one night and I seen a boy named Tyler Clarry stop at the top of the hill and start to throw up and try to get his breath, and then I seen Mr.williams kick him in the butt and made Tyler fall over and roll all the way down the hill, getting skined up, then Mr.williams beat him up right outside.we were the only cottage outside at this time of night, so he wasnt worried about being seen..So he just beat Tyler up and then made him run again..there was alot of kids being beat up that night, including me..they made me stand up in the corner all night until the next morning..I fell over while standing in the corner, because I was so tired, and you know what happened to me, I was yanked up, and thrown up against the wall and beaten..after that, the staff choked me..his name was Mr.Joseph..then he made me go into the bathroom, and he got a small bucket and filled it up with cold water and threw it all over me, in my face and all over my body..he did this like maybe 5 times,,5 buckets full of water, freezing water, thrown all over me..he then made me clean up the water on the floor, and then he made me stand in the corner again, still all wet and cold, and very tired..I had to go through so much, so much pain..I wanted to just die sometimes when I was in there..I felt that if I died, I would escape HELL and go to heaven, and all the pain would go away...the pain that they gave me lasted for a .ong time, and it is still with me, in my memories and in my dreams, and phsicaly....this is all that I will write for now,, but I will be back andI will tell more..thank you.. If you would like to contact me, you may at cantbetouched319@yahoo.com thank you very much...Please if there is an Attorney here on this board, please contact us at 850-983-6777. I want to stop other kids from this abuse and horror. ~Christopher Sholly cantbetouched319@yahoo.com 850-983-6777
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05/23/06 Greenville Hills Academy - Post script
I cant remember what the date was, or what time it was. but I was at Greenville Hills when this happened. I was in class, in English class, and before we had went to school, the staff did not allow us to go to the bathroom at all..so, when i got into class, bout 20 minutes after, I ahd to use the restroom,,I ahd to take a number 2 very badly..my stomach was feeling like it was gonna blow up.. So I raised my hand, and asked the teacher, if I could use the bathroom..then here comes Ms.Hopkins, a big mean staff member that liked to slap me all the time for no apparent reason that I could recall...she said, "what do you think you are doing Sholly?".I said to her, the teacher said I could go to the bathroom. Ms.hopkins looked at me, and asked me what number, I told her a number 2..she said then to me, "no, you go sit down, and hold it". I told her I couldnt hold it much longer, and she made me sit in a desk facing a corner..I was sitting in that desk, my stomach about to burts open, and I could feel it, almost coming, so I started begging her to let me go, but she wouldnt ease up, she wouldnt stop yelling at me, she wouldnt even be nice enough to let em go to the bathroom..I started to cry, in hope she would get simpathy for me. but it looked like she just got off on seeing me cry and begg..squirming in my chair.. After about another ten minutes, Ms.Hopkins finally got a call on her radio, the front office told her she had a urgent family phone call. so, when she left, I looked at the teacher with teras in my eyes, and then the other students in the class started telling her;"hey, why dont you let him run to the bathroom?". so the students also felt bad for me. The teacher looked at me and said , "Hurry up and go, and come right back." I got out of my seat,a nd hurried off to the bathroom, and did my businness.. when I got back to the classroom, to my dismay, Ms.hopkins was sitting in her chair. she looked at me and said, "you sneaky lil Cracker, waite till you get back to the cottage." After school, we wnet back to the cottage,a nd Ms.Hopkins took me into the back room, with no windows, and no cameras, and told me to face her, and put my hands behind my back, and then, all I felt was a big fist slam into my jaw, I couldnt fight back, because I would ahve gotten a charge. So I took it, she then started to slap me with the back of her hand, and then pushed me on the carpet, and kicked me a few times.. Then, her big over weight self lost her breath, and told me to get the fuck out of the room, while she got some water.she finally left me alone..
Why did this happen to me? because I ahd to use the bathroom very badly.Its not my fault that i ahd to use the bathroom. it is nromal..but she just loved watching me beg and cry.. that is just wrong, and I have seen this same exact thing happen to many other kids. and it has happened to me more then twice while at GHA............ ~Christopher Sholly
Child advocacy group: Instead of detention, school kids are getting arrested for simply misbehaving
Pinellas County, Florida -- Fourteen-year-old Ryis Stearns is no stranger to getting himself into trouble. He was diagnosed as bipolar at the age of eight, and later started attending a special school for kids with behavioral problems. But last January, Ryis▓ mother pulled him out of that school after she says he was arrested for not following the rules.
- Hope Rising, Ryis▓ Mother:
- ⌠I asked him, 'Did you get in anyone▓s face? Did you get physical?" He said, 'No mom, I was sitting in my chair the whole time.■
Ryis was sent to timeout for 70 minutes, but the school rules state if you fall asleep, you start your time over. When Ryis refused, police were called.
- Ryis Stearns:
- ⌠I used a couple of profanity like ▒go to hell▓ and stuff.■
Ryis was taken from school and sent to the juvenile assessment center. Now he has a criminal record and says it's an incident which should have resulted in suspension.
- Ryis Stearns:
- ⌠They should handle the basic stuff in school. If I had a weapon on campus that would be different. They should arrest me, but I didn▓t have any weapons┘ I didn▓t do anything that was life threatening┘ all I said was, 'Go to hell.'■
Child advocates with Justice for Kids agree and tonight addressed the Pinellas County School Board, calling for an end to student arrests for non-violent misbehavior. Last year, more than 1,100 school kids were arrested in Pinellas County. 31 percent of those were for disorderly conduct or disruption at school, charges some call ⌠childhood misbehavior.■
- Matt Sullivan, Pinellas Juvenile Justice Council:
- ⌠If they▓re childhood behaviors, let them be dealt with in a childhood manner. Keep the kid in school, give them more school if they misbehave, not less. We need to get more kids going down the aisle in their caps and gowns rather than with cuffs on.■
Beau Zimmer, Tampa Bay's 10 News
FORT LAUDERDALE `BOOT CAMP' - Loophole let school avoid regulation
By Carol Mabinmiller cmarbin@herald.com
Miami Herald, June 2, 2005
Neither the state nor the county regulates private boarding schools, and -- after complaints about a Broward facility -- some lawmakers say that situation needs changing.
When police and state child welfare authorities began receiving complaints about a small military school tucked in a modest Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, they wondered what government agency was overseeing the school.
They made a startling discovery: The boarding school, Sister Soldier Military Academy, was operating under everyone's radar.
Sister Soldier, like other private boarding schools, is not licensed by anyone in the city, county or state. It is not required to be.
''This is a loophole in the regulatory system that needs to be addressed,'' said Jack Moss, the Department of Children & Families' Broward administrator.
Child welfare officials became aware of the military school in recent weeks after the state's child abuse hot line received four reports that girls living there had been physically abused, sources say. On Tuesday, the school's operator abruptly shuttered the school, which enrolls girls ages 8-17 at a cost of $2,800 a month.
Denise Smith, who is listed in corporate records as president of Sister Soldier's parent company, JAM Youth Connection, did not return calls for comment.
Smith, who identified herself to parents as ''Major Smith,'' denied abusing any girls in an interview with WFOR, Channel 4. The girls, she said, were often ``disrespectful.''
''I've never hit anyone,'' Smith said.
``But parents do sign a waiver allowing me to restrain a cadet. It's unfortunate we had to close because we were providing a program that benefited these kids.''
The Florida Department of Education does not license private schools.
State law merely requires that private schools register with the state and report the number of children enrolled in their programs each year, a department spokesperson said.
''Private schools are not licensed, approved, accredited or regulated by the Department of Education, or the local education agency, as schools,'' the spokesperson said.
Likewise, the Department of Children & Families has no authority to oversee programs that designate themselves as boarding schools.
Moss said Florida statutes specifically exempt such programs from the DCF's purview. ``Our authority comes from state statutes, which specifically exempt boarding schools.''
Moss said he questioned whether Sister Soldier was, indeed, a boarding school since the academy's education programs are not located alongside the Sister Soldier residences, which are at 3271 Glendale Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.
``One of the first questions I asked was: `Just because they call themselves a boarding school, does it mean they are?'
''I got a bunch of shoulder-shrugs,'' Moss added.
ZONING VIOLATION?
Fort Lauderdale city officials have looked into the boarding school as well.
Sister Soldier is located in a section of the city that was recently annexed from Broward County, said city spokesman David Hebert, and the area is still subject to county zoning codes. Under those codes, the house is in neighborhood zoned for single-family residences.
Under the county's code, which the city is enforcing in that neighborhood, the military school could operate in the neighborhood as a community residential facility under certain conditions: It would need to be at least 1,000 feet from another social service program or group home, and it would need to be licensed by the state, said Hebert.
''If they don't have a state license,'' Hebert said, they cannot consider themselves a community residential facility.
A DISTRESSED MOM
Hebert said officials in the city attorney's office are working closely with DCF to resolve the problem. ''We consider it a priority,'' he said. ``We will do what we need to do to ensure compliance with our laws.''
One parent who sent her 16-year-old daughter to the military academy said she was shocked to learn Sister Soldier was operating without state oversight.
''I thought they had to be regulated,'' said Kim Powers, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., whose daughter was sent to the school by a Los Angeles talk show, at the show's expense.
LEGISLATORS UPSET
And at least two state lawmakers would like to see programs such as Sister Soldier come under some state agency's regulation.
''This is a glitch in regulation, and, obviously, this type of entity is falling through the cracks,'' said state Sen. Nan Rich, a Weston Democrat who sits on the Senate's Children & Families Committee.
''We always talk about accountability. Obviously, there is no accountability for programs such as this,'' Rich added.
Rich said she would consider supporting legislation next year that would require boarding schools such as Sister Soldier to be licensed and regulated by some state agency. ``It sounds like this is an area where we need to have some additional regulation.''
Said state Sen. Walter G. ''Skip'' Campbell, a Tamarac Democrat who chairs the Children & Families Committee: ``If we need the Legislature to look at this, we will definitely look at it.''
''All these schools need to be regulated by somebody,'' Campbell added.
Army-style girls' school shuts doors
By Carol Marbin Miller cmarbin@herald.com
Miami Herald, June 1, 2005
As state officials investigated reports of physical abuse, the discipline-oriented Sister Soldier school in Fort Lauderdale sent students back home. cmarbin@herald.com The head of an unlicensed boarding school for girls in Fort Lauderdale, called Sister Soldier, abruptly closed the private program Tuesday amid ongoing child abuse investigations by state child welfare officials and police.
The Broward Sheriff's Office, which conducts abuse investigations under contract with the Department of Children & Families, has received four separate complaints that girls housed at the boarding school were physically abused, sources told The Herald.
DCF officials said they could take no action against the military-style school because the school holds no license from the department.
DCF contacted Fort Lauderdale officials, who were preparing to close the school for lack of compliance with city zoning codes, said DCF Broward Administrator Jack Moss.
''My daughter was punched in the eye and choked,'' said Kim Powers, whose 17-year-old daughter, Jessica, spent nearly three months at the school after being sent there by the producers of a television talk show, the Larry Elder Show, where she had appeared on two episodes dealing with unruly teens.
''She had a black eye,'' the mother said.
Show officials could not be reached for comment.
''I had no contact with her whatsoever,'' said Powers, who lives in Murfreesboro, Tenn. ``They were not sending her letters to me. And my letters were not going to her. They took them.''
Denise Smith, who is listed in corporate records as president of the company that operates Sister Soldier, did not return calls to the school for comment. Smith, who identified herself to parents as ''Major Smith,'' also was not at the school Tuesday afternoon.
PRIOR ARRESTS
Florida records show Smith has been arrested three times. The first two arrests -- a 1991 forgery charge and a 1996 car theft -- were dropped by prosecutors. Smith pleaded no contest to a March 1997 auto theft charge following the third arrest, and adjudication was withheld, records show.
On Tuesday, parents of the half-dozen girls housed at Sister Soldier received calls to pick up their children and take them home.
At about 3:30 p.m., 37-year-old Stephen Davis pulled up to the modest beige house and left with his 17-year-old daughter, Terri, who put a blue military uniform and black boots in the trunk of his car. He said Smith and a police detective called him earlier in the day.
''Major Smith just said the program was closing down and all the girls were going home,'' said Davis, who drove in from Tampa. ``We had to pick them up today.''
Terri told Davis that teens at Sister Soldier had been ''physically restrained when they [school staff] needed to'' -- but he said he is taking his daughter's claims ''with a grain of salt'' for now.
Davis said he found out about the program from the Internet.
The boarding school, at 3271 Glendale Blvd. in the Melrose Park neighborhood, was housed in a modest ranch-style home with peeling paint and white trim.
Windows in the house were equipped with bars on the inside. Walls in the living room appeared to be painted black or a very dark color.
Parents who enrolled their children paid an entry fee of $5,300, and $2,800 per month, according to the program's website and one of the parents.
Sister Soldier accepted girls aged 8 through 17.
''Female cadets accepted into our program reside in a rigorous, structured military environment,'' the website says. ``The military style program in conjunction with the emphasis on leadership develops informed citizens who are strengthened by discipline, understanding and citizenship.''
CLAIMS OF BEATINGS
One incident under investigation by child welfare investigators involves two girls who claim they were beaten after they tried to call their parents for help.
Shannon Guinn, 16, who lives with her mother in Pembroke Pines, went to Sister Soldier at the end of March after spending three days at a wilderness boot camp run by the school's parent company, South Florida-based JAM Youth Connection. After about two weeks, she called her mom on a cellphone she had borrowed.
'She said, `Please mommy, when can I come home?' '' said her mother, Cheryl Guinn.
Another girl, Jessica Powers, tried to call her family, but couldn't reach them.
Within minutes, the families say, Smith brought the two girls into the one room in the house that does not have a surveillance camera.
''She slapped me on my face, she threw me up against the wall and put me in a chokehold,'' Shannon said. ``She hit me in the face repeatedly. After the chokehold, she threw me on the floor and put her knee in my back.''
Two weeks later, Cheryl Guinn saw her daughter at a baptism held by a local pastor associated with the discipline-oriented school.
''Something about her jaw looked funny,'' the mother said. 'She said, `Mom, that's where I got hit in the face.' ''
Kim Powers said her daughter was sent home from Sister Soldier when operators said her daughter had become seriously ill.
Powers said the boarding school even took Jessica for a colonoscopy without calling the family for consent. Eventually, Jessica was diagnosed with a blocked bowel.
While at the military-style school, Jessica was forced to eat nothing but beets for days at a time, Powers said. On another occasion, she was limited to eating only oatmeal.
''Jessica ate beets for breakfast, lunch and dinner,'' said Shannon, adding that Smith treated Jessica particularly harshly.
Suffering Together
By Trevor Aaronson trevor.aaronson@newtimesbpb.com
New Times Broward-Palm Beach, December 9, 2004
In Lake Worth's Growing Together, kids don't kick drugs. They're beaten and humiliated.
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"If they had to go to the bathroom in the middle of night, it was trouble. It was like a prison." |
He was 16 and scared. Jason was a newcomer at Growing Together, a boot camp-style drug treatment center for adolescents in downtown Lake Worth. During the day, he attended group therapy at the program's two-story, banana-yellow building, which is equipped with security gates and barred windows. At night, he'd sleep at a private home endorsed by the facility. In February 1997, during one of Jason's first days in the program, George Johnson (not his real name) arrived to pick up five boys who were to stay at his place in Palm Beach Gardens that night. Among them were his son, George Jr., and four others, including Jason.
On the ride home, the boys began to discuss what they would do to Jason that night. "The Naked Crusader was going to appear," Jason later remembered one of them saying. It frightened him; he pretended not to hear.
That night at 10 o'clock, after doing chores and eating dinner, all five boys went to the bedroom where they were to sleep. They wore only underwear. The rest of their clothing was kept in a different room. Three of them lay down on mattresses on the floor. Jason and another boy wriggled into sleeping bags.
Several hours later, Jason suddenly noticed some noise. The other four boys were masturbating. "The Naked Crusader is coming," one of them said.
Then George Jr., naked, suddenly jumped on Jason's back, according to a statement Jason gave to police. Another boy held down his legs. Two others slapped Jason in the face with their erect penises.
"Stop!" he pleaded.
They did. But the boys weren't finished. They returned to their beds and masturbated again. A few minutes later, they assaulted Jason once more. Again, two boys slapped Jason with their penises. One of them tried to put his penis in Jason's mouth. Jason clenched his jaw shut. Then he felt warm liquid on his back. One boy had climaxed. Another ejaculated in his hand and rubbed the semen in Jason's hair.
Finally, they were finished.
If he ever told anyone about the incident, the boys warned, they'd do it again. And worse. But three months later, Jason could no longer stay silent. He told his father what had happened. Together, they filed a report with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department on June 18, 1997.
During the one-month investigation that followed, two of the boys told the detectives that they too had been victims of "The Naked Crusader" soon after entering the drug treatment facility. The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office filed misdemeanor battery and indecent exposure charges against the four boys but later dropped them. The records have since been purged, so there's no more explanation.
Growing Together's 17-year-old, nonprofit facility treats 25 to 40 children at a time. It rakes in roughly $1 million annually from donations and fees paid by parents of drug-addicted kids, some of whom are ordered by judges to attend. It has powerful friends and donors, including West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, banker Warren W. Blanchard, attorney Jack Scarola, and Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley.
Yet physical and sexual abuse appears to be common there, according to a New Times investigation that included reviews of state records, police reports, and interviews with about two dozen former patients and parents. Kids rioted at the facility in April 1997, and last year, state investigators found that Growing Together was too quick to use physical restraint on children. Moreover, police have written more than 800 reports related to the program since 1995.
"I still can't get the screams out of my head from hearing kids dragged down the hall by the hair on their heads," says a former graduate of the program who asked to remain anonymous. "The crimes that were committed there have never been told in public. Nobody has ever put these people on trial."
Rik Pavlescak, a former investigator with the Department of Children and Families (DCF), wrote reports on the program in the early '90s that detailed beatings, restraint, imprisonment, and systematic humiliation. He alleges that influential outsiders have undermined investigations of the group.
Growing Together Executive Director Pat Allard denied a request to tour the facility, citing laws that protect confidentiality of patients. In three phone interviews in November, she maintained that children are not abused and claimed not to be aware of any of the evidence uncovered by New Times. "We would never beat any child," Allard said.
Every Friday evening, 50 to 100 adults and children, most ages 13 to 17, gather inside Growing Together's facility at 1000 Lake Ave. The open house begins the same way every week. Parents sit in chairs at one end of a large room. Their children, who are enrolled in the program, sit at the opposite end. At first, an accordion divider separates the two groups.
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One parent described Growing Together as a "concentration camp." |
Then the session begins. The partition is pulled back. The music starts. The children sing: I am a promise, I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital P
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learning to hear God's voice
And I am trying to make the right choice.
I am a promise to be anything that God wants me to be.
Vicky Butler, a Jupiter woman who enrolled her troubled, 16-year-old son, John, in Growing Together in the fall of 1999, remembers these sessions well. "The songs they made these kids sing -- and they were teenagers -- were songs intended for 4- and 5-year-olds," she says. "It was degrading. You just had to look at the kids. Behind their eyes, they would be saying, 'This sucks. '"
Butler says she began to wonder, when she attended her first open house, whether she'd made a mistake. "My son was no angel," she admits, "but no one deserves the treatment these kids receive." During the session, Butler remembers, staff passed around a microphone to parents, who would tell everyone in attendance about their children's misdeeds. There were drugs, illicit sex, violence, theft. The microphone would then move to the other side of the room. Assuming a child had behaved well during the week and earned the "privilege" to speak, he or she would then confess.
During one session in October 1999, Butler's son became agitated before she spoke. He stood up and flailed his arms. "He was totally flipping out," Butler remembers. John began to walk off. An alarmed Butler started toward her son. As she did, a large behavioral therapist parents referred to as "The Enforcer" also headed for John. Suddenly, the accordion divider rolled across the room and blocked Butler.
"All of a sudden, I heard my son screaming," she recalls. Butler panicked and confronted Growing Together staff. "That's my kid behind that curtain, and I don't know what's going on," she told them. They assured her that John was fine and that he would see a psychiatrist soon. Butler returned to her suburban home in Jupiter, convinced that John was in a safe place.
Meanwhile, she continued hosting other Growing Together children at night. She had modified her $169,292 home following directions from the program's staff. All pictures and mirrors were removed from walls. Knives were hidden. The bathroom was stripped, leaving only the sink, toilet, and bathtub. The windows and doors of the bedroom where five kids slept were rigged to an alarm system. Once they went to bed at 10 p.m., they could not leave the room until the next morning. "If any of them had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, they would have been in trouble," Butler admits. "It was like a prison."
Before bed, the children would write in their journals about what they had learned that day. Often, their entries involved confessions they had made during therapy. Growing Together refers to these journal entries as "moral inventories." To advance through the phases of the program, children must confess to illicit behavior or abuse they suffered, then describe the incidents' effects on their lives.
Butler recalls asking the kids about their entries. They told her that they made up most of their confessions because Growing Together required such admissions before graduation. Accounts that included sexual abuse or underage sex were particularly encouraged by staff, the kids allegedly told Butler.
The children also claimed staff had beaten and physically restrained them, Butler says. She even met one young girl who claimed a therapist had broken her arm. Other kids asserted that the building was always filthy. Growing Together administrators admitted to Butler (and later in court documents) that the facility had rats and that several urinals had been backed up for days at a time.
In March 2000, Butler and her ex-husband, Stephen, who shared custody, removed John from the program. Stephen Butler was moving to Arkansas and wanted to take the boy. Once free, John told his mother that he had suffered a sprained wrist at Growing Together when a therapist slammed him down on a table. Mickey Bowman, then the executive director of Growing Together, showed little concern for the injury. In a letter to Vicky Butler dated June 20, 2000, Bowman wrote: "Regarding the 'purported injury' to your son's wrist, he was laughing at the issue immediately following."
Soon after, a private psychiatrist examined John and determined that his problem wasn't drugs. He was bipolar. "You would think that, being in the program, someone would have said, 'Oh, by the way, your child is bipolar,'" Vicky Butler says. "Nobody picked up on that because no psychiatrist or psychologist ever saw him."
Butler later refused to pay Growing Together the roughly $5,000 she owed for John's treatment. She claimed the facility had billed her for clinical exams that never occurred. "Kids got more messed up in there than they were when they went in," she says. The facility sued and turned the debt over to a bill collector. Butler eventually forked over a reduced amount.
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⌠Dr. Ross left Straight because he didn¨ˆt like some of the shenanigans.¡ö |
"My teeth grit every time I hear the words Growing Together," she says. "They used to say, 'What goes on here stays here.' Now I know why. They don't want the outside world to know what's going on."
Growing Together Executive Director Allard says today that she has no knowledge of the "Naked Crusader" incidents or the types of child abuse alleged by Butler. "Could things like this happen in an institutional setting? Yes," Allard says. "Would it blemish the institution? Yes, it would. Would anyone condone it? Absolutely not."
The history of Growing Together begins 28 years ago and more than 200 miles from South Florida. In 1976, Mel Sembler, who made millions developing strip malls throughout the Sunshine State, opened a nonprofit juvenile drug treatment center in St. Petersburg called Straight Inc. His reasons were altruistic: The only adolescent drug treatment facility in the Tampa Bay area had shut down, and Sembler wanted to give back. One of his own sons had been rehabilitated in such a program.
During the late '70s, Straight became a well-known and apparently effective drug treatment center. Its methods, which were designed by psychiatrists Miller Newton and George Ross, were a kind of hybrid of the common 12-step model used by Alcoholics Anonymous; but there were only six steps and a hierarchical system. Children who had been in the program for a few months graduated to higher levels and became "oldcomers." They were then put in charge of new attendees, known as "newcomers." Newcomers weren't allowed to move around the facility unless oldcomers held them by the belt in a technique known as "belt looping."
Privacy was elusive. Newcomers were watched at all times, even in the bathroom. Boys had to keep their hair cropped close to the scalp. Girls were not allowed to shave their legs or armpits. During the day, children attended hours of group therapy. At night, they went to host homes run by parents of other children in the program.
At its height, Straight operated three facilities in Florida and others in California, Georgia, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia,
By: Beau Zimmer