Lawmakers pass bill for Dozier, Okeechobee School survivors: ‘Thank you for never giving up’
Michael Costeines contributed to this story.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Senate passed a bill Monday establishing a victim compensation program to those who were mentally, physically and sexually abused between 1940 and 1975 by school personnel at the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School.
Victims of the Dozier School were present during the final passage on the Senate floor Monday. Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, addressed the victims in his closing speech.
“Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for continuing to fight. Thank you for telling the story and the stories of those who are not here and can’t speak,” Rouson said.
The Senate version of the bill was brought by Rouson. Reps. Michelle Salzman, R-Cantonment, and Kiyan Michael, R-Jacksonville, carried the House version, HB 21.
The bill was passed the House by a vote of 116-0. It received final passage Monday in the Senate by a vote of 36-0 and will now head to the governor.
This bill creates the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee school Victim Compensation Program within the Department of Legal Affairs.
Rouson said $20 million will be appropriated for the fund.
This bill also allows the Department of Education to award a high school diploma “to those who were there and did not receive one.”
A reform school, the Dozier School opened in Marianna, Florida in 1900. The school housed children as young as young as five for crimes ranging from theft and murder to incorrigibility and truancy.
The Okeechobee School, to address overcrowding at Dozier, was founded in 1955.
Allegations of abuse occurred at the Dozier School in 1901 and at the Okeechobee School soon after it opened.
The Dozier School was shut down in 2011 while the Okeechobee School closed in 2020.
An anthropological team from the University of South Florida, surveying the site in 2012, found unmarked graves leading to over 50 bodies being recovered to date.
In 2017, the Florida Legislature anonymously issued a formal apology to the victims of reform school abuse and their families.
Florida’s Voice previously reported horrific testimony from the victims during a previous committee meeting.
At a committee stop, Ralph Freeman, who attended the Dozier School for Boys, described himself as a “hero and survivor” of the abuse instead of a victim.
“God said I had to do something, because I cannot let Dozier win, I refuse to let Dozier win,” Freeman said. “I was tortured, [to] this day, I can’t even have children because of things that happened to me at Dozier.”
Freeman recounted having been beaten by a tractor with straps connected to a wheel.
“I was strapped to a table, and a man driving a tractor into belts continued to turn and hit me and embedded my underwear into my behind,” Freeman said.
During debate, Sen. Lauren Book, D-Davie, thanked Rouson for his work carrying the bill.
Book said the money “will go a long way” in helping the survivors “in their journey to become not just survivors, but thriving survivors and whole individuals.”
“I appreciate you, making sure that these men have something to help them overcome all that they have had to endure,” Book said.
Rouson said for 15 years, the survivors and family members have come to Tallahassee “to tell their stories.”
“This is but a small token for a vast ocean of hurt,” Rouson said in closing.
