These Boys Went Through Hell: The Dozier School of Horrors

The fact that it lasted until 2011 is just sickening

I don,t care what era it was, these boys deserve compensation.

My dad spent 6 yrs here. His stories, as little as he would detail, were horrendous. My uncle, his twin, was there the last yr of my dad's stay. He said my dad was sexually and physically abused and he believes even raped. They both told stories of beatings, slave labor, starvations and unbelievable punishments. Until my dad passed, 4 yrs ago, every single night as long as I can remember he cried out in his sleep several times per hour "momma" "mom" "momma". I wish he was here to see that the things he experienced are coming to light and he wasn't alone. Maybe could've got some help for his demons and wouldn't have drank himself to death.

I think the worst part of this entire story is how the place was reportedly shut down, not for its mountains of accusations of severe physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, but because of budgetary issues. It wasn’t shut down out of any empathy for the children enduring the hell. It was shut down for money. That’s beyond heartbreaking.

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." - William Shakespeare

So basically this was a place where a bunch of demonic thugs could freely prey on little kids without consequences.

During the depression this was common. My father and uncle were orphaned when they were 12 and 13 years old. They were put in a " boys farm " in SE Wisconsin. They would never talk about their experiences there. There were documented lawsuits brought about by the beatings and mistreatment of young boys there. For me I found it strange my father spoke about this. My father was a kind man, he passed in 1996. He died of a heart attack and my mother found him on the bedroom floor. She called me and I immediately went there. When the county coroner arrived hours later I saw something I will never forget and wish I hadn't seen. While he was examining my father's body he asked me if I knew how my father got all the scars on his back. I realized that in my whole life I had never seen him with his shirt off. He even wore a shirt while swimming, saying he didn't want to get sunburned. At that moment I put 2 and 2 together. I never asked my mother or uncle what they knew. I don't want to remember my dad this way.

There was a place like this called the Bethyl School for Girls. My first cousin thought the sun rose and sat in that place and one day the guy that ran the place came to our church with about 20 girls. I watched him and listened to him speaking and I looked at the expressions on the girls faces and it took me every bit of 3 minutes to see that something wasn't right. I told my cousin that the guy running the place just doesn't seem right. He had the facial expressions, mannerisms and eyes of a violent man. My cousin vehemently defended him and I told her "Just wait and see what happens. I guarantee you there is severe abuse going on there." Of course she still denied it. Then a few months later the state removed all the girls to an "undisclosed" location for their safety and shut the place down because of---abuse. The next time I saw my cousin I told her "What did I tell you about that place?" She said "I never would have thought it was happening." I asked her "Have you ever REALLY looked at that guy? Have you seen his facial expressions and then looked at the teen girls blank, emotionless faces? It was so obvious that It took me all of a few minutes to see it." Chances are that most places like this are the exact same way. They use violence to try to "break" the students. And, if it looks like abuse is happening it probably is.

The fact that Charlie (the victim) remember the boys he was with full name- you could tell the trauma he had

BE AWARE THAT BEFORE SHUTTING DOWN THEY SENT BOYS TO A SEPARATE FACILITY THEY OWNED BY THE NAME OF OKEECHOBEE SCHOOL FOR BOYS, THIS PLACE HAS BEEN UNDER SCRUTINY DUE TO CLAIMS FROM THE BOYS KEPT THERE, TO THIS DAY THAT PLACE STILL OPERATES EVEN WITH CLAIMS OF BODIES BEING BURIED SOMEWHERE ON THE CAMPUS AND EVEN HAD A PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION DONE. DONT LET THIS GO UNNOTICED

This is very similar to Lyman Ward Military Academy. I went there when I was 12. It was extremely traumatic. There were a few deaths while I was there, a planned shooting that was prevented before it happened (he brought a gun on campus). Due to legal issues after a slew of sexual assaults, tortures, and beatings they rebranded as the southern preparatory academy for boys. It was a living hell and I remember when a student committed suicide, a riot was caused when ghost peppers were lit on fire and kids were using fire extinguishers as smoke screens. I was taken out after my parents found brands on my arms when I was held down and branded by other students. It was a living experience of lord of the flies. My roomate was sexually assaulted multiple times by an older cadet and when it was reported they ignored it. It was a nightmare where we’d have to figure out ways to lock our doors so we wouldn’t get beaten at night by other students.

A school shouldn't need a cemetery. Wtf

"Don't feel sorry for us - feel proud that we brought it out into the open" Strong words to end on.

Those of us abused as a child usually become an abuser, commit suicide, or find help.i almost drank myself to death.thanks to AA 7 years sober and ready to forgive and help others.

In 1984, at the age of 15, I was sent to the Anchor Home for Boys in Corpus Christi, Texas. This was another similar place where we would get beaten, paddled (I say paddled to bring up the fact that they knew how to use a paddle to the extreme; more than one lick to the rear would cause blood blisters.) There was a solitaire confinement that was barely a closet. When I returned home, I had lost 1/3 of my body weight, and not even my parents recognized me when I came into the airport. Others that I knew could not recognize me. I asked my parents if they knew what happened in that place, and they had no idea.

I'm from Bradenton as well and know of Marianna. I graduated from high school in 1995. This 'school' operated until 2011. I have never even heard of this 'school'. How shocking that an institution of this size with such a tragic history should not even be known to me. My family has been in Manatee County for over 125 years, during the entire operations of this place, yet I've never heard of it. How do such atrocities stay under the radar of the general public being funded by our tax dollars? Thank you for bringing awareness of this black stain on our Florida history to my attention. I will certainly be researching this further.

The sickest part of this is that these ‘men’ probably went home to wives and children, knowing what they’d been doing to helpless little children all day, makes my blood boil 😤

The amount of details Charlie remembers alone should be a proof of how much of a trauma this was, he's old and yet that haunt him

There are so many stories like this all over the world for centuries. Millions and millions of un named graves adjacent to orphanages and reformatories. It’s true when the narrator says “their voices cry out from the graves”. They still seek justice.

I knew people who worked there. After reading the Nickel Boys which is a novel based on Dozier, when I asked a friend who had retired by then about the stories I read in the novel she immediately told me: I have to go now. I still have bills to pay. I'll talk to you later. She never did. In fact by the time I got to see her again she had had a stroke and was in no condition to speak about anything.