Representative Miller Statement on Justice Department Announcement on Martin Lee Anderson Case
Representative Miller Statement on Justice Department Announcement on Martin Lee Anderson Case
Thursday, February 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education Committee, issued the following statement today on the U.S. Justice Department's announcement that it will investigate the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson at a Florida boot camp:
"The U.S. Justice Department today agreed to investigate the death of a 14-year-old boy at a boot camp in Florida. I am extremely encouraged by this decision. According to media reports, Martin Lee Anderson was beaten to death by guards at the boot camp, a nightmare that was captured on videotape. There is nothing more horrifying than the death of a child in the hands of the very people who are entrusted to help him.
"Today, hundreds of boot camps - both public and private - operate nationwide. The Bay County, Florida, Sheriff's Department facility where Anderson died was publicly managed and operated, and it was licensed by the state. Hundreds of privately-run boot camps - sometimes called behavior modification facilities' - are not licensed or regulated at all, and a number of allegations of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse have been made against those programs by children and their parents. Deaths have also been reported. It is clear that where no licensing standards exist, they must be instituted; and where they are too weak, they must be strengthened. And no federal dollars should support facilities that fail to meet anything but the highest standards.
"This investigation should be the beginning of a serious, aggressive, and comprehensive effort by federal agencies and the Congress to make sure that children are totally safe when they are sent - either by the state or by their parents - to residential programs. No program should operate in the United States without meeting minimum standards, without regulations, or with poorly trained or abusive staff. Martin Lee Anderson's death was a terrible tragedy. We must not allow his death to be in vain."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ed31_democrats/rel21606b.html