The bodies of boys who died at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys may finally find a proper burial ground in Tallahassee.
On Friday, a state-created task force recommended Florida move the bodies from the controversial and now closed Marianna reform school and bring them to their final resting place somewhere in Tallahassee.
For many families, the decision has been a long time coming. Some families waited decades for answers about what happened to their loved ones at the Dozier School, which became the center of controversy and dark mystery after allegations of sexual and physical abuse, leading to some students' deaths.
Former boys at the school told Sunshine State News of children they knew who were flogged mercilessly, or kept in solitary confinement at Pierce Hall for months at a time, even though these practices were supposed to have ceased by the time they arrived on campus.
They told of one cottage father (as dorm supervisors were called) who would enter their cottage at night, set up a small desk at the bathroom entrance, and insist on watching the boys expose their nudity while they used the toilet.
Opened in 1900, the school was the country's largest reform institution. It closed in 2011.
In 2012, a group of anthropologists led by the University of South Florida began an excavation process on the school grounds, uncovering over 50 bodies at the school in unmarked graves. The USF report found a total of 100 deaths from 1900 to 1973. Two staff deaths were included in the total.
This year, the Florida Legislature designated a task force to determine what, exactly, Florida should do with the bodies and what type of memorial should be created to remember the victims.
The issue of figuring out where to put the bodies has been a contentious one. Former attendees of the school disputed assertions the bodies should be buried at Dozier, since some believed it would tarnish their memories.
The White House Boys, a group of men who attended the school, have been heavily involved in the research process and in the state-created task force. Members of the group said some boys were actually trying to escape the school and had died while trying to leave, the Associated Press reported.
“Those boys died because they tried to run away and leave there, why would we want to leave their bodies there?” said White House Boy Charles Fudge.
"To return those bodies there would be like killing them again," said Bob Baxter, who attended the Dozier School in the 1950s.
The task force didn't reach the decision easily, and the vote wasn't unanimous. Officials from Jackson County didn't want the bodies placed in the county partially because of intense scrutiny and negative publicity in the small Northwest Florida county.
Ultimately, the task force decided to recommend to place the bodies in Tallahassee and create two memorials -- one in Tallahassee and one in Jackson County. The task force will send the recommendations to the Florida Legislature and the Cabinet, who will have the final vote on the decision.
The White House Boys are also demanding an official apology from the state for the abuse at the school.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
