Martin Lee Anderson dies
The death of Martin Lee Anderson changed the penal system in the United States. The black American Martin Lee Anderson (1991-2006) died in 2006 in a boot camp in Panama City (Florida) after seven of his tutors had harassed him.
Sequence of events
The then 14-year-old African American Martin Lee Anderson was housed in a youth education camp , a so-called boot camp , in Panama City . On January 5, 2006, it should run under the program. Anderson asked for a breather because he was breathless and dizzy. The seven guards started kicking and punching him. Anderson was forced to ingest ammonia in capsule form. The abuse took place in the presence of a nurse, who initially did not intervene, and in front of a surveillance camera. After a while the nurse examined the boy. He was taken by ambulance to Bay Medical Center in Panama City. Martin Lee Anderson died there on the morning of January 6, 2006.
Investigations
After an initial autopsy in Bay County , it was claimed that Anderson died of a rare form of sickle cell anemia . State Attorney Mark Ober has been appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to investigate the Martin Lee Anderson case. He ordered another autopsy. At Hillsborough County, medical examiner Vernard I. Adams made this second examination and found that Anderson had suffocated after the overseer's ordeal.
process
The Panama City court acquitted the seven guards and the nurse on manslaughter charges in 2007. The jury consisted only of whites. Gina Jones, the mother of Lee Anderson, left the courtroom indignant after the jury's verdict and shouted, “I can never see my son again. The verdict is wrong! ”Her lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said after the verdict,“ If you kill a dog, you will go to jail. If you kill a little black boy, nothing will happen. ”If convicted of manslaughter, the eight defendants would face up to 30 years in prison.
The involved instructor Helms told ABC that Anderson refused to run and was uncooperative. He said that he and his people would have standard methods of direct force (English: standard law enforcement techniques ) applied. According to Helm's testimony, the instructors wanted to find out if Anderson was simulating, which is very common in the programs.
At the same time as the trial, an investigation into the boot camps was carried out by Congress. The investigation concluded that there were more than 1,600 documented cases of child abuse in the camps in 2005 alone and that ten children had died there since 1990.
Changes in the juvenile prison system
The death of Martin Anderson sparked a discussion in Florida about state youth education. At the time of the death, around 130 young people were housed in state-run boot camps. 180 complaints regarding the Panama City Boot Camp had been received by the time Anderson died.
In April 2006, Florida decided to close the five state youth bootcamps. They have been replaced by the less militaristic STAR program . Legal guidelines have been passed regulating educational measures in such programs. The use of chemicals such as ammonia was expressly restricted to cases in which they are medically necessary. Adolescents with sickle cell anemia are expressly excluded from such programs.
The law that made these changes was named after the dead Martin Lee Anderson Act .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c US Education Camp: Death in Boot Camp - acquittals for overseers , Spiegel Online from October 12, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/06/us/06bootcamp.html?_r=0
- ↑ http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2751785&page=1
- ↑ Mike Vasilinda, "Enhanced Boot Camp Beating Tape Released" ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lanetra Bennett, 5 Year Anniversary of Martin Lee Anderson's Death , WCTV, January 6, 2011. (English)
- ↑ Larry Gaines & Roger Miller, Criminal Justice in Action: The Core, p. 366, ISBN 978-0-495-09475-3 [1]
- ↑ Bush Signs Martin Lee Anderson Act WCTV of May 31, 2006 (English)
