The Florida House on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that would provide $20 million to compensate victims of abuse at the shuttered Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna and another state reform school in Okeechobee County.
Men who were abused as children at the Dozier school watched from the House gallery as lawmakers approved the measure (HB 21), sponsored by Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, and Rep. Kiyan Michael, R-Jacksonville.
James “Harley” DeNyke, 75, who was sent to the Dozier school in 1964, said he wanted “closure.” He and others have been coming to the Capitol for years to seek legislation.
“Sure, we’d like to have a little something for the 60-plus years of misery that we have endured,” DeNyke said. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of it and that doesn’t remind me of the beatings I took. Hey, I hope this is it.”
The bill will go to the Senate, which is expected to pass it in the coming days.
The measure would create “The Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program” to compensate “living persons who were confined” to Dozier or the Okeechobee School between 1940 and 1975 and “who were subjected to mental, physical, or sexual abuse perpetrated by school personnel.” It would set up a process for victims to apply for compensation.
In addition, the bill would allow the state Department of Education to award high-school diplomas to former students of the schools who have not completed graduation requirements.
The Dozier school was shuttered in 2011 after 111 years of operation. Researchers have found remains of dozens of students buried at the site.
