JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Victims who suffered at the now-shuttered Dozier School for Boys are now eligible to receive reparations for the abuse they suffered.
Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill HB 21, also known as the “Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program”. The bill was passed by the Florida Senate in March.
It sets aside $20 million for the victims, as well as creates a process for the former students at both the Dozier School for Boys and the Okeechobee School to make claims for the decades of abuse they endured at the school.
At the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna, many of the then-students there were reportedly beaten, raped, and some even killed.
The bill summary reads:
The bill creates the “Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program” to compensate living persons who were confined to those schools. The bill requires the Department of Legal Affairs (DLA) to accept, review, and approve or deny applications for the payment of compensation claims under the bill. An application must be made by a living person who was confined to the Dozier School for Boys or the Okeechobee School. The bill sets forth the requirements for the application. Applications for compensation must be submitted by December 31, 2024. Once a person is compensated under this bill, the person is ineligible for any further compensation related to the person’s confinement to the Dozier School for Boys or the Okeechobee School.
The bill authorizes the Commissioner of Education to award a standard high school diploma to a person compensated under this program if the person has not completed high school graduation requirements.
The bill appropriates $20 million in nonrecurring funds from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of Legal Affairs for the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program.
The bill is set to take effect on July 1, 2024.
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