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State Transfers Dozier Property

December 4th, 2018 by Mike Vasilinda

The state has transferred more than 1200 acres including the main campuses at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to Jackson County, where the school was founded in 1901.

County officials say it is one more step to closure in the brutality that took place there.

Hundreds were beaten, some died in the so called White House, all at the hands of state officials during the Dozier Schools 100 years of operation.

In 2017, state ordered the sprawling campus turned over to local officials.

Jackson County Commission Chair Clint Pate acknowledged the schools dark history as he made his pitch for the property.

“We’d like to take the challenge of turning this into a positive impact to Jackson County instead of some of the negative stuff we’ve had with there,” said Pate.

With little debate, the Governor Rick Scott and the Cabinet agreed to turn over the schools 360 acres.

“This is long overdue,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

They also transferred another 919 acres for economic Development.

The legislation calls for a monument and the preservation of the White House and the Boot Hill cemetery.

The barbed wire that kept inmates from escaping is now gone.

Several buildings on the property are still usable.

“I’m really excited about urning it into a positive and we’re gonna be good caretakers of the property,” said Jackson County Sheriff, Lou Roberts.

A plan to reinter more than four dozen bodies taken from the campus has been delayed until sometime next year.

While the state has apologized, the question of reparations for dozens of men who survived the abuse remains open.

Seven bodies from children who died in a fire will go back to Boot Hill on the property.

More than 40 others will be reinterred in a Tallahassee Cemetery.

County officials could not put a timetable on how long it will take to turn the property into something positive.

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