Marianna, Florida – A group of workers preparing for pollution cleanup close to the shuttered Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys (a Florida reform school) have discovered up to 27 gravesites which may belong to some of the 100 schoolboys who died there.
The subcontractor hired for the evaluation of underground storage tanks near the shuttered reform school thoroughly evaluated a parcel near the school and discovered unusual evidence which indicated consistent human burials in the area.
Jack Levine, a Florida Children’s advocate believes unmarked graves are designed as hiding places and thus, shouldn’t be discovered.
In 2009, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement declared 31 burials in the reform school’s Boot Hill cemetery after which researchers from the University of South Florida studied the campus and were able to discover 24 other graves. They also unearthed 51 human remains. Most of these belonged to boys who died in state custody and have either been returned to the family or reburied.
The shuttered reform school was opened in 1900 as an alternative to abusive confinement for delinquent youths. In 2008, grown up lodgers of The White House, while in the reform school, made their brutal experiences in the hands of guards, public knowledge and also recalled seeing lots of graveyards in there. This led to the school being shuttered down and finally closing up in 2011 due to mounting public pressure.
The pollution cleanup contractor, Geosyntec reported the discovered gravesite to have no distinct pattern to them like cemeteries. His report read: “This randomness might be expected in a clandestine or informal cemetery, where graves were excavated haphazardly and left unmarked.”
Former students of the reform school were not in any way surprised new graves were found.
