• Dr. Eugene Byrd's testimony (PDF)
  Dr. Eugene Byrd, a Miami psychologist who had worked at the Florida School for Boys, was called on March 4, 1958, to give testimony before the U.S. Senate's committee.

• Local juvenile advises system changes (Evening Independent - Aug. 3, 1932)
• With the Legislators at Tallahassee (Evening Independent - May 27, 1941)
• Paddling approved by governor (St. Petersburg Times - Dec. 10, 1941)
  Governor Holland and other members of the state cabinet, all former school teachers, approved the disciplinary paddling of boys in the State Industrial School at Marianna. It was their answer, supported by the expressions of confidence in Superintendent Mullard Davidson, to the charge by Mrs. C.S. Thompson of Wauchula that her son, James D. Young, was whipped with a three-inch board. Davidson said Mrs. Thompson's claim of brutal treatment of her son and other boys was "utterly false."
• Entire family sent to prison for burglaries (St. Petersburg Times - Oct. 25, 1947)
• Marianna Boys School like a college Superintendent tells Exchange Clubmen (St. Petersburg Times - March 19, 1948)
• Commission praises work of the Legislature (St. Petersburg Times - July 13, 1953)
• Children's commission to discuss corporal punishment at meeting (St. Petersburg Times - March 9, 1958)
• Board is told boys' school charge is untrue (St. Petersburg Times - March 11, 1958)
  "There has been no brutality in this school." Superintendent Arthur G. Dozier
• Collins say foul play didn't cause boy's death (St. Petersburg Times - March 15, 1958)
• Collins would not approve or dissappprove of whipping (St. Petersburg Times - Mar 15, 1958)
  (Gov. Leroy) Collins also said yesterday he is not going to "approve or disapprove" of the practice of whipping boys at the State Industrial School in Marianna.
• Juvenile case ruling likely during July (St. Petersburg Times - June 30, 1967)
• Reform school blasted (St. Petersburg Times - March 20, 1968)
  Roy Manella, an official of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, said at a Tallahassee news conference that the Marianna institution was one of the worst examples in the nation of a boys' reform school.
• Children of neglect (St. Petersburg Times editorial, March 31, 1968)
  Florida must lift its troubled children from an environment as destructive as Marianna's. The poverty of that effort must not be allowed to strip the last illusions from those it serves.
• Judges stunned by conditions in boys' school (St. Petersburg Times - Feb. 24, 1969)
• Grand jury should probe boys school at Marianna (Evening Independent editorial, Feb. 25, 1969)
  It is time that we quit being shocked every time an outsider visits Marianna. It is time we found out why such conditions continue to exist and who is responsible for them.
• There is no excuse (St. Petersburg Times editorial, Nov. 24, 1982)
  The cruel practice cannot be justified. Guards wouldn't be allowed to hogtie inmates in adult prisons. Why should authorities be allowed to do something that barbaric to children? State officials responsible for allowing the practice deserve more than admonishment. They should be fired.

RETURN TO INTRODUCTION