In the coming days, more than 900 senior men should be getting a check from the state of Florida—it’s compensation for the abuse they suffered as children, at the hands of state employees inside a pair of reform schools.
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Men who were sent to the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee and the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna between 1940 and 1975 are waiting to receive their cut of a $20 million victim compensation fund, established unanimously by lawmakers last year.
The fund was established after a group of survivors, who endured brutal beatings and other forms of abuse, spent years fighting for an apology and justice from the state that harmed them.
According to the survivors who spoke with WPTV and have direct knowledge of the compensation program, 928 checks worth roughly $21,200 apiece should be issued within the next two weeks. The survivors said they were unable to obtain an exact date from the Attorney General’s Office, which administers state victim compensation programs.
WPTV has made multiple attempts to obtain details directly from the AG’s office.
“Don’t break, be patient,” is what Willie Potts said he learned to tell himself during his stint at the Okeechobee School in the mid-70s.
At 66, Potts is one of the youngest men deemed eligible for compensation. He said he was 15 years old when he was sent to Okeechobee in 1974 for breaking and entering.
Unlike men who were at the reform schools in earlier decades, Potts said he was not bludgeoned with a modified paddle as part of a disciplinary ritual. However, he still suffered.
“One of my first two weeks there, they had a surprise for me,” he said. “They hold me down, and they blow black pepper in my eyes.”
Potts said he couldn’t remember whether adult employees or fellow kids were responsible for the pepper incident.
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“It was so much pain. But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was the darkness,” he said. “That taught me right off the start. Be violent, be violent, be violent, because if you don't be violent, you're gonna have the same thing happen to you again. So, I had to be violent.”
As an adult, Potts spent time in prison. He said he was in and out for more than 20 years.
“It took a while to break that cycle, because once you get that cycle in you. It's hard to break it,” he said. “Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not gonna blame all this on Okeechobee, because after that, I had a choice, and I chose the wrong path."
"I like what Bill Clinton said (at) Muhammad Ali’s funeral: ‘It's not how you start life. It's how you end it,’” Potts added.
It’s why Potts is eager to take that compensation check and put it toward his longtime dream: launching an evening youth basketball program.
Potts registered what he calls the Florida Heat Youth Foundation as a 501(c)3 organization. He just needs the funding to get it started.
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“You can come there. You can be safe,” he said. "When I was a kid, one thing I didn't have was a safe place to go.”
Potts believes he’d be a different person if he’d had a safe after-school program to attend during his childhood.
“One or two kids-- I don't care if I just save one— not gonna go through what I went through,” he said. “That's justice to me.”
According to other eligible survivors who spoke with WPTV, they were told by the AG’s office that 13 men have appealed their denials of eligibility. The outcome of those appeals will determine how their portion of the compensation will be divided evenly among the eligible survivors, which they’d receive in a second payment.
