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The Diary of Christopher Sholly
The Diary of Christopher Sholly
Diary compiled by
Dawn
Chase, Christopher's mother. Call 850-983-6777.
03/04/2002
Greenville Hills Academy The lawn mower I was sent there for violating probation, and I violated by trying to commit suicide, I am 13 years old at this time. I regret trying to do this now. When I got to Greenville Hills Academy, I was beat up by the Staff that worked at the cottage, Merit Cottage. I have no idea why the staff beat me up. I was scared and confused. I did the only thing I could think of, I kept my mouth shut and stayed to myself. Well, the next morning I got up and seen some bad things. I seen one boy, by the name of Tylor Clarry, being hit by the staff. I seen other youths being abused also. I went to school and took some tests. When I went back to the cottage, the staff somehow found out that I could not read or write at the time. The Staff's name was Mr. Jones. The staff started calling telling me to read the posters on the wall, and I couldn't do it. I told him "I can't read that." He grabbed a dictionary and told me to look up a word. I forget what the word was, but I think it was "medical". I took the dictionary and began flipping through the pages. I did this for close to ten seconds before Mr. Jones grabbed the dictionary out of my hands and threw the book on the table and called me stupid and retard. He told me to go and stand in the corner until he told me to sit down. I said "NO", and he said if I didn't do as he told me, he would beat me up. I didn't want to get my tail whooped again, so I did it. All throughout the day the staff messed with me, called me a white piece of sh**, and poked names and cussing at me. After about 4 days on, another boy kept trying me, so we fought. After the fight, the staff grabbed me and dragged me into a back room, no camera's there. It must have been a weight room cause there were weights in it. The two staff threw me up against the wall and got in my face and said, "why the f*** did you fight, this is my house and I don't take no sh**!. "They both were yelling at me and spit was flying into my face. I was not worried about the yelling, I was worried about them beating me up. After they were done yelling at me, they threw me on the floor and jumped on my back and held me down. They grabbed my arms, legs, and hands, and restrained me. They bent my legs over my back, all the way until the tips of my feet touched the back of my head. One staff was pulling my legs, the other pulling on my head. The position they put me in was widely called "the lawn mower". It hurt so bad, I thought I was going to pass out. After they were done, the staff punched me and kicked me a few times each. All the while, I was laying on the ground crying and pleading them to stop. But they wouldn't stop. All throughout my days at Greenville Hills Academy, I went through hell. This that I am going to write below are the things that the staff used to do to me and others there; The Staff used to beat us up everyday. They used to only let us have around a minute of two to eat our food. [This is evident as my son had a significant amount of weight loss while there. DC] They used to make us wait a very long time to use the rest room,. If we used the bathroom on ourselves, the staff would make us wash our clothes out in a five gallon bucket and no gloves with cold water. Most of the kids there used the bathroom on themselves, because the staff would make us hold it for so long. I, came close to using a number 2 on myself at school. The staff wouldn't let me go to the bathroom. I begged her for like ten minutes and she finally let me go to the bathroom. The staff used to mentally abuse us as well. They would call us names, and make fun of us. They used to tell us that we youths would never be anything in life. 03/10/2002
Greenville Hills Academy
I am not going to give up This boy Tylor Clarie had to use the bathroom and the staff would not let him! He held it for an hour and then at the end of the hour he used it in his pants and the staff made him sit on the floor for an hour and a half in it, it was number 2! I was sitting at this table and these two boys were doing sign language and I was watching them, and I started to do it to. The staff saw me and started to yell at me, I tried to tell them what I was doing, and then Mr. Jones told me to stand up and I did, then he told me to sit back down, when I did, he yanked me up by my shirt collar and threw me against the wall. Then he was choking me and threw me on the ground and pushed my face onto the tiled floor, and sat on me for twenty minutes. Then he got off me and told me to lay completely flat on the ground. This boy Justin Groover was horsing around and the staff made him stand in the corner for three hours. The kids in the program are only allowed to take take a number 1 (urinate) two times a day, and you are only allowed to take a number 2 one time a day. You are only allowed to get three drinks of water a day. You have 2 hours of physical training, and if you mess up while your doing it, everyone has to start over again. When you go to dinner, lunch, and breakfast, if you talk at all you have to stand in a corner for half the time you have to eat, until everyone is done eating. When you get out of the corner you only have ONE minute to eat and if you don't eat at least half of your meal you get in to BIG trouble. When you get back to the cottage, you have to stand in the corner. You only have three minutes to take a shower and if your not done in the three minutes you have to stand in the corner naked. You have to wear a sweater ALL day no matter how hot it is. When we have bathroom breaks you only have 15 seconds to go to the bathroom, and only two minutes to take a number two. After you get done with 2 hours of PT you only have five seconds to get a drink of water. If you take longer then the five seconds you have to stand in a corner or sit in a chair with your hands on your knees looking straight ahead. If you prop your foot up on a desk in school, you either have to stand in a corner or sit in the chair looking straight ahead with your hands on your knees. If you do something wrong, they will take you back into room and restrain you by making you lay on your stomach with your hands behind your back while they bend your legs toward the back of your head. They will do it for 20 -25 minutes. We also only get 2 minutes to wash and brush our teeth.
09/09/2002 Greenville Hills Academy
I will be home soon I know it 10/06/2002 Greenville Hills Academy
Yes, he has marks on him My son began by telling me a horrific Story of a Guard there, so called "restraining him" and at the same time delivering blows to his back and head with a closed fist, and choking him, leaving marks around his neck and bruises on his arms and various parts of his body. I was able to speak to his counselor, Deniece Graham, and she then confirmed my question of whether or not there were bruises and marks about his neck, and body. Her answer to me was "yes, he has marks on him". I immediately called and reported the abuse to the Abuse Hot line for Florida's Department of Human Services. The Counselor on the other end of the phone, took the report and a investigator was sent out. My Son was told that his story was typical and hard to believe, because so many kids have falsely accused the staff in these facilities, just to get back at them. Yet he had bruises. I later found out that the HRS/DCF investigator was related to the staff member that hurt my son.
10/08/2002 Greenville Hills Academy I'm going to beat you to a pulp I called the Regional offices about this, and by now they were probably sick of hearing about all the abuse I was reporting and nobody believed me. My son was moved to a different cottage to keep him away from this man, Rodney Baynard. I was told that Mr. Tallon would be making a surprise visit to Greenville Hills and he was going to speak to my son. He did in fact do this. My son then told me, that after the visit with Mr. Tallon, he was then taken into a back office of Ms Thompson and told, that "if he didn't straighten up, keep his mouth shut, he would be sent off to another program and have to start all over from day one of his sentencing with no serve time given!" I had begged for months to have my son moved from all of the abuse going on. 11/17/2002 Greenville Hills Academy
Get him the hell out of there The doctors confirmed that much force was used to break the arm in the area that was broke. The x-rays confirmed a break on the upper dorsal section of his left humorous, a Salter 1 fracture, near the growth plate. I called Vicki Burnett and told her what happened, and she acted shocked, and asked me "what can I do?, to make this better" I said GET HIM THE HELL OUT OF THERE, like I've begged you to do now for months. I said he NEEDS to come home now, he has been there way too long! She said I can't do that. He was then transferred out of that program in two days, sent to Okaloosa Youth Development Center OYDC in Crestview FL. NO time served or given, both programs were low risk. It took him getting a broken arm to get transferred out of GHA!!! This is what I mean when I say.. LISTEN TO THE PARENTS!!! THE KIDS TELL US EVERYTHING!!! THEY ARE NOT TELLING FALSE TALES!!! This incident was investigated by the IG's office, and of course the staff say it was all Christopher's fault, and it was an accident. This man was also guilty of breaking two other boys arms and it was just before my son's arm was broke. I believe the assault was on purpose, this man was not even suppose to have contact with my son, as they had moved him to a different cottage, yet why was he able to have access to him? He also threatened to "beat him to a pulp" a month prior. NO ACCIDENT! NO arrest on Rodney Baynard. It was my understanding that Deniece Graham quite working there as well. During the IG's investigation, the investigator had no idea about Rodney Baynard's criminal past record, that was found out by myself, and I then alerted the IG's office in which they did the investigation on him and found all history to be true.
11/18/2002 Okaloosa Youth Development Center
It's a money making business He was made to START THIS PROGRAM ALL OVER! He only had approximately another 47 days left before he was to leave GHA. Faye Finnigan was the Administrator of OYDC and did a fine job while she was there, my son seemed to adjust quite well there with her as Administrator. OYDC is another privately run facility. You know the longer these places hol[d] a child there, the more money they can collect from the state. Its a money making business, and they are ripping us off. They pumped him back up on meds stating he was mentally ill, without MY permission. Christopher had only one month left there when we got word that Faye Finnigan was transferring down to south Florida area, due to a personal move as well. As soon as Faye Finnigan left, my Son over heard Staff talking and he heard Mr. Robinson say " now these kids are really going to have some REAL discipline, no more babying them!" That's when all hell started breaking loose. Mr. Winston would try and provoke my son by making snide sexual comments about me and my daughter, Christopher's sister, stating he was going to F*** us both! My son witnessed another youth by the name of Keith Johnson being picked up over Mr. Robinson's head and literally slammed to the floor, twice. My son was then instructed to clean up Keith's Johnson's blood off the floor without the use of any gloves. This "DRAMA" all started after Faye Finnigan left, and Marvin Bliss took over the position. My Son stated that the staff didn't act this way with Ms Faye Finnigan there as Superintendent. On April 24, 2003 my son and another client were kidding around while putting up their belongings in the closet. Mr. Winston saw them playing, and went over and yanked my son by the arm with such force, that my son bounced off of him. Mr. Winston then proceeded to try and slam my son face first into the concrete floor, and my son grabbed his shirt to stop from getting injured. Mind you he had a broken arm already! Law Enforcement was called in and now Christopher has another battery charge on him, even after the staff stated Christopher did not intentionally try to strike him, but was only trying to keep from falling. Notice now, all of this and another charge AFTER I REPORTED ABUSE GOING ON. On May 04, 2003 I visited OYDC and confronted the supervisors on duty for the evening shift, and I now know what is happening in OYDC, and if any of them lay another hand on my Son, I will call the police myself and press charges for assault. Of course the Staff there denied any of the accusations. I've talked with other parents and boys that have since been released from this program, and they ALL tell me basically the same stories. Not everyone is lying. Now that the so called "CAT" has been left out of the bag, and people are becoming aware of what actually is happening under Marvin Bliss, MY SON IS NOW BEING RECOMMENDED FOR TRANSFER to another program and START ALL OVER AGAIN!!!!!!! Marvin Bliss did not want to hear of the things happening in his new kingdom, and was hateful about hearing the accusations, and denied them happening. He wanted Christopher out of there. MY son has had to be transferred and each time, very close to getting out of these hell holes. Mind you as long as Faye Finnigan was in charge of OYDC, there was no problems. Next stop... Jackson Juvenile Offenders Program. Marianna, Florida, two hours away from home.
02/08/2005 Aurther G Dozier
School for Boys Another attempt to mess with my time Today, Ms. Harvy tried to set me up. She tried to get tobacco dip planted on me. She sent a group of offenders over to me on the rec field. I and Anthony Johnson were sitting under a tree talking. The offenders she sent over to us to post up around us, were: Williams, Brown, McClain, Hammonds, and Nolen. They came around us, and surrounded us. Williams and McClain went behind us poking around on the ground. They dropped something on the ground, then picked it back up and said, "YEAHHHHHH we got you... what this??? I said, "I don't know, what is it?" They all went running over to Ms. Harvy and told her they got it, that we, Anthony and I had it (the dip). This happened around 5:00 pm. Ms. Harvy said, "SHOLLY, YOU HAD THIS???" I told her "NO, I didn't", what is it???" For one, I don't use tobacco in any form, and two, this is just another attempt to mess with my time in a program, and get back at me for telling my Mom about all the abuse they were doing.
06/2003-07/2005
Jackson Juvenile Offenders Center gDozier
gADULT JAIL
Please someone HELP ME I start feeling better physically, and able to think more clearly. The staff there were kind and helpful. This was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT setting here. I felt safe for once. Mr. Odom was a really great staff member and senior supervisor there, Mr. Singletary, and Warren Reeves both Administrators, were kind and helpful to me. Mr. Odom did Navy duty with my father, and knew our family. Small world. I did very well there. This is a State owned facility, not privately run. In Oct-Nov of 2004 I was transferred to Aurthur G Dozier because there was two or three boys over at Dozier that were flight risks, and they needed to be put in a more secure facility, so I was transferred with ALL MY CREDITS EARNED THIS TIME, and only had till January of 2005 till I was to come home!!! Of course now you all know that NEVER happened. I started seeing abuse and called my Mother to let her know what this place was doing, and she called in all the abuse [hot line]. Pretty soon I had staff on my back and constantly harassing and provoking me. I was falsely accused of hitting Mr. Wilson, and sent to Adult courts. I ASK YOU NOW, WHY WOULD I HIT ANYONE WITH ONLY 20-30 DAYS LEFT BEFORE GOING HOME? I want to get on with MY life, I want to finish High School, and I want to go to college to be a LAWYER!!! WHY?????????? WHY??????? Can't they let me just go home????? I was told by my public defender that there was nothing he could do to defend me!!! My mother had more then enough evidence proving that all this is in retaliation for reporting abuse. I just turned 17 on April 23, I've never been able to play sports in high school, never been to a dance, have not seen my home in almost 4 years, and now I am sitting in Jackson County Correctional Center Adult Jail for something I did not do!!! I've been beaten physically so much in my time in custody by total strangers, and very big men, then I have ever endured. I can't take anymore of this, and sometimes feel like I just want to do my self in!! This is NO way for anyone to live. I got into an argument with some adult and got in a fight with him in the same cell block, crazy man. Now I'm sitting in Confinement till Aug 2!!! Please someone HELP ME!! MY mom now can't even help me cause they sentenced me as an Adult. I'm not an adult, I'm just a kid, I want to be home with my family. I'M SO SICK OF ALL OF THIS!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! PLEASE GOD HELP ME!!!!!!! 07/19/05 DOC Lake Butler
I have not lost hope 07/22/05 DOC Lake Butler
Thinking of you always 07/30/05 Postscript Parents, please, please, make yourselves very aware of what is exactly going on with your children!! Encourage them to tell you everything, and please make your voices heard. My voice has not been heard by DJJ. Mr. Schembri did not exercise his full power on saving my son from an adult system. I was told it is VERY rare that kids above age 16 ever get transferred to a DJJ facility after they have been placed in DOC custody. WHY THEN, even have this Florida Statute? Makes no sense. I was told that Christopher will be sent to a facility for youthful offenders. This state has failed my son, and many other children, and something needs to be done about it. Thank you again for so much
of your support, and those JDO's that are truly caring of our kids, more power
to you all to stand for what is right, please help with making a difference. I
will continue to keep everyone up to date on Chris, and please continue your
prayers for him and all the other children that feel so hopeless. :( _________________________ Hi Cathy, here is the link to my boy. He looks so scared and confused in this picture. He is breaking out all over!! [ Here is his address
I'm in tears right now, as I found his information. I just am so lost and feel so betrayed by my own State and this department. I'm going to try and get him some money to him there as soon as I get my check this month. Thank you, Dawn 01/29/06 Message to DJJ employees Yes, my son, Christopher Sholly, is now home but bears many scars physically and emotionally. These Scars are from Acne on his face that was never treated while in custody, he has teeth that need fillings because they neglected to give proper dental care, he is emotionally hurt, and an angry person right now. He was attacked on a daily basis while he served at Indian River Correctional for something he never did. You see, he was accused of hitting a staff member, yet the tape came up missing! At the time he only had approx 20 days left at Arthur G Dozier but since Ed Leeks was close to retirement, he didn't want anything to blacken his record. Christopher would call me from Dozier weekly and report the abuse that he had witnessed by staff members there. I then alerted DCF, and of course, they made sure Chris was out of Dozier by having him charged as an adult, so he couldn't report to me what was actually going on there. He received 1 year for it, in an adult facility for young men. He was hit in the back of the head by another inmate there with a combination lock, and they neglected to put stitches in it, and he needed them at that time. This nightmare in 2002 for our family, and its still a nightmare for Christopher. He has been denied any rights. Rights of obtaining an education, the right to go back to school. He has nightmares every night when he is sleeping. I have one warning to you staff members that see fit to mistreat and hurt our Children in your care: I will find you and see justice brought to you. I am one angry Mother, human being, and am appalled at this State. You Staff, all of you, make me sick coming on here and airing out work-time dirty laundry. Who cares who is sleeping with who??? Who cares if you have to deal with an ass of a boss. Your job is to supervise the kids in custody, and not beat up on them or mistreat them and play head games. How would you like it if someone treated your own children that way?? What would you do if someone broke your child's arm??? Get over yourselves already. Racism is horrible in these places. My son said that when he was in one of the facilities in route to come home, the staff were walking around with little red balls in their pockets, symbolizing racism KKK. They were beating up the black inmates for no good reason. Then in other places, he said that the Black Staff members would beat up the white inmates for no reason. What the hell is this madness, and who do these people think they are???????? There will one day be a complete judgment on all of you that hurt and abuse your fellow man and children, and I hope it is very soon! Another boy died... well, this seems like the norm now a days in these places. I hope to God that the parents of that child sue this state for everything that its worth, and imprison those responsible for it. Please Parents, if your child has been a victim.. PLEASE call. ~Dawn Chase DawnChs@aol.com 850-983-6777 01/29/06 YAHOO discussion group 02/05/06 Hello..Im
christopher sholly Hello, I'm Christopher Sholly. Yes, I am home now and well. I want to tell a little about what I have been through in life..so people can know of the dangers out in the world. I have been through many DJJ places and have been to prison..i have been beaten and beaten, locked away in cells that were cold enough to make my feet, hands and face blue. I have been there where many kids are at today. The things that I had to go through were not right, I did not, not ask to be treated the way that I was.It was not right for them staff members and C/Os to treat me the way they did. It was wrong. No person deserves to be treated like that..i have seen many things as well. I have seen many things in DJJ and in DOC. The way the staff erase or turn off the cameras. the way they beat up the kids, the way they take the kids mail and throw it away , the way the staff would take pictures of kids mother and rip it up and throw it away. Yes, it's true that they do this. I have seen it with my own eyes and I have had it done to myself. I remember one time when I had my release papers ripped up right in front of me. It tore my heart apart to see that. I have also been charged with false charges. I remember when a staff restrained me and beat me up, and then went and said that I had hit him. That's what they do, they go and beat up the kids and then they say that the kid hit them by swinging back or something just to get the boy in deep trouble. When a staff member finds out that you are about to go home, they will pester you and mess with you and beat you up to make you so angry and lose your chances of going home. They get a thrill out of seeing you not be able to go home and be with your family. The staff abused me physically, emotionally and mentally. They will do anything just to make your life horrible. The staff don't care if you go home or stay there. They want you to not go home. I have been jumped by staff, and by the other inmates. You know why the inmates jumped on me? it was because the staff made them do it. They didn't want it to happen but they knew that if they didn't do it, that they would get beat by the staff. I have seen and experienced so much. I have had nightmares of past moments of staff hitting me over the back with a metal chair. A staff hit me over the back with a metal chair when I was on my hands and knees on the floor. It hurt so bad. Then he kicked me in the head. It hurt and it felt like my life had ended when I was in those places. The way I was treated made me feel unalive. It made me feel like I was trapped in a spiders web. I was the victim in the web, trapped by the sticky web. The web was the place I was at and the spider was the staff. That's the way I felt. I could feel the hate and the danger around me. I knew that at anytime a staff could walk up behind me and just kick me in the back or punch me while I was walking in line and that did happen to me and to others. I understand and know what it feels like to be treated like a slave, to be tortured and feel like you are in hell. I have been through the hell on earth. I will have more to type but that is all for now. If you have any [questions] or comments you may email me at cantbetouched319@yahoo.com . Thank you... ~christopher sholly
02/05/06 RE: "DJJ's policy and procedures are catered to baby the criminals we
call kids..." Obviously you live in a fantasy world, and know NOTHING about what goes on behind the closed doors of these facilities. Read the facts and the stories of the parents and the children that have had to deal with DJJ before you open up your mouth. For all I know by your statement, you could have been one of the staff that hurt my boy! My son was treated far worse then any murderer or rapist, or robber... he was 13 years old when this nightmare began, and he was sent to DJJ for fighting in school!! NORMAL KIDS STUFF!!! It was a bad behavior that should have been given to the parents to deal with, not taken and thrown in DJJ for it!!! He is now 17 years old and just came home for good on Dec 23rd. My son's release papers were ripped up in front of him while he was at that first program Greenville Hills Academy by Mr. Damian Choice. Then when Rodney Baynard broke my sons arm, there at Greenville Hills, DCF WAS called in... guess who the investigator was? Sheila Choice... Damian Choice's sister or reletive!!!!!!!!! There were other relatives working there as well that knew workers at DCF. No wonder the State Attorney never got the report on Rodney Baynard, and the incident was blamed on Chris, a little guy at the time of only about 113 pounds, against a man that was over 200 pounds. Since my son has been home, things are starting to come out now, names are being named. ~Dawn Chase DawnChs@aol.com 850-983-6777 [Re: 02/04/06 DJJ's policy and procedures are catered to baby the criminals we call kids...]
02/05/06 "...you can just feel that something bad is about to happen" You know how when you are in a place and you can just feel that something bad is about to happen? Well, could you imagine having that feeling for 4 years ? I did have that feeling for 4 years and it didn't feel good to have that feeling because most of the time the bad thing was going to happen to you. I remember names of staff at GHA and at OYDC and at Arthur G. Dozier School, and in DOC. First of all, the prison facilities that I was at are: Indian River CI; Lancaster CI; Lake Butler; and CFRC. Those are all the prisons that I was at and boy, did I see something in those places. The names that I can remember of Staff at GHA that abused me and other youths there are as follows: Mr. Jones, Mr. Choice, Mr. Williams, Mr. Mactear, Mr. Baynard, Ms. Dickie, Ms. Hopkins, Mr. Blue, Mr. Joseph, Ms. Thompson, and many more that I cannot remember at this moment. There was so many that would beat us and make us do PTs for hours and hours, while wearing sweat pants and sweat shirts, in 90-100 degree heat, when we did PTs (physical training). We would have to do it for hours, like 3 to 5 hours, if we messed up, we were taken to a back room and then beat up...and restrained, then we were thrown back outside and made to PT again over and over again. I remember that one time I was throwing up from doing so much PTs, and when I stopped to bend over and throw up, I was kicked in the butt by a staff known as Mr. Choice. I fell over and rolled on the ground, still throwing up, and then he came over and yanked me up by my shirt and tossed me on the ground. I was small at the time, and this man was huge. He was yelling at me and telling me to keep on Running around the field. I was having trouble doing this, so he got even madder and started to kick me in the side. He then called another staff over and they took me into the back room with weights in it, and they threw me around and punched me and threw me up against the wall and then they put me into the LAWN MOWER. It hurt so bad. I passed out and they woke me up and told me to get outside and start running again. They told me that if I told anyone or called abuse that they would beat my ass and hurt me. The other staff's name was Mr. Jones. When we did PTs, there was no breaks, or getting any water, or using the rest room they even made boys with Asthma do the PTs. We were running up and down a big steep hill one night and I seen a boy named Tyler Clarry stop at the top of the hill and start to throw up and try to get his breath, and then I seen Mr. Williams kick him in the butt and made Tyler fall over and roll all the way down the hill, getting skinned up. Then Mr. Williams beat him up right outside. We were the only cottage outside at this time of night, so he wasn't worried about being seen. So he just beat Tyler up and then made him run again. There was a lot of kids being beat up that night, including me. They made me stand up in the corner all night until the next morning. I fell over while standing in the corner, because I was so tired, and you know what happened to me, I was yanked up, and thrown up against the wall and beaten. After that, the staff choked me. His name was Mr. Joseph. Then he made me go into the bathroom, and he got a small bucket and filled it up with cold water and threw it all over me, in my face and all over my body. He did this like maybe 5 times, 5 buckets full of water, freezing water, thrown all over me. He then made me clean up the water on the floor and then he made me stand in the corner again, still all wet and cold, and very tired. I had to go through so much, so much pain. I wanted to just die sometimes when I was in there. I felt that if I died, I would escape HELL and go to heaven, and all the pain would go away. The pain that they gave me lasted for a long time, and it is still with me, in my memories and in my dreams, and physically. This is all that I will write for now. But I will be back and I will tell more. Thank you. If you would like to contact me, you may at cantbetouched319@yahoo.com thank you very much. Please, if there is an Attorney here on this board, please contact us at 850-983-6777. I want to stop other kids from this abuse and horror. ~Christopher Sholly cantbetouched319@yahoo.com 850-983-6777 05/23/06
Greenville Hills Academy - Post script I was in class, in English class, and before we had went to school, the staff did not allow us to go to the bathroom at all. So, when I got into class, about 20 minutes after, I had to use the restroom. I had to take a number 2 very badly. My stomach was feeling like it was gonna blow up. So I raised my hand and asked the teacher if I could use the bathroom. Then here comes Ms. Hopkins, a big mean staff member that liked to slap me all the time for no apparent reason that I could recall. She said, "What do you think you are doing Sholly?" I said to her the teacher said I could go to the bathroom. Ms. Hopkins looked at me and asked me what number. I told her a number 2. She said then to me, "No! You go sit down, and hold it." I told her I couldn't hold it much longer and she made me sit in a desk facing a corner. I was sitting in that desk, my stomach about to burst open, and I could feel it, almost coming, so I started begging her to let me go, but she wouldn't ease up. She wouldn't stop yelling at me. She wouldn't even be nice enough to let me go to the bathroom. I started to cry, in hope she would get sympathy for me, but it looked like she just got off on seeing me cry and beg; squirming in my chair. After about another ten minutes, Ms. Hopkins finally got a call on her radio, the front office told her she had a urgent family phone call. So, when she left, I looked at the teacher with tears in my eyes, and then the other students in the class started telling her, "Hey, why don't you let him run to the bathroom?" So the students also felt bad for me. The teacher looked at me and said, "Hurry up and go, and come right back." I got out of my seat and hurried off to the bathroom, and did my business. When I got back to the classroom, to my dismay, Ms. Hopkins was sitting in her chair. She looked at me and said, "You sneaky lil Cracker, wait till you get back to the cottage." After school, we went back to the cottage and Ms. Hopkins took me into the back room, with no windows, and no cameras, and told me to face her, and put my hands behind my back. And then, all I felt was a big fist slam into my jaw. I couldn't fight back, because I would have gotten a charge. So I took it. She then started to slap me with the back of her hand and then pushed me on the carpet and kicked me a few times. Then, her big over weight self lost her breath and told me to "get the fuck" out of the room, while she got some water. She finally left me alone. Why did this happen to me? because I had to use the bathroom very badly. It's not my fault that I had to use the bathroom. It is normal but she just loved watching me beg and cry. That is just wrong and I have seen this same exact thing happen to many other kids and it has happened to me more then twice while at GHA. ~Christopher Sholly 12/18/08 Florida Department of Law Enforcement Office of Executive Investigations From: willowdawn1962@aol.com I received this from Tom Berlinger. -------Original Message------- From: Berlinger, Tom Dear Ms. Chase: Thank you for your e-mail of 12/14/08 regarding the school for boys in Marianna. If your son, Chris, would like to relay his experiences to one of our investigators, please either have him call (850) 410-8240 during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, and leave his telephone contact information, or e-mail us with the same contact information. An investigator will return his call thereafter. As you can imagine, we are returning a large number of calls to former residents, so we may not be returning the call that same day he provides the information. Many thanks. Inspector Tom Berlinger |
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