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Another Reform School Under Scrutiny

An investigation into claims of severe abuse and possible death at the the Florida School for Boys at Okeechobee has been launched, more than 50 years after it opened to help orphaned and troubled boys, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The school opened in 1959 to help alleviate crowding at the Florida Home for Boys in Marianna, a now-notorious school now under scrutiny for decades of abuse, the Times reports. Former residents at Okeechobee say abuse was perpetrated by staffers of the school, and the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office is looking for prosecutable offenses, such as finding the bodies of former students who may have died while there, the Times reports.

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.