From Detention to Data: Okeechobee’s Planned Digital Campus at Former Boy's School Sparks a High-Tech Head-Scratcher

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OKEECHOBEE, FL- The former Okeechobee School for Boys property has been slated to be transformed into a state-of-the-art data campus by Indian River State College. 

The project, fueled by a $1.5 million grant from Gov. DeSantis’ Rural Infrastructure Fund, promises to launch the region into the 21st century of tech innovation. 

But not everyone is cheering.

For decades, this very property has been synonymous with a troubled past—a place where abuse in the juvenile justice system left scars that the current compensation bill, HB21, conveniently forgot to cover. 

The new digital campus has been named Okee-One and will be located on the 205-acre parcel previously containing the former Okeechobee School for Boys Detention facility.

Okee-One will house multiple data centers, provide employment opportunities for local graduates and residents as well as function as a learning laboratory for IRSC students.

Critics point out that while the state is busy turning a grim, historic detention facility into a digital wonderland, there remains an unresolved backlog of victims from the mid-70s until the late 2000's who never saw a penny for their pain or suffering.

“Florida hasn’t built a new data center in 20-plus years,” said Dr. Timothy E. Moore, President of Indian River State College. “We had an epiphany: why not take this old, troubled site and repurpose it for the new economy of ones and zeros?”

Dr. Michael Hageloh, the college’s Executive VP for Strategic Initiatives, added, “Think of it as an RV park for data—we’re trying to bridge the digital divide.” 

Yet while Moore and Hageloh are busy touting job creation and training programs in fields like Cybersecurity and Electronics Engineering, many community advocates and former victims are left wondering if those funds might have been better spent on compensating those who suffered abuse at the hands of the juvenile justice system from 1976 through the late 2000s.

We’re celebrating the birth of a digital campus on a property proven to be stained with decades of neglect and abuse. 

It’s like putting a Silicon Valley startup in a haunted house and calling it ‘innovation’—when the ghosts of our neglectful past still demand justice!

The controversy deepens when you consider HB21, a bill designed to compensate abuse survivors—had a cutoff date of 1975.

It conveniently leaves out a generation of male victims, including as well, some girls who were also, inexplicably, sent to the all-male detention facility as well and was witnessed by me, back in 1977.

( Dozens of Forgotten Little Girls Held at Male Juvenile Prison for Over a Year! )


It’s a monumental oversight. Why would you ignore the people who were wronged for years after 1975?

While the new data campus is heralded by college administrators as a beacon of progress and economic revitalization, its critics argue that the state’s priorities seem skewed. 

I understand the need for a modern tech hub, but let’s not forget that the funds used here could have helped compensate those who never got justice—and who are still paying for it today. The legal precedent is already there!

As the digital campus project moves forward, it leaves us with a classic conundrum: Can we embrace the future without erasing the painful lessons of our past? 

One thing is clear—while we all love a good tech upgrade, maybe it’s time to also upgrade our commitment to fairness and accountability.

 

 

Please support my writing by donating $1 at https://ko-fi.com/wilchard1102

 

#DataOverDetention
#DigitalCampusDebacle
#TechVsTrauma
#OkeechobeeInnovation
#SiliconRequiem
#PastMeetsFuture
#JusticeInTheDataAge
#DigitalDivideDilemma
#ModernizationWithAMessage
#UpgradeOurPriorities
#LegacyOfInjustice
#CompensationNow
#FairnessFirst
#TechThatCares
#HistoryRemembers

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