Free Justin!

When the Pembroke Pines school closed in 2005, Justin was transferred to Dozier. That facility — which resembles a maximum-security prison, with electronic doors at every turn and razor wire surrounding the fences — was created in 1900 and today houses about 162 juvenile offenders ranging from 14 to 21 years old. An estimated 200 employees work there.

This past February 2, Justin celebrated his 18th birthday, his fifth behind bars. A few days later, he claims, an unnamed staff member held him by the back of his shirt and pushed him into a metal pole. His head was split open, and doctors at a Jackson County Emergency Room closed the gash by placing metal staples in his forehead. "Staff said he fell," Caldwell barks.

"Since he's been at Dozier, he said he's made at least 25 calls to the complaint line," says Caldwell's attorney, Rick Reno. "Twice they were investigated. One time, he was literally laughed at. The other time, nothing was done."

On February 11, DJJ records show — some 12 hours before Speights allegedly beat Justin unconscious — the teenager was in a crowded dining hall where a staffer named James Wooden was distributing utensils. In a complaint filed a day later, Wooden states Justin elbowed and head-butted him without provocation. Fearing a riot, Wooden alleged that he and two other staffers then restrained the youth until he calmed down.

DJJ investigators concluded that Justin had committed battery on a staff member. Two days after the videotaped incident, Marianna police arrested the teenager and charged him with battery on a detention staff member — a third-degree felony. Police then transported him to Jackson County Correctional Institution. His trial is set for June 19. If he is found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison.

But it doesn't end there. Investigators also spoke with an unnamed juvenile at the facility who said: "[Justin] accidentally bumped into Wooden... then Wooden slapped [Justin] in the head where his staples were Wooden then slammed [him] on the floor... slamming his head into the floor... once Wooden got up, [he] went back to [Justin] and kicked him several times on the ground."

It's unclear whether this incident had any effect on McNeil's decision to fire Dozier's director. In any case, Justin remains in custody. "He's in adult jail on false charges," Mark Caldwell rants. "They did it on purpose to retaliate against my son for speaking out against them and all the stuff that goes on in there. I want him home, now!"