Southern Poverty Law Center

David Horowitz Has Made Taunting College Students a Spectator Sport

New Details on Alleged Sexual Harassment by Craig Ferguson, Former Thompson Academy Director

The former director of boys' lockup Thompson Academy, Renza "Craig" Ferguson, resigned under a cloud of suspicion in March. Staff members had made allegations that he was transporting young male inmates off campus and bringing them home to shower. See also: - Our cover story on abuse at Thompson A ... More >>

Should Jews Vote for Romney? Race Card Trumps Israel Card at Boynton Jewish Center Debate

Intratribal conflicts are the worst. A debate on the U.S. presidential election at the Ross Jewish Community Center in West Boynton Beach on August 21 should have been an occasion for reasoned discourse and public enlightenment. Instead, it was a hysterical (in both senses) screamfest, peppered with ... More >>

Bordering on Revolution: America's War on Mexicans Has Gone Too Far

Minnesota Counties Stop Sending Kids to Youth Services International Juvie Lockup

For more than a year, New Times has been investigating Thompson Academy, a publicly funded, privately run juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines where teens have alleged they faced physical and sexual abuse. Most recently, the lockup's top administrator, Craig Ferguson, left his post while unde ... More >>

Broward Public Defender Alleges Abuse at Juvie Lockup in West Palm Beach

The complaints echo similar allegations at Thompson Academy.​News at Florida's juvenile detention centers has not been good lately. At some state-run facilities, teenagers are allegedly being doped up on anti-psychotic drugs to control their behavior. At Thompson Academy, a privately run lockup in ... More >>

Juveniles Alleging Sexual Assault and Abuse at Thompson Academy Agree to Settle Lawsuit

​Ending a seven-month legal battle that raised questions about living conditions at private juvenile prisons, the teenagers who alleged they were physically and sexually abused at the Thompson Academy in Pembroke Pines have reached a settlement with the owners of the for-profit lockup.A federal cl ... More >>

Thompson Academy Calls Alleged Sex Assault of Teenager Consensual

Defendants allege the sex was consensual.​The 14-year-old boy who filed a lawsuit alleging he was twice sexually assaulted by a counselor at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center last year was a willing participant in the encounters, lawyers for the Pembroke Pines center allege.In court d ... More >>

Kids Claim Abuse and Violence at Juvenile Lockup Thompson Academy

In Alleged Sex Assault at Thompson Academy, Polygraph Results Are Murky

​This week's New Times cover story explores allegations of abuse and violence at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines. One of the most disturbing allegations, outlined in a federal class-action lawsuit, involves a 15-year-old boy who says he was twice forced to have ora ... More >>

Former Thompson Academy Administrator Was Arrested for DUI

Youth Services InternationalA snapshot from a 2010 event at Thompson.​Three years ago, signs of trouble began to emerge at the privately run Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines. Gordon Weekes, head of the juvenile division at the Broward Public Defender's Office, wrote a l ... More >>

Miami Rep. Luis Garcia Tours Thompson Academy, Cites Safety Concerns

Photo by Mark Foley, courtesy Florida House of RepresentativesGarcia was not happy with what he saw at Thompson.​Miami Beach state Rep. Luis Garcia, Jr. last week got a rare glimpse inside the Pembroke Pines juvenile detention center where teenagers allege they were physically and sexually abused. ... More >>

Thirteen Abuse Cases Reported at Thompson Academy Last Year

Flickr user: Mark CogginsOnly one abuse allegation was verfied by investigators.​Thirteen separate cases of child abuse were reported at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines last year. Teenage boys at the 154-bed lockup said they endured a range of horrific incidents -- ... More >>

Police: Alleged Sexual Assaults at Thompson Academy "Unfounded"

YSIThompson held a morale-boosting event before the abuse allegations came to light.​A 15-year-old boy's allegation that he was twice sexually assaulted by a male counselor at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center is "unfounded," according to police."There is no evidence to show that a se ... More >>

Bookworms

White-nationalist reads in the United States and Europe reflect anti-migrant hatred in a grim economy.

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and other illegal-immigration populists rely on misleading, right-wing reports to scapegoat immigrants and terrify penny-pinched Americans.

More Allegations of Abuse Filed Against Thompson Academy

Flickr user:Mark CogginsFive children are named as plaintiffs in the suit.​More teenagers have come forward with allegations of physical abuse and mistreatment at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines. Last month, a 15-year-old boy alleged in a federal lawsuit that he ha ... More >>

Owner of Pembroke Pines Juvie Lockup Has Checkered History

Flickr user: Mark CogginsThe company has a checkered history in Florida.​A recent lawsuit alleging sexual assault and physical abuse of inmates at the Thompson Academy juvenile detention center in Pembroke Pines is the latest in a string of abuse accusations lodged against the facility's owner.For ... More >>

Advertiser on Local White Supremacist Site May Not Be Legitimate Racist

FlickrGuile Hitler: Does Browne believe in White Power? Or just the Green?​His friends in the white supremacist community may be able to forgive John Harold Browne for being a scam artist -- and with his legal history for fraud, that's a strong possibility. But they must be positively scandalized ... More >>

Who is John Tanton and Why Should You Care? Just Ask Joyce Tarnow.

Joyce Tarnow (hearts) John Tanton​John Tanton's name is getting a lot of play. Depending on who you talk to, Tanton is either a raging pro-eugenics racist with a deep-seated animosity toward brown people -- or -- a beaming, professorial Renaissance man with an insatiable curiosity and an infallibl ... More >>

Lake Worth and Immigration: A Call for Reasonable Debate

Dayworkers looking for work outside LW Home Depot.​After last week's Community Relations Board meeting in Lake Worth, where a reading group from the Night Heron Grassroots Activism Center presented a PowerPoint lecture on hate groups operating in Lake Worth, I posted a couple of items on the meeti ... More >>

Connecting the Dots: Does FAIR Play a Role in Lake Worth Politics?

Support for AZ Sheriff Joe's draconian immigration enforcement.​The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is under scrutiny in Lake Worth these days. As we reported yesterday, residents packed a small room at Monday night's CRB meeting to hear a presentation on local "hate groups," inc ... More >>

Arizona Sheriff's Reign of Terror Becomes State Policy

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Reign of Terror Becomes State Policy, Thanks to State Sen. Russell Pearce and Gov. Jan Brewer

Palm Beach State Attorney to Get Neo-Nazi Stabbing Case Next Week

Flickr: Paul Garland​Manalapan Police Chief Clay Walker says his investigators are wrapping up their case against the two men involved in the knife fight Monday night at the Ritz Carlton, where Nazi historian David Irving was giving a speech. He expects to deliver investigative findings to the Pal ... More >>

Ritz Knife Fight Reveals "War" Between White Supremacists, Watchdog Says

Flickr user: Jon LeightonProtestors at a David Irving event in England.​The knife fight that broke out during Holocaust-denier David Irving's speech at the Ritz-Carlton on Manalapan this week appears to be the latest twist in an ongoing spat between two white supremacist factions, according to a w ... More >>

Rollins Brand

Rock 'n' roll maverick Henry Rollins talks politics and the upcoming election

Half Truths

Undocumenteds are part of the problema

Classic Gustavo

We go into the Ask a Mexican archives for a holiday treat.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Mexicans

Don't you believe these statistics, hombre.

Dead in the Water

To Be a Reef

Smile for the Devil

Before you throw that punch, brawler, flash your pearlies for Diablo.

United States of Jesus

The folks who are "reclaiming America for Christ" are pushing an agenda for a Taliban-like state where Scripture is law

Go FLIFF Yourself

The "world's longest film festival" needs to tighten things up a bit

Letters to the Editor

Letters for September 20, 2001

The Heart of Whiteness

The South Florida Aryan Alliance, the World Church of the Creator, the Aryan Werwulfes: They're here, they're white, get used to it

The Racist Next Door

Don Black fills the Internet with hate and calls for a revolution to split the country along racial lines