By BitcoDavid
People often ask me why I write so much about the Florida DOC. Perhaps the best answer would be that it’s the single worst corrections system in the United States – and nowadays, that’s the same as saying in Uganda.
Growing up, I was taught that here, in the U.S., we don’t torture, we don’t murder, we don’t wrongfully incarcerate – in short, that we are an exceptional nation. I was taught that we fight our wars with honor, and that we treat our inmates with compassion. I was taught that we were a shining city on a hill. Perhaps that was true once, but it certainly isn’t anymore.
The Miami Herald reports that in 2014 alone, guards and COs. oversaw the deaths of 346 inmates. Some of those deaths were due to aging prison populations, but the lions share result from the use of force by prison employees. The U.S.D.O.J. has initiated an investigation.
From Addicting Info:
One such example is that of Jerry Washington, a man serving life for a variety of charges, including attempted murder, armed robbery and burglary who was found dead after reporting several correctional officers for sexual assault late last year. He had written to his family fearing for his life, claiming that the officers had marked him for death, that he was to be the victim of the next “pick-a-n*****-Friday” to be held, referencing the old slavery term for torturing or killing a slave in order to keep the others in line.
Another case is that of Randall Jordan-Aparo who, in a scene eerily reminiscent of those found during World War II, was forced to strip, thrown into a sealed room, which was then was filled with gas, killing him. The gas in the room appears to have been so thick that he was reportedly covered in orange residue. Of course the officers claimed that filling a room with noxious gas to the point it painted the victim the color of a spray tan had nothing to do with his death, and it was a random fluke caused by an unknown and mysterious medical condition.
Additional abuses include sexual assault, beatings, deprivation of medical services and food, taking of inmates’ clothing and seclusion. Guards have been accused of selling inmates for sex, smuggling contraband in and out of facilities, and theft of supplies.
Florida’s prison system is the 3rd most populous in the country. It’s annual budget is 2.1B, and it houses over 100,000 people. The cliché Southern Sheriff with his infamous – y’all in big trouble now, boy – isn’t a joke, anymore.
Help for this post came from Addicting Info and Miami Herald.
And of course, if you work in Florida, in the DOC or the DOJ, or if you’re Pam Bondi, we here at DeafInPrison.com welcome your rebuttal. Just click our Authors page, and shoot me a piece. I’ll be glad to publish it.
BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.
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