A group of Florida senators unanimously passed a bill Monday that aims to make life easier for ex-inmates upon their release from prison. Upon their release from prison, Altamonte Springs Republican Senator David Simmons says it’s difficult for many inmates to get an ID card. And, he says making it easier would lower recidivism. Under […]
FJI Seeks to Vindicate Religious Rights By Ensuring Incarcerated Muslims Receive Halaal Meals
Back in 2007, FJI filed a lawsuit on behalf of several incarcerated Muslims who sought a halaal meal to comply with their religious dietary requirements. The FDOC refused to provide a halaal meal, even though they were providing kosher meals to Jewish inmates. The FDOC eventually decided, in the middle of the case, to eliminate […]
A Battle for Fair Housing Still Raging, But Mostly Forgotten
It’s not something we think about a lot or something that gets reported on often, but once you start digging around some, it’s hard not to see the consequences of our country’s long, sordid history of housing discrimination everywhere racial disparities manifest. The giant wealth gap between black and Latino Americans and white folks. Shorter […]
ACLU, Dept. of Corrections Settle Public Records Lawsuit
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the state Department of Corrections have settled a legal dispute about records dealing with inmate housing at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in the Panhandle. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in August against the department, claiming the agency had rejected public-records requests that involved computerized information about housing […]
Help Me Howard: Wheelchair Ramp
Imagine being a prisoner in your own home. Stuck in a wheelchair, unable to go outside because you don’t have a wheelchair ramp. Even worse, you cant get one. Why it’s one roadblock after another and it’s why one woman called Help me Howard with Patrick Fraser. WSVN — Some people lead charmed lives. Some […]
FJI Helps Secure Wheelchair Ramp for Elderly Woman
Linda Joyner uses a wheelchair for mobility, but found herself a prisoner in her own home. She was having trouble installing a permanent wheelchair ramp to get in and out of her house, after the temporary ramp she used eventually became too heavy for her to lift. Initially her landlord would not allow her to […]
FJI Files Amicus Brief Supporting Cert Petition to U.S. Supreme Court on Strip Search Issue
Following the Supreme Court’s narrow decision in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington, 132 S.Ct. 1510 (2012)—which held that the Constitution does not forbid suspicionless strip searches of minor offense detainees if they must be housed in the general population—the Eleventh Circuit took this narrow decision and extended it a step […]
Editorial: No New Money for Prisons
Whatever your opinion may be of Gov. Rick Scott, he has been consistent. He campaigned on a platform of cutting government spending, and voters have gotten it since he’s been in office. In the face of the Florida Department of Corrections recent request for $59 million to reopen nine closed prisons and work camps around […]
Florida Wants to Reopen Prisons to House More Inmates
TALLAHASSEE — A year after Florida closed several prisons to save money, the state says it must reopen some of them because of projections of a growing inmate population. The Department of Corrections wants the Legislature to appropriate $59 million to open nine shuttered facilities next year from Miami to the Panhandle, including two prisons, five […]
States Guarantee High Prison Populations for Private Prison Industry’s Profits
“”The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws.” – Corrections Corp. of America Annual Report, 2010 Anyone who even tangentially follows the […]
Socialist Workers Party Succesfully Counters FDOC Censorship of Newsletter
The Militant newspaper received word Oct. 10 that it has been successful in beating back a decision by prison officials at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in Milton, Fla., to impound one of its issues sent to inmates who subscribe to the socialist newsweekly. On Sept. 9 the paper received a letter from the prison saying […]
The Shame of Our Prisons: New Evidence
As recently as five years ago, American corrections officials almost uniformly denied that rape in prison was a widespread problem. When we at Just Detention International—an organization aimed at preventing the sexual abuse of inmates—recounted stories of people we knew who had been raped in prison, we were told either that these men and women […]
FJI Objects to Proposed PREA Rule
The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) is a federal law that requires all state corrections agencies to develop rules that provide ways for inmates to easily report sexual abuse, and to ensure proper documentation and investigation of sexual abuse in prison. The Florida Department of Corrections proposed rules to comply with PREA; however, we believed the […]
Family Of Inmate Suing DOC For Prison Bus Murder
The family of a Florida prison inmate stabbed to death aboard a prison transport bus is now suing the state for failing to stop it. Eric Sexton was killed on the road somewhere between Jefferson County and Gadsden County and his family claims the correctional officers on board are partly to blame. We must warn […]
Guard-on-Prisoner Sexual Misconduct Happens Far Too Often. Why Can’t We Stop It?
The Albany Times Union recently published a three-part series about sexual assault and harassment in New York state prisons, and it’s worth your time. The articles are a sobering reminder that, despite what America’s tasteless comedians would have you believe, prison rape doesn’t always involve forced inmate-on-inmate sodomy. In fact, according to the most recent […]
Feds Reach $600,000 Settlement with Former Ill Inmate
A former inmate forced to undergo double hip replacement surgeries will receive $600,000 in a settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Beginning in February 2009, Robert Hernandez writhed in pain for eight months before he was allowed to see a licensed physician. The unlicensed medical staff at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Central […]
Florida’s Prison Health Care Services to Be Fully Privatized By Mid-October
The privatization of prison health care services in Florida is expected to be fully implemented by mid-October. The effort, projected to save the department millions of dollars, caused thousands of employees to lose their state jobs. Speaking before a Senate Criminal Justice budget panel Wednesday, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews said the privatization effort […]
FJI Secures Needed Surgery for Incarcerated Man with Painful Condition
An inmate who contacted FJI suffered from an extremely painful condition that can be cured by a simple surgery. However, despite years of requests, the FDOC refused to approve a visit to a surgeon for a consult. FJI sent a letter to the FDOC reminding them that failure to treat an inmate’s severe pain is […]