A federal class action lawsuit accuses the Florida Department of Corrections of stealing millions of dollars of inmate-purchased digital music and books from prisoners.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Florida by the Florida Justice Institute and the Social Justice Law Collective on behalf of lifer William Demler, names state Corrections Secretary Mark Inch as the defendant.
The suit says the Department of Corrections sold digital music and books to Florida prisoners for six years with the promise that the inmates’ ownership of the media was forever. Demler bought more than 300 songs and books since 2012. He was one of the prisoners the suit says spent a total of $11.3 million on digital media from 2011 to 2017.