In the year of 2014, a record number of inmates died in Florida prisons. Most didn't die from natural causes or other inmates, but instead lost their lives at the hands of the guards that were paid to protect them. Governor Scott was accused of ignoring the problem by the very corrections secretary chief he appointed.
Former Corrections Chief Michael Crews only held the job for two years before he found himself in a hurricane of criticism, while deaths of inmates were occurring at an unprecedented rate.
Just months before he resigned, Crews announced at a Miami-Dade Correctional Institution press conference that he was going to get rid of the "bad apples" who were the basis for the controversy over how dangerous Florida prisons were.
It was news of the tortuous death of 50 year old Darren Rainey, a mentally ill inmate who was forced by correction officers to take a two-hour long, scalding hot shower as punishment that brought Crews to the south Florida facility.
The day Crews announced his mission of reform, another inmate, Michael Branham died on the infirmary floor–after begging for hours for medical attention–at the same facility to which Crews was speaking that day, reported the Miami Herald.
The report added that despite Crews' efforts to get a handle on the agency's corruption of shakedowns and smuggling of contraband, facilities being understaffed and underfunded were also key issues. The paper reported that some of the correctional officers were also not certified and often lost count of prisoners.
Of the record number of 346 inmate deaths in 2014, 176 didn't even list an immediate cause of death. Florida's recent history of inmate deaths is nothing less than staggering. Just shy of 4,000 have been reported since the year 2000.
Daily Kos published just some of the many incidences that resulted in the death of Florida inmates last year.
¥ Randall Jordan-Aparo died weeping and gasping for breath on the concrete floor of his prison isolation cell, naked except for his white boxer shorts. Guards at Franklin Correctional Institution in the Panhandle fired nine blasts of noxious gas into his 13-by-8 cell through a slot in the door.
Five hours later, the 27-year-old was found lifeless, face-down on the bare slab. His mouth and nose were pressed to the bottom of the door, as if trying to gulp fresh air through the thin crack.
¥ Latandra Ellington wrote her aunt about prison officer "Sgt. Q" at the Lowell Correctional Institution, who, she says, threatened to beat and murder her. Further, he would flip his badge around to obscure his name. Wrote Ellington, "Auntie, no one knows how to spell or say this man’s name. But he goes by Sgt. Q and he works the B Shift a.m."
The number of correction facility deaths have consistently gone up each year, even though the age and the number of inmates has gone down–factors that usually translate into a lower death rate.
Many of the deceased were incarcerated for possession of drugs, burglary and warrant violations, but made a bigger mistake by blowing the whistle on the corruption within the prison system.
Several inmates have been found hanging in their cell or beaten to death shortly after writing their families about guards threatening to kill them.
Crews discovered all the Florida facilities lacked quality officers, proper oversight, and funds for medical assistance.
Crews resigned after refusing to sign-off on Scott's underfunded corrections system budget. He petitioned the Governor for adequate funding, but those requests failed.
On December 31, 2014, the Florida Department of Corrections reported housing 100,873 inmates in its 49 state prisons and its seven privately run prisons; and supervised 142,159 active offenders on community supervision at over 150 probation offices throughout the state.
Governor Scott showed little interest in reports of inmate deaths and excessive use of force in the state's prison system, but some legislators are not as satisfied with the treatment those incarcerated have received.
House Representative Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, is sponsoring a House bill, with support from Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, for an oversight board with power to investigate troubled Department of Corrections facilities.
Little doubt investigators will be probing into the two private companies collecting $277 million annually in contracted health care services for the 100,000 plus inmates incarcerated in Florida's prisons.
Wexford Health Services receives $48 million annually to supply health care for 15,000 inmates, and Corizon Health receives $229 million to supply the same for 74,000 inmates.
Both companies have asked for increases in the amount agreed upon in their annual contracts.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that Wexford's lobbyist, Bill Rubin, worked for Governor Scott when he was CEO of Columbia/HCA Hospitals, and Corizon Lobbyist Bill Ballard headed Scott's political finance committee.
It seems common for local, state and federal government to sacrifice the performance of services as long as those that keep them in office, keep them in office.
Scripps writer Matt Dixon reported that the GEO Group, a private prison management company that now manages 76 percent of Florida's state private prison beds, were recently awarded a new deal.
The contract is worth $57 million dollars annually for three years, and includes the construction of two new facilities.
GEO, the second largest private prison company in the U.S., first cut their Florida teeth with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, when Rubio was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
GEO contributions to Rubio's campaigns tally to $40,000, and Rubio hired Donna Arduin, a former trustee for GEO's Correctional Properties Trust as an economic consultant, according to The Center for Media and Democracy.
Arduin worked with Rubio's budget chief, Ray Sansom, who pushed through a $110 million dollar deal for a new GEO prison. Governor Rick Scott also hired Arduin as a budget advisor
The Trujillo and Evers bill–if it ever becomes a reality–is said to transfer many of the state prisoners to the county jails, by changing the sentencing laws.
Currently, anyone sentenced to more than a year goes to a state facility. Under the proposed bill, a judge could sentence someone up to 24 months, and they would spend their time in the county jail.
This would just transfer the problem to local governments, where services also often take a second seat to politics; ultimately placing the additional burdens on underfunded county jails and their understaffed correction officers.
Some countries, like Sweden, are closing down prisons by offering classes and teaching inmates life and job skills. In the long run, this is saving funds and providing a safer society for those forced to live with and around inmates who are released.
In Florida, a dysfunctional correctional system is an economic model for for-profit prisons.
Crews took a job as vice president of the Florida Sheriffs Insurance Institute.
When Governor Scott revealed his $77 billion budget plan, it included funding for 163 full-time prison positions. If the legislature supports Scott's request, it's sure to be too little, too late É Scott's MO.
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