PRISON REFORM ISSUES

from George Mallinckrodt

Hello Everyone,

This is perhaps the most important email I've sent regarding prison reform issues. If the House has its way, Bill 7020 will become essentially worthless. Please read the following and respond to House members as quickly as possible. 7020 needs to go to the floor in its original form.

Please share this with as many friends and contacts as possible. Legislators need to hear from people in Florida and around the country on Prison Reform. My fear is that without a bill such as 7020, it will be business as usual in the Florida Department of Corrections: Abuse, torture, and killing of inmates by correctional officers. Cover-ups by officers and administrators above them. Little or no accountability and transparency.

Please leave a comment on my blog as well: http://www.georgemallinckrodt.com/blog.htm

On March 18th, historic Senate Bill CS/SB 7020: Corrections, made it through appropriations only to be weakened by House version HB 7131. Below is a Side-by-Side Comparison of Senate and House Corrections Reform Bills. I need your help to encourage House members to re-provision HB 1731 to full strength. After my analysis, email addresses and contact info for House members will be provided. Please send them an email or call - we need an immediate response to show legislators that the public at large is informed and expects the strongest possible legislation to keep inmates from being tormented, beaten, tortured, and in some cases, killed by correctional officers.

For those interested in the actual wording of the Senate and House bills, click on the links above. You will be redirected to legislative websites. Read my initial assessment of 7020 as well. Click here for a terrific Senate analysis of 7020.

Side-by-Side Comparison of Senate and House Corrections Reform Bills

	Issue	CS/SB 7020, 1st Engrossed	HB 7131
1.	Requires CJEC to project elderly inmate population	Yes	Yes
2.	Removes exemption for victim injury points for officers who commit sexual misconduct	Yes	Yes
3.	Expands security review committee to include safety issues	Yes	Yes
4.	Allows inmates to receive education gain-time	Yes	Yes
5.	Requires Memorandum of Understanding between FDLE and DOC to be in writing and for legislative notification	Yes	Yes
6.	Requires inspector generals who conduct sexual abuse investigations to receive specialized training	Yes	Yes
7.	Revises method of appointment for DOC Secretary	Yes	No
8.	Creates the Florida Corrections Commission	Yes	No
9.	Requires multiple ways for inmates to file grievances and requires overview of health-related grievances by CMA	Yes	No
10.	Requires use-of-force reports to be under oath, allows nurses to use identification numbers when completing incident reports, limits officers with use-of-force notations from working with mentally ill, requires tracking of use-of-force reports	Yes	No
11.	Creates a new felony for employees who withhold water, food and other essential services and authorizes employees to anonymously report abuse to the inspector general	Yes	No
12.	Requires DOC to establish policy to protect employees who report wrongdoing from retaliation	Yes	No
13.	Requires DOC to track health care costs for elderly inmates	Yes	No
14.	Provides legislative intent to expand veterans dorms and requires DOC to track recidivism for veterans who participate in programs	Yes	No
15.	Recreates the inmate welfare trust fund, caps the fund at $5 million and specifies purposes (CS/SB 540 is linked)	Yes	No
16.	Requires CJSTC to expand the annual training for correctional officers to include more information on techniques to avoid the use-of-force	Yes	No
17.	Increases the frequency of medical surveys conducted at the prisons from every 3 years to every 18 months	Yes	No
18.	Requires inmate health care contracts to contain damages provision	Yes	No
19.	Requires DOC to establish minimum health care standards for inmates over 50 years of age	Yes	No
20.	Allows for inmates to have outside medical evaluations performed under certain circumstances	Yes	No
21.	Creates a geriatric release program	Yes	No
22.	Requires DOC to establish a policy to track the use of chemical agents and requires video recording all nonreactionary uses of chemical agent	Yes	No
23.	Provides funding	Yes	No

My Analysis:

All senate provisions left out by HB 7131 are important. However, I will focus on what I believe are the absolutely essential "Issues" to reverse the culture of abuse, brutality, and cover-up that plagues the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

7.

Revises method of appointment for DOC Secretary

Yes

No

This provision gives legislators more power in the appointment process that now rests solely with the governor. Floridians have seen a revolving door policy that ends with the retirement or resignation of DOC Secretaries who will not submit to Gov. Scotts' agenda of continued secrecy and prison privatization. 

8.

Creates the Florida Corrections Commission

Yes

No

Creating the FCC is the most important issue and the heart of Senate Bill 7020. An oversight commission is essential in investigating the corruption, cover-ups, quashing of investigations, and retaliation against DOC and OIG personnel who have the courage to come forward with evidence implicating "upper level management." The DOC and OIG cannot be trusted to police themselves - history provides ample evidence of their ineptitude. Nor can they be trusted to engage in first rate investigations of suspicious inmate deaths or brutality at the hands of correctional officers.

10.

Requires use-of-force reports to be under oath, allows nurses to use identification numbers when completing incident reports, limits officers with use-of-force notations from working with mentally ill, requires tracking of use-of-force reports

Yes

No

  

As a psychotherapist, what most concerns me is the elimination of: "limits officers with use-of-force notations from working with mentally ill." In the psychiatric unit I worked in at the Dade Correctional Institution, guards with multiple use-of-force notations continued to abuse inmates with impunity. Inmates were beaten, tortured, and slammed to the floor requiring medical treatment to stitch up gashes to their heads.

11.

Creates a new felony for employees who withhold water, food and other essential services and authorizes employees to anonymously report abuse to the inspector general

Yes

No

There are no consequences now for officers who withhold food by giving inmates "air trays" or "skip trays." Likewise, the widespread practice of denying medical services by doctors and nurses had resulted in numerous needlessly painful deaths that rise to the level of torture. 

12.

Requires DOC to establish policy to protect employees who report wrongdoing from retaliation

Yes

No

Without whistle-blowers, Floridians would not have found out about the rampant abuse, corruption, and cover-up that is at the core of the DOC. They need to be protected. For details how the DOC treats whistle-blowers, please scroll down on this link, Miami Herald story: After Florida inmate’s lethal gassing, claims of cover-up.

16.	Requires CJSTC to expand the annual training for correctional officers to include more information on techniques to avoid the use-of-force

  

All officers should receive Crisis Intervention Training and yearly training updates from the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission. Many episodes in my unit found guards using excessive force on the mentally ill when it was not called for. The progress I had made with my patients was routinely sabotaged by this practice.

18.

Requires inmate health care contracts to contain damages provision

Yes

No

  

Corizon Health and Wexford have between them nearly 1700 malpractice lawsuits. The Palm Beach Post and a host of others have published stories of medical negligence that details longstanding practices of withholding or providing inadequate medical treatment to inmates who died agonizing deaths. Corizon and Wexford must, at the very least, be held accountable financially.

22.

Requires DOC to establish a policy to track the use of chemical agents and requires video recording all nonreactionary uses of chemical agent

Yes

No

The punitive use of chemical agents (gassing) is a widespread practice confirmed by many relatives I speak to with loved ones on the inside. On March 24, 2015, the Miami Herald published a story detailing this practice and its alleged endorsement by highly placed administrators: Culture of brutality reigned at state prison in Florida Panhandle. 

23.

Provides funding

Yes

No

7020 asks for $7 million out of a state budget of $77 billion. If my math is correct, that is 1/1000th of the total. Need more be said?

________________________________________

Call to Action!

Please email or phone members of specific House committees to encourage them to pass the full Senate version. I've only provided contact info for Committee Chairmen. Clicking on the links to the committees will take you to House of Representative pages featuring members of those respective committees (Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, Judiciary Committee, Criminal Justice Subcommittee). All House members may be emailed in this format:

FirstName.LastName@myfloridahouse.gov

HELP STOP FRACKING IN FLORIDA

from Sharon Lux

Recently, a notice to the public was published in our local newspaper regarding seeking permits to the final process by the FDEP to begin exploratory drilling (aka Fracking) in Okeechobee (3193 NE 366th Trail Okeechobee, FL 34972). If a second permit is issued this will allow for non hazardous construction material and non hazardous water to be injected into the well.

To stop this now, sign the petition, "Florida Environmental Protection Agency: Relinquish any and all current and future permits seeking approval from the FDEP (Florida Environmental Protection Agency)."

 Here's the link:

http://www.change.org/p/florida-environmental-protection-agency-relinquish-any-and-all-current-and-future-permits-seeking-approval-from-the-fdep-florida-environmental-protection-agency

GROWING UP GREEN

from Nancy Stiefel

What:  Social Justice Film “Growing Up Green”

When:  Sunday, April 12, 7:00 PM

Where:  Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, located at the corner of 27th Avenue and 16th Street in Vero Beach

The documentary Growing Up Green profiles a unique, statewide, hands-on environmental education program in Michigan.  Both rural and urban schools across the state work to increase academic performance by involving students in local efforts to improve the environments they inhabit.

This coordinated statewide approach to "place-based education" presents a national model for increasing student involvement.  The programs make education more relevant, while also encouraging students to become lifelong stewards of the environment.

Following the 30 minute film, Graham Cox and Richard Baker, members of the Pelican Island Audubon Society, will share information about their environmental education programs for students in Indian River County.   This program is free and open to the public.  Donations to offset the screening fees for the film are gratefully accepted.  The Fair Trade Corner will be open one-half hour prior to the film.

GROUNDSWELL RISING

from Nancy Stiefel

What: A FREE screening of Groundswell Rising

Where: Ground Floor Farm, 100 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Stuart, FL

When: Monday, April 6th, at 6:00 PM

Join Food & Water Watch for a FREE screening of Groundswell Rising, Protecting Our Children’s Air and Water, a film that brings us into the lives of people from all walks of life and all sides of the political spectrum who are dedicating themselves to resisting, slowing down or stopping fracking.

We meet parents, scientists, artists, teachers, clergy, community organizers and business leaders who are convinced that this unproven form of gas extraction is a serious health and environmental risk. Driven by a deep moral conviction, we see how they are standing up to one of the world’s most powerful industries.

After the 70-minute film screening, learn more about the threat that fracking poses to our Sunshine State through a Q & A with Craig Stevens, a resident from Dimock, Pennsylvania whose community’s drinking water was contaminated by fracking.  Craig has seen the devastation that the fracking industry can have firsthand and will talk about what could await Florida's residents if fracking moves forward in the state.

For additional information contact Vickie Machado at: 954-687-9224 or vmachado@fwwatch.org

Film website: http://www.groundswellrising.com

Food & Water Watch Website: Food & Water Watch

STOP MELBOURNE SCHOOL GRAB

from Spence Guerin

The Melbourne school board is quietly eliminating the reversion clause that require property to revert to school board if not used for public use. Obviously, BRAG / Henegar has failed to meet contractual obligations. If BRAG / Henegar did not want the building, the building should revert to school board for other public uses.

The school board has put this item on Consent Agenda for March 10. This means the reversion clause can be eliminated with NO discussion and NO meaningful public input.

From workshop closed to public comment on January 27, to March 10 Consent Agenda approval for removing 'reversion clause' that protects public interest -- all in six weeks.

Valuable community asset may be dumped for dimes on the dollar. Conservatively valued on the tax rolls at $3 million, a single proposal by one developer without competition may walk away with the property for $600K.

Why the rush to judgment?

Shouldn't the community have time for careful consideration of other options?

NOTE: City of Melbourne people are saying this matter 'is out of our hands.' The City of Melbourne has been complicit from the outset, with City Manager and Mayor attending the workshop on January 27, and the City Manager stating that the building is an 'eyesore' -- and a new apartment building is a 'public use.' The City of Melbourne has helped this move to school board with NO public announcement, NO public hearing, NO public review, and NO feasibility study to evaluate long range benefits of other options. Does that sound like the matter is 'out of their hands?'

For more information, visit the website: http://oldmelhi.com/

CURB OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE IN PSL AFFAIRS

from Richard Silvestri and Sharon Lux

Whether you're for or against the train (AAF), our local community must be wary of outside interest in neighboring counties, trying to influence how ST Lucie Co. tax dollars should be spent. Our county has many issues & programs, that should be given precedent over legal fees being authorized, to fight AAF, without a public hearing.

If you feel strongly, as to where your tax dollars go, please attend, the following informal meeting on Tuesday March 11. Bring a sign in silent protest.

As has been in the media for two years now, the FEC Railroad proposes high speed passenger train service through St Lucie Co. with no stops here in their current plan.  It is known as All Aboard Florida (AAF).  So there is a large contingent that is fighting to prevent the train from ever running. Last week both Martin and Indian River County commissioners approved spending taxpayer money for this fight.  Last Monday night at the regular St Lucie County Commissioner meeting three people requested them to take money from funds here and join in the fight.  One of them lives outside this county and I know for a fact there are others with the audacity to ask for our taxpayer money even though they don't live in this county.  I spoke the other night and said I don't want my money spent on this and that we have many other issues and programs that can use more money.  I still feel that way.  The newspaper ran a poll and 90% said the same thing- don't spend our tax dollars to fight AAF.

I want a visible showing of community members in solidarity against using our tax dollars to fight AAF.  We can show solidarity against this by attending the informal meeting of our commissioners when they next to discuss this.

That meeting will be on:  TUESDAY, MARCH 11th at:  1:30 PM at:  2300 VIRGINIA AVENUE (SLC ADMIN BUILDING)  FT PIERCE; 3rd FLOOR

The public cannot speak but our presence will be noticed.