Two Florida prison guards suspended as the state struggles with allegations of inmate abuse. (Photo by Kate Ter Haar/ Creative Commons)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
As the state continues to deal with a slew of allegations of abuse and corruption in its prisons, another round of complaints have been filed and two prison guards in Florida have been suspended.
According to The Tampa Bay Times/ Miami Herald, “two more correctional officers have been suspended following a new allegation of inmate abuse at a North Florida prison.”
It happened Aug. 7 at the regional medical center at Lake Butler, not far from the sprawling state prisons at Raiford and Starke. An unidentified inmate said he was sexually assaulted. The same inmate had earlier filed a grievance saying he was assaulted on July 30. “I am not going to continue to take this abuse!” the inmate wrote.
Officers Lance Ingram and Phillip Joyner are on paid leave. Both received letters notifying them that they could be fired if charges are upheld.
In response to a Times/Herald public records request, the prison system released a heavily-redacted report that said the incident occurred at 1:45 a.m. on Aug. 7 and that a hand-held video recorder and DVDs from a wall-mounted camera were taken as evidence. The suspension letters to Ingram and Joyner are dated the following day, Aug. 8.
…Prison spokeswoman Jessica Cary confirmed that “there is an active investigation involving an inmate allegedly occurring at RMC (regional medical center) and two officers are on administrative leave as a result. Cary’s statement said the original complaint wound its way through the agency’s bureaucracy until it reached the prison warden, who alerted the regional director, who alerted Tim Cannon, assistant secretary for institutions.
Just a couple weeks ago, the state’s prison chief announced a series of new policy changes aimed at improving how guards treat mentally-ill inmates, as well as increasing transparency in situations where things go wrong.
The policy changes follow an investigation from The Miami Herald. The paper revealed the gruesome death of inmate Darren Rainey at the Dade Correction facility in South Florida. According to a whistleblower, Rainey was left in a scalding hot shower for two hours by guards. Rainey eventually died in that shower—and according to the Herald, no one at the prison was held accountable for his death.
After that reporting, other people came forward and more complaints were filed—and human rights groups called on the federal government to investigate what happened at Dade Correctional.
Most recently, Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews promised system-wide reforms in light of all the attention and complaints. Crews also sent a memo last Friday to all state prison employees that warns any employee who commits a crime would be fired.
Even though there are new policies in place, there is still no conclusion to the ongoing investigation into what happened to Rainey and whether anyone will be held accountable. The two guards involved in that incident resigned but were not fired because the state has not wrapped up its investigation yet.