Gov. Rick Scott's inspector general was warned of cover-ups and abuse in the state's prisons and did not act. (Photo Thomas Hawk/ Creative Commons)

Gov. Rick Scott’s inspector general was warned of cover-ups and abuse in the state’s prisons and did not act. (Photo via Thomas Hawk/ Creative Commons)

By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

The Miami Herald broke more news this week regarding the ongoing scandal in the state prison system. According to recent documents obtained by the Herald, Gov. Rick Scott’s inspector general received a letter about two years ago alleging corruption, cover-ups and abuse in some of the state’s prisons. Instead of looking into the allegations, the inspector general asked the very people accused of covering-up the deaths to look into the matter.

The Miami Herald— along with the paper’s Tallahassee bureau partnered with The Tampa Bay Times-– reported:

An anonymous letter addressed to “Gov. Scott” and stamped as received by the governor’s chief inspector general on Oct. 25, 2012, included strikingly accurate details about the gruesome deaths of Randall Jordan-Aparo at Franklin Correctional Institution in 2010 and Darren Rainey at Dade Correctional in 2012.

At the time the governor’s office received the letter, the investigations of both deaths had been closed by the Department of Corrections — Jordan-Aparo’s as a natural death and Rainey’s pending a finding by the Miami-Dade medical examiner.

Rather than open an inquiry into the letter-writer’s claims, Melinda Miguel, the governor’s chief inspector general, turned the letter over to the DOC’s inspector general’s office, which conducted a cursory review. A summary of the DOC report notes some “staff violations’’ in connection with Jordan-Aparo’s death, and states that Miami-Dade police were handling Rainey’s case.

The report concluded that “this inquiry [will] be closed with no further action taken.”

The letter is another sign that the governor’s chief investigator, her assistant, Dawn Case, and DOC Inspector General Jeffery Beasley knew there was possible wrongdoing in connection with the deaths, yet did nothing.

A few months ago that the Herald published a story about how whistleblowers came forward to speak out about some troubling prisoner deaths in Florida. Among them was Rainey’s death.

Rainey died after being left in a hot shower for more than an hour by guards. For years afterwards, the Florida Department of Corrections failed to hold anyone accountable for the death. Officials claimed the department was carrying out an investigation. However, it wasn’t until the Herald began looking into this story that Miami-Dade police or DOC investigators interviewed witnesses.

Jordan-Aparo’s death also recently came to light. Back in September 2010, Jordan-Aparo died after being repeatedly gassed by guards while in solitary confinement.

The writer of the letter to Scott’s IG claimed inmates were at risk if issues, including these deaths, weren’t addressed.
The Herald reported this week:

According to the writer, [Tim Cannon] was “the Man running the agency’’ even though he was not the secretary.

The letter writer directed most of the blame for the department’s culture of “cronyism’’ on Cannon, not Crews or his predecessor, Ken Tucker.

Cannon was subsequently promoted, and is now DOC’s second in command under Crews.

The letter, portions of which were redacted, also warned of another “ugly’’ case at Dade Correctional involving an inmate who had been killed in a shower. In May, the Herald began a series of stories about inmate deaths, beginning with Rainey, a 50-year-old mentally ill inmate at Dade who died in 2012 after guards allegedly forced him to shower in scalding hot water as punishment for defecating on the floor of his cell.

“You had better get ready for another case at Dade CI,’’ the writer warned the governor.

The letter was placed in Cannon’s personnel file, which was provided to the Herald as part of a public records request.

Miguel, Case and Beasley are now accused by the DOC investigators in a federal whistle-blower lawsuit filed in June of retaliating against them for trying to expose the “sadistic and retaliatory’’ death of Jordan-Aparo.

DOC officials have yet to respond to questions as to why Miguel did not investigate the letter’s allegations. Scott himself has also not weighed-in or responded to requests for comments, the Herald reports.

However, there have been some policy changes put in place since the Herald started reporting on this issue, as well as some suspensions.

Following news of Rainey’s death, additional complaints were filed—and human rights groups called on the federal government to investigate what happened at Dade Correctional. As public pressure increased, state officials decided to institute some changes.

Last month, Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews promised system-wide reforms. He sent a memo to all state prison employees warning that any employee who commits a crime would be fired. According to the Herald, he also “fired Dade Correctional’s warden and deputy warden, set up an inmate mortality online database and has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take over some 85 inmate death investigations.”