The Human Cost - Part 2 - Another Staffer from TCU has Come Forward

A counselor shares his/her thoughts regarding events that happened in the Transitional Care Unit. Not only did the inmates suffer; their counselors did too. 

Dear George Mallinckrodt,

I thought that a mentally ill prisoner, once incarcerated for his crime, would be able to receive treatment and medication for his condition in order to complete his time without maltreatment, i.e., being physically abused, denied food, and being mentally and emotionally tormented.

During my employment by Corizon Health in the Transitional Care Unit located in the Dade Correctional Institution, I was exposed to emotional and mental anguish while experiencing the fear of filing incident reports due to the possible retaliation by prison guards, who constantly advised me that we staffers were only “visitors.”

As a mental health staffer, I was especially exposed to the guards who beat an inmate named Swilling. As I witnessed the incident, I could not believe what I saw and the pain in my heart as I was unable to interfere enough to “stop” the pounding that he was being subjected to. In retrospect, I realized that the corrections officers were and are sociopaths and are not provided with adequate training. They lack humane feelings which would enable to them to monitor and provide the care necessary for "mentally ill inmates."

I will always regret that I didn't report those guards for beating Swilling. I was afraid to be counseling the prisoners and then be left alone by security staffers. I had tears in my eyes when I told my supervisor about the beating, but Dr. Perez was like she wasn't even there, she was invisible, she provided no support. Anybody could see I was devastated but she didn't even ask me if I needed to go home. She was like a cold fish. I knew she wouldn't stand up to security staffers so I said I didn't see a thing.

Perez did the same thing when Darren Rainey was killed. We had to hear it from the inmates. She's the one who should of told us herself. She didn't give us any emotional support; she never asked how we were doing. We were in a daze.

I'm writing this because of George Mallinckrodt because he is standing up now to what happened to all of us and the inmates. He couldn't sit still for the Swilling beat-down when he still worked there so it's no surprise he's fighting now for what's right.

Your former coworker,

XXXXXX