Miami-Dade County Legislative Delegation Meeting Today - My Remarks

I spoke before the Miami-Dade County Legislative Delegation today at the Miami Dade College - Wolfson Campus. After introducing myself, I delivered these words:

Albert Einstein once said, “The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.”

We know the names of the guards who put Darren Rainey in a scalding hot shower to die, begging for his life. What we don’t know are the names of the Florida Department of Corrections ranking officers and administrators who colluded to cover up their crime. We don’t know the names of investigators in the Inspector General’s office who looked the other way. Rainey’s death was once classified as an “in custody death from natural causes.” How did this happen? The last time I checked, it is a crime to engage in a conspiracy to cover up a murder.

The same Einstein quote holds true for private medical providers Corizon and Wexford. We know the names of the Doctors and Nurses who denied medical treatment to inmates that resulted in painful, agonizing deaths – all for maximizing profits. What we don’t know are the names of the Corizon and Wexford administrators, medical directors, and highly placed executives who conceived and encouraged this widespread, barbaric practice. These two companies have nearly 1700 malpractice lawsuits between them. Corizon and Wexford must not be allowed to profit from the pain and suffering of inmates.

Thorough investigations must be conducted deep into the hierarchies of the Florida Department of Corrections, the Inspector General’s office, Corizon, and Wexford to weed out those who tolerate and encourage evil. All those responsible must be held accountable – not just the few who commit these brutal, inhuman acts.

Senator Evers and Members of the Criminal Justice Committee Propose a Prison Reform Bill

George's Note: Senator Evers and members of the Criminal Justice Committee are to be commended for provisions that protect inmates and staff from abuse and retaliation. Bill 7020 addresses the needs of the chronically mentally ill by assuring that guards who work in psychiatric units must have specialized training and minimal “use of force” incidents in their files. This is a vast improvement from when I worked in the Transitional Care Unit at Dade Correctional Institution. Guards there had no Crisis Intervention Training and abused inmates with impunity – Darren Rainey’s case is still unresolved two and a half years after he was killed by guards. I look forward to reviewing the bill and providing feedback to help the committee cover as many contingencies as possible.

Bill would punish abusive guards, protect Florida inmates

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS 

AND KATIE LEPRI 

HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU

01/27/2015 9:13

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article8427051.html#storylink=cpy

TALLAHASSEE

As Florida’s prisons face increased scrutiny about suspicious inmate deaths, cover-ups, and questionable medical care, a state Senate panel is proposing new safeguards for prisoners.

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will take up a broad piece of legislation next Monday that the chairman says is “a first step” aimed at resetting a prison culture rife with allegations of excessive force and negligent medical care.

“I thought we should memorialize certain ideas that would help the Department of Corrections do a better job of protecting inmates as well as corrections officers, staff and residents of the state,’’ said Sen. Greg Evers, a Crestview Republican and chairman of the committee.

At Monday’s hearing, the senators will also hear from Julie Jones, the governor's newly appointed secretary of the department, who has vowed to “fix what needs fixing” at the troubled agency.

In a reflection of rising concern, the Broward Legislative Delegation held a public hearing Tuesday at Plantation City Hall focusing solely on prisons, primarily on medical care. Lawmakers heard from Randy Tifft, the regional director for the state’s southern tier. They asked him about the DOC’s handling of the investigation into the death of Darren Rainey, who was locked in a scalding-hot shower at Dade Correctional Institution for two hours until he collapsed and died. Rainey, a 50-year-old drug offender with severe mental illness, had angered guards by defecating in his cell and refusing to clean it up.

After the incident, multiple inmates tried telling the DOC that Rainey was “murdered” by guards and that corrections officers mocked him as he begged to be let out of the closet-like shower. The department quickly suspended its investigation of the episode, disciplining no one. Miami-Dade police, charged with investigating Rainey’s death, didn’t interview key witnesses until the Miami Herald published an article this past May about the death.

The Senate proposal, SB 7020, doesn’t wait for Gov. Rick Scott and his administration to make changes to the prison system. It would impose penalties on employees caught using inappropriate force against inmates, punish doctors and nurses working for the private companies that provide inmate medical care when negligent medical care results in the harm of an inmate, and attempt to prevent retaliation against those who speak up.

Evers added, however, that the bill is only a “starting point” and it is likely to change “as other issues come up.”

The Senate began taking an aggressive look at Florida’s prison system after a series of reports in the Miami Herald revealed details about a series of suspicious inmate deaths, including Rainey’s; agency cover-ups; and an increase in the use of force by prison guards. Inmate deaths climbed 13 percent in 2014.

Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation, asked Tifft whether authorities are any closer to completing their investigation into Rainey’s death, which occurred in June 2012.

Tifft said he had no new information.

“We need to know what are the circumstances, to prevent this from ever happening again,” he said.

Edwards replied: “That’s unacceptable. Officers involved would, I’m sure, like to clear their names. It’s been seven months since the last conversation and still nothing.”

As part of his Criminal Justice Committee’s probe into prison allegations, Evers surprised officials at Jefferson Correctional Institution and Suwannee Correctional last Thursday when he and his staff conducted unannounced inspections at the two troubled North Florida prisons.

Evers has demanded that DOC Chief Inspector General Jeffery Beasley, who oversees investigations into prison misconduct, appear before the committee to answer questions. A DOC spokesman said he will be there.

Beasley is a named defendant in a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging a cover-up in the death of inmate Randall Jordan-Aparo, who was repeatedly blasted with chemicals at Franklin Correctional Institution after complaining about a chronic ailment.

The proposed legislation focuses on improving both inmate safety and on better communication with regard to negligent medical care and excessive use of force. Those items are supported by one of the most outspoken critics of the prison system, George Mallinckrodt, a former psychotherapist at Dade Correctional’s transitional care unit, where inmates with mental illnesses are housed.

But he said the bill doesn't go far enough.

While the bill imposes penalties for private doctors and nurses who deny medical treatment to ill inmates, a problem chronicled by the Palm Beach Post last year, Mallinckrodt believes there should also be punishment for the “culture of negligence” imposed by upper level administrators at Corizon and Wexford, the companies that hold the multimillion dollar contracts with the state.

He also would like to see penalties for upper-level managers at the Department of Corrections who condone inmate abuse but let underlings take the fall when someone is caught breaking the rules.

The bill would require investigators in the department’s inspector general’s office to be given specialized training for dealing with sexual abuse allegations. It prescribes new training in the handling of inmates with mental illnesses.

Additionally, it would require that security cameras be installed everywhere and monitored, eliminating blind spots.

The proposal would enable staff members to make anonymous and confidential reports to the department’s inspector general if they witness abuse or neglect of inmates and fear retribution.

Department of Corrections spokesman McKinley Lewis said the agency is reviewing the proposal but has no comment on the specifics at this time. He said the department is looking forward to working with lawmakers.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article8427051.html#storylink=cpy

Senator Evers is the real deal! He's not afraid to get his hands dirty...

George's Note: I met with Senator Greg Evers, the Chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, along with staffers Amanda and Tracy. The hour-long discussion was wide-ranging and covered many of the abuses in the DOC and possible solutions. My takeaway from the meeting is that Senator Evers is determined to find solutions to a myriad of problems facing the FL DOC. For more info on Criminal Justice Committee hearing: Mr. Mallinckrodt goes to Tallahassee... apologies to Jimmy Stewart!

Florida lawmaker drops in on prisons, finds problems

BY MARY ELLEN KLAS 

HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU

01/23/2015

Florida State Sen. Greg Evers

The chairman of a key legislative committee and an entourage of Senate staffers dropped in for an evening of surprise inspections at two of North Florida’s troubled prisons late Thursday.

The initial findings after touring Suwannee Correctional and Jefferson Correctional: dormitories that had been abandoned because of leaking roofs, facilities dependent on community donations for supplies and dangerously low staffing levels at the prisons.

“I’m sorry to be the only fool who has taken it on himself to check it out, but I don’t like dog-and-pony shows,’’ said Sen. Greg Evers, R-Crestview, in an interview with the Herald/Times.

He said he decided he needed to conduct the surprise inspections to “get to the bottom of what needs to be done at the Department of Corrections” after a series of reports in the Miami Herald called attention to a record number of inmate deaths and allegations of cover-ups by officials involved.

He said he relied on a state statute that authorizes visits by legislators, governors, judges, Cabinet officials and states attorneys, and brought along his staff to chronicle the experience.

The reaction from the close-knit prison establishment: complete surprise.

“A Senator or Representative, touring a State Correctional facility, after hours, is unheard of,’’ wrote Samuel Culpepper, director of prisons for Region 1 in North Florida, in an email message to wardens on Friday morning. “We’re in a new day and a new time.”

Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, chairman of the House budget subcommittee that will oversee prison appropriations, visited Wakulla Correctional Thursday morning, though that visit was pre-scheduled.

“The message here is very simple,’’ Culpepper warned his wardens. “Every moment of every day is inspection day. We should always be prepared.”

Evers arrived at Suwannee Correctional Facility, located in Live Oak, just west of Lake City, at 5:15 p.m. accompanied by his legislative aide, Senate general counsel George Levesque and three staff members from the criminal justice and appropriations committees.

Suwannee Correctional was the site of an October 2013 riot by inmates who attacked five guards. In April 2014, Shawn Gooden, 33, died under mysterious circumstances at the prison, and his death is under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Inmates there have long complained of violence, abuse and corruption. In July, the Miami Herald confirmed that an FBI investigation is ongoing at the prison.

After the unannounced tour of Suwannee, the group traveled west to Jefferson Correctional Institution, about an hour away, for a surprise visit that began at 10:07 p.m.

“When the wardens finally showed up because they were instructed that we were there, they allowed us to talk to officers, get their input, and I thought it was a real worthwhile opportunity to actually see what goes on at a prison at night,’’ Evers said.

He said he saw prisons that were clean and calm, but the conditions frightened him.

Evers said he observed “staffing levels that were stretched very, very thin in critical areas,” adding that one officer in a control room and two guards roaming a pod did not seem sufficient to contain trouble if it occurred.

“You don’t have the appropriate amount of staff to handle it,” he said.

The facilities were using televisions donated by the community “and if a TV goes down, you have a lot of folks that are very upset, and that makes it harder to control and becomes a safety issue,” Evers added.

Also, the lawmaker noted, he saw inmate dormitories “that had to be abandoned because of roofs with water coming in.”

Evers said he concluded that the conditions clearly contribute to a prison culture that has increasingly relied on use-of-force as a disciplinary tactic “and inmates are aware of that.”

“I haven’t gotten to the heart of what I wanted to find, but it gave me an opportunity to talk one on one with corrections officers about their jobs,’’ he said.

In his memo to wardens, Culpepper said he expects more surprise inspections and that the department’s “Office of Legislative Affairs is working on talking points so we can have a consistent voice regarding our needs.”

Among them, Culpepper said, is the need for more staffing, pay raises, physical plant repairs and vehicle upgrades. “Whatever they say needs to be factual,’’ he advised. “Quoting erroneous information will hurt any good information we provide.”

Evers scoffed at the call for “talking points” and attempts at corrections officials to control the message.

“I’ve heard the talking points,’’ he said. “It’s when you get a corrections officer somewhere where he can speak very freely [that] you get the whole story. You don’t get talking points. You get honesty and I believe honesty will make the difference in our corrections system.”

Florida lawmakers do their own probe of prison system

New Florida prison boss doubles down on reforms

'Daddy,' womanizing assistant warden, fired from troubled prison

Orange is the New Black, Season 3! 'Daddy,' womanizing assistant warden, fired from troubled prison

'Daddy,' womanizing assistant warden, fired from troubled prison

BY JULIE K. BROWN - Miami Herald

01/22/2015

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article7943703.html#storylink=cpy

Each day, the female inmates at Lowell Correctional Institution would line up at the back gate waiting to talk to “Daddy.”

In the afternoons, the prisoners would take turns visiting his office, passing him slips of paper and asking for favors like special bunk assignments, chocolates or time to liaison with their female partners.

Assistant Warden Marty Martinez had so many women who wanted to spend time with him that it not only interfered with the daily operation of the facility, it caused jealous fights for his attention among inmates, according to an investigation by the Department of Corrections released Thursday.

Lowell corrections officers told the department’s investigators that they were overruled, punished — and, in one case, even threatened — when they tried to discipline any of Martinez’s favorites.

Latandra Ellington | Florida Department of Corrections


Martinez, who was fired last week, is among 44 prison staff across the state who have been dismissed since new DOC Secretary Julie Jones took the helm of the embattled agency on Jan. 5.

“The Department has zero tolerance for misconduct of any kind,” department spokesman McKinley Lewis said in a written statement Thursday, adding that Martinez “failed to conduct himself in a professional manner and acted inappropriately toward staff and inmates.”

Lowell has been in the spotlight since October, when 36-year-old inmate Latandra Ellington was found dead just 10 days after writing her family a letter alleging that a Lowell corrections officer — she knew him only as “Sgt. Q” — had repeatedly threatened to beat and kill her.

Daryl Parks, a civil rights attorney representing Ellington’s family, said if a high-level administrator like Martinez was able to abuse his authority so blatantly, it’s likely that other officers believed they could do the same.

“It clearly shows this prison is out of control and they need to do something to ensure the safety of inmates immediately,” Parks said.

Martinez’s dismissal capped a six-month investigation that involved interviews with dozens of inmates, corrections officers, commanders and other staff at the facility in Ocala.

The firing, for conduct unbecoming an officer, came to light Thursday, one day after the Miami Herald received a tip that Martinez had been fired and inquired about it.

“Nobody ever caught him in the act, but we all saw him locked in there with them,” a corrections officer, who gave a sworn statement to DOC investigators, told the Herald. It would be a crime for a prison staffer to engage in sex with inmates.

The 56-page inspector general report describes in detail how Martinez would spend extended periods talking to young, pretty white or Hispanic women on a daily basis. One sergeant talked about how Martinez would lean against a fence, chatting up inmates and would “grasp his groin and ‘adjust his boys’ [genitals].” Others described seeing him lying prone on a bench, commiserating with attractive prisoners. When guards counseled inmates known to be close to the assistant warden, the inmates would threaten to report the corrections officers to “Marty.”

Officers and inmates said he rarely spoke to inmates who were unattractive. He frequented the Wellness Center, where one of his favored inmates taught aerobics, several witnesses said. He often sat and watched the prisoners, clad in their gym shorts, participate in a Zumba class.

Martinez’s own staffers described how he squired a parade of young women around the compound and invited some of them into his office and locked both doors. The women, who were overheard calling him “Marty” and “daddy,” would stay in his office for between 10 and 60 minutes, the staffers said.

His behavior became so intolerable — and made some female guards so uncomfortable — that his subordinates reported his behavior to Warden Gus Mazarra, who, according to the report, stated it was news to him. But he did promise to look into it.

The probe was begun after one officer, John Meekins, went to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and filed a police report. He said he had been threatened with harm after conducting a search of two inmates’ property, seizing an unusually large amount of contraband. The search, standard procedure, infuriated Martinez because, Meekins and other officers alleged, the two women were Martinez’s girlfriends.

“You’re going to get your ass beat in the parking lot after work,” Martinez allegedly told Meekins in front of two other officers.

Martinez told Meekins that all the officers and sergeants on the shift were “pissed off” at him and that they would retaliate by beating him up.

Lewis, DOC’s spokesman, said that the warden, Mazarra, remains in command at the prison.

“The department continues to review the circumstances surrounding these incidents to ensure that this type of activity does not occur again,” Lewis said.

One of the officers interviewed in connection with the case was Sgt. Patrick Quercioli, who in October was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Ellington’s death.

Quercioli was the “Sgt. Q” Ellington claimed had threatened to beat her after she allegedly caught him doing something inappropriate.

Three inmates, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, wrote letters to Ellington’s family claiming that inmates at the prison are routinely beaten by guards for sport, that they suspect that inmate “suicides” at the prison were really killings covered up, and that male guards sexually abuse and threaten inmates.

Two of the letters were very detailed, providing the last names of guards, the “cliques” they belong to and how they use inmates as “pawns” in their power struggle to control the prison.

“It was almost like a gang,” wrote one inmate.

At the time she died, Ellington, a mother of four, was to be released in seven months after serving a 22-month sentence for grand theft. She was in confinement — separated from the general population — at the time of her death because the agency, DOC officials said, had taken her family’s concerns about the alleged threats seriously.

A private autopsy conducted on behalf of the family showed she suffered blunt-force trauma to her stomach consistent with being punched or kicked, according to Parks, the family’s lawyer.

Lowell Correctional and its annex, under unified management, have had 39 inmate deaths over the past five years, putting Lowell near the top among correctional institutions that don’t serve as hospitals. The annex houses older inmates.

Why are inmates dying in Florida prisons?

The U.S. Department of Justice is gathering evidence for a possible investigation into civil rights violations after deaths in Florida's prison system. The Miami Herald's Julie Brown joins to discuss.

http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/watch/why-are-inmates-dying-in-florida-prisons--379609667698

Part 2 of the George Mallinckrodt interview on "Human Rights Demand" Blogtalkradio channel Thursday night, Jan. 15, at 9pm EST

Please don't forget to tune in to Part 2 of the +George Mallinckrodt  interview on "Human Rights Demand" Blogtalkradio channel Thursday night, Jan. 15, at 9pm EST, when we continue discussing his book "Getting Away with Murder" in the FL DOC. Plan to call (347)857-3293, if you have questions and comments, or hear the show live or archived at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/humanrightsdemand/2015/01/16/getting-away-with-murder-a-george-millenckrodt-interview-part-2 Getting Away with Murder: A George Millenckrodt Interview Part 2 Human Rights for Prisoners March, hosted by Mary Neal. Call (347)857-3293 to comment or ask questions. George Mallinckrodt is a psychotherapist who... Reply to this email to comment publicly on Google+. Or view MaryLovesJustice Neal's post »

Join me on New Abolitionists Radio tomorrow night at 8pm

Greetings!

I expect to be in a lively discussion regarding my recent appearance before the Criminal Justice Committee in Tallahassee on January 5th. I'll join hosts Max Parthas, Yohanan EliYah, and Scotty Reid to update listeners on problems and solutions for the FL DOC.

George's Note: On June 24, 2015, I posted the show to my website. Please click on New Abolitionists Radio and scroll down to hear the archived broadcast

Join Radio Broadcast, "Human Rights Demand" Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, at 3pm EST - I'll talk about the issues and my recent appearance before the Criminal Justice Committee

 

GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER - Join "Human Rights Demand" Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, at 3pm EST, when our guest will be +George Mallinckrodt, author of "Getting Away with Murder." Call-in number (347)857-3293. Mallinckrodt was a licensed mental health counselor in the FL prison system who helped reveal the murder by scalding of Darren Rainey and a pattern of abuse and cover-ups by the FL DOC against mentally ill inmates. Part 2 of our interview will air live Thursday, January 15, at 9pm EST.

You are invited to call "Human Rights Demand" radio broadcast and make comments or ask questions, which will be aired live on the show. The broadcasts will also be available via computer and archived at Blogtalkradio for future listening and sharing 24/7 at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/humanrightsdemand

"The Florida Department of Corrections is riddled with amoral, sadistic sociopaths and the people who support, enable, and cover-up their crimes." ~@GeoMallinckrodt(Twitter address)

"If what is done to mentally ill Florida inmates was done in the military, these would be considered war crimes." ~George Mallinckrodt

+United Nations +Dr. Mustafa Ansari +Diana Beth +George Mallinckrodt 

Mr. Mallinckrodt goes to Tallahassee... apologies to Jimmy Stewart!

Happy New Year!

A big thanks goes out to those who supported me with words of encouragement and good luck wishes for my presentation!

Monday was a whirlwind day. I met with Senator Greg Evers, the Chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, along with staffers Amanda and Tracy. The hour-long discussion was wide-ranging and covered many of the abuses in the DOC and possible solutions. My takeaway from the meeting is that Senator Evers is determined to find solutions to a myriad of problems facing the FL DOC. I am hopeful bipartisan support will be forthcoming. After all, I'm sure no Senator is for the beating, torture, and killing of inmates - especially the mentally ill.

Senator Evers pointed out the importance of focusing on solutions. I couldn't agree more. While I may still point out problems and situations that continue to unfold in the FL DOC, I will focus more on solutions in the future. On that note, I welcome suggestions from everybody. This is a team effort. 

Thanks again,

George

Below is the video of the committee meeting. My part starts at around the 44 minute mark.

I'm speaking to the Criminal Justice Committee in Tallahassee on Monday the 5th

Hello Everyone!

The first session of the Criminal Justice Committee starts at 4pm on Monday the 5th. I will be speaking second after the FDLE. All the details can be found on the Senate website at:

http://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/Show/CJ/  .

It will also be televised live on the internet on the Florida Channel and select PBS stations:

http://thefloridachannel.org/about-tfc/how-to-watch/.

http://thefloridachannel.org/about-tfc/where-to-watch/

The meeting will also be archived as well:

http://thefloridachannel.org/videos/

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

                                                                                             Edmund Burke