Is it necessary for Florida to bring back the mandate that allows the Florida Prison Inspector to investigate all in-custody deaths within Florida County Jails? Here are some reasons for you to ponder, as to why this should happen.
Updated August 11, 2011
"Trust, but verify."- U.S. President, Ronald Reagan
In the late 1990s, the Florida Legislature repealed Florida Administrative Code 33-8 (F.A.C 33-8). Prior to its repeal F.A.C 33-8 mandated that all in-custody jail deaths were to be investigated by Florida State Prison Inspectors, assigned within the State Department of Corrections.
F.A.C. 33-8 insured a "check and balance" investigation / review of any internal or local investigation into the events surrounding these types of deaths.
In VolusiaExposed.Com's Mission Statement, we addressed the need for the State of Florida to re-assume their past responsibilities regulating all county jails under Florida's Administrative Code 33-8 (F.A.C 33-8).
Since F.A.C. 33-8 has been repealed, it has been replaced with the Florida Model Jail Standards (FMJS). The FMJS were developed and have been maintained by the Florida Sheriff's Association. Initially the Florida Sheriffs Association incorporated most of the repealed F.A.C 33-8 standards into the FMJS. However, over time many standards have either been abolished or seriously reduced.
First and most importantly, under F.A.C. 33-8 standards it was mandatory for all Florida County jails to participate and comply with these standards. Violations of these standards had serious penalities attached. However, under FMJS, participation is voluntary and violations come with no enforceable penalties.
Second, since the Florida Sheriff Association operates the FMJS, the jails are inspected (the jails that even participate in the inspection process) by the membership of the Florida Sheriff Association. This obviously can open the whole inspection process up to probable conflict of interest problems, since the sheriffs of the State of FLorida are left to self inspect each other's jails.
Third, as stated above, many high F.A.C 33-8 standards have been seriously reduced under FMJS. Under F.A.C 33-8 county jails were inspected semi-annually, while under FMJS they are inspected only annually. Under F.A.C 33-8, all in-custody deaths were independently investigated by State Prison Inspectors. This independent investigation gave a "check and balance" quality assurance to the in house investigation conducted by the local sheriff department. FMJS has no authority to independently investigate these in-custody deaths.
VolusiaExposed.Com has concerns that the lowering of these standards has placed the safety of inmates,the public and jail officers in serious jeopardy. Our detailed concerns can be reviewed within the attached report.
The risk to inmates can be seen in the apparently lack of receiving timely and proper medical treatment and the falsification of safety rounds by correctional staff (as is detailed below - see TRACY VEIRA incident). While the risk to the public became blantantly clear during two high profile 2010 jail escapes from the Osceola County Jail. These escapes brought to light many problems that have been allowed to develop since the repeal of jail inspections under the F.A.C. 33-8 inspection process. Futher, these serious violations are not germane to only Osceola County - Volusia County jail has released the wrong inmates on several occesions, thus putting the public at great risk.
VolusiaExposed.Com wishes to express some concerns regarding county jail in-custody deaths. In many of these situations, the sole agency entrusted to do a "hands on" investigation on these deaths is the same agency (or governmental body) in which the death transpired. A recent case in point is the recent in-custody death of Orange County Jail Inmate Ronnie Benton. Video evidence tends to suggest that his heart attack went untreated for over 12 minutes by a jail nurse that was mere feet away. VolusiaExposed.Com invites our readers to review the attached media link (with video) of this incident.
Shouldn't these jail deaths be investigated / reviewed by an independent body such as the Florida State Prison Inspector (as was the previous procedure prior to the discontinuation of F.A.C. 33-8)? We at VolusiaExposed.Com strongly believe that these in-custody jail deaths should have these independent investigations.
VolusiaExposed.Com questions why deaths within Florida Mental Health facilities are dual investigated. (by local law enforcement and the Department of Children and Families), but no such dual investigations are mandated regarding in-custody jail deaths.
Because these jail deaths are not investigated by an independent outside agency, it appears that many questionable practices are being ignored by local law enforcement investigators. VolusiaExposed.Com has some concerns regarding the 2009 in-custody death of Volusia County Jail Inmate Tracy Veira. Were jail staff falsifying safety rounds on this inmate? Did the local law enforcement investigation detect the inconsistency between Ms. Veira alleged last known live interaction with staff and her body's rigor mortis and lividity when discovered? Did local law enforcement fail to follow up on these inconsistencies?. We invite you to review the documentation surrounding the Tracy Veira incident and decide for yourself if this matter was handle appropriately by both correctional and investigative staff.