Tag: florida

Florida’s Bloated Prison System Will Cost Billions To Maintain

Florida’s crumbling prison system and aging prison population will cost the state billions to maintain, according to a newly released report commissioned by the state.

A report presented to Florida state lawmakers on Wednesday by the firm KPMG says that Florida will have to pay somewhere between $6 billion and $12 billion over the next 20 years to keep its troubled Department of Corrections (DOC) afloat.

KPMG presented lawmakers with three different options, from most-expensive to least-expensive, to “modernize,” “manage,” or “mitigate” its prison system. According to the report, the Florida prison population is projected to swell from nearly 89,000 people to at least 107,000 by 2042. As it stands, KPMG found that 25 DOC facilities were in “poor” condition, and 16 were in “critical” condition.

Regardless of which option legislators choose, the price tag includes over $580 million for new air conditioning systems (75 percent of Florida state prisons do not have air conditioning), $2.2 billion for immediate repairs, and $200 million to $700 million a year to increase staffing. All three of the proposals include building at least one new prison and two new prison hospitals.

“The findings in the report confirm what lawmakers in both parties and Department of Corrections leadership have been saying for years, which is that the state prison system is in crisis and unsustainable,” says Greg Newburn, the director of criminal justice at the Niskanen Center, says.

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Florida’s DeSantis bans pro-Palestinian group from state campuses

Florida’s university system, working with Governor Ron DeSantis, ordered colleges on Tuesday to shut down a pro-Palestinian student organization, marking the first U.S. state to outlaw the group whose national leadership backed Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The State University System of Florida said chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had to be dismantled as part of a “crack down” in the Republican-led state on campus demonstrations that provide “harmful support for terrorist groups.”

“Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated,” the system’s Chancellor Ray Rodrigues wrote in a memo to university leaders.

SJP is active in at least two Florida universities, Rodrigues said.

The University of North Florida in Jacksonville and Florida State University in Tallahassee have SJP chapters, based on Instagram sites. The National SJP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tensions between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students have led to harassment and assaults at U.S. universities since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Administrators at some U.S. universities criticized the National SJP after it called Hamas’ attack “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and called for a “day of resistance” on Oct. 12 with demonstrations by its chapters at over 200 colleges in America and Canada.

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Florida Attorney General Defends Firing Of Corrections Officer For Using Medical Marijuana To Treat PTSD

A case filed with the Florida Supreme Court tests whether the Department of Corrections properly fired a corrections officer because of his use of medical marijuana while off work.

Florida’s First District Court of Appeal upheld the firing, but Samuel Velez Ortiz now argues before the state Supreme Court that the action violates both the Florida Constitution’s sanction of medical marijuana and the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rulings establishing a broad right to bear firearms.

The state Public Employees Relation Commission upheld the firing, reasoning that his medical marijuana use rendered him unqualified to carry a firearm—a condition of his employment—under federal law prohibiting use of the drug.

A petition that Velez Ortiz’s attorneys filed with the state Supreme Court cites 2022’s New York State Rifle Pistol v. Bruen, in which the justices in Washington established a public right to carry firearms outside the home for self protection. Subsequent rulings by a federal trial judge in Oklahoma and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the right of sober persons to carry guns even if they smoked marijuana on other occasions.

“This lower court’s [First DCA] opinion permits a sanction on medical marijuana patients, which results in loss of employment for being a qualified patient and strips a person’s right to bear arms for being a qualified patient,” it says. “The opinion states because he uses medical marijuana ‘he cannot lawfully possess a firearm. Each time he does, he is committing a felony.’”

The brief notes that Velez Ortiz was a qualified medical marijuana user because of his PTSD and never worked while under the influence. A random drug test flagged him for cannabis metabolites.

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Horrifying moment cops HANDCUFF nine-year-old special needs child throwing a tantrum at Florida elementary school

The parents of a 9-year-old Florida boy are suing the city of Oviedo and local police after officers handcuffed their child in a school mailroom during a violent outburst and threatened to send him to jail.

The parents say excessive force was used when a cop handcuffed their son, in a shocking moment captured on body cam footage that was released to the public on Thursday.

The fourth grader is a special needs child who is prone to outbursts – to the point where the school, Stenstrom Elementary, had a specific procedure in place.

The student’s Individual Education Plan and Behavior Intervention Plan mentions ‘physical aggression’ as a behavior problem, according to a complaint filed September 27.

Staff were instructed not to ‘engage in any conversation other than having him complete the task’ and otherwise ‘limit the level of attention directed to him,’ the complaint says.

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Defenders of the Florida and Texas Social Media Laws Contradict Themselves

Social media companies argue that their content moderation decisions are a form of editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment. Conservative critics of those companies reject that argument, even as they complain that the platforms’ decisions reflect a progressive agenda.

That contradiction is at the heart of two cases that the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear, which involve constitutional challenges to state laws that aim to correct the bias that Republicans perceive. Although supporters of those laws claim they are defending freedom of speech, that argument hinges on a dangerous conflation of state and private action.

The 2021 Florida law at issue in Moody v. NetChoice requires social media platforms to host speech by any “candidate for office,” even when it violates their content rules. The law also says platforms may not limit the visibility of material “by or about” a political candidate and may not “censor, deplatform, or shadow ban a journalistic enterprise based on the content of its publication or broadcast.”

The law does not cover relatively small, right-leaning platforms such as Gab, Parler, Rumble, and Truth Social. It applies only to the largest platforms, such as Twitter (now X), Facebook, and YouTube, which Republicans have long accused of discriminating against conservative speech.

Florida politicians made it clear that they were trying to address that perceived imbalance. The bill’s legislative findings, which complain that Facebook et al. have “unfairly censored, shadow banned, deplatformed, and applied post-prioritization algorithms,” assert that the state has a “substantial interest in protecting its residents from inconsistent and unfair actions” by those platforms.

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Florida Is Giving Foster Children Powerful Psychotropic Drugs Without Proper Records, Audit Finds 

An audit conducted this summer revealed that children in Florida’s foster care system are being prescribed powerful psychotropic medications at alarmingly high rates. In many cases, state child welfare officials are failing to properly document prescriptions, resulting in children taking powerful medications with scant medical records available to justify them.

Over 2,200 children that are currently in Florida’s foster care system—around one in 10—are prescribed psychotropic medications, reported the Tampa Bay Times. For foster children over the age of 13, more than one in three are on this kind of medication, which includes treatments for conditions like ADHD, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

According to state rules, “the physician or psychiatric nurse recommending the psychotropic medication is required to complete and sign a medical report,” and each prescription “is required to be documented on a medication log. The case manager must obtain the medication logs at each home visit and include the medication logs in the child’s case file” with the Florida Safe Families Network (FSFN), the state’s child welfare agency.

Yet a state audit released in July found “no records of the psychotropic medications prescribed in the case file in the state’s primary case management system,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Logs that record the frequency and dosage of psychotropic medication were missing from 66% of case files reviewed, and authorization records were not found in more than one-third of the case files.”

Even more troubling, the audit found that the state welfare agency did not document prescriptions in 57 out of the 60 cases of children prescribed opioid medication that were reviewed. 

“These documentation deficiencies occurred because the State agency did not have adequate controls to ensure the [child protective investigators] and case managers maintained the children’s case files in FSFN in accordance with State requirements,” the audit reads. “Without adequate controls in place, the State agency could not ensure that children in foster care received the necessary monitoring and care. As a result, the children’s quality of care and health and safety may have been at risk.”

This lack of documentation has had severe effects on many children in Florida’s foster care system. Without proper documentation, children can end up taking unnecessary medications or not getting the prescriptions they actually need.

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Cops sued for zip tying and arresting 6-year-old girl

The family of a 6-year-old Florida girl who made headlines after she was arrested and had her wrists zip-tied in 2019 has filed a lawsuit, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Video of the incident showed Kaia Rolle sobbing while she was placed in zip ties after hitting and kicking staffers at Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy Charter School.

Her grandmother says the now-10-year-old still has trauma from the incident.

“This is a lifelong mission of recovery for Kaia,” Meralyn Kirkland said. “This should not happen.”

The family is suing over the child’s “cruel, senseless and terrorizing arrest,” which they say was done to “instill fear and humiliation” in her, as well as excessive force, false arrest and malicious prosecution. It’s seeking $50,000 in damages.

In addition to damages, the family is demanding that the minimum arrest age be raised to 14.

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Jury finds Florida black nationalist guilty of lesser manslaughter charge for killing officer execution-style

Black nationalist Othal Wallace, who shot Florida police officer Jason Raynor in the head in 2021, which ultimately killed him, was found guilty of manslaughter for his actions.

The verdict came shortly before 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, per Fox News.

Wallace was promptly put in handcuffs and taken into custody following the guilty verdict, and did not appear to have any reaction. 

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood issued a statement following the verdict, saying, “The message I take away from this jury is that it’s open season on law enforcement.”

He added, “A lesser charge of Manslaughter for the MURDER of Daytona Beach Police Officer Jason Raynor is a slap in the face of everyone who puts on a uniform.”

Chitwood continued, “The same Othal Wallace who posted ‘1 Day I Will Take Great Pride And Honor In Getting Me Some Pigs Blood On My Hands And Boots’ may just get the chance to walk free one day.”

“Jason Raynor doesn’t get that chance. His family only gets to hold onto his memory. His life may not matter to the jury, but it mattered to us. My faith in the American jury has been shaken before. I have seen juries ignore video evidence and disregard victims. I have never been more disgusted by a verdict than I am today. My heart goes out to the family and friends of Officer Raynor who must feel many magnitudes of pain all over again. All I can say is I agree and share your anger.”

Originally, the 29-year-old Othal “O’Zone” Wallace was slapped with a charge for attempted first-degree murder after he had shot Raynor in the head. Raynor had been taken to the hospital, and later died from the gunshot wound.

Days later, Wallace was captured while hiding in a tree house located in DeKalb County, Georgia. The three-acre property where he was discovered was tied with the Not F—ing Around Coalition (NFAC), a black nationalist paramilitary organization. Aside from Wallace himself, numerous flash bangs, rifle plates, body armor, two rifles, two handguns, and several boxes of ammunition were discovered in the treehouse. 

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Jacksonville Dollar General shooting leaves four people dead including gunman whose assault rife was covered in Nazi swastikas for ‘racially motivated’ attack

A shooting at a Florida Dollar General store in Northwest Jacksonville which left three black people dead was ‘racially motivated,’ officials say. 

The incident, which also saw the white gunman die from a self-inflicted gun wound, on Saturday is being investigated as a hate crime by the FBI and local authorities. 

The suspected shooter, in his 20s, used an assault rifle covered in Nazi swastikas in the attack, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

He is said to have sent a manifesto which detailed his racial hatred to police, media and his parents before the attack. 

Emergency services, including a SWAT team, rushed to the scene on Kings Road, at around 1pm on Saturday. 

Sheriff T.K. Waters said the gunman ‘hated black people’ and ‘wanted to kill “n******”.’ He described the shooting as a ‘dark day in Jacksonville’s history’. 

There were unconfirmed reports and photographs on Saturday night circulating around the suspected gunman’s identity. But police are yet to confirm his name. 

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‘This Is Not an Emergency’

Documents uncovered in a civil rights lawsuit show Florida prison officials and medical staff allowed an incarcerated man’s prostate cancer to spread untreated until he was left paralyzed, terminally ill, and afflicted with infected bed sores that rotted to the bone.

When he wrote desperate pleas for help, one official concluded, “This is not an emergency.”

In a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last year, former Florida inmate Elmer Williams alleges that corrections officers and nursing staff denied and delayed medical treatment for months after he filed a grievance against them. The complaint argues these delays were not just bureaucratic incompetence but retaliation “intended and designed to prevent [Williams] from receiving a timely diagnosis.” The lawsuit alleges violations of the Eighth Amendment and the Americans with Disabilities Act; it names several Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) officials and medical staff employed by Centurion, a private health care provider that contracts with the FDC.

Williams, 56, spoke to Reason from the hospital bed where he has spent most of his time since the FDC granted him medical release last October, and where he will in all likelihood spend his final days.

“Slowly, slowly, slowly, they just let me fall apart,” he says.

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