Inmate Concerns and Former Inmate Experiences

This is a list sent to me of inmate concerns by inmates:

Inmates Concerns

1. Medical is deliberately indifferent to treating prisoners to save money. Medications and

diagnosis is not done. It is only if you have family to fight for you that you might get something
done. Dr. Rodriquez is head of medical and promotes this behavior.

2. Officers need to be psychologically evaluated for their abusive behavior. Abusive officers are promoted.

3. Bad behavior by inmates is rewarded by staff. Positive behavior is not reinforced by staff.

4. Chow hall food portions of vegetables are never the correct amount. Vegetables are served

frozen and too cold to eat. Dishes and cups are not washed properly. Milk and juice is
watered down to where you have vitamin loss and never get the full cup of milk or ½ cup of
juice that is on the menu. Mr. Corn has been the Food Director for years and allows this because he gets a bonus if he saves money.

5. Women are over-looked for programs; especially those with long sentences.

6. Have to have money to purchase hygiene. The state only supplies one small tube of

toothpaste and a hotel size bar of soap and one roll of toilet paper. If you need more toilet
paper or soap it is hard to get even though it is supposed to be on a as needed basis. This
doesn't happen and grievances rarely work.

OTHER CONCERNS

Women are different then men and that has never really been addressed. Also, women are less likely to leave prison and commit violent crimes. Most of us would be good candidates for parole but we need a chance. Some women have living death sentences with no possibility of parole or early release. To keep people locked up in the US costs 80 billion. In Europe most life sentences run 20 years because they believe in reform, that people can and do change and can be given a second chance.

Prison has become a business and police unions fight initiatives to lower sentences because they do

not want reduced prison populations for job security reasons. Prison is based on profit-not reform.

1. Re-enact Statute 944.30 (written to provide any person sentenced to 40 years plus and had served 10 calendar years with good behavior had the opportunity to be recommended by DOC
for commutation of sentence (for non-capital felonies)

2. Actually reinstate parole-people who have done 10 years or more on a case by case basis (still profitable as you have monthly fees)

3. Sentence reform. Many sentenced under Jim Crow laws-violation of civil rights. Sentences are disproportionate to the crime

In the end prisons are not cost effective nor does it accomplish a better society for the offender and the community.

Average Clemency hearing takes 5 to 6 years and most are denied. Clemencies should be heard within 2 years and if denied there should not be a waiting period. Why are so few clemencies
granted? Is it about profit?

Experiences of Former Inmates

“Straight from EXPERIENCE your right that officer is a real piece of shit ...she told me I didn't matter to nobody that I was just like the dog shit on the bottom of her shoe!! And y'all all it does is make is worse on the inmate if family calls and complains” (referring to Sergeant C)

“Man she nasty as hell. I was just there. Got out in February. She is one of the nastiest black officers there. She don't care about nun cuz she been there so long she know they not gone do nun. All she do is sit on her fat ass. But plz be careful. Retaliation is real at Lowell. She can b in confinement for up to 60 days. N they can also ship her if they feel like she's a problem for their staff.”

“I don't know her I don't think because I left there in 2014 to go to work early but tell her on the annex the best thing to do is mind yer business and keep your nose clean. Don't let them affect her just keep your head high and when they holler inmate keep walking because it's 1,500 walking around in blue and when they address you as inmate you don't know who you're talking to I never turn around until they say my name I know how sorry that Sergeant C is she's a nasty nasty b**** and I feel so sorry for your daughter that she's been pegged as her person to pick on cuz she's brutal but has your daughter told you if you do call up there they will retaliate and putting her in confinement under investigation and they could leave her in there for up to six months for no reason with no shampoo it's awful”
          

“I came home from Lowell's main unit and work camp June 3rd 2015 I only served an 18-month sentence so while I was there my first day walking into the prison I went to the Guard Station to figure out which bed was mine and I saw this girl giving the male officer head under the desk the first 10 minutes I was inside the prison I observe several guards having sex with the female inmates I was there when the two officers murdered the girl in confinement one of my bunkmates was having an affair with the assistant Warden that place is horrible they treat the women like we are third personal prostitutes and if we don't do what they want us to they take us to confinement for whatever they can find its a very sad unprofessional place 3 out of 5 guards are having sex with inmates or making them have sex for money they are beating and hitting the inmates they use slander and call you anything you want I ever watched a male guard spit in one girls face because she asked for toilet paper something needs to be done it's by far the worst thing I've ever seen”

“I would have to write a book to tell you everything I went through however I do not let it affect the choices that I make for the rest of my life I have extreme severe anxiety and PTSD I have to take 1 milligram Xanax a day 1.5 milligram Klonopin at night and I have to take ADD meds as well that prison really messed me up and I can say this the officers that they hire to so-call correct us are so corrupt and a lot of them are in jail I know one that was really really nasty to her that molested a seven-year-old boy and he's doing 40 years now”

 

“I did 7 years and I can't explain what it has done to me. I don't take meds but god I need them. Trying to do all that I'm doing does not hide how I actually feel inside when I'm all alone. There's days that make me wonder if I can continue. My mind never leaves that place and the degradation that I endured. But also there isn't a single soul that would understand that's in my life thus far. Everyone's proud no doubt of the accomplishments but that doesn't change what I go through on the inside. The whole system is far from justice or rehabilitation. It's mind and soul changing and nothing for the better.”

 

“Well I lost a lot when I went to prison,i did not see my family for the whole four years ,so I was very lonely an to top it off no one really help for the first part of my time I did laundry just to have soap to take a bath,then my husband decided to come back in the picture an help me a lil my kids were to lil to help an I cried so many nites because I had no one an now that I'm free I'm not really free on the inside, I'm a 50 year woman with no career, no job,a n barely have somewhere to stay because I had to come back to my husband an he don't abuse me on mentally an it's hard ,,, I still cry an think how prison took my life away an I still have not got it back all because I was money hungry,now all I do is pray that I do find a job an be independent without anyone but it's hard with a criminal record ,, everyone thinks your the same an I'm not,,,it changed me in so many ways some good some bad because I have a lot of hatred now especially for authority because Lowell is run by a bunch of ass holes an if your not one of their picks you gonna do some hard time,,,just like a few years ago when Sadie got in that fight in O dorm an went to lock it was not her fault but she went to confinement an like everyone says if u say something your going to confinement,i never went ,,I did my time by myself,i did not have many friends an it was probably because I had no money,. I don't want to bore you anymore but thanks for listening.

“and if she uses names over the phone she is likely to go under investigation. which means lock the most inhumane thing known to an inmate in prison. It happen to me several times. Even the girl killed in there for reaching out to inmates went no where. Once your behind those doors your lost in the system. Even calling they give you no information or they make worse on the inmate to the point that one will tell there family to just leave it alone. I have a best friend still in there with a life sentence. I go through it with her every day. She is having such a hard time, but when we talk everyday we are careful to what we say in fear of her going under investigation. Her mother has two weeks to live and if she went they wouldn't even let her call home or have visit even under the circumstances.”

“But as far as I was concerned, it was state sponsored verbal, sexual, emotional and physical abuse

I am a former "resident" of the LCI work camp and suffered a dislocated and severely fractured arm. They ignored all of my requests and grievances for medical care. The injury happened in 2012, I was released in 2014 and finally had surgery in December, 2015. Couldn't get help immediately because I had no health insurance. Then when I got insurance through my employer, no one would see me because of the history of the injury. Had a friend who spoke with his orthopedic surgeon and he agreed to see me. He was amazed that I had lived with the pain for so long because of the severity of the injury. All three bones were not aligned, the end of the humerus was pulverized, and both the ulnar and radius were fractured. There was so much corruption at the Work Camp. Inmates giving oral sex for cigarettes and drugs. A female officer was fired for having an affair with an inmate from the dog program, medical care was refused over and over again. I spoke with Julie Brown from the Miami Herald and unless an officer was willing to talk with her, she wasn't interested. I've spoken with numerous attorneys, many who I wrote to while I was still there, and haven't found anyone who wants to represent me with a suit against the state. I've been employed at the Doubletree by Hilton Tallahassee, where many of our Senators, Representatives, and Lobbyists stay. Needless to say I would love to talk with them but can't because of my job. I am very respected at the hotel, currently considered a supervisor, and right now filling in as the Night Auditor while waiting to hire additional staff. If I can help you in any way, please let me know.

I lost everything, my parents are deceased, my sentence was ridiculous for the crime I committed (taking windows from a vacant house ... that's another story from someone who was respected in my community). Our judicial system is horrific! But the system gets $$$ for all who are sentenced. I have been a guest speaker at FSU, and at several association board meetings. Please keep me posted.

She called me a whore when I was there. So uncalled for. (referring to Sergeant C)

He's the one that punched my friend in the face because she would'nt allow her girlfriend to have sex with him. (referring to the officer interviewed by Julie K Brown)

It's really is hopeless..complaining will only get your daughter in more shit..i was there I 2013 had a guard run me down n put his face so close to mine that are noses touched as he screamed n yelled n belittled me as I did nothing because I was afraid of going to lock..i wrote home n a week later I was locked up in confinement under a protection investigation because my mom called to complain n threaten to start an investigation from Tallahassee and They can take months to resolve n the whole time you never leave you get stuck there in a cell for doing nothing wrong,taking showers every three days no day light.. be careful how you go about doing this ma'am trust me your daughter will be the one to suffer..

I was at Lowell CI for a year and a half. In the time that I was there multiple inmates died due to medical neglect, abuse and one girl was actually strangled by an officer that she filed a grievance against for raping her. When an officer hits an inmate, they just get moved to another compound. If an inmate gets pregnant then she gets moved into confinement on another compound and after she gives birth the officer is allowed to return to the compound. I myself spend over 60 days in confinement because an officer was making sexual advances and would call me into the officers station in the middle of the night. He would bring me in there with all of the lights out and everything. He got to stay on the compound while I was in confinement. I never saw anyone about why I was in there. When Warden Gordon would come by I would try and talk to her and she would just say that it was not her problem. To talk to my classification officer. Whom I could never get to really talk to. I ended up being released from confinement only because I grieved classification using chapter 33. I never even saw the investigator and ended up back in the dorm where that officer worked. The going's on at Lowell CI are out of control. The drugs aside because you will find them anywhere, things are so corrupt. Women are forced to cut all their hair off because they are black and it is not in "natural" braids. You are forced to go without TP or pads because you are not willing to pay the costs. You will be called out and bullied because they think it is funny and you have to just stand there and take it because otherwise they can put you in confinement and accidentally "lose" all your stuff. Confinement is the worst. You can only shower 3 days a week and only with the tiny bar of soap they give you because for some reason all of your stuff is contraband. Even your shampoo and soap. If you are DC you are not allowed to have any sort of reading materials, not even religious materials. No matter where you are at, don't piss off the wrong officer. They will tear apart everything you own and take most of it calling it all contraband. Even your pillow. The few things that you do have to keep you from going insane there are things like the rec yard or the library. Also things like meetings and what not. These are all privileges and not ones that they like to give you. They will do anything to keep you as miserable as possible. We had times when we were in count time for 2 hours and would not be allowed to get up and go to the bathroom and would get a CC or a DR if we tried. (CC is corrective consultation like detention. DR is a disciplinary report like being suspended). All of this does not come close to the whole picture of Lowell CI, but after everything I went through there, it is all I am willing to relive at this moment. My prayers are with all of the women still there and their families.

this place is hell on earth and just because you are in prison gives no one the right to treat you like a animal! I spent 2 yrs of my life there for a crime that I did not do... Never been in trouble in the 50 yrs of my life but 3 months in florida I find myself in the worst trouble and end up at Lowell annex where I was called a crack whore by the guards and staff,laughed at when I was in medical, called a liar,pos, I was faking my illnesses ect... IT NEEDS SHUT DOWN ....No one is blaming the staff they are just stating facts here ..I don't do drugs, not a hooker,thief and surely never done a thing to wind up there but, the justice system there is surely not justice!!!! Guards use the woman there a sex slaves and if you don't do as they say you end up dead...