Families, advocates worry as COVID-19 spreads in Florida prisons without response orlandosentinel.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from orlandosentinel.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Florida prison staff, inmates wait on word for vaccine eligibility
19 states have prioritized inmates, staff
For at least 210 Florida inmates, a prison sentence turned into a death sentence due to COVID-19.
and last updated 2021-03-15 18:19:29-04
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For at least 210 Florida inmates, a prison sentence turned into a death sentence due to COVID-19.
The second-highest death toll in the country for prison inmates continues to tick up. The death rate is 1.5 times the rate in Florida overall.
Currently, Florida inmates are not eligible for a vaccine.
âI know what itâs like to try to get medical care under normal conditions, so to further exasperate that under COVID conditions, itâs a nightmare,â said Susan Melendy, whose son is in prison.
Attorney Cynthia Ross, representing the state attorneys office of the 20th Judicial Circuit, requested rescheduling the status hearing to August due to COVID-19 infections in the state prison system.
Twenty-one state prison facilities are listed as having active COVID-19 cases. Toye is currently incarcerated at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala, not among those with active COVID cases. I ve been in contact with defense counsel, Ross told the judge. They ve indicated they have not been able to visit Miss Toye because of COVID in the DOC facilities and want the opportunity to speak with her.
COVID-19 in DOC facilities keeping attorneys from meeting with Ashley Toye
TALLAHASSEE Florida prison officials are pushing back against a U.S. Department of Justice report that found reasonable cause to believe “varied and disturbing reports” of sexual abuse, including rape, of female inmates by staff members at the state’s largest women’s correctional facility.
The investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and federal prosecutors in Florida also said state officials had documented and been aware of sexual abuse by sergeants, correctional officers and other staff at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala since at least 2006. The report about alleged misconduct at the women’s prison was released in December.
Lowell state prison. (Facebook)
Florida prison officials are pushing back against a U.S. Department of Justice report that found reasonable cause to believe “varied and disturbing reports” of sexual abuse including rape of female inmates by staff members at the state’s largest women’s correctional facility.
The investigation by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and federal prosecutors in Florida also said state officials had documented and been aware of sexual abuse by sergeants, correctional officers and other staff at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala since at least 2006. The report about alleged misconduct at the women’s prison was released in December.