By Austin L. Miller
Ocala Star-Banner, Fla.
OCALA, Fla. — A little more than two years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division came to Marion County and interviewed scores of people, wanting to know about the conditions at Lowell Correctional Institution, a state prison for women. Before leaving, they visited the prison and gathered additional information.
For several years before the government’s investigation, inmates past and present have bitterly complained about their treatment at Lowell, which is off Gainesville Road in northwest Marion.
The complaints vary from sexual misconduct to beatings to mistreatment by guards and supervisors. One former inmate, Cheryl Weimar, was reportedly beaten so severely by four guards that she was paralyzed. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate that case.
On Tuesday, the DOJ and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, whose jurisdiction includes Marion County, announced “there is reasonable cause to believe that the conditions at Lowell Correctional Institution (Lowell) in Ocala, Florida, violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. Specifically, the department concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that Lowell fails to protect prisoners from sexual abuse by the facility’s staff.”
DOJ officials said in a news release that pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), they have given Lowell a “written notice of the supporting facts for these alleged conditions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address them.”
In announcing the decision, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, of the Civil Rights Division, is quoted as saying, “Prison officials have a constitutional duty to protect prisoners from harm, including sexual abuse by staff.” Dreiband added: “Sexual abuse is never acceptable, and it is not part of any prisoner’s sentence.”
Dreiband said the investigation found that “staff sexually abused women incarcerated at Lowell and that these women remain at substantial risk of sexual abuse by staff.” The government official said “our investigation also found that sexual abuse is frequent. This systemic misconduct means that many women suffer abuse. In addition, prisoners are discouraged from reporting sexual abuse and investigations of sexual abuse allegations are inadequate.”
Dreiband calls the action illegal, and said the “indecent treatment of women must end, and the Department of Justice will not tolerate it.”
The U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Maria Chapa Lopez, said: “Sexual abuse cannot be tolerated anywhere and female prison inmates are particularly vulnerable during their confinement.”
Lopez said the investigation into Lowell is “a first step towards putting an end to sexual abuse at the Lowell Correctional Institution, and we look forward to working with the State of Florida in finding tangible, effective solutions.”
In the last several years, state officials have investigated sexual battery offenses reported to them, and some corrections officers have been sentenced for having sex with inmates.
The state Department of Corrections said in a press release that “FDC has cooperated fully with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division during their investigation initiated in 2017 and will continue to do so. We appreciate the work of the U.S. Department of Justice and will be sharing the actions our Department has taken to address the serious concerns outlined in their review.”
DOJ’s statement on Lowell was greeted with applause by those who have long advocated reform at the prison.
Former Lowell inmate Debra Bennett, who calls herself a prison mom, and has a nonprofit organization called Change Comes Now, said officials at Lowell need to be held accountable.
“Coming for ya’, Lowell. We want it to stop. This is the push we need,” Bennett said Tuesday.
Bennett has organized protests outside Lowell and has collected and sent supplies to the prison, even though she’s not allowed to be on the compound. In her opinion, the prison needs to be closed to end the constant abuse.
“Something has to change. Things happening there, should not be going on,” she said.
Last year, FAMM, a criminal justice reform organization, was one of two groups that sponsored a meeting between former Lowell inmates and their families with Florida state representatives in Ocala.
On Tuesday, the group’s Florida director of policy, Greg Newburn, said: “The families of women incarcerated at Lowell have literally been begging for years for someone — anyone — to listen to their allegations of rampant sexual abuse.”
Newburn said there needs to be an independent oversight of the nation’s jails and prisons, and he called on leaders to act.
“Anyone who bothered paying attention knew this was happening, and nobody did anything about it. How many women have to be sexually assaulted in prison before our leaders act?”
(c)2020 the Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala, Fla.)