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Fla. lawmakers call for firings, prison reform in wake of leaked beating video

The use of force was deemed appropriate by FDC, but UOF experts and former prison officials disagree

Dianne Hart Florida.jpg

Orlando House Rep. Dianne Hart is one of several lawmakers calling for change in the wake of the leaked video.

Florida House of Representatives

By Ben Conarck
The Miami Herald

May 29—South Florida state Sens. Jason Pizzo and Shevrin Jones joined Orlando House Rep. Dianne Hart on Friday in calling for meaningful prison reform after footage leaked from a facility north of Fort Myers revealed the beating of a handcuffed inmate by five officers clad in tactical gear.

The calls came the day after the Miami Herald published a special report on the handling of Michel Hernandez, who was restrained with handcuffs cinched to his stomach with a chain, known as a “black box,” as well as leg shackles, when he was beaten multiple times by a team of officers.

Although the use of force was deemed appropriate by the Florida Department of Corrections, other use-of-force experts and former Florida prison officials who reviewed the video as well as leaked use-of-force reports concluded that the officers used excessive force on Hernandez and inaccurately described what precipitated the clash.

Hart, a Democrat who has frequently visited prisons since she joined the Florida Legislature in 2018, called for “the removal of all officers involved in this incident and anyone else who played a role in this abuse and cover-up.”

“It is disheartening to hear of incident after incident of inmates falling victim to abuse and mistreatment at the hands of corrections officers,” Hart said. “It is time for real structural changes in the Florida Department of Corrections ... to clean house of those who look to abuse their power and pass legislation that will create a real system of oversight and accountability within our state’s correctional institutions.”

As in most states, Florida’s prison officials investigate much of their own alleged misconduct. The Department of Corrections contends that its Office of Inspector General, “an independent law enforcement agency,” appropriately reviews all violence within its walls and disciplines officers who run afoul of policy or commit crimes.

But those with loved ones in the Florida prison system have less faith in the IG’s office, and so do two of the state lawmakers who released statements on Friday.

In Hernandez’s case, the OIG found his handling did not violate policy despite the officers’ reports not matching the footage and despite several potential policy violations, as observed by former prison officials.

“The fact that the Department of Corrections found no policy violations or criminal acts in this video, which is rife with needless beating, hitting, kicking, and striking of a human being, is appalling,” said Jones, a Broward County Democrat. “Violent assault on inmates is the most common type of abuse committed by correctional officers, and the officers’ unnecessary and excessive use of force upon a defenseless person in this video is horrifyingly a typical example.”

Pizzo, a Miami Democrat who is one of the legislators most involved in working with Department of Corrections officials to improve training and staffing issues, said the video “encapsulates the reason behind our repeated attempts to address” them.

“I believe some of the actions in this particular incident violate both the spirit and the protocol for staff and inmate interactions,” Pizzo said.

The Department of Corrections did not respond to an email on Friday asking if Secretary Mark Inch has changed his views on the beating since its initial response. Earlier in the week, the department issued a statement saying that use of force on Hernandez was “authorized due to the inmate’s actions,” but refused to elaborate, or answer other questions.

Both Jones and Hart recalled the Florida Department of Corrections’ history of inmate beatings. It was less than two years ago that Cheryl Weimar, a 51-year-old woman afflicted with with mental illness, suffered a beating so severe she was rendered a quadriplegic.

At Lowell Correctional, a women’s prison near Ocala, Weimar was slammed into a concrete floor, elbowed in her neck, then dragged “like a rag doll” through the facility, where she was taken outside, away from cameras, and assaulted nearly to death, according to her federal civil rights lawsuit.

Earlier that summer, Hart got her start as a prison watchdog in the Florida House after the beating of Otis Miller, whose assault at Lake Correctional near Orlando was captured on a contraband cellphone and uploaded to YouTube. Later, leaked group chats revealed a culture of abuse at the prison, where officers exchanged pleasantries like “F--- him” and “I want more lol” after assaulting Miller.

The lawmaker told the Herald that when she first saw the Hernandez tape, it instantly reminded her of Miller.

“Except this poor guy was handcuffed, chained and all,” Hart said of Hernandez. “Otis was not chained or anything like that, but the way they beat him was very much the same. And my heart just bled, because it’s the same reason why we showed up to Lake [Correctional] two years ago.”

(c)2021 Miami Herald

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