Sunday, September 13, 2015

Prison Implosion in Florida: Gov. Rick Scott Must Go ... by gimleteye

The recent Miami Herald investigations of a state prison system out-of-control in Florida are revolting. There have been seven Department of Corrections chiefs in seven years. The reason, unstated by the Herald but clear to any observer: Florida is suffering a complete failure of leadership at the top.

"Miami Herald investigation: Young inmates beaten and raped in prison broomstick ritual", A "Test of the Heart" is described as the routine punishment of young inmates by other inmates; inserting a broomstick and raping the boys' anus. What is happening in Florida's prisons is medieval.

There is one man responsible: Gov. Rick Scott.

Let's be clear about Rick Scott: he is a self-made centi-millionaire whose fortune grew from his skill navigating (some would call it, "gaming") complex rules and regulations governing health care. This man, in other words, knows rules and regulations.

So why has Gov. Scott proven so completely inept at supervising top officials in law enforcement and prisons, so inept at administering rules and codes of behavior and conduct? The answer doesn't matter: he is a one-man show, without competent staff, or he is indifferent, cruel or heartless, or plain uninterested in any behavior other than that ruled by capitalism. The shame can't go on.

"Inmates are greeted, almost from the day they arrive, with the harshest realities of Florida’s abusive prison system. Over the past year, since the Herald began investigating the state’s prisons, the DOC has fired, and other agencies have arrested, dozens of corrections officers — including a number at Lancaster — for beating inmates and then lying on official reports to cover up their wrongdoing. Since May 8, 2015, the department has dismissed 316 employees for cause, Lewis said."

So in other words, ours is a governor who allowed medieval conditions to fester in one of the largest prison populations in the nation per capita, tolerating rage and abuse and mistreatment at the youngest, lowest level of incarceration.

It is Florida's governor who needs to be fired for cause: not later, now.

13 comments:

Geniusofdespair said...

Check out Fred Grimm on Scott:

AHCA inspectors hit all 16 Planned Parenthood clinics in Florida that perform abortions (not bothering with the 50 other licensed abortion clinics in Florida not operated by Planned Parenthood). Last month, the agency summarized the results of the investigation for the press, which, of course, Scott’s political operative decided was in need of editing.

So a certain inconvenient sentence was removed from a press release summing up an investigation into whether fetal remains had been mishandled by those 16 clinics.

Out came: “However, there is no evidence of the mishandling of fetal remains at any of the 16 clinics we investigated across the state.” Well, you can see how that particular cluster of words might have disrupted the police narrative coming out of the governor’s office.

Emails dug up by Politico and the Herald/Tampa Bay Times Capitol Bureau revealed that the folks over at AHCA found the re-write rather heavy handed.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article34963611.html#storylink=cpy

Anonymous said...

Early on in Scott's first term, the Unions decided that it was a bad idea to launch a petition for a constitutional amendment to add a recall provision for a Governor. They decided to wait out his term instead. In retrospect it was a bad move on their part. First we need an amendment for a recall. Then we can oust the scoundrel. Gimleteye, do you want to start a petition?

Gimleteye said...

If I had some smart and capable researchers, willing to help assemble the case for the public to understand, I would do it.

Anonymous said...

John Oliver's 18 minutes on the prison system was a spot-on overview of the sheer brutality of what's happened with privitazation - horror in a digestable format through comedy.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/laura-flint/2014/07/21/hbos-left-wing-john-oliver-blasts-privatization-prisons

Anonymous said...

ECTION 17. Impeachment.—
(a) The governor, lieutenant governor, members of the cabinet, justices of the supreme court, judges of district courts of appeal, judges of circuit courts, and judges of county courts shall be liable to impeachment for misdemeanor in office. The house of representatives by two-thirds vote shall have the power to impeach an officer. The speaker of the house of representatives shall have power at any time to appoint a committee to investigate charges against any officer subject to impeachment.
(b) An officer impeached by the house of representatives shall be disqualified from performing any official duties until acquitted by the senate, and, unless impeached, the governor may by appointment fill the office until completion of the trial.
(c) All impeachments by the house of representatives shall be tried by the senate. The chief justice of the supreme court, or another justice designated by the chief justice, shall preside at the trial, except in a trial of the chief justice, in which case the governor shall preside. The senate shall determine the time for the trial of any impeachment and may sit for the trial whether the house of representatives be in session or not. The time fixed for trial shall not be more than six months after the impeachment. During an impeachment trial senators shall be upon their oath or affirmation. No officer shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of the senate present. Judgment of conviction in cases of impeachment shall remove the offender from office and, in the discretion of the senate, may include disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit. Conviction or acquittal shall not affect the civil or criminal responsibility of the officer.
History.—Am. S.J.R. 459, 1987; adopted 1988; Am. proposed by Constitution Revision Commission, Revision No. 13, 1998, filed with the Secretary of State May 5, 1998; adopted 1998.

Anonymous said...

Gimleteye, we don't need a case to present to the public for understanding. We need to build a case for the House and the Senate based upon the guidelines for impeachment.

Geniusofdespair said...

What is his misdemeanor? If he pleaded the 5th over 70 times they will never get him.

Anonymous said...

We had a chance to fire him in 2014 and the morons of Florida either voted for him or didn't bother to vote at all. Good luck with impeachment, the Florida legislature and courts are packed with republicans who walk in lock step with the rest of their sick party. And good luck getting voters outraged about this. if they voted for this nimnuts twice knowing he had been up to his eyeballs in Medicare fraud, what makes you think they get one whit about a bunch of black men and boys locked up in prison. The very people you are trying to stir up are more than happy about the state of our prisons. that is who they are, look at Trump, he is the archetype of the florida redneck, bible belt, racist, hate filled voter. But I do appreciate your efforts.

Anonymous said...

Surprised at how prison are operated state side?
After Irak Afghanistan and Gittmo is any body still surprised?

I've heard about Jewish people used to say in the 30is: But they would not do such things to us, we are Germans too!
Can you start to see the similarity's between then and now here?

Impeachment Diane said...

I'm onboard for figuring out how to get rid of our criminal governor. There must be a way. He is victimizing the people of Florida in addition to the prison inmates. Most criminals slip up eventually and maybe he will get caught doing something else illegal. There are former governors of other states languishing in prisons while this one is considering a run for the U.S. Senate. "W" and his cabal got away with invading a country that did nothing to the U.S. and stirring things up in the Middle East leading to beheadings of innocent people. I couldn't believe "W" had the chutzpah to show up at some ceremony on 9/11. But "W" is a stupid person. Scott is not stupid. This poor excuse for a human being is in lockstep with the electric companies who are keeping solar companies out of the Sunshine State. And he stated that state employees could not utter the words "climate change." Enough already. There must be a way to get rid of him.

Anonymous said...

Privately owned prisons. The reason for the absurdly high incarceration rates. The prison companies have argued for tougher drug laws for decades. And the legislatures and governors complied.

cyndi said...

The imagery of this is still stuck in my head. No matter what no one deserves this. We all get the stick up our anus metaphorically by rick scott and its painful enough.
He doesn't deserve impeachment he deserves jail.

cyndi said...

I'd like remind people that there are a lot of mentally ill people in our prisons. Also if our legislators had their way it would have been a third degree felony to feed a bear and pretty soon (I have to go check and see what's up) there will a law that healthcare workers can't ask their patients if they have a gun. Also a jail able felony. Thank you nut bag legislators!