Prisoners’ Rights
The United States currently incarcerates over 2.3 million people in federal and state prisons and local jails across the country, meaning 1 out of every 99 American adults is currently confined to a jail or prison cell. With a prison population of 102,000 inmates and growing, Florida has the third largest prison population of any state, managing these inmates in 137 facilities across the State and spending over $2.7 billion per year to do so. These 102,000 people have no political voice, no say in how they are treated, and have almost no groups or organizations to advocate on their behalf. The small staff of the Florida Justice Institute accounts for many of the lawyers in Florida whose primary purpose involves the needs of institutionalized persons. Read more.
Housing Discrimination
In today’s world, being able to purchase or rent a home is something that many people take for granted. In 1968, when the Fair Housing Act was enacted, a large portion of the American population could not enjoy this right, and instead lived in a world where housing discrimination on the basis of race, handicap, or religion was commonplace. Over the years, courageous victims of discrimination have stood up for their rights, helping to advance the cause of equality in our housing and rental markets. Read more.
Disability Discrimination
Individuals with disabilities may face consistent struggles throughout their lives. They are often denied access to housing, events, services, and benefits, often because of simple failures to provide them with reasonable accommodations. In the most tragic scenarios, the disabled are injured, sometimes fatally, when governments, businesses, and places of public accommodation fail to comply with disability laws. Read more.
Other Impact Litigation
The Florida Justice Institute is dedicated to improving the administration of justice throughout the state, protecting fundamental rights, and helping to create a more just society for all. To achieve these goals, FJI engages in Impact Litigation, both within our prescribed categories of cases and in other areas, aimed at institutional reform. Throughout the years, FJI has brought numerous cases—many of them as class actions seeking injunctive relief—that have achieved a wide-ranging impact for a large number of people through consent decrees or other settlements. Read more.
Our friend and relative, Patrick O. Fields has been incarcerated several times of late. He is currently incarcerated in Brevard County Jail here in Brevard County. He is mentally ill, almost everyone acknowledges this. He is homeless as of June 2023 after his landlord expelled all renters and proceeded to refurbish the rental apartments to attract a higher paying clientele. We don’t dispute his right to do so. Is there no facility,, other than jail and the streets available in the state of Florida for people who demonstrate clear mental disfunction?
Joe Gill
375 Robyn St
Cocoa Fl. 32927
Arritta Nickcole Collins
110 Sea Grass Lane
Cocoa, Fl 32927
My brothers name is Ron joyner he is a prisoner at Hamilton correction in Florida. He is suffering and could die from getting hurt real bad in prison. He is not receiving proper medical treatment for the seriousness of his injury. His I.D. is 508970 please help.
My fiancé has been in admin confinement since January 7 inside FL DOC and is struggling due to his diagnosed Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). This disability makes it difficult for him to process verbal instructions and communication, which has led to repeated disciplinary reports (DRs) simply because he cannot understand orders in the way others do. Despite his documented condition, the prison staff has failed to provide necessary accommodations, and he is being unfairly punished instead of receiving the support he needs.
The lack of assistance has made his confinement even more difficult, and his situation is worsening. We are seeking advocacy and intervention to ensure that FL DOC acknowledges his disability, provides appropriate accommodations, and stops penalizing him for a condition beyond his control. His basic rights must be upheld, and he deserves a fair chance to serve his time without unnecessary hardship.
Hello. I am contacting you to try and get assistance for my 37-year-old son, Alex, who is incarcerated right now in Martin C. I. He was sentenced to 20 years and has approximately three years left. He has really been trying to turn his life around for when he gets out. He served the majority of his time thus far at Zephyrhills C.I. and was doing quite well there. When he was sentenced, his attorney got him on Protective management to protect him from gang retaliation when he left the gang life. You still cannot look him up in the system, but at some point, they did remove the protective management status, which was not a problem while he was at Zephyr Hills. This past October, they transferred him and he was attacked on the bus with threats made against his life.He is presently at Martin CI and has repeatedly requested to be put back on protective management, with all requests being denied. He refuses to go back to general population, so he has been in confinement since October. Consequently, he can only communicate with me via email and has not been able to call me since October.
The biggest issue however is his medication. They had him on psych meds of some kind for anxiety, depression, etc. I don’t know all the details, but they switched his meds up and at some point took him off cold Turkey and since then he has been having severe health issues. He stammers and stutters and twitches among other issues. He has never had those issues in the past. One of his fellow inmates called me today to let me know he is not doing well and that a nurse there is trying to help him. They have now labeled him as a neurologic patient. At some point I believe he is going to be transferred again. I cannot stress enough that he never had the stuttering and twitching issues prior, and that they are completely related to whatever changes were made to his medications. I don’t know if that was done at Zephyrhills or at Martin. I need to know what I can do to help him. Please respond to my email. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Sincerely, Grayce Lichtenberger.
My name is Sandra Maria Duncan and I am writing about my son. Akieno Clarke is MDC number is M95451 I am looking for an advocate group to help me with some stuff that they’re doing to my son in the prison starving in him constantly having him in isolation. He suffered bipolar disorder, one and he suffered with ADHD.
My Fiance is in need of some help . He has been out on cm for 10 months . Even tho the DR was thrown out . They have no real reason to hold him. Besides stopping him from finish schooling
My son’s name is Donald Sword his DC#is R41043.He was convicted to 15 years on circumstantial evidence in corrupt Pasco or as we say fiasco county..He was wrongly convicted.There was no evidence, fingerprints, witnesses connecting him to the contraband that was found in a car that he didn’t even own.
Even the bailiff thought he was innocent.He has served almost 10 of 15 years .I am so darn proud of him.Don has gotten his G.E.D,graduated from a dog training school,has completed several hundred certificates on different classes,became an ordained minister,got a license in the state of Florida for drinking water and was working on his waste water license and well on his way to getting that license when he decided to leave the waste water program .Other inmates were harassing him because of his work ethic and they didn’t want to look bad so he felt it was best to leave that program.His teacher called him his best student ever and said Don would go very far in the drinking and waste water business.However his teacher now has refused to sign off on his hours of training because he was very angry he left due to harassment from others.My son was showing excellent judgement by avoiding conflict!! The officers around this program felt his teacher was wrong for not signing his owed 262 hours of what should have been a total of 1323hours earned.That took our son 29 1/4 weeks to earn.He signed a book every day of those 29.4weeks at 45 hours a week.One would think the teacher would have checked our sons claim of 1323 hours of 2,000 he would need to get his waste water license here in Florida.He didn’t,or wouldn’t.The officers.weren’t willing to stand up for him with the warden or asst warden..Because his hours weren’t signed and documented he now has to take the course again and that will cost us more money as the text books he now needs exceed $200.00. a piece.This action wasn’t just hard on us but I’m sure this teacher has harmed other inmates one way or another. To go one step further my son is such a great worker that he was trusted to work outside the fence cut grass everywhere and even do the gardening at the wardens home.His teacher who has betrayed his oath of teaching ,lives near the facility and threatened to have my son arrested for cutting any lawn near his property.How immature.My son had been living with a hernia for years, working with one, was getting called into work at the waste water plant on weekends too. Those hours weren’t even included in how many he was owed. Yet he is a real trooper and did his job.Don also helped other inmates prepare for the Florida waste water and drinking water tests that lead to getting there licenses.My son waited 2 years to finally get his surgery and the system put him to work at the Charlotte work camp here in Florida in the labor intensive kitchen! What brilliant person made this choice for Don? He has been told no heavy lifting.Theres even a note that he shouldn’t lift but does anyone really think that that has happened?Of course not!We spoke to him briefly yesterday and he has to work 6 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm with only 1 days off a week.Anyone with common sense knows after hernia surgery you have stitches that need to heal.That means rest.As parents we are very frightened that he will end up tearing those stitches only because he knows he has to keep up appearances amongst the other inmates or problems could arise.I find it very sad that a system here in Florida that wants inmates to take the opportunity and educate and change their lives doesn’t even see 1 inmate whose gone way above and beyond. It’s all lies.Florida wants a low recidivism but does nothing for the inmates that make that change.Can anyone in the Florida justice institute or the Florida cares organization please help my son from being harmed and get him out of that sweat shop kitchen?He has been temporarily assigned to Charlotte C.I for 6 months because of his surgery.There was no need to do that .Don would truly wish to go back to Fort Meyers work camp where he feels other inmates will continue to
advance from his help and tutoring.Dons mother and I are so proud of the man he’s become today and don’t hesitate telling him that.We all need some encouragement every now and then.Were all human beings,even inmates in the Florida prison system.Please help a guy who’s turned his life around.After surgery ,Don was put in a dangerous environment !At any moment he could tear those stitches and cause serious injury.
Sincerely
My son’s name is Donald Sword his DC#is R41043.He was convicted to 15 years on circumstantial evidence in corrupt Pasco or as we say fiasco county.His trial started at 9:30 am and went till 1:30 a.m the following day.Yes overnight.Completely unheard of..He was wrongly convicted because the jury was hungry and exhausted and just wanted to go home..There was no evidence, fingerprints, witnesses connecting him to the contraband that was found in a car that he didn’t even own.
Even the bailiff thought he was innocent.He has served almost 10 of 15 years .I am so damn proud of him.Don has gotten his G.E.D,graduated from a dog training program,has completed several hundred certificates on different classes,became an ordained minister,got a license in the state of Florida for drinking water and was working on his waste water license. Don was well on his way to getting that his waste water license when he decided to leave the waste water program .Other inmates were harassing him because of his work ethic and they didn’t want to look bad so he felt it was best to leave that program.His teacher called him the best student he had ever had and said Don would go very far in the drinking and waste water business.However his teacher now has refused to sign off on his hours of training because he was very angry he left due to harassment from others.My son was showing excellent judgement by avoiding conflict!! The officers around this program felt his teacher was wrong for not signing his owed 262 hours of what should have been a total of 1323hours earned.That took our son 29 1/4 weeks to earn.He signed a book every day of those 29.4weeks at 45 hours a week.One would think the teacher would have checked our sons claim of 1323 hours of 2,000 he would need to get his waste water license here in Florida.He didn’t,or wouldn’t.The officers.weren’t willing to stand up for him with the warden or asst warden..Because his hours weren’t signed and documented he now has to take the course again and that will cost us more money as the text books he now needs exceed $200.00. a piece.This action wasn’t just hard on us but I’m sure this teacher has harmed other inmates one way or another. To go one step further my son is such a great worker that he was trusted to work outside the fence cut grass everywhere and even do the gardening at the wardens home.His teacher who has betrayed his oath of teaching ,lives near the facility and threatened to have my son arrested for cutting any lawn near his property.How immature.My son had been living with a hernia for years, working with one, was getting called into work at the waste water plant on weekends too. Those hours weren’t even included in how many he was owed. Yet he is a real trooper and did his job.Don also helped other inmates prepare for the Florida waste water and drinking water tests that lead them to getting there licenses.My son waited 2 years to finally get his surgery and the system put him to work at the Charlotte C I.here in Florida in the labor intensive kitchen! What brilliant person made this choice for Don? He has been told no heavy lifting by the Dr.s.Theres even a note that he shouldn’t lift but does anyone really think that that has happened?Of course not!We spoke to him briefly yesterday and he has to work 6 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm with only 1 days off a week.Anyone with common sense knows after hernia surgery you have stitches that need to heal.That means rest.As parents we are very frightened that he will end up tearing those stitches only because he knows he has to keep up appearances amongst the other inmates or problems could arise.I find it very sad that a system here in Florida that wants inmates to take the opportunity and educate and change their lives doesn’t even see 1 inmate whose gone way above and beyond. It’s all lies.Florida wants a low recidivism but does nothing for the inmates that make that change.Can anyone in the Florida justice institute or the Florida cares organization please help my son from being harmed and get him out of that sweat shop kitchen?He has been temporarily assigned to Charlotte C.I for 6 months because of his surgery.There was no need to do that .Don would truly wish to go back to Fort Meyers work camp where he feels other inmates will continue to
advance from his help and tutoring.Dons mother and I are so proud of the man he’s become today and don’t hesitate telling him that.We all need some encouragement every now and then.Were all human beings,even inmates in the Florida prison system.Please help a guy who’s turned his life around.After surgery ,Don was put in a dangerous environment !At any moment he could tear those stitches and cause serious injury.Don has had a horrible and unfair experience with the Florida judicial system since day 1.Please show him that somebody cares.
Sincerely