A 27-year-old prisoner who died at Franklin Correctional Institution in 2010 was killed by corrections officers who tortured, gassed and beat him, according to a 33-page federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday.
The inmate, Randall Jordan-Aparo, suffered from a genetic blood disorder that had flared up in the months before his death. As his condition worsened, the lawsuit alleges, corrections officers, doctors and nurses at the prison denied him medical attention, and when he complained, they forced him into an isolation cell and gassed him until he could no longer breathe.
The inmate, who was serving time for credit card fraud, was found dead in his cell, naked except for his boxer shorts, in March 2010. Photographs of his body show him face-up next to his Bible. His hair, legs, toes and mouth — as well as the walls of the cell — were coated with orange residue, a byproduct of the chemical spray.
In all, he was subjected to 600 grams of chemical agents in a confined space, well over lethal levels, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald in 2014.
The suit, brought on behalf of Jordan-Aparo’s 12-year-old daughter, alleges that the corrections officers murdered Jordan-Aparo and that the nurses, doctors and warden — all named in the suit — conspired to cover up his death by removing evidence, doctoring reports and threatening witnesses.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions filed against the Florida Department of Corrections involving inmates who died, allegedly the result of mistreatment by corrections officers or medical staff or both. The lawsuits claim that the agency has a history of corruption that involves destroying and concocting evidence to hide the suspicious deaths of Florida prisoners.