The Florida Department of Corrections has long been shown that it needs independent oversight, with two recent examples further making the case.
A federal report released in December found that FDC has failed to protect inmates at Floridaâs largest womenâs prison from sexual abuse by the staff there for more than a decade. Instead of acknowledging the need to do more to stop abuse at Lowell Correctional Institution near Ocala, FDC has pushed back against the reportâs findings.
The investigation also revealed a pattern in which prisoners who reported abuse faced retaliation. The same pattern has been shown in a continuing legal battle over the excessive use of solitary confinement in Florida prisons.