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DOJ Presents Settlement In Escambia Jail Investigation
December 20, 2013
Escambia County has received an initial draft of a proposed consent agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice in the DOJ’s investigation into the Escambia County Jail.
Escambia County staff is reviewing the proposal and will begin internal discussions regarding a recommended counter proposal to the DOJ, the county said in a news release Thursday afternoon.
The draft of the proposed consent agreement will be placed on the January 2 Board of County Commissioners Agenda for discussion.
A DOJ report released in May found that conditions inside the Escambia County Jail routinely violate the constitutional rights of prisoners.
The DOJ concluded that known systemic deficiencies at the jail, mainly due to staffing shortages, continue to subject prisoners to excessive risk of assault by other prisoners and to “clearly inadequate” mental health care.
The five-year investigation also found that until recently, the jail had an informal policy and practice of designating some of its housing units as only for African-American prisoners. By segregating some of its prisoners on the basis of race, the jail not only stigmatized and discriminated against many of its African-American prisoners, it also fanned combustible racial tensions within the jail.
The report became a focal point between the county commission and Sheriff David Morgan with battles ensuing over how to respond to the report and budgeting issues with taking recommended actions. The Escambia County Commission eventually voted to take control of the jail of the sheriff and directly respond to the DOJ report.
The DOJ proposed consent degree spells out, in a 28 page document, requirements for the county to fully staff the jail, eventually hiring 100 more employees. Goals would be put in place aimed at reducing violence among prisoners, paying closer attention to mental health issues and assurance that the jail remain desegregated.
To read the complete DOJ proposed consent agreement, click here.
Comments
12 Responses to “DOJ Presents Settlement In Escambia Jail Investigation”
Well said Cinndee!!
First off, this is strictly dealing with the JAIL and not the Sheriff’s Office! Nowhere in the document did it mention corrections needing to be made with the sheriff’s office. So with that in mind the JAIL was in the sheriff’s budget before Oct. 1st. The majority of the document was to address Mental Health. I AGREE that the JAIL is NOT a Mental Hospital. However, DOJ wants it to be. If you will remember a few years ago, local mental health facilities were closed. Also about the same time, Judges were being made aware of the problem. Judges should also bare responsibility for the Mental Health. They do have the power to have them sent to the State Mental Health Hospital. Very few are sent each year, I mean very few! Most mental health inmates are in jail with very low bonds $100 to $1,000. But family members do not bail them out, why? I assume it could be because they want a break. Or could it be it is the only way to get MENTAL help? You decide… (The only time you will hear from a family member is if something bad was to happen to them while in jail.. i.e. Death. Then they will look for the $$$$$. Does this sound familiar?) In my humble opinion I do believe ALL the inmates in jail are mental cases to some extent. I am sure Gene has an answer to fix the problems and will try to manipulate DOJ proposed agreement. It is after all Gene’s Jail and his money. I see my taxes going up in the very near future.
We have the finest workers working at the jail, maybe not all of them but the majority is outstanding at their job and out in society. Sadly we have not gotten enough of the “good ole boys” from working the streets and harassing non offenders, and letting the murders and drug dealers stay on the street. Lets all pray for those serving time and those who risk their life every day to protect and SERVE.
Citizen, Cheif Aiken doesn’t even work there anymore so if you’re going to TRY to act like you know something, please make sure you have all the correct information.
Why not invest in discussion of instituting part time or relief positions to fill a few vacancies. These positions would have no benefits ie medical, dental leave or FRS retirement. I am sure there are several certified Corrections Officers in the area that would be happy to work a flexible schedule. The sheriff had a simliar program and used it to augment staff shortages. Just my two cents…
Dear citizen,
he saved 2 million by taking the medical in house and provided more services. The study was based on the years 2004 -2008. Morgan was notified of the investigation the day after he was sworn in. Did some still happen after yes. The BOCC made him cut his budget so what do you expect. They can’t find people that can pass a background check that would take starting pay 31K per year. Would you take that to have inmates throw urine on you? How hard are you going to try and break up two inmates when you make that little. The Sheriff has a job to lock up crooks. The county can figure how to pay for their responsibility. The jail is the county’s responsibility according to state statue. Problem is they are so incompetent to usually run it. You rate a pants on fire for your comment.
Perhaps you’d like to read the DOJ Report upon which the settlement is based. DOJ praised the Sheriff for substantial reforms. What’s needed is money to solve the remaining issues. Funding that had been requested by the Sheriff and denied by the Commissioners. Here is a link to the report: http://www.escambiaso.com/escambiaso/wp-content/galleries/ECJ-FL-signed-pdf-5-21-2013.pdf It is also available at http://www.escambiaso.com under Latest News on the home page.
Yea BPD a fine job. The Sheriff tells his brass to fill the jail up. This meaning that he is still not acting as a leader but like a 4 year old who was told to go to his room. The brass has the deputies pick up persons that have mental issues and need to be taken to Lakeview. Then he has this Tact. Team that has 2 deputies per car. This is great but….the county needs more patrol deputies. This could be done if these deputies were split up to fill the vacancies. Does not take a Brain surgeon to figue this out.
Sheriff Morgan and his Deputies do a fine job. You can’t do what you don’t have the funds for. Now the ECSO can concentrate on clearing the street trash. The County Commissioners can figure out where and how to stack em up.
You know, what I find so funny is DOJ came in just prior to the election in 2008. All of these issues have been just that, issues since 2008. Since Morgan has been in Office, he’s allowed one of his three Chiefs [Aiken] to take positions from the jail and use those positions to fill deputy positions on the road. He went to his own medical staff and still didn’t run it any better than the last Sheriff. Now he’s trying to deflect the same issues on the BOCC. He seems to have a problem with taking his part of the blame. It’s always some one else fault that something hasn’t been done right.
The joke of the day Jane. If the money afforded to the Sheriff to run the jail hd been used for what it was intended, it would not be as bad as it is. Now! I can’t wait for the next election. I’m so tired if our sheriff taking credit fir the work his employees Di. He is a embarrassment to this community!
Take a tour of the County jail. Then ask yourself “would I want to work here”? Let the County try to clean it up. Sheriff Morgan inherited a mess there and has been trying to clean it up with inadequate funding. So now the County can try to fix it. Good luck.