Scalding-shower death in Dade prison prompts federal probe

[Starry Messenger]

Source: Miami-Herald

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has begun a criminal investigation into the death of Darren Rainey, the 50-year-old inmate who was locked in a shower that had been converted into a scalding torture chamber at Dade Correctional Institution.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida also are questioning witnesses in connection with alleged atrocities in the prison’s mental health ward, including a practice of starving inmates so severely that they would snap off sprinkler-heads, flooding their cells and violating fire codes, so they would be arrested and sent to the county jail, where they would be fed.

Rainey’s death nearly three years ago, along with subsequent stories about rampant inmate abuse as well as a record number of deaths in Florida’s prisons, has spawned demands for an overhaul of the Florida Department of Corrections. The agency’s inspector general, Jeffery Beasley, has been accused of trying to whitewash suspicious deaths, medical neglect cases and corruption. He himself is the subject of a state investigation after four of his subordinates stated under oath this year that he asked them to sideline cases that would give the agency “a black eye.’’

<snip>

Rainey, who was sentenced to a two-year term for cocaine possession, suffered from severe schizophrenia and had been in prison for four months when, on June 25, 2012, he was locked in a shower chamber specially rigged to deliver 180-degree water through a hose from a neighboring janitorial closet. Although inmates could avoid the stream, the blistering water would lap at their feet and fill the enclosed chamber with steam, making the air difficult to breathe. Rainey was placed in the shower after defecating in his cell and refusing to clean it up.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/florida-prisons/article21429693.html

---

{warning, this story is extremely detailed about the level of cruelty in the allegations.}

[Ed Suspicious]

1. I never support the death penalty except in cases where agents of the state abuse of power leads to

murder.

[Ed Suspicious]

2. Yeah, I really never actually support the death penalty, I was just angry.

[Starry Messenger]

3. I hear you.

This is one of the worst stories I've heard this year, and it's been a year with high bars to hit on the horrible front.

[AuntPatsy]

4. This happens far too often, the lack of training as well as empathy is criminal

[Starry Messenger]

5. A lot of LEO are outright racists too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016122177

[SoapBox]

6. Is this really America?

It's worse than a horror movie.

[Starry Messenger]

7. We're the country that had slavery until the 1860's, so yes?

The prison system is just an extension of systemic racist ideology. I'm just glad there seems to be a window in which the torture and mistreatment is being examined.

[Demeter]

8. I'd weep, if I had any tears left

This has been a brutal year....brutality is busting out all over this land. If there's a solution, I can't see it.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Read about this crime some time ago, have been sick about it ever since.

It was a onstrous, evil action against a person who had nowhere to hide from these sociopaths. They should be stuffed in the basement of a prison and left there.

Who could do that to someone? How can you hate someone that much? Who did they think they were that they should have that kind of power over a human being? Why does power keep ending up in the hands of people who abuse it?

If only the Justice Department can make a huge impact with a forceful resolution against these guards, real justice can be delivered. They should never be allowed to have power over anyone ever again as long as they live.

[Starry Messenger]

10. All excellent questions.

[gregcrawford]

11. Psychopaths cannot be rehabilitated...

... being totally devoid of empathy for others. Psychopathology exists on a spectrum, much like autism does, and some mask their evil better than others. We call them Republicans.