Prisons and Jails pagesepsitename%%

Florida Prisons Proposal To Cut Visitation Hours In Half Draws Outrage and Pleas

FlaglerLive | May 31, 2018

Visits help cut recidivism and keep families close, as recognized even by state law, but Florida prison officials are looking to cut costs.

Flagler Jail Deputy Who’d Reported to Work Drunk Is Fired Over Obscene Gesture at Bar

FlaglerLive | May 29, 2018

Mark Sousa was fired and detention deputy Laura Gadson disciplined for posting an image of Sousa on Instagram flipping the bird at a bar the night his suspension had been revealed.

Brushing Aside 1st Amendment Claim, Appeals Court Uphold Florida Ban on a Prison Magazine

FlaglerLive | May 22, 2018

Florida alone among 50 states bans Prison Legal News. Paul Wright, the publisher of the magazine, intends to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

No Move to Plug Budget Despite Warnings About Cuts to Prisons’ Substance-Abuse Programs

FlaglerLive | May 11, 2018

The Senate appropriations chairman said lawmakers aren’t planning to plug a $28 million budget gap at the Florida Department of Corrections until next year.

Florida Prisons’ 40% Cut in Substance-Abuse and Mental-Health Treatment Draw Criticism

FlaglerLive | May 4, 2018

Some $7.6 million in substance-abuse services in prisons will be eliminated, Another $1.6 million will be cut in transitional housing services.

Florida Prisons Cut Drug-Rehab and Re-Entry Programs That Help Felons From Re-Offending

FlaglerLive | May 2, 2018

Florida’s prisons are slashing substance-abuse services, transitional housing and re-entry programs, the very programs that keep inmates from returning to prison.

Sheriff’s Jail Deputy Suspended After Reporting to Work Drunk; Supervisory Issues a Concern

FlaglerLive | March 28, 2018

Flagler Sheriff’s detention deputy Mark Sousa’s alcohol test recorded him at 0.096 and 0.093 four hours into his shift–the four hours it took supervisors to react to an employee’s repeated request to intervene.

For All of Sheriff Staly’s “Green Roof Inn” Tough Talk, the Green Also Stands For Hope and Renewal

FlaglerLive | February 26, 2018

Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly today unveiled the Stride Program at the county jail, an ongoing rehabilitation and preparatory program to help inmates reintegrate society and stay out of jail.

Flagler Sheriff and County Officials Worry That Prison Reforms Could Shift Inmates,
and Costs, to County

FlaglerLive | February 19, 2018

A spate of criminal-justice reform bills in the Florida Senate has Flagler’s sheriff and a county commissioner worried about what that could mean for the local jail population and budgets.

Man at Flagler Jail Tries to Hang Himself, Fellow-Inmates and Deputies Rush To Save Him

FlaglerLive | February 13, 2018

An inmate at the Flagler jail tied a bed sheet around a railing, then around his neck, and attempted suicide before inmates and deputies rushed to his rescue Tuesday.

Flagler’s Opioid Crisis Seen From Those Fighting It: A Severe Lack of Treatment Beds, Drug Court at Capacity, Jail as a Waiting Room

FlaglerLive | January 10, 2018

The most comprehensive picture of the opioid crisis in Flagler County came to light today in a gathering of Flagler County judges, top cops, medical, social and government services. Here are the details.

Notes From Underground

FlaglerLive | December 4, 2017

In Afghanistan, there may be up to 1,000 children in prison with a parent–not because they committed a crime, but because Afghan law permits their imprisonment with a criminal parent until the children turn 18.

When Flagler’s Judicial System Makes a 10-Year Error In a 40-Year Prison Sentence

FlaglerLive | October 24, 2017

William Copeland is serving 40 years for shooting his daughter’s grandfather in Palm Coast in 2011. The court made a 10-year error in one of his sentences.

2017 Flagler Jail Bookings and Sheriff’s Crime and Incident Reports (Archived)

FlaglerLive | April 8, 2017

Archived 2017 Flagler County jail bookings, day and night shift commanders’ crime and incident reports investigated by Sheriff’s deputies and archive.

Fershtay? Appeals Court Rules Florida May Not Halt Offering Kosher and Halal Meals to Prisoners

FlaglerLive | July 15, 2016

Florida prison officials argued they had a right to stop offering kosher meals if they got too expensive. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said no in a unanimous decision.

At Flagler’s New Jail, Science of Self-Contained Cell Blocks To Make Captivity Safer for Inmates and Guards

FlaglerLive | July 7, 2016

It’s in the internal designs, the innumerable details and attention to logic, efficiency and security for inmates, guards and visitors that the jail–which opened today– impresses, and that its $17.3 million cost shows its value.

Flagler County Jail Triple Its Old Size Set To Open July 7 in Camera-Ready “Ceremony”

FlaglerLive | June 30, 2016

The opening, which a county release dubs a “ceremony,” will also feature the trappings of a campaign event: It is scheduled less than eight weeks from the primary, giving incumbents a chance freely to bask in the shadow of a major, completed construction project.

Media Groups Shut Out of Federal Lawsuit Over Prison Newspaper Ban

FlaglerLive | May 18, 2016

A federal appeals court has turned down a request by media groups to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a dispute about whether the Florida Department of Corrections can ban a publication from the state’s prisons.

In Florida, Court Rules, a 55-Year Prison Sentence For a Juvenile Is Not a Life Term

FlaglerLive | April 25, 2016

Anthony Julian Collins was two months shy of 17 when he was committed an attempted second-degree murder, carjacking with a firearm and attempted armed robbery.

Poll-Tax Redux: Millions Free From Jail Are Barred From Voting By Criminal Debt

FlaglerLive | April 19, 2016

Debt from fines starts at sentencing and can grow at interest rates of 12 percent or more while inmates serve their sentences. It continues to grow after they’re released and face the numerous barriers to finding work and housing.

Palm Coast’s Karl Westgate, 19, Dies in Prison 7 Weeks After Sentence for Child Rape

FlaglerLive | March 24, 2016

Karl Westgate, sentenced last summer to 25 years for raping an 11-year-old girl, died in prison 48 days after his incarceration, and five weeks after writing a Flagler County judge to say that his plea had been coerced, and that he wanted his case re-opened.

Florida Prisons, Already Censoring a News Publication, Now Seek to Censor Legal Brief

FlaglerLive | December 30, 2015

The Florida Department of Corrections is seeking to block state and national media organizations from filing a brief in a legal battle about whether a publication should be barred from Florida’s prisons.

William Dillow, Serving 45 Years for Raping 2 Pre-Teen Flagler Beach Girls, Is Murdered

FlaglerLive | November 6, 2015

William Dillow, 29, was sentenced in April to 45 years and was serving at the Jefferson Correctional Institution near Tallahassee when he was killed by a fellow-inmate. He’d been arrested in February 2014.

Alone Among 50 States, Florida’s Ban on Prison Newspaper Is Upheld

FlaglerLive | September 1, 2015

Florida Corrections officials have censored the publications for six years, objecting to certain ads and calling them a security risk. No other state prison system agrees.

Jailhouse Porn
Fort Apache: Flagler

FlaglerLive | August 8, 2015

There’s nothing to be proud of in the pornography of incarceration: Flagler had no reason to triple the size of its jail other than to amplify an indefensible architecture of disproportionate punishment.

Rethinking Restrictions on Food Stamps and Welfare Benefits for Drug Felons

FlaglerLive | August 3, 2015

The bans on welfare and food stamps assistance apply only to drug felons, in accordance with a 1996 federal law, unless states choose to waive them.

Guard Brutality in Florida Prisons: 2 More Corrections Officers Arrested

FlaglerLive | May 5, 2015

Correctional Officer Sgt. Christopher Michael Jernigan, 37, and Correctional Officer Donald Dwight Sims, Jr., 21, were arrested for brutalizing an inmate at Columbia Correctional Institution, the latest in a series of guard arrests in the troubled Florida Department of Corrections.

Florida Prisons Must Provide Halal or Kosher Meals to Muslim and Jewish Inmates, Court Rules

FlaglerLive | May 2, 2015

The federal lawsuit challenged corrections officials’ claim that they were not required to provide kosher meals, as well as the rules the agency used to determine who was eligible to receive the meals.

Crime Down 20% in Two Years, Jail Population Isn’t: Sheriff Strains to Explain Paradox

FlaglerLive | April 23, 2015

Sheriff Jim Manfre touted Flagler County as one of the safest places in Florida and said the fact should be marketed to prospective businesses, but was less clear about the relationship between falling crime and a still-high jail population, or the county’s need for nearly tripling its jail beds.

Today’s Flagler Jail Bookings, Crime and Incident Reports for Palm Coast, Flagler Beach and Bunnell