Posted on 10/08/2019 10:09:14 AM PDT by Red Badger
With a camera hidden in a hollowed-out Bible, peeking through the “O” of the word “Holy,” and a pair of rigged reading glasses, Scott Whitney secretly filmed the world behind bars, inside one of Florida’s notoriously dangerous prisons.
For four years, the 34-year-old convicted drug trafficker captured daily life on contraband cameras at the Martin Correctional Institution. He smuggled footage dating back to 2017 out of the prison, and titled the documentary “Behind Tha Barb Wire.” The video — given to the Miami Herald — allows the public to see with their own eyes the violence, rampant drug use and appalling conditions inside the prison.
As the Herald previously reported, Florida prisons have gone to great lengths to withhold video footage and other documents from news outlets, as well as family members of inmates who have died in custody.
To keep from releasing records, the agency has cited medical privacy laws and legal exemptions; sharing video footage specifically, it said, could jeopardize a facility’s security system and endanger prison personnel.
Whitney’s film, perhaps, underscored other reasons Florida’s Department of Corrections is keeping videos and records under wraps.
“We finna show y’all ... how we live in here that y’all ain’t seen,” said one inmate participating in the documentary.
From scene to scene, Whitney’s footage revealed an unkempt and decaying environment and demonstrated how little the officers care about their responsibilities or the inmates.
In one nighttime video narrated by Whitney in a hushed voice, a guard passed by his prison cell carrying a flashlight, yet never glanced inside. He remained oblivious to Whitney, who was openly filming at the time.
“They don’t check to see if we’re living, they don’t check to see if we’re safe,” Whitney said.
The video confirmed that homemade weapons and violence are hallmarks of life at Martin Correctional Institution, which the Herald said had 31 deaths in the past six years, including five homicides. Whitney modeled a makeshift stab-proof vest for the camera in one scene; in others, prisoners held a homemade knife and a “lock-and-belt weapon.”
The film documented mold covering the kitchen and mice popping in through crumbling walls. It also memorialized Hurricane Irma in 2017, when inmates from other prisons were transported to and housed at the facility, sleeping on the floor.
Most saliently, though, it captured the widespread drug use inside the prison.
“You got the war on drugs on the street, but once we get here you don’t care about the drugs,” he said to the camera.
Scene after scene showed inmates slumped over, stumbling to the ground, dragged across the floor and “twaking out.” One man lay face down in a pool of his own blood and another was rolled out on a gurney.
The culprit, Whitney said, was K2, a synthetic cannabinoid also known as “twak;” the Herald listed the drug as the most frequently confiscated contraband and the leading cause of overdose deaths.
Whitney continued, “You know you might not wake up any day you smoke that.”
The Florida Department of Corrections Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation into the video.
The agency wrote in an email to The Post on Monday: “The Department uses every tool at their disposal to mitigate violence and contraband within our institutions. Correctional Officers are diligent in their efforts to search inmates and common areas to eradicate weapons and remove dangerous and illegal contraband. At the forefront of our priorities is an agencywide effort to recruit and retain correctional officers statewide.”
Inmate-produced footage is extraordinarily rare, even more so when its trafficked out of a prison, Ron McAndrew, a prison consultant and former warden, told the Herald.
While gruesome and graphic photographs from inside prisons in Alabama and Mississippi were leaked and posted online earlier this year, the first example of footage from a contraband phone making its way online, he said, was in July at another Florida facility. A prison captain and two guards were arrested and fired after a video of officers beating an inmate was uploaded to YouTube.
Under Florida law, contraband cellphones can result in new felony charges and add prison time to an inmate’s sentence. Or, there’s the threat of solitary confinement — a fate Whitney has experienced, the Herald reported.
On September 19, Jordyn Gilley-Nixon, a prison reform advocate and former inmate, uploaded two minutes of Whitney’s footage to YouTube. Since then, prison officials have housed Whitney in isolation. If he’s released from solitary confinement, Whitney, whose drug trafficking sentence ends in 2040, promised to continue filming.
Kill all violent offenders. Those who have broken other rules of society shut up and do your time.
For the non violent Perhaps put them in stocks with rotten fruit thrown at them for a few months and take all their freedoms away for a period of time.
I must reiterate. Kill all violent offenders (not just murderers). Those who perform armed robberies even if they don’t hurt anyone. DEATH.
There are at least a couple (that I know of) who are FReepers.
I think they may have gotten worse over the years.
My Grandfather was convicted of manslaughter (He was innocent as a lamb) and sentenced to 20 years at Raiford. After a year the Governor gave him a full pardon.
Granddaddy said he was well treated. He started a Sunday School class in prison. When he got sick, the warden sent guards out to shoot quail and the cook made soup for him.
I wish we could find some workable form of permanent exile for non-violent offenders. Give them a second or third chance, but after that, send them to the wilderness. Airdrop basic rations and all the drugs they may want to consume. (This would help keep the exiles happy while keeping total numbers limited, a win-win solution.). Then quarantine the place. Do-gooders could establish missions at their own risk. But where will we find enough wilderness?
There are exceptions.
G. Gordon Liddy used to tell of his hatred for prison guards. With one notable exception.
He said most of them could walk into a bad situation and immediately escalate it to worse.
But one man (who he did express a lot of respect for) could walk into the middle of a riot and calm it own immediately.
That’s a valuable skill.
I have known several (not freepers) guards I would not want to have as a next door neighbor at all... let alone in charge of my life in any way. Evil and sadistic.
But there are exceptions- probably freepers
Hell I read some of the comments here and one stated “looks like a 3rd world jail”......did we see the same video? I have done time and what that clown showed you was how we house thugs and animals...believe you me it is horrible and it is supposed to be so as a normal sane person will re-evaluate their actions. I got to be a trustee and I worked EVERY day in the bakery so I could get 1 day off for every 40 hours worked . I felt as though I earned my hot water you might say . If you ever met most of these guys you would thank your lucky stars we have such places...lots of animals and simply dfective people out there folks...thats just life.
Good point. These people are the least of the least of our fellow citizens. Obviously we shouldn't care one bit about them.
Oh wait!
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time ...
If Whitney didn't want to do the time, he shouldn't have done the crime(s). I'd bet this convicted drug dealer didn't give a hoop about his drug addicted client's safety nor whether they lived or died. Hey Whitney, karma can be a bitch!
Mostly true. Good example is the road prison in “Cool Hand Luke.” That was a place where an inmate could survive by doing his own time, obeying the rules, not get raped, and get out intact. Not likely in a real state prison.
OTOH, there's the Federal women's’ prison camp in “Orange is the New Black.” I've also read the book. Although the TV series was fictionalized, it still pretty well depicted prison life the way the book did. That book's a good thing for any woman bound to a Federal minimum security prison to read if she wants to see what the experience is going to be like. Ought to be on Laurie Laughlin's bedside table.
Cry me a river.....
Richard Pryor did a show in a prison once.
Afterwards he was asked what he thought of it.
“Thank GOD we have prisons!” was his answer................
Maybe so but the public has a right to know the conditions of their jails and prisons.
And he got away with murder........................
Martha Stewart cleaned the shower at her prison! These guys could get rid of some of the filth by themselves.
I know of a police officer who was wrongly convicted and served time in Florida, IIRC he served 10 yrs before the mistake was discovered.
It’s not just for the guilty but for the sake of the wrongly convicted that prisons should be properly and honestly run.
And it’s for the sake of justice that prisoners should be kept safe so that we don’t have Epstein like ‘accidents’ that enable other guilty people to get rid of those who could testify against them.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Another open secret.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.