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.
I've always believed that prisons should be so horrible that no one would ever want to go back to one. But unfortunately, many are like college campuses, and convicts are consistently repeat offenders. Most criminals cut deals, which means they never do the time for the actual crime they committed.
Sorry to burst your bubble. I'm a 72 year old female who worked as an Officer and Sergeant in NY State's prison system for 25 years. I was neither corrupt, nor sub-human. I was a divorced woman with two sons to support. Worked full time days, and went to school full time nights. Have a Bachelor's and Masters. I'm a history buff, and researcher. I never worked in women's prisons, only males, maximum and medium A - high security. I was the only female Sergeant in the facility, and got more respect from the Officer's because I didn't give in to the inmates like the male Sergeant's did. I retired in 2003, one of the lucky ones who didn't die while working on the job.
Thanks, I wanted your take on this.
Now that you mention it, keeping a cell phone a secret for four years does seem a bit unlikely.
Perhaps the story is just more BS from the MSM.
Will you keep that mindset when the left eventually succeeds in their schemes, comes to power and then starts throwing "us" in there with them?
Just curious... d:^)
I see you’re still on the guards are drug dealers kick. You need to apologize to more than a few FReepers.
Ever heard of Sunday afternoon visitation? Mostly, their families bring in the drugs. My family of guards and wardens have never brought in any drugs.
Ever heard of guards going through inmates belongings and confiscating contraband?
We should expect the prison guards to do their job.
I strongly suspect if they did - they'd get fired. So that leaves prison offiicals.
Who are caught in in the political system of not having enough money and resources. Which leaves taxpayers to cough up more and more tax dollars for inmates.
Which leaves YOU to do something. So. What are YOU going to do?
In the late 1940’s my Dad thought it would be a good idea to take a walking tour of the old Missouri State prison. The whole family went, Dad and Mom and 2 little girls. We walked through the general population and the guard leading the tour tapped a metal cane on the ground the whole way. When they heard us coming the convicts would either go into their cells, or retreat a safe distance from our path and remain there until we passed. The prison was old, but fairly clean and orderly. Some convicts had painted their cells bright colors and had radios, etc. We were allowed to choose something from the prison handicraft shop, so my sister and I bought some small wooden dogs that the prisoners had whittled and painted. Now I look back on that time and wonder how they maintained that much control in that facility.
People were much different back then....................
It's worked for me so far. Never been arrested or jailed in my 65 years.
The media runs with anything these days. It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not. Verifying stories before reporting them isn’t in their job duties anymore.
It's the inmates making the conditions so bad to begin with. They're the ones ripping the sinks and toilets out of their cells, throwing food and feces, and generally trashing the place. If I was a guard, I wouldn't want to be cleaning up some inmate's sh_t because he was throwing a tantrum.
I say they live in the mess they make. If they want it to be better, then they can make it better. And come down like a ton of hurt on the ones who mess it up.
They only reason they used to verify stories (to the extent they did) was because they were afraid they would lose credibility if they were found to be spreading false stories.
Sometime in the '70s or '80s they realized that they didn't have to worry about that, and adopted the "there's a sucker born every minute" business model. Today they appeal to the lowest common denominator in all things. They know the more intelligent news consumers have gone to the internet.
Their advertisers are looking for sheep-like dummies who will adjust their purchasing practices in response to advertisements; this population happens to be the Democrat party's key target voter demographic, so there's a nice confluence of purpose there.
All prisons should be like the one in the movie “Cool Hand Luke”.
A submarine on patrol is like a prison without all the pretty windows.
When I retired in 2003, the prison administration in central NY State where I worked, was more concerned about the floors being waxed than they were if the inmate's were doing drugs, or carrying weapons. They didn't want us writing too many disciplinary reports, and forced disciplinary hearing Lieutenants, and Watch Commanders (also Lt.'s) to downplay any serious charges and misbehavior. We had limited special housing (SHU) space to lock up inmates who needed locking up. Most times, an inmate was released from SHU early to make room for somebody else. They might as well have put a revolving door on the building. As a Superintendent, if you had too many U.I.'s (Unusual Incidents) that had to be reported to Albany (N.Y.), you were called to Albany to explain what was going on in your prison. So to keep Albany from actually hearing about the problems, and so the Superintendent could keep his job, reports and U.I.'s were suppressed at the facility level.
And of course, what uniformed staff can and can't do (frisking, strip frisks, etc.) are all guided by the courts, and violation of any inmate's rights when it comes to stuff like that can be detrimental to an officer's or supervisor's career. You can't do the job if your hands are tied by the courts, and the politically appointed individuals who oversee the prisons.
All prisons should be like the one in the movie “Cool Hand Luke”.
_____________________________________________
Nothing but white men?
Liberals would agree with that!
U beat me to it
All prisons should be like the one in the movie “Midnight Express”..................
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.