Civilization
Waste of the Day: Florida Prison Officials Got $3.6 Million for Their Roof Repairs, Nothing For Inmates
Florida prison officials spent $3.6 million of federal taxpayers’ money to repair their roofs, but ignored inmates’ needs.
Prison officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ FCI Tallahassee applied for and received $3.6 million to repair the roofs of its administrative office buildings but sought nothing for the leaky roofs covering inmates’ cells, a report from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found.
DOJ inspections of the prison found “alarming conditions of its food service and storage operations. Specifically, on our second day at the institution, we observed inmates being served moldy bread and vegetables rotting in a refrigerator in a food preparation area at the female prison.”
They also found “likely evidence of rodent droppings and rodents having chewed through boxes of food” in food storage warehouses, and bags of cereal with insects in them and warped food containers.
Inspectors also found in the female prison “serious infrastructure problems that created unsanitary and potentially unsafe conditions.”
Communal inmate bathrooms had a shower with discolored water pooled in it, a shower that flooded when used, and an inoperable toilet.
They also found that female housing unit roofs “routinely leak and that all five general population housing unit roofs need to be replaced.” Many female inmates live in housing units with water frequently leaking from ceilings and windows.
Feminine hygiene products were being used to absorb water from leaking windows, there was an electrical outlet that appeared to have fire damage, a sink that was detached from the wall, and a black substance on walls and ceilings, the DOJ report found.
While administrators made sure their roofs were repaired, inmates continued to live in this squalor.
The DOJ also found that the prison’s Health Services Department has 38 percent of its positions vacant, which “negatively affected healthcare treatment, including causing staff to modify the time of day it distributes insulin and drugs to female inmates, which may limit the therapeutic benefit of these drugs for certain inmates.”
Spending time in prison doesn’t disqualify inmates from being entitled to living in safe and sanitary living conditions, and without necessary medicine.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.
Adam Andrzejewski (say: Angie-eff-ski) was the CEO/founder of OpenTheBooks.com. Before dedicating his life to public service, Adam co-founded HomePages Directories, a $20 million publishing company (1997-2007). His works have been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, C-SPAN, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, FOX News, CNN, National Public Radio (NPR), Forbes, Newsweek, and many other national media.
Today, OpenTheBooks.com is the largest private repository of U.S. public-sector spending. Mission: post "every dime, online, in real time." In 2022, OpenTheBooks.com captured nearly all public expenditures in the country, including nearly all disclosed federal government spending; 50 of 50 state checkbooks; and 25 million public employee salary and pension records from 50,000 public bodies across America.
The group's aggressive transparency and forensic auditing of government spending has led to the assembly of grand juries, indictments, and successful prosecutions; congressional briefings, hearings, and subpoenas; Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits; Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports; federal legislation; and much more.
Our Honorary Chairman - In Memoriam is U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, MD.
Andrzejewski's federal oversight work was included in the President's Budget To Congress FY2021. The budget cited his organization by name, bullet-pointed their findings, and footnoted/hyperlinked to their report.
Posted on YouTube, Andrzejewski's presentation, The Depth of the Swamp, at the Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar 2020 in Naples, Florida received 3.8 million views.
Andrzejewski has spoken at the Columbia School of Journalism, Harvard Law School and the law schools at Georgetown and George Washington regarding big data journalism. As a senior policy contributor at Forbes, Adam had nearly 20 million pageviews on 206 published investigations. In 2022, investigative fact-finding on Dr. Fauci's finances led to his cancellation at Forbes.
In 2022, Andrzejewski did 473 live television and radio interviews across broadcast, major cable platforms, and radio shows. Andrzejewski is the author of The Waste of the Day column at Real Clear Policy. The column is syndicated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, owners of nearly 200 ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliates across USA.
Andrzejewski passed away in his sleep at his home in in Hinsdale, Illinois, on August 18, 2024. He is survived by his wife Kerry and three daughters. He also served as a lector at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church and finished the Chicago Marathon eight times (PR 3:58.49 in 2022).
Waste of the Day articles published after August 18, 2024 are considered posthumous publications.
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