Waste of the Day: Florida Prison Officials Got $3.6 Million for Their Roof Repairs, Nothing For Inmates

By Adam Andrzejewski, RealClearInvestigations
December 20, 2023

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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.”

Waste of the Day 12.20.23

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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

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