INTRODUCTION TO FLORIDA STATE PRISON Representative Case No. 5 by Kay Lee

Perry Archibald
969758
Florida State Prison
P.O. Box 181
Starke, Florida 32091

Mr. Archibald is serving a 10 year sentence for "battery on a law enforcement officer" and I believe that to be the reason for ongoing harassment, and why he was put in the hole on Feb 5, 1998 without adequate reason, documentation or counseling.  Perry Archibald has been in disciplinary confinement* continuously for more than three (3) years.  His date for release from the 'hole' is January 30, 2004. 

Mr. Archibald has written grievances on Officer M. Oliver for ongoing harassment, including threats, false DRs, racial discrimination, and what appears to be semi-permanent isolation.

U.S. Constitution  Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

 *H-Wing Described as a dark and isolated place where guards gas and jump on inmates excessively.

Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted Aug. 30, 1955 by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, U.N. Doc. A/CONF/611, annex I, E.S.C. res. 663C, 24 U.N. ESCOR Supp. (No. 1) at 11, U.N. Doc. E/3048 (1957), amended E.S.C. res. 2076, 62 U.N. ESCOR Supp. (No. 1) at 35, U.N. Doc. E/5988 (1977).
31. Corporal punishment, punishment by placing in a dark cell, and all cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments shall be completely prohibited as punishments for disciplinary offences.

I can provide research and information on what long periods of solitary confinement do to human beings.

I also have affidavits from nine (9) FSP prisoners who were severely beaten but are afraid to be named at this point with no chance of protection from more abuse.

This is a partial list of other 'Whistleblowers' at Florida State Prison, people who have suffered from guard retaliation or were witnesses to retaliation, and need to talk to out of department, out of state investigators. They all need protection from their keepers.

Stuart Pomeranz 
187155
Representing Retaliation at Union CI, but now lives at FSP.

This is a case of instant retaliation. On January 10, 2001, during a shakedown of the dorm, a guard read Pomeranz' legal mail which concerned a case against the DOC.

When he asked the officer why, two of them knocked him down and kicked him repeatedly while the third kept watch. Then they put him in a cell with no clothes, no blanket, no pillow or sheets, nothing. He was forced to stand naked for several hours, had officers take all his personal and legal belongings, was given a razor blade and told to cut himself if he wanted out of the strip cell. He received stitches afterward, and was sentenced to six months confinement without visits.

His mail was blocked, and, even after he had received paperwork from Tallahassee transferring him to Marian, somehow they got him sent to FSP.

This was direct and sure retaliation because an officer didn't like what he wasn't supposed to be reading: Legal paperwork. The witnesses have all written statements. His mother is suffering.

Charles Jerry Jr.
137319 1-1209Low
Columbia CI
Route 7 Box 376
Lake City, FL 32055
Witness to Valdes Murder

Two years ago, Mr. Jerry witnessed the Valdes murder-by-guards. He has been beaten, kicked and further abused by at least 14 guards at FSP. He wrote grievance after grievance with no help forthcoming. He has been moved to several institutions since July 16, 1999. He was beaten at Hamilton and has permanent scars to his face and head from that beating.  Mr. Jerry is currently being held at Columbia CI where he continues to suffer retaliation for witnessing the murder at FSP and refusing to shut up.

There is no prison in Northern Florida where he will be safe, maybe not in the entire state of Florida. Best remedy? Order all brutality to cease immediately, suspend all accused guards, and provide Mr. Jerry safety while a full investigation of the Florida DOC is conducted.

Ray Von Boatman
089151
Florida State Prison

F.S.20.315    (1)  PURPOSE.--The purpose of the Department of Corrections is ........
to rehabilitate offenders......To provide a safe and humane environment for offenders and staff in which rehabilitation is possible. This should include the protection of the offender from victimization within the institution and the development of a system of due process, where applicable.