8-10-2000

Hi Kay,

Have been shunted across the state to a work camp near the mental hospital at Chattahoochee, Florida.  I am now at

Gary Waid   134551
River Junction Work Camp
300 Pecan Lane
Chattahoochee, Florida  32324 

This is a work camp for 50-year olds or older.  The work-release/community custody thing was not true. 
I will write you soon, Kay.  I'm very tired.

Take Care,

Gary

 PS:  Getting cards and letters from all over.  Will try to answer the folks who invited me to, but it will take a while.  I've been uprooted.  I'm in shock a bit.  But I'm fine.  Thank the people on the web.  Will send you a story or two soon.

---

7pm August 14, 2000:  I just spoke with Gary's friends and family. 
His first impression about the new prison?  
"It's as quiet as a tomb in here."

  FROM BEHIND THE WIRE: Be My Valentine
Uncensored Words about River Junction
-by Gary Waid, ex-prisoner,
Recuperating nicely on the beach 

Profile of the
River Junction Work Camp
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/secretary/press/2000/riverj.html

 

Official opening date: June 23, 2000

Anticipated number of inmates when fully operational: 400

Anticipated number of staff when fully operational: 91

Location: Within the grounds of Florida State Hospital in the City of Chattahoochee.

Mission: To provide work squads for Florida State Hospital and the City of Chattahoochee.

 

NOTE: It's hard to understand, if the mission is to provide work squads, why they would purposely chose elderly inmates.  Are they trying to work them to death?

 

Only inmates who meet the following criteria are eligible for assignment to River Junction:

• Minimum/medium custody inmates, 20% of which are between 40-49 years old and remainder 50 years or older.
• Medical Level 2 (no major medical problems)
• Only select murder offenses (no 1st degree murder)
• No sex offense history
• No serious escape history
• No violent felony / INS detainee
• No ex-Death Row inmates
• No life without parole eligibility
• No inmate who was in close management within the last six months

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/facilities/region1/116.html

Other Information:
Population Gender	Male
Adult or Youthful	Adult (Minimum age 50; 20% minimum age 40)
Facility Level	3
Self Contained Housing Units	No
Designated Confinement Space	No
Custody Grades	Medium, Minimum, Community
Medical Grades	1 through 3
Psychological Grades	1
Wheelchair Capabilities	No
Hearing Impaired Capabilities	No

 

Other Ongoing Programs:

       Family Development Phase 2

       Religious Study

       Victim Awareness

Community Work Squads:

	Dept. of Transportation	0 Squads
	Public Work Squads	2 Squads
	Interagency Community Service Work Squads	Yes

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0944/SEC804.HTM&Title=->2005->Ch0944->Section%20804#0944.804

Florida Statute 944.804  Elderly offenders correctional facilities program of 2000.--

(1)  The Legislature finds that the number and percentage of elderly offenders in the Florida prison system is increasing and will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. The current cost to incarcerate elderly offenders is approximately three times the cost of incarceration of younger inmates. Alternatives to the current approaches to housing, programming, and treating the medical needs of elderly offenders, which may reduce the overall costs associated with this segment of the prison population, must be explored and implemented.

(2)  The department shall establish and operate a geriatric facility at the site known as River Junction Correctional Institution, which shall be an institution specifically for generally healthy elderly offenders who can perform general work appropriate for their physical and mental condition.

Prior to reopening the facility, the department shall make modifications to the facility which will ensure its compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and decrease the likelihood of falls, accidental injury, and other conditions known to be particularly hazardous to the elderly.  (I questioned this as the facility is 3 stories … I was told it was only 2 stories.  Some of the guys have real problems getting up and down the stairs.  They house the inmates in bunk beds … great for old prostates; My inmate complains all the time that he can’t sleep with the guys getting in and out of the top bunks every few hours to go to the bathroom.)

(a)  In order to decrease long-term medical costs to the state, a preventive fitness/wellness program (after I started complaining they built a “new” recreational yard) and diet specifically designed to maintain the mental and physical health of elderly offenders shall be developed and implemented. (When I questioned this I was told that the “special diet” consisted of reducing caloric intake and the inmates almost went on strike so they “did away” with it.  I complained not long ago that the ordering was not being done properly …. The guys have had nothing but carrots and cabbage for the last few months for veggies.  They then started serving oatmeal and grits that have been “recycled” for a few days … then told the guys not to scrub the pots because too many “scrubbies” are being used)

In developing the program, the department shall give consideration to preventive medical care for the elderly which shall include, but not be limited to, maintenance of bone density, all aspects of cardiovascular health, lung capacity, mental alertness, and orientation.

Existing policies and procedures shall be reexamined and altered to encourage offenders to adopt a more healthy lifestyle and maximize their level of functioning (I guess mowing the lawns of the hospital and community and doing maintance on the hospital is actually a program to “promote” mental and physical wellness).

The program components shall be modified as data and experience are received which measure the relative success of the program components previously implemented.

(b)  Consideration must be given to redirecting resources as a method of offsetting increased medical costs. Elderly offenders are not likely to reenter society as a part of the workforce, and programming resources would be better spent in activities to keep the elderly offenders healthy, alert, and oriented.

Limited or restricted programming or activities for elderly offenders will increase the daily cost of institutional and health care, and programming opportunities adequate to reduce the cost of care will be provided. Programming shall include, but not be limited to, recreation, education, and counseling which is needs-specific to elderly offenders. (see programs available above … they don’t even have AA/NA there … and what happened to the education and counseling … it doesn’t exist)

Institutional staff shall be specifically trained to effectively supervise elderly offenders and to detect physical or mental changes which warrant medical attention before more serious problems develop (I was told that ALL staff receives this training at their yearly “refresher” training.  That’s why an inmate died of a heart attack while mowing the lawn … the guard wouldn’t let him go to medical after he complained of chest pains).

(3)  The department shall adopt rules that specify which elderly offenders shall be eligible to be housed at River Junction Correctional Institution.  (Only offenders that can work and make DOC money)

(4)  While developing the criteria for eligibility, the department shall use the information in existing offender databases to determine the number of offenders who would be eligible. The Legislature directs the department to consider a broad range of elderly offenders for River Junction Correctional Institution who have good disciplinary records and a medical grade that will permit them to perform meaningful work activities, including participation in an appropriate correctional work program (PRIDE) facility, if available.  ( Yea, right!)

(5)  The department shall also submit a study based on existing offenders which projects the number of existing offenders who will qualify under the rules. An appendix to the study shall identify the specific offenders who qualify.  ***

 

http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/fcc/reports/final03/executivesummary.pdf

*** The 2003 Annual Report

“The Commission recommends that the Legislature amend Section 944.804, Florida Statutes, to remove the designation of River Junction Work Camp as an elder facility for generally healthy elder inmates.  The mission of a work camp is incompatible with the intent for a facility for elder inmates”.

http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/fcc/agendas/03Oct16&17.minhtm
Florida Corrections Commission Meeting
Florida Department of Corrections
Bradenton Drug Treatment Center
2104 63^rd Avenue
Bradenton, Florida. 34264

October 16-17, 2003 

Department of Corrections Plan for Elderly Inmates led by Mr. Jim Fannin

Mr. Jim Fannin stated that the department is currently in the process of making plans to designate portions of correctional facilities for elder inmates. Mr. Fannin stated that the elder inmate population is increasing.  Commission staff and CMA staff conducted a site visit on July 31, 2003 to River Junction Work Camp, the only statutorily designated institution for elder inmates. 

The primary mission of the camp is to provide a needed work force for neighboring Florida State Hospital. At the time of the site visit, there were no formal academic or vocational programs being offered to the inmate population.  (things haven’t changed)

The only program being offered was a literacy program that entailed a literacy coordinator dividing time equally between River Junction Work Camp and Apalachee CI.  The literacy coordinator trains inmates to serve as tutors to other inmates.  Mr. Fannin stated that the Warden of River Junction Work Camp is trying to reduce inmate idleness by initiation of a cooperative partnership with local law enforcement where bicycles are brought to the institution to be refurbished by inmates.  At the time of the site visit, there were less than seven inmates refurbishing bicycles on a part-time basis.  Mr. Fannin summarized the departments plan for elder inmate housing. 

The Commission recommends that the statutorily defined age for elder inmates should be amended from age 50 and above to age 59 and above.  Commissioner Martinez made a motion to approve the recommendation, and Commissioner Bell seconded the motion. The motion was passed unanimously. The Commission discussed this recommendation in detail.  Mr. Fannin also summarized Arizona’s Medical Furlough Program.  (Nothing happened from this meeting … except the taxpayers having to pay for coffee and donuts!)

http://www.cjcj.org/press/elderly_inmate.html

Naples Daily News
Elderly Inmates Swell Florida Prisons, Fuel Rising Health Costs

DATE: February 29, 2004
Ron Word

RAIFORD - For the past 44 years, Dennis Whitney's life has been a metal bed with a three-inch mattress, steel bars and razor wire - hard time for an inmate who's grown old in prison for killing seven people when he was 17.

Whitney, now 61, sees his last chance at freedom with a parole commission meeting this fall, but he's been turned down time after time since he first became eligible after serving 30 years of his life sentence.

"If they turn me down, I'm just going to let the state take care of me the rest of my life," he said. "I'm well fed, well clothed and well taken care of."

Whitney's an example of Florida's rapidly aging prison population fueled by get-tough-on-crime programs and an increasing number of older people convicted of sex crimes and murder. Many serving life sentences or lengthy prison terms will die behind bars.

The mounting costs of housing an aging inmate population is a nationwide problem. By 2002, the most recent year statistics are available, 121,000 older inmates age 50 and over were imprisoned, more than twice as many as 10 years earlier, U.S. Justice Department statistics show.

"It's a hidden problem in the system that's going to grow into a dinosaur soon. The cost and numbers are getting out of hand," said Herb Hoetler, chief executive and co-founder of the National Institute on Institutions and Alternatives in Alexandria, Va.

The average cost of housing an inmate over age 60 is $70,000 nationally, more than three times the average cost of $22,000 to $25,000 for all prisoners, said John Mills, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Across the country, states are taking steps to rein in the costs of elderly inmates.

At least 16 states, including Florida, have established separate facilities to house older inmates and many are offering hospice care for dying prisoners, according to a 2001 summary in Corrections Compendium, a journal of the American Corrections Institute. In Texas, an estimated 200 inmates over age 65 require around-the-clock nursing care. Nebraska offers nursing home living for some inmates and Oklahoma is setting up a prison unit for elderly inmates.

Florida's prison system has seen its age 50 and over inmate population increase more than 10 percent in the past year to 8,625, or more than 10 percent of the total prison population of more than 79,000.

Prison officials say 74 percent of the state's elderly inmate population is incarcerated for violent offenses, with about 30 percent serving life sentences.

There is a debate in corrections circles as to what age should be considered elderly. The Florida corrections department uses age 50, arguing that an inmate ages faster than the average person on the outside. The Florida Corrections Commission, which provides oversight and makes budget and policy recommendations, has suggested increasing the age to 59 and over to give prisons officials a smaller, more manageable elderly population.

Unlike many older prisoners who come to prison late in life, Whitney landed on death row at age 17. Although he admits killing seven people, Whitney was sentenced to death for the February 1960 killing of Arthur Keeler, a Miami gas station attendant, and Virginia Selby, a 62-year-old grandmother from Hialeah.

After 12 years on death row and coming within two days of dying in the electric chair, his sentenced was commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional.

Whitney said the state has paid for two angioplasty operations to clear narrowed or blocked blood vessels and he's in need of a third one. The first two surgeries cost nearly $9,000, corrections records show.

The cost of providing health care to prisoners is increasing dramatically, fueled by older inmates such as Whitney. In the past five years, the state's prison population has grown about 17 percent while medical costs have jumped nearly 26 percent from about $223 million in fiscal 1998-99 to more than $280 million in fiscal 2002-03. Kidney failure, heart disease, lung cancer and other cancers are more prevalent among elderly inmates than among younger inmates, a House Corrections Committee report shows.

To deal with the increasing number of elderly inmates and to try to reduce health care costs, the state prison system is opening special units at penitentiaries in Raiford, Zephyrhills, Miami, Lowell and Wakulla.

One of them is at Union Correctional Institution near Raiford, which also houses death row inmates. About 800 prison beds have been set aside for older inmates. Until this year, the department had only one designated prison for older inmates - River Junction Work Camp, which is next to the prison's mental hospital in Chattahoochee. Of the 480 inmates at River Junction, 370 prisoner are age 50 or over.

Reducing health case costs isn't the only benefit of housing hundreds of elderly inmates together, prison officials say. "If you add 800 older inmates to a very hard core prison, it seems to mature the population a lot and has a calming effect," Denman said.

An analysis of Florida's elderly inmates by The Associated Press using the corrections department's Web site shows that most of the inmates are imprisoned for sex crimes or murder. Of the inmates 80 and older, 20 of 42 prisoners, or about 48 percent, were imprisoned for sex crimes compared with 17, or 41 percent, for murder.

The state's oldest death row inmate is 76-year-old William Cruse, condemned for two of the six killings he committed on April 23, 1987, when he opened fire at two shopping centers in Palm Bay. Florida's oldest inmate is Daniel Sallade, a 90-year-old serving a 23-year sentence for three counts of sexual battery on a victim under 12.

Not everyone is happy with the plans to house older inmates together.

Robert Doyle, a 67-year-old convicted killer serving a life sentence at Union Correctional, said many older inmates struggle to survive because "there is absolutely nothing for them to do."

"You see people go downhill. They actually give up," said Doyle, convicted in 1985 of murder and drug charges in Miami-Dade County. "This is a warehousing situation."

Doyle has served 19 years and maintains that he acted in self defense. Still, he doesn't know what he would do if he was ever released.

"If I did leave early, where would I go?" he asked. "I'm comfortable here."

Many elderly inmates are sex offenders

Almost half of Florida's oldest convicts are in prison for sex crimes, a rate more than three times higher than the total prison population, an analysis of state prison records shows.

Of the inmates over age 80, 20 of 42 prisoners were imprisoned for sex crimes, or 48 percent, compared with 14 percent for all male inmates, according to an analysis of the Florida Department of Correction's prisoner database by The Associated Press. Another 17 inmates, or 41 percent, had been convicted of first or second-degree murder.

Of the 333 inmates between ages 70-79, 119 prisoners, or 36 percent, are in prison on sex crimes ranging from rape to sex with minors to sexually molesting children. Of the 1,560 prisoners between ages 60-69, 35 percent or 538 convicts are incarcerated for sexual offenses.

"In a large portion of the sex crimes, there is some dementia," Florida Deputy Corrections Secretary George Denman said.

In a Florida Corrections Commission report issued annually on elderly inmates, it acknowledged the age factor in sexual crimes.

"Offenses committed late in life may reflect biological changes due to the aging process. Chronic brain syndrome may be associated with loss of inhibitions leading to inappropriate sexual behavior," the commission reported.

The state's oldest prisoner, 90-year-old Daniel Sallade, is serving a 23-year sentence for three counts of sexual battery on a victim under 12. Sallade, who's been imprisoned since July 2001, was convicted in Lee County just before he turned 88.

Older first offenders are more likely to be sentenced for violent offenses against a person, usually involving a family member, or for sexual offenses, committed during a middle aged crisis or later, according to a 1999 report by the Florida House Corrections Committee. {Not Gary Waid, a Federal prisoner of marijuana laws who served time here}

As of June 30, 2000, about 30 percent of inmates age 50 and over were serving life sentences. Of those serving life sentences, 20 percent were serving life without parole.

http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/bld/Research_Office/2002LibraryDirectory/Institutional_Libraries.pdf 

Lists DOC library information.  There is NO library at River Junction!

http://www.pacelearning.com/cs/cab.html 
Customer Advisory Board

Our Customer Advisory Board provides PLS with advice about how we can better help you reach struggling students. The feedback of these experienced educators guides us in improving our products and services. PLS Customer Advisory Board members offer their expertise on an unpaid, voluntary basis. (Boy … is this a bad joke!  River Junction offers NO educational programs)

Mrs. Candace Burch Region I Education Program Manager River Junction Work Camp Chattahoochee, FL Program: Adult Corrections

http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2005/senate/appbills/pdf/s2594.pdf 

Senate Bill 2594 

Page 9 at the bottom

From the funds in Specific Appropriation 751,

$700,000 shall be used for the construction of an additional 131 bed dorm at the Taylor Correctional Institution work camp;

$700,000 shall be used for the construction of an additional 131 bed dorm at the Regional Medical Center work camp;

$13,860 Center work camp;

$13,860,000 shall be used for the construction of two 320 bed secure housing units at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution annex;

$8,640,000 shall be used for the construction of a 320 bed secure housing unit and $6,000,000 for a 262 bed work camp at the Lowell Correctional Institution and

$3,525,035 shall be used to renovate a 953 bed facility at River Junction.

In addition, $8,500,000 shall be used for future land acquisition, site permitting, and preparation for future prison sites.

S2594    GENERAL BILL by Justice Appropriations  (Compare 1ST ENG/H 1885, 1ST
  ENG/H 1887, S 2590, S 2592, S 2596, S 2598, 2ND ENG/S 2600, 2ND
  ENG/S 2602)
  Appropriations; provides moneys for annual period beginning July 1,
  2005, & ending June 30, 2006, to pay salaries, & other expenses, capital
  outlay - buildings, & other improvements, & for other specified purposes
  of various agencies of State government.  APPROPRIATION: $4,241,419,690.
  EFFECTIVE DATE: 07/01/2005 or upon becoming law, whichever occurs later,
  except as otherwise provided.
  03/23/05 SENATE SPB 7072 submitted as a committee bill (SB 2594) by Justice
                  Appropriations; Filed
  03/30/05 SENATE Introduced, referred to Ways and Means -SJ 00303
  05/06/05 SENATE Died in Committee on Ways and Means, Link/Iden/Sim/Compare
                  passed, refer to SB 2600 (Ch. 2005-70), SB 2602 (Ch. 2005-71)

It looks like they are trying to phase out River Junction and turn it into a regular prison.

When River Junction was closed on October 14, 1999, due to (I believe … can’t find the article) lead in the water and paint (can’t find anyone to verify that these problems have been taken care of.  My inmate says the inmates try not to drink the water and to stay away from painted surfaces).  Just a few months ago they put a second razor wire fence around the compound (due to a prison break …. Over a year ago!) L.

When River Junction first reopened after receiving - I believe it was 4million dollars to put in new plumbing and paint because of the lead, Gary Waid reported there was no sign of any renovations having been done at all.  No one has reported the work being done afterwards, so I too am curious as to when and how this money was spent.  Kay Lee

A special thanks for much of the above information goes to researcher 'Lee'.

FDOC PRISONS