He was 27 years old and serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd. She just died of COVID-19, He had a ‘heart of gold’: Florida corrections officer is second to die of COVID-19. He was, in fact, badly hurt. Surveillance equipment was “significantly outdated,” prosecutors wrote. Boris Valcin walks away. For generations, Florida juvenile justice programs were interwoven with the state’s child welfare system in a mammoth department called Health and Rehabilitative Services. ▪ Tolerance for cover-ups: Over the past 10 years, DJJ has investigated 1,455 allegations of youth officers or other staffers failing to report abusive treatment of detainees — or, if they did report an incident, lying about the circumstances. The lockup was Elord’s last stop in an odyssey that began at Miami International Airport. The alleged shooter was the recipient of one of those beatings a little over a year earlier. That’s nearly three times a week. section: | slug: aaron-hernandez-ate-20-honey-buns-one-night-in-jail-before-guards-realized-it | sport: football | route: article_single.us | Police say he shot 31-year-old Alquehen “Sean” Webb Jr., with a Glock .40-caliber handgun on Jan. 10, 2016, as the man sat in a car smoking marijuana. Bryant “resigned in lieu of termination,” a DJJ spokeswoman said. And even worse: In 2015, youth detention center officers allegedly bribed juvenile inmates with honey buns, asking them to beat up some other kids; one teen died in such an attack. They did care when, according to police, he and another youth took a man’s cellphone at gunpoint. Answer 7 questions about the big game for The reduction coincided with a nationwide drop in youth crime, along with a 2011 Florida law — championed by DJJ — that encouraged police to issue civil citations to some nonviolent youthful offenders instead of arresting them. I have been very clear with our staff. He didn’t get it. For a glimpse into just how much Hernandez's life had changed, Wetzel recounts a story from Nov. 20, 2013. At least one of the detainees present during the fatal beating was called to testify before a grand jury. “The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has been and continues to be committed to reform of the juvenile justice system in Florida. “We can have the best policies, procedures, practice, vetting — you name it. All told, the assault goes on for 68 seconds. Now I Know is a free daily newsletter; Neither is in position to see what happens next: T.R. Approximately 150 law enforcement officers were deployed, including a SWAT team. He says he has abdominal pain. 6-keys: media/spln/nfl/reg/free/stories, at When technicians tried to zero in, the images muddied. 2 years ago. The program physician, Dr. Hala Fakhre, said she was told administrators dissuaded detainees from reporting physical abuse. Florida’s youth corrections system has been a source of shame and scandal since its inception. Elord, 17, fought back gamely. DJJ could lessen the problem, he said, by removing vending machines from employee lounges and strictly enforcing the prohibition on outside food. Only his nickname — his handle in the lockup — was disclosed. “It always comes down to one person’s judgment.”. “The buildings are in disrepair and not secured, the juvenile delinquents are improperly supervised and receive no meaningful tools to not re-offend, the staff is woefully undertrained and ill-equipped to handle the juveniles in their charge, and the safety of the public is at risk,” the report said. The victim’s mother says he was groomed by staff at the lockup to beat people up. “Stop!” Elord yelled. “Bryant told him to hit [the other] youth when no one is looking in the dining hall.” The report implies, and video seems to show, that Andrew did just that — throwing a feeble jab — and that the staffer violently intervened to break up the confrontation. 21. The Department of Juvenile Justice undertook its own inquiry into “honey-bunning” after the Herald report. They have a pattern of incidents all throughout Florida,” Weekes said. Those things included the surveillance footage of Rios’ April 2015 “pain compliance” restraint. Aaron Hernandez ate 20 honey buns one night in jail before guards realized it Hernandez, who committed suicide in his cell last month, struggled with the transition to prison life The riot started over a bet on a basketball game. “You want kids to have the privacy in their room; you want them to have the privacy in the bathroom,” she told the Herald. The state has been the subject of blistering grand jury reports, defended countless lawsuits, ramped up and slashed funding, designed and redesigned new programs — only to see the same abuses recur. The company, which has spun off its juvenile contracts to TrueCore, a firm run by former employees, did not respond. Andrew, his father said, “did bad stuff. A delicious treat I learned about from an article about jail food: Honey Bun topped with melted American cheese single. When Elord rose from the 68-second thrashing — every kick and punch meted out in front of a surveillance camera — he was too angry to know his own hurt. And that’s for the honey bun’s small version. One boy said Mathews “bribed him with fast food ... and false promises” — such as a reduced stay — to hide abuse. A witness reported that Williams repeatedly punched the boy, then hoisted him in a “bear hug” and slammed him to the floor on his head. And, per the Tampa Bay Times, inmates in one Maryland prison have been known to use honey buns as a key ingredient in Christmas pies. Elord ended up in a Miami Beach foster home. A nurse said he’d be right over but never arrived. G4S was sent detailed information about what the Herald was preparing to publish in this report. The state attorney said the lockup’s shoddy record-keeping further complicated matters. 0. It doesn’t mean that you have to break him.”. In July and August of 2000, two Miami-Dade officers were found to have beaten detainees with a broomstick. Thousands of juvenile justice officers and youth workers oversee unruly and sometimes violent teens across Florida every day. "I'll eat the [expletive] and then you don't get [expletive]," Hernandez shouted according to an incident report. Rios then bent the boy’s fingers backward and twisted his shoulder joint behind his back, “causing him to scream in pain.”, The youth had recently broken his jaw, and it was tender. Yahoo.com's Dan Wetzel writes of an angry and frustrated man unaccustomed to being told what to do and when to do it all while spending most of his days in a 7-by-10-foot cell. was wounded in the leg. They ignored it all.”. 10:40 p.m.: Elord stands over a garbage can and points toward his throat, unable to breathe. Elord was arrested Aug. 28, 2015. “The guards was grabbing them and, like, throwing them,” 16-year-old T.R. So hit him, Andrew said the staffer replied. There will always be someone who makes a poor decision,” said DJJ’s Daly. When the same officer checked on him later, Elord was “clutching his chest” and asked to see a nurse. After itemizing the lockup’s “inadequacies,” the state attorney’s office concluded they were “beyond the scope of this memorandum, but must surely be addressed.”, In an interview with the Herald, Daly said DJJ has emphasized that detainees can never be deputized to enforce discipline. Of the 12 questionable deaths since 2000, including an asphyxiation, a violent takedown by staff, a hanging, a youth-on-youth beating and untreated illnesses or injuries, none has resulted in an employee serving a day in prison. Despite several witnesses telling investigators that the lockup staff instigates fights by offering rewards, the inspector general concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove or refute the allegation.