Mr John Palmer Assistant Regional Director,
Florida Dept. of Corrections
77635 County Rd 231
Lake Butler, FL 32054-0628

June 26, 2018

Mr John Palmer Assistant Regional Director

Need to address some serious issues with you for which I hope and pray you will take immediate action on. Some of which you and I spoke about last year and is currently being ignored. Here we go.

1) As you know, UCI P-Dorm Death Row Housing, is a dorm that is EXTREMELY HOT! It is in all reality, a "SWEAT BOX", during the summer months! Due to the metal roof and concrete outside the windows, combine that with 90 and 100 DEGREE TEMPERATURES, and the 90% tropical humidity of Florida. The feel like temperatures in these cells are OVER 100 DEGREES. That in and of itself is unsafe. When combining that with improper ventilation, you have constitutional deprivation. For these vents here in P-Dorm, are not functioning in the manner, for which they were designed. For instance, the blower vents, located over the bed, is stuck in the on position, on 3-Wing, yet is not on, on any other wings. The big exhaust vents located in the center of the back wall, doesn't pull air like it was designed, and did in 1992, when death row was moved into this building. And the exhaust vent over the toilet DOESN'T WORK AT ALL. So we're dealing and suffering in extremely high temperatures and inadequate ventilation.

2) Last July 2017 you and I went into the Col. office and spoke about these regional on sight cell inspections and the Class A and C uniforms and how we should only have to go into Class A once you'll come on to the wing. On Tuesday June 12 cell inspection was announced by Sgt. Baily at 8:22am. We were ordered into our Class A uniform, where we sat for 3 hours 22 minutes. At 11:44am they walked by. This was repeated again on Thursday June 21, 2018, 3 hours and 24 minutes. This shuts down our daily routine, NO legal work can be accomplished, no writing, no painting, no exercising. No, we have to sit here in the heat in Class A waiting on a "facade" of an inspection that may or may not happen. On several occasions we've sat here from 8am till 3pm, before staff called it off. You know it as well as I do that death row is the most laid back well behaved inmates in the FDOC. We are a status like no other. We're confined in a 9x7... 63 square foot cage INDEFINITELY with the threat of being murdered looming over us daily. This cage is our world, our daily existence, with the exception of recreation twice a week if we're lucky. "These cages are BRUTAL. They tear us down mentally and physically!" Most of us to "maintain our sanity" (what little we still have) tries to keep it by having a daily routine. Doing legal work on our case, writing letters, poetry, painting and exercising in this cage, since we don't get enough out of cell recreation. All we're doing is trying to maintain our sanity, yet we have administrators coming back here throwing our lives and daily routines into chaos, with fraudulent inspections. Trying from what I see, to incite inmates into revolting, over verbal and written orders that aren't governed by 93-FLA admin codes. We have to stay on point or face disciplinary action which is hard to do when you have your earbuds in listening to music or TV. See attached June 22, 2018 memo threatening disciplinary action, when 93 001.301 states disciplinary measures will be a last resort. This uncalled for directive resulted in what I'm hearing is ten disciplinary reports on Thursday June 21, 2018 and one strip cell. Think about a zoo, you go by and observe and stare at the animals in their cage. Well that's what these inspections feel like, see if you can make us do tricks here in our tiny cage. There's no "real inspection" taking place. For if there was the following issues would be addressed.

A) Excessive heat and inadequate ventilation.
B) Mold and mildew in the vents, showers and cells.
C) Structural damage to P-Dorm, where the walls and floors are separating from each other leaving large gaps in between cell walls and floors. Ceilings cracking and sinking in. See H Wing right side bottom floor in front of shower. H-left, bottom floor outer wall the concrete blocks aren't even sitting on the foundation. And it's like that in parts all over P-Dorm.
D) Toilets not having backup valves and spewing urine, feces and raw sewage into cells. This is a very serious bio-hazardous issue that has been an ongoing problem, since this building opened in 1992. You may wake up in the middle of the night, to use the toilet, and step in someone's sewage from upstairs. Or come in off the rec yard, to find raw sewage all over your floor.
E) The infestation of ants, roaches, spiders (some of which are poisonous) and mosquitoes which carry West Nile and other deadly virus.
F) Bunks, shelves, lockers, vents and cell bars that are covered in rust, which can result in tetanus, a seriously infectious disease that is often fatal.
G) Issues with a black oily substance that appears from time to time in our sink water. Which could be the culprit behind the high rate of cancer here in P-Dorm?

When we look at these issues, which are SERIOUS and can easily be verified, the only conclusion that can be reached, is our current regional on sight inspections, is a "FACADE" that causes chaos and tension, between staff and inmates, making us look and feel like an observed trick animal in a cage. While these serious health and safety issues continue to be ignored. The above issues A through G need to be dealt with.

I also hope you can and will assist us with the following issues.

3) Recreation, as stated above. This continuous form of confinement is mentally and physically detrimental to our wellbeing. 33-601.830 sec(7)(j) guarantees us a minimum of six hours a week of recreation. It's being jammed into two three hour sessions. Which can and has resulted in us being locked down for four, five and even six days straight without a break from this cell. We need section (7)(j) exercise to read as 33-601.800(10)(m) close management which guarantees them six hours, broke down into three-two sessions. And we need the rec time to be divided throughout the week to eliminate continuous long term confinement throughout the week. Secondly, we need to be given showers after recreation which used to be protocol here, and still is at FSP due to your directive. If you go to rec on a non-shower day you get a shower at FSP which is a hygiene issue. I pray you help us out with this.

4) We have an issue with sleep deprivation, and lighting that needs to be addressed. Every 30 minutes throughout the night the hall lights are turned on, when the officers do their 30 minute checks. This was not done under your directive at FSP, staff used flashlights, which has been protocol for decades. And flashlights are sufficient, for wing checks. Often when the control room officer turns the hall lights on, they forget to turn them off. Which results in an inmate screaming "Turn the lights off or blah blah", so if the lights haven't woke you up, the inmate has. Furthermore, UCI P-Dorm uses lights as punishment for disciplinary confinement, cells P-4102 through 4114, has had the light switches removed, and the inmates have to endure bright fluorescent lights, in this heat from 5am till 11:30pm. 18 1/2 hours a day, which makes you psychologically hotter, in these cells, when you're dealing with EXTREMELY HIGH TEMPERATURES and humidity. On top of that, they don't have their fans, so it's even hotter! That's pure torture! We need three things addressed here.

A) All lights no longer used for wing checks.
B) Light switches to be put back in the DC cells 4102 through 4114.
C) DC be allowed fans due to the extreme heat back here in P-Dorm.

I hope you can and will assist me with this, and improve on the conditions back here. There are other issues, but to cover all the problems we have here, would be 10 pages. So I tried to break it down to the most serious. I thank you very much for your time, and help.

Sincerely,

Ronald W. Clark Jr 812974
Union Correctional Institution
PO Box 1000
Raiford, FL 32083