Florida Senator Shevrin Jones (D-Miami Gardens) today released the following statement regarding a new horrifying report of a leaked video showing a team of five Florida Department of Corrections Officers, wearing full tactical gear, beating a handcuffed Florida prisoner, Michel Hernandez:
“The fact that the Department of Corrections found no policy violations or criminal acts in this video, which is rife with needless beating, hitting, kicking, and striking of a human being, is appalling. Violent assault on inmates is the most common type of abuse committed by correctional officers, and the officers’ unnecessary and excessive use of force upon a defenseless person in this video is horrifyingly a typical example. These attacks can cause lacerations, broken bones, internal injuries and bleeding, disfigurement, brain or spinal cord damage, and even death. It is long past time for accountability both in and out of our criminal justice system.”
