Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 4-10-18

National
Florida Dept. Of Corrections’ New Rule Will Change Inmates Visitation Schedule
Howard University Law School
Florida has the third largest prison system in the nation. As of November 2017, the state housed close to 100,000 inmates inside 148 correctional facilities.
TALLAHASSEE — Families and prisoner rights advocates were in Tallahassee last week to represent their incarcerated loved ones and voice concerns at a public hearing held by the Florida Department of Correc- tions.
Over one hundred people filled the courtroom of the Capi- tal Circle Office Center in Talla- hassee to take turns in front of the podium and beseech FDC of- ficials not to put further restric- tions on the visitation schedule. The FDC announced the hearing March 27, giving members of the public a week to prepare their re- sponses to proposed changes to Rule 33-601.722, guidelines de- limiting visitation schedules for Florida prisons. The new rule will permit inmates a minimum of two days per month, two visi- tation hours each day, which families say is a cutback on the previous allowance of weekly visitation on Saturdays and Sun- days.
The families of Florida pris- oners are fighting back after the Florida Department of Correc- tions announced the changes to visitations schedules, due to al- leged staff shortages and an in- flux of contraband, including drugs, cell phones, and weapons, officials said.
“We are not to blame for the increase in contraband,” said Judy Thompson, whose son has been at Florida State Prison in Raiford for nearly two decades. “It’s important to be able to visit, to be able to look into someone’s eyes, to talk with them. For many people, that’s all they have.”
Lisa Teets, another parent of an inmate, echoed Thomp- son’s sentiments. “We’re not
Against School And President
Over 100 people filled the room in Tallahassee to speak on be- half of loved ones in prison.
WASHINGTON, D. C. —- Ty- rone Hankerson, Jr., who was accused in a blog post of em- bezzling tens of thousands of dol- lars meant for other students, plans to file a $10 million law- suit against Howard University for leaking his financial records.
Hankerson, a Howard Uni- versity law student allegedly in- volved in an embezzlement scandal plaguing the school will sue on the grounds of three counts: breach of a duty and neg- ligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defama- tion, according to an advanced copy of the complaint. The suit was filed against Howard Uni- versity, Grant Grundy and Wayne A. I. Frederick, Howard University president.
The complaint identified Grundy as the whistleblower who posted an anonymous entry on the blogging site Medium, which alleged that $1 million of finan- cial aid money had been misap- propriated over a period of years. Grundy worked as a spe- cial assistant to the associate di- rector and university bursar from August 2015 until April 2017. Hankerson’s complaint alleges that Grundy accused him of pocketing about $429,000 while he worked at the financial aid of- fice at Howard University.
Photos of Hankerson wear- ing expensive clothing and trav- eling the world went viral hours after the post was published.
Howard University president Wayne Frederick later admit- ted that six employees were fired
bringing in the contraband. It’s them,” Teets, of West Palm Beach, said in regards to prison staff.
Teets visits her son on week- ends and holidays, and said that she is thoroughly patted down multiple times during each visit. Though her son will be released “within a year,” she doesn’t want the visitation schedule changed. “He’s not violent, He needs to know that he still matters,” she said. “This is my [worst] night- mare.”
Over the past year, the de- partment has been faced with staff shortages and an increase in contraband,” said Richard Comerford, an FDC assistant secretary. “The number of recov- ered weapons, cell phones, and illicit drugs continue to rise across the state within our facil- ities.”
“In many of these incidents, contraband have been linked to visitation,” Comerford contin- ued.
But a former inmate said that much of the contraband comes from prison staff. Kyle Willi- ford, who was released last week after serving three years, testified that corrections officers funnel in drugs and alcohol to sell to inmates. “These men and women have to watch child mo- lesters, rapists, murderers, and they get paid as much as your av- erage Wal-Mart employee. No one can fault them for supple- menting their income,” he said adding that the new policy
“shows a gross ignorance.” Williford, 30, admitted to buying alcohol from corrections officers, and doesn’t believe that the “volume” of heroin, cocaine, meth, and more, could have
come from visitors.
He also pointed out that “vio-
lence is deterred by visitation.” Beth Gammie, an attorney representing a man whose wife is serving a life sentence, cited data from the Florida Justice Insti- tute that reaffirmed the increase in contraband but concluded that visitors were responsible for only 2.5 percent of banned items
introduced to prisons. Comerford replied, “We are
not here to discuss the statis- tics.”
“You’ve felt free to make com- ments back when people have spoken. I’ll take that as you don’t dispute it,” responded Gam- mie. “These people have no con- trol over it, and the inmates have no control over it. I would ask that you do not solve issues of contraband and staffing on the backs of inmates and their fami- lies.”
Per provisions of Adminis- trative Procedures Act, Chapter 120, Florida Statutes, the FDC will consider the comments made at last week’s public hear- ing and may choose to revise the proposed rule, whereby another hearing will be scheduled to re- view it. Otherwise, if no changes are made, the new visitation pol- icy will be implemented within a month.
Tyrone Hankerson, Jr., is filing a lawsuit against Howard University stemming from a recent financial aid scandal.
for “gross misconduct and neg- lect of duties.”
When Hankerson’s financial records were supposedly dis- closed, he was taking his final exams and preparing to graduate from Howard University School of Law. The complaint claims that disclosure of his financial records would influence his abil- ity to pass or fail his classes.
The suit also claims Grundy “negligently and recklessly” made false statements on the Medium post about Hanker- son, accusing him of stealing over $400,000 and naming him as one of the six employees fired from Howard. As a result, the suit further claims, Hanker- son’s professional reputation has been severely damaged.
According to his lawyer, Han- kerson lost a job that he was supposed to begin after his grad- uation this upcoming summer. His annual salary would have been $200,000, Walker said.
Student Files $10M Lawsuit
Michigan’s End To Supplying Bottled Water To Flint Residents Is Not Going Over Well
ATLANTA, GA — The where- abouts of an Atlanta researcher who has been missing for 2 months are no longer a mystery. The body of Timothy Cun- ningham, 35, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention in Atlanta was pulled from the Chatta- hoochee River on last Tuesday.
On Thursday the authorities said there did not appear to be any signs of foul play in his death.
Cunningham’s body was found face up partially sub- merged in water and mud on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta.
The chief medical examiner of Fulton County, said the prelimi- nary cause of death was drown- ing, but the investigation is still open.
Mr. Cunningham was last seen leaving work on Feb. 12 after telling colleagues he did not feel well. According to reports a few weeks after his disappear- ance, he left work upset, after being passed over for a promo- tion.
His body was spotted in a re- mote area of the river by a group of fishermen. He was still wear- ing his favorite running shoes,
Timothy Cunningham was found in the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta.
raising the possibility that he had been jogging before his death.
Rescue crews had to use boats and special equipment to reach Cunningham’s body because it was in difficult terrain in a “re- mote area not easily accessible. According to reports, Cunning- ham did not take his wallet, cell- phone or any forms of identification before he left on the night of his disappearance, and was found with only three gemstones in his pocket. He was identified using dental records. Mr. Cunningham had degrees from Morehouse College and Harvard’s School of Public Health, according to the C.D.C.’s website, and had been deployed to work on overseas public health emergencies like the outbreaks of Ebola and the Zika virus.
FLINT, MI —- Four years after the start of the Flint water crisis, the state of Michigan will stop providing free bottled water for residents in the city. On Friday (April 6), the state announced a plan to phase out the service for Flint residents because the water quality has been restored.
The state will stop giving out free water once the current sup- ply, which is housed at four dis- tribution sites, runs out. Although no official date was an- nounced, the supply could be de- pleted within a week, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
In March, the DEQ released a report revealing that more than 90 percent of unfiltered water at
all 13 Community School Build- ings in Flint tested below federal led standards.
“I have said all along that en- suring the quality of the water in Flint and helping the people and the city move forward were a top priority for me and my team,” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said in a press release. “We have
worked diligently to restore the water quality and the scientific data now proves the water sys- tem is stable and the need for bottled water has ended.”
While the bottled water pro- gram may be ending, “the state’s commitment to the residents of Flint remains strong,” Rich Baird, senior advisor to Gov. Snyder said.
But the announcement isn’t going over well with everyone. “It’s too quick,” Melissa Mays, a Flint activist from the group Water You Fighting, according to the Detroit Free Press. Mays said that the state is putting “dol- lars and cents” over Flint resi- dents. “Which is how we got here in the first place,” she added
Atlanta CDC Researcher Missing
For 2 Months Found In River
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