Amid allegations that an inmate was killed by guards who left him locked unattended in a hot shower, Florida's Department of Corrections will announce a series of reforms Wednesday, reports the Miami Herald. “Stories report we have fallen short in specific instances with regard to facility leadership, safety, security, training and services for mentally ill inmates,” said Mike Crews, secretary of the department. “We're fixing the problems that have been identified and as we identify new issues, we will fix those too.”
In June 2012, Darren Rainey, 50, was marched into a closet-like shower and left there for as long as two hours, until he collapsed and died. The shower was used on several occasions as a form of punishment for mentally ill inmates, fellow inmates have told the Herald. According to Crews, the department will expand its crisis intervention training for corrections officers; develop specialized reentry centers for inmates who suffer from mental illness; create a “transparency database” for disseminating information on inmates who die in the custody of the department, and will have the Florida Department of Law Enforcement handle all future investigations of inmate deaths that are the result of “non-natural causes.”