Audit finds problems with reporting use of force in Florida prisons | Florida

(The Center Square) – An audit of the Florida Department of Corrections has uncovered several problems related to use of force, late reporting times and access controls to information technology.

The Florida State Auditor General, along with the DOC, reviewed incident reports, maintenance requests, correctional officer time records, and the state Institutions Inmate Welfare Trust Fund.

Departmental documents between July 2021 and February 2023 showed 354,184 incidents, including 14,265 incidents involving violence against an inmate, spread across 50 state correctional facilities.

According to department procedures, all incident report forms must be reviewed and include an initial statement from a shift supervisor or department manager. The Chief of Security must then review all incident reports and forward them to the Director for final review.

One hundred and one incident reports were reviewed by auditors and submitted to 13 different state correctional facilities between 2021 and 2023. Three incident forms were completed by correctional officers between two and six days after the incident. While the shift supervisor reviewed the reports in a timely manner, the chief of security did not review the incidents until between five and 14 days after the incident.

The shift supervisor’s review of the report of another incident was delayed due to a mix-up among personnel, resulting in a delay of at least three days in processing the incident in the review process.

All incidents involving the use of force must be reported by anyone involved or witnessing the incident, detailing the incident and the circumstances that led to the use of force. Two incident reports were submitted up to 18 days after the incident, and a further six reports were not submitted for an average of 20 days.

In addition, it was found that three incidents were not reported to the director until up to 33 days after they were first reported.

Sometimes work orders and maintenance requests did not specify the cost or labor hours required to perform necessary repairs. Between July 2021 and February 2023, over 40 maintenance requests were denied, nine of which did not provide a reason for denial.

The Attorney General recommended strengthening policies and procedures, ensuring timely reporting of any incidents and providing reasons for denied work orders. He also recommended improving access to the department’s information technology controls, as there were delays in removing former employees from the system.