Prison Tour, Part III
In this three-part series, I share my experience from the Judge M. Mounts Prison Tour. We visited all levels of prisons in the Florida Department of Corrections--ending at the execution chamber.
Welcome to Part III of III of the Judge Marvin Mounts Prison Tour.
ICYMI, here’s are the other parts of the series:
Over two days, the tour visited six institutions within Florida’s prison system. Throughout the tour, the prisons increased in security. The final two were Union Correctional Institution (UCI) and Florida State Prison (FSP).
Union Correctional Institution (UCI)
UCI in Raiford, Florida, currently houses all of Florida’s male death row population
We started the tour in the “death row visiting park,” which is a large inside room with sort of picnic tables, where those on death row go for visitation when friends/family come to visit. UCI houses inmates other than death row, but we did not see them. When I have been to UCI before, I have seen the “gen pop” prisoners walking around, both inside and outside. Those outside are working on the grounds.
You would not see death row prisoners just walking around like that, and you can immediately tell a death row prisoner apart from a “gen pop” prisoner because of their clothing. Death row prisoners are the only ones in the entire prison system that wear orange. (Hence, the accent color for the blog.) Everyone else wears a light/muted blue color not unlike what doctors wear at the hospital.
Staffing
We learned that UCI is pretty severely understaffed at the moment. They judge their staffing level on a scale of 3. At level 1, they are merely providing inmates with their constitutionally required needs. At level 2, they’re just above that. At level 3, they’re able to go above and beyond what’s required. UCI is currently at a level 1—but only with the presence of the National Guard, which was brought in by Governor DeSantis in late 2022 to assist with staffing shortages in Florida’s prisons. Here are two news articles on that:
I spoke with a guard and asked what their capacity at UCI for death row is. He said 326. They’re currently at ~295 (total population 298; 3 women at Lowell; 1 man at Lake). If they were to go over capacity (as they were in 2016 when Hurst was decided, when the death row population was ~400), the “overflow” would be housed at FSP.
As a result, a higher death row population (perhaps in light of the pending legislation and more death sentences) means further staffing issues.
Day Room
Until recently, inmates on Florida’s death row were in their single cells for 23 hours per day. The cells are 6 x 9 x 9.5 feet high, according to DOC’s website. They do not have A/C, and they were only allowed to shower every other day.1
NOTE: I asked why death row does not have A/C. The answer I received was that it’s due to the age of the building, infrastructure, and lack of funding. They said that there are fans and that it’s “not that bad.”
A couple years ago, a few people on Florida’s death row sued DOC in federal court and alleged that being in their cells for 23 hours a day constituted cruel and unusual punishment. They settled with DOC to allow them access to “day room.” That was implemented in late 2022, which required more staffing and hence the implementation of the National Guard.
With day room, the doors to the cells stay open during the day, and the prisoners have access to “day room,” which is an empty cell on each wing with a table and chairs where they can congregate. They also now have access to showers during day room hours, which means they can shower five times per week as opposed to the old rule of every other day.
When we walked through the wing, the prisoners were in their inspection protocol—standing at their respective cell doors, which were open. One of the wardens on the tour, who used to work at UCI, commented how strange it was to see the men with open cell doors because they used to never be open. We walked down the wing and had the opportunity to speak to the men from the other side of bars as they stood at their cell doors.
Florida State Prison (FSP)
FSP was the final stop on the tour. FSP is where a prisoner is sent if he can’t behave at another institution—or if he has an active death warrant.
Maximum Security
FSP is the maximum level security prison in the DOC system. Those who have had serious behavioral issues in other institutions are sent to FSP. We walked through a maximum security wing. The prisoners were in single cells behind solid steel doors. Some had spit shields on their doors, meaning they had issues with spitting before and needed to wear the shield if they come out. Several were tattooed from head to toe. It was difficult to hear them because of the doors. One prisoner tried to ask me about filing a federal claim; I told him that he needed to talk to his lawyer.
Some were up at the windows to talk to us; others were standing against the wall. While we thought that those on the wall just weren’t interested in engaging, we learned that those on the wall were actually following directions. The prisoners had been told—like those on death row—to stand in their inspection place, which was on the wall. Those who had come to the window to see what the commotion was were breaking the rules.
Death Watch
When the Governor issues a warrant for the execution of an prisoner on death row, the administration at UCI goes to his cell and reads the warrant. He is then removed from his cell and transported to FSP.
At FSP, he is housed in the “Q-Wing,” which is a separate area of the prison. There are three levels of the Q-Wing. Death watch is on the first floor. When we walked in, there was a white board on the wall that listed the prisoners on each floor—their name, their status, their diet, etc. I immediately realized that I was looking at the board that Michael Lambrix talked about before he was executed:
“The first thing you see is a board on the wall that says your name, your cell number and your execution date,” said Lambrix. “Every time you go in and out of there you see that right there, in writing, just to remind you.”
Gaskin was on death watch when we were there, and he was listed as the only inmate on the first floor of the Q-wing. The board said “RDP” for Gaskin’s diet. I asked the guard what that meant, and he said it meant that Gaskin is on a religious diet.
We otherwise did not see the death watch area.
Death Chamber
Finally, we saw the execution chamber. We did not go inside the chamber but sat in the witness room with the curtain raised so we were looking at the gurney. They brought the electric chair into the chamber for us to see that, too. While we were in there, prison officials gave us detailed information about how executions are completed. Two things that struck me about the presentation:
The prison official giving the presentation referenced the execution, including executions by electrocution, as a “dignified death process.”
Since the tour, I noticed that the same term is used in the Secretary’s cover letter to the Lethal Injection Protocol:
The prison official told us that there is a waiting list to witness an execution, which is comprised of members of the community that have either written to or called the warden asking to witness an execution.
During an Execution
I had read from Lambrix’s blog that the entire FSP is on lockdown during an execution, which serves as a reminder to everyone that the execution is taking place. I asked the officials giving the tour about it, and the answer was: “Well, the entire place is always on lockdown.” After a follow-up question, they did say that they restrict movement more than usual during an execution.
Here’s a recent article I wrote summarizing the death row pieces of the tour.