|
|
| Prison Surveillance Videos Locked Down |
| By pnj.com |
| Published: 06/29/2009 |
|
Prison surveillance videos locked down Skirmish brews over public-records law Bill Cotterell • News Journal capital bureau • June 28, 2009 TALLAHASSEE — A major legal skirmish is brewing over public access to tell-tale surveillance videos recorded in Florida's prison system. The Department of Corrections insists it's not trying to cover up misconduct by correctional officers. Secretary Walt McNeil said an overhead panorama of the inside of a dormitory or cell block could expose security check points, camera positions, guard posts, windows and emergency doors — things an outside accomplice might want to know planning an escape or trying to smuggle weapons or drugs into an institution. But a Tallahassee civil rights lawyer claims that the DOC is stonewalling to protect routine retaliation against troublesome convicts. Attorney James V. Cook said a post-9/11 state law intended to protect public buildings from terrorists is being used to shield guards who "gas" prisoners with chemical spray, beat them up or deprive them of food or medicine. "I've sent them eight, maybe 10, requests for video — both building security and handheld video — in the last year, and I've gotten a form letter saying, 'We believe this is exempt,' " Cook said. McNeil, a former Tallahassee police chief who took over the department last year, said Gov. Charlie Crist insists that "we are as transparent an agency as we possibly can be." But he said state law exempts the "security system plan" of an institution from public disclosure. McNeil said videos showing "our officers' interaction with inmates" are not being withheld to thwart prisoner lawsuits. But Cook said the public-records exemption is meant for blueprints, security memos, training videos or recordings of staff presentations dealing with security. "It is a significant problem for us if we allow videos to go out into the public and people can see exactly how we're laid out," McNeil said during a visit to the Wakulla Correctional Institution last week. "We have not had an escape from our prisons in quite a long time and a large part of that, in my estimation, has to do with the fact that we are vigilant about making sure that people aren't aware of all the layouts that we have in our institutions. We guard those security issues very strenuously."Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think