Inmates Sue Florida Over Torture Claims

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By Associated Press

Published: 09/16/2003

Twenty-two inmates sued the state of Florida on Friday, saying it allowed prison officers to torture them in their cells by spraying them with pepper spray and tear gas.
In their federal lawsuit filed in Fort Myers, the inmates said the use of chemical
agents by prison officers has skyrocketed. They claim the practice violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment in the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status.
Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby called the use of chemical agents an accepted practice that has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court The department has detailed rules to ensure proper use of chemical agents, which include a medical review of inmates who are sprayed, he said.
'I am committed to the safety of our correctional officers and my legal counsel will aggressively defend our practices,' Crosby said.
Lisa White Shirley, an attorney with the Florida Institutional Legal Services, which is representing the inmates, said the department encouraged the use of pepper spray and tear gas. Since the inmates are sprayed in their cells, they generally don't pose a danger and spraying them is done to retaliate, punish or intimidate, she said.
She said that after they are sprayed, inmates often are not allowed to shower, and the chemicals blister and burn their skin.
'The prisoner is trapped in the cell, burning and gasping for air,' Shirley said.
According to the lawsuit, chemical agents are now the most common use of force in Florida prisons. In 2000, they were used 1,455 times, about 40 percent of all instances officers used force that year. Last year, they were used more than 1,800 times and represented more than half of all instances of use of force, the suit says.

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