MIAMI (AP). U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons director that he was deeply concerned about the Florida federal prison's failure to provide protection for inmates.
The Florida senator wrote to Michael Carvajal asking about Coleman's handling a recent audit, which examined how incidents of rape behind bars were handled.
The Miami Herald reported August on the pain of survivors who were frustrated to learn that no criminal charges had been filed against Sumter County prison officers for raping or abusing women in Sumter County's women's facility.
According to the Herald, Carleane Berman's father, who later died from a drug overdose, has called for criminal charges against those who raped his daughter.
In a settlement with 15 women who claimed that they were subject to sexual abuse in the prison, the U.S. government had paid around $12 million this year. The Herald reported that at least six Coleman corrections officers confessed to having sex with female prisoners in the sprawling prison. Seven of them have resigned, or retired.
Rubio asked about an April audit. This audit is required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act. It requires that correctional facilities have safeguards in place to prevent inmates being sexually assaulted or abused by staff or fellow inmates.
He inquired why no female prisoners were interviewed by auditors when they visited the prison in April.
Two days before the audit, it appears that all female prisoners were transferred from FCI Coleman into another prison. Rubio, a female inmate, wrote to Michael Carvajal, BOP Director, about this disturbing fact.
Female inmates filed a lawsuit alleging that officials moved them to isolated housing in a county jail to keep them quiet or afraid. The female inmates claimed that officers took them to dead spots at the women's facility where surveillance cameras couldn't capture their rape.
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Rubio cites coverage in the Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, and the allegations of FCI Coleman inmates.
The Herald reported that the bureau of prisons refused to comment on Rubio's letter and said it responded directly to members Congress and their staff.
Ron Berman, Carleane Berman's father, stated that he is glad that the Bureau of Prisons has been subject to public pressure and that he hopes more elected leaders will demand answers.
Berman stated that the wardens knew this and tried to silence the voices from the women being remanded under their care.
