(Newswire.net — November 4, 2014) — Lowell, Florida – Latandra Ellington, mother of four, was serving a 22 month sentence in of Lowell Correctional Institution, for grand theft. She was just seven months away from reuniting with her children when she wrote in a letter to her aunt stating that she was beaten and tortured, and that she fears that one of the officers at the prison whom she identified as “Sgt. Q”, was going to kill her. A week later, she was found dead in her isolation cell where she was separated from the general population.
“He was gone [sic] beat me to death and mess me like a dog,’’ she wrote. “He was all in my face Sqt. Q then he grab his radio and said he was gone bust me in my head with it…’’
Correction officials said Ellington was separated from the general population because the agency had taken seriously her family’s concerns about the alleged threats.
Correction officials, however, wouldn’t tell them what the cause of the death was, so the Ellington’s family hired an attorney and paid for a private autopsy which showed she was beaten to death. The autopsy showed that Ellington suffered blunt-force trauma to her abdomen consistent with being punched and kicked in the stomach.
On Monday, civil rights attorney Daryl Parks, hired by Ellington’s relatives, urged US Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate.
“It’s not right that these four children would lose their mom,’’ Parks said. “While the trail is very fresh, we believe a federal investigation is warranted.”
“She was not sentenced to the death sentence and the Department of Corrections certainly owed her far greater protection,’’ Parks said.
“Death, abuse and official misconduct is rampant in Florida’s criminal justice system and nowhere is it more pervasive than in our law enforcement and correction agencies,’’ said Dale Landry, vice president of the Florida conference of the NAACP.
“For over 14 years, and especially the last four, Floridians have watched this tyranny grow,” he said, noted that his organization has received a stream of complaints from inmates’ families in the past few years.
Ellington’s aunt, Algerine Jennings, said she feared that her niece was being sexually abused or knew about the abuse of other inmates and had complained. She said the sergeant had been terrorizing Latandra, but she was too afraid to tell her why.
“She just said she couldn’t fight them.” He told her, “Do not underestimate my power’’, said Jennings.
Female prison inmates are routinely raped nationwide, said private investigator Bill Warner. According to him, part of the alleged abuses, male officers openly watched women shower or use the toilet. Prisoners who reported improper conduct were severely punished, said Warner.