The Miami Herald reports that mentally ill inmates at Dade Correctional Institution have been tormented and abused for years, according to three former employees at the psychiatric unit, one of whom filed a complaint last month with the U.S. Department of Justice. In his complaint, George Mallinckrodt, a psychotherapist assigned to the unit from 2008 to 2011, related a series of episodes, including the death of inmate Darren Rainey. The 50-year-old suffered severe burns and died after he was confined in a scalding-hot shower by guards and left unattended for more than an hour.
His death, for which no one has been held accountable, was described in Sunday's Miami Herald. One current corrections officer at the Dade facility said prisoners in the mental health unit who caused trouble were threatened by guards with the shower treatment. In his complaint to the Justice Department, Mallinckrodt said guards “taunted, tormented, abused, beat, and tortured chronically mentally ill inmates on a regular basis,” hoping to provoke a response so the inmates could then be punished.