CIVIL RIGHTS

LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER MIAMI-DADE'S HOUSING AGENCY WAS TAKEN OVER BY THE FEDS, THE COUNTY JAIL SYSTEM IS UNDER SCRUTINY

Posted on Sat, Apr. 05, 2008

BY CHARLES RABIN AND AMY DRISCOLL

[email protected]

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Conditions at Miami-Dade County jails have become so dire that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into possible civil-rights violations -- including poor treatment of the mentally ill and the mistreatment of inmates -- and suicides.

The investigation, detailed in a department letter sent this week to County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, Corrections Chief Tim Ryan and U.S. Attorney R. Alex Acosta, comes on the heels of an ongoing federal inquiry into language barriers at local jails.

Federal authorities are ''obliged to determine whether there are systemic violations of the Constitution of the United States in the conditions at Miami-Dade County Jail,'' Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Baker informed county officials. [More…]