Trish T

[Cherie M Smith @CherieMSmith1]

🚨 BREAKING: South Bay Correctional Facility Water Crisis 🚨

Since 2 PM Sunday, South Bay Correctional Facility, operated by @GEOGroup, has been without water. Residents endured over 30 hours without bottled water, finally receiving 4 small bottles Monday night. That’s not enough to drink, let alone flush toilets, bathe, or wash hands.

This inhumane treatment is unacceptable and violates basic human rights. The Florida Department of Corrections (@FL_Corrections) must explain why this was allowed to happen and what steps they’re taking to prevent this negligence in the future.

We demand accountability.
•How does @GEOGroup justify this?
•What actions is @FL_Corrections taking to protect residents?

This is more than a water issue—it’s about dignity, humanity, and basic living conditions.

We’re calling on @kyliemcgivern, @MitchPerry18, @abcactionnews, and Rep. Meg Weinberger (@state15325) to investigate this critical situation.

Let’s make it clear: Depriving residents of water is unacceptable. Spread the word, hold @GEOGroup accountable, and demand better from @FL_Corrections.

#WaterDeprivation #HumanRights #SouthBayCrisis #FLDOC

[Cherie M Smith @CherieMSmith1]

Florida Department of Corrections: Priorities Misplaced

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) often claims it lacks the funding to address critical issues:

• No funds for necessary facility repairs, leaving residents to live in deteriorating and unsafe conditions.
• No funds for adequate medical care, forcing families to watch their loved ones suffer without the help they need.
• No funds for sufficient nutrition, making it harder for residents to maintain basic health.
• No funds to ensure humane living conditions, even though this is a minimum standard required under the law.

Yet, somehow, the FDC has found the money to:
• Implement a sophisticated fingerprinting system that adds another layer of control but does nothing to improve the welfare of residents.
• Install cashless vending machines in all facilities, forcing families to bear the financial burden of increased prices and predatory deposit holds.
• Raise canteen prices, making even the most basic items unaffordable for residents and their families.

Where Are the Real Priorities?

The FDC’s actions speak louder than their excuses. Instead of focusing on improving conditions and addressing the real needs of the residents under their care, they’ve chosen to invest in systems and policies that generate revenue at the expense of families. These policies don’t just hurt families—they contradict the FDC’s stated mission to “promote rehabilitation and reintegration.”

The Real Cost of Inaction

Florida statutes, including Chapter 33 of the Florida Administrative Code, mandate that correctional facilities provide humane conditions, medical care, and nutrition. Yet, these standards are routinely ignored in favor of costly, unnecessary upgrades that do nothing to benefit the residents or their families.

Research by the Prison Policy Initiative shows that stable family connections are key to successful reentry, yet the FDC seems intent on making family support as difficult—and expensive—as possible. When canteen and vending machine prices rise, family visits become financially burdensome, and residents are left to live in inhumane conditions, it’s clear that profit has taken precedence over progress.

This Must Change

We demand transparency and accountability from the FDC:
1 Redirect funds to facility repairs and humane living conditions.
2 Invest in healthcare and proper nutrition for residents.
3 Reevaluate profit-driven systems that punish families instead of fostering rehabilitation.

Families and advocates will not stand silent while our loved ones suffer in unsafe, inhumane environments. It’s time for the FDC to prioritize dignity over dollars, humanity over profit, and real rehabilitation over revenue streams.

If you believe in fairness and justice, stand with us. Together, we can demand the change our loved ones deserve.

#JusticeOverProfit #FDCPriorities #DignityNotDollars #FamiliesFirst

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

@FL_Corrections what is being done right now to resolve this situation South Bay CF @GEOGroup ? No water since Sunday 2pm! They can’t flush the toilets, can’t wash their hands or take a shower! BTW Thanksgiving is 2 days away!
@MitchPerry18
@KylieMcGivern

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

@FL_Corrections what is being done about the #waterdeprivation at South Bay CF, privately run by @GEOGroup? No running water since Sunday 2pm. Scarce bottled water as well!This is inhumane!
@MitchPerry18
@KylieMcGivern
@state15325
@abcactionnews

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

@FL_Corrections it’s still spring time but the temps are already rising to unbearable levels. Please allow the lights to stay off until after 5pm. Provide coolers of ice for each shift (3 per day).
Allow our loved ones relief from this heat!
#BEATTHEHEAT
@GovRonDeSantis

[Lisa P @lglisa725]

@Fl_Corrections Time 2
Issue statewide directives 4 lights to b off in the dorms 'til 5 pm 2 reduce temps in housing areas
& provide coolers w/ice on each shift (3 X a day) #BeatTheHeat
@myflhouse
@FLSenate @GovRonDeSantis @nytimes @washingtonpost @orlandosentinel

[The Appeal @theappeal]

In total, 44 states lack universal air conditioning requirements in their prisons—including 13 known for extreme heat. During summer, cells can get well into the triple digits. A new climate program could help install AC powered by clean energy. https://t.co/J1CyGAGlnq

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

@FL_Corrections Meanwhile my dog wouldn’t eat the crap that’s served to my LO. Check yourself.

[Karen L Stuckey @ucf87cpa]

Look what the detainees at Guantanamo Bay eat in comparison to what @FL_Corrections serves.

I hope this is addressed next week along with the families paying outrageous prices so the Department can get “Free items” and “Kickbacks”

FS 944.03(2)c states “To develop and maintain a humane system of punishment providing prison inmates with proper housing, nourishment, and medical attention.”

[Daisy @s_villani]

@GovRonDeSantis Governor, 300,000 children of the 85,000 incarcerated are suffering - limited income is paying EXORBITANT INCREASES in all @FL_Corrections contracts- in order to stay in touch with their parent and to eat during a visit. #visitaprison #fooddesert @florida_cares @Kathleen4SWFL

[TheAbolitionChristian℠ @AaronOlson1986]

Prison: Day 6,135
In 2015 our prison hosted an event called the "Hope Cafe". The topic? Re-entry, and release preparation. The question? "How can the Department of Corrections better prepare men and women during their prison experience, to successfully re-enter society, and not come back to prison?" My answer was simple. Give every person entering prison, the opportunity to pair with a mentor for the entirety of their stay. With no blueprint, and only a couple last minute "re-entry" classes hurled at them prior to release, prison is spent trying to survive, reinforcing the behaviors that led to prison in the first place. In the last 20 years, the demographics of prisoners has dramatically changed. Almost half of the current prison populace is serving 10 years or longer. Many of these prisoners would be honored to mentor a new arrival. I see this peer mentorship as one of the most powerful forms of rehabilitation, and recidivism reduction, at no cost.
#Peer2Peer
#ReentryBeginsAtReception

[TheAbolitionChristian℠ @AaronOlson1986]

Prison: Day 6,134
MENTAL/BEHAVIORAL HEALTH.
During COVID, prisons and at-risk facilities were last to open back up in late 2022. While solitary confinement was weaponized, and wielded against prisoners who either tested positive, or simply showed the most minor symptom, behavioral health professionals were noticeably absent. Only one encounter occurred, where the professional handed out a Sudoku puzzle. Nothing else was offered during that three-year span. Things have not gotten better. Prisoner's mental health continues to UNRAVEL. So too does the concept that harsher punishments produce safer communities. While mental health experts are at a premium, Incarcerated peers stand at the ready, with lived experience and evidence based, peer 2 peer mentoring abilities.

[Florida Cares @florida_cares]

Families want to know. #fooddesert

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

Trick or treat? Definitely not a treat but you can’t trick us either. Please fix this ridiculousness. Stop disabling families financially by your price gouging!
#fooddesert
@GovRonDeSantis
@FL_Corrections
@FoxNews
@ACLUFL
@ABC
@flprisonreform
@MitchPerry18

[Karen L Stuckey @ucf87cpa]

That’s peanut butter and jelly mixed in the top corner. These meals from @Aramark are why the the Keefe canteen is a necessity.

@FL_Corrections Increasing 65% of the items at canteen on average 40%, after a 10% price increase 3 months ago is breaking families.

Add in the almost 14 cent a minute phone calls, 39 cents each way to send an email and long trips to visitation and food 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

@lstern89 @FL_Corrections It’s been hard for sure and I wouldn’t have made it this far without God, my family, and my tribe.

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

I lost my husband 7/8/20 and then my son, and only child, to @FL_Corrections just 6 months later. Can you please explain to me the humanity in any of this price gouging? It’s hard enough living in this economy without all of the other outside problems. Do better!
#fooddesert

[Cher Matthews @UGlowingGirl]

Today starts what we hope is a full press on these prices! It is about the impact of financial strain on the families of the incarcerated! Each new contract put forth by FDC puts even more burden on the families: Phones, mail, canteen..... What next??. #fooddesert

[Lori Mundy @mundy165198]

Prices based on convenience stores? Seems that's not so! FDOC is price gouging families. #HungryinFDC @WFTV
@news6wkmg
@MyNews13
@WESH
@fox35orlando

[Trish T @TrishCGT]

@FL_Corrections @florida_cares @flprisonreform
Enough is enough! Stop financially straining the families of the incarcerated!
#fooddesert