Urgent Action: Rashid Johnson

*URGENT CALL ALERT*

Prisoner Name:
Kevin “Rashid” Johnson #158039
Florida Department of Corrections – Santa Rosa Correctional Institution


DETAILS OF SERIOUS ABUSE OF KEVIN RASHID JOHNSON

*Speaking up against brutalizing a mentally ill prisoner*

On May 21, 2018, Kevin Johnson was retaliated against for speaking up on
behalf of a mentally ill prisoner named Murphy who was being brutalized
by corrections officers at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution
(SRCI). As Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) officers were
gassing and assaulting Mr. Murphy for making too much noise, Mr. Johnson
raised his voice from inside his solitary confinement cell (in order to
be heard on the video and audio recorders on the cell block) and said
that prison guards had been abusing Murphy by failing to provide him
with needed mental health care, by withholding meals, and by responding
to his mental illness with violence by gassing him nine times and
brutally extracting him from his cell.

*Retaliation for speech*

For this act, Lt. Marcus Stokes told Johnson that he was going to be put
on “strip cell,” a punishment where everything in a prisoner’s cell is
removed, including toiletries and bedding, and he is left in solitary
confinement with nothing but his underwear. Stokes and three other
officers then gassed Mr. Johnson six times. After having been put in
handcuffs and taken to the showers to clean off the residue from the gas
attack, Mr. Johnson was brutally thrown down to the floor, while Lt.
Stokes repeatedly threatened to kill him and stated that he was “a
marked man.”

*Unconstitutional pretext for punishment*

As a pretext, Lt. Stokes wrote in his disciplinary report that Mr.
Johnson was punished because his property was “not properly stored” and
his “bedding was on the floor.” The practice of FDOC officers gassing
and then putting prisoners on “strip cell” for minor disciplinary
infractions, as a form of retaliation, or for no reason at all has been
well documented by news media and courts. According to one Miami Herald
report, previous instances of this kind of abuse caused FDOC to change
its policies so that prison guards may no longer gas prisoners and put
them on “strip cell” for improperly storing their property or not making
their beds. [1]

*Interference with access to legal counsel and courts*

On May 24th, Mr. Johnson’s time on “strip cell” was to have ended;
however, FDOC officials returned only one bag of his property, when
there should have been six bags of property. Missing property included
legal documents necessary to pursue litigation against FDOC officials
for numerous violations of his constitutional rights. By withholding
this property, FDOC officials were successful in denying Mr. Johnson the
ability to exchange legal documents with his attorney Melinda Patterson
during a legal visit on May 24th, thereby interfering with his right to
legal counsel and his right to access the courts.

*Reading and tampering with legally privileged mail*

A letter clearly identified as legal mail sent by attorney Melinda
Patterson to Mr. Johnson on January 22nd, while he was at Florida State
Prison, was received already opened and resealed with a pink glue stick.
On April 1st, legal mail sent by Mr. Johnson while at SRCI to attorney
Dustin McDaniel was opened, read by FDOC guards, and then resealed with
tape prior to delivering to the mailroom staff. Another letter sent by
Mr. Johnson on April 1st via privileged media mail to his editor Carole
Seligman was opened, read, and resealed by guards prior to delivering to
the mailroom staff. These letters were delayed and received 2 weeks
after the date they were submitted for mailing. Mailroom staff admitted
that these letters were tampered with, when responding to Mr. Johnson’s
grievances #119-1804-0722 and #119-1804-0723.

*Destroying legally privileged mail*

Legal mail sent by Mr. Johnson to attorney Dustin McDaniel on April 17th
was never received, is now missing, and was presumably destroyed by FDOC
officials. Letters sent by Mr. Johnson to his editor Carole Seligman on
April 5th, 16th, 17th, and 25th were never delivered and were presumably
destroyed by FDOC staff. Included in these mailings were three essays
for publication detailing abuses inside the FDOC.


*DEMANDS*

- Return all confiscated property to Kevin Johnson #158039

- Stop the interference with Mr. Johnson’s legal and news media
correspondence

- Stop retaliation against Mr. Johnson for exercising his First
Amendment rights

- Stop the repeated, cruel, arbitrary, and excessive punishment of Mr.
Johnson

- Immediately transfer Mr. Johnson from Florida DOC to Virginia DOC


*PLEASE CALL*

Walker Clemmons
Warden - Santa Rosa Correctional Institution
(850) 981-5199

Kenneth S. Steely
General Counsel – Florida Department of Corrections
(850) 717-3605

Patrick Finan
Security Operations – Interstate Corrections Compact Unit
(850) 717-3222

Lester Fernandez
Inspector General – Florida Department of Corrections
(850) 488-9265