Florida has no law requiring deaths in custody to be reported by local law enforcement
Marion County jail visitation area with glass partition. Photo supplied by Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
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Over 25 years ago, a federal law was passed to ensure that every death that occurred while the person was in the custody of law enforcement be reported by the respective state.
By extension, every local law enforcement agency is required to comply under this law—the Death in Custody Reporting Act. Yet, the state of Florida has no statute to enforce DCRA.
“DCRA reporting is tied to Justice Assistance Grant reporting. As such, the state administering agencies are ultimately responsible for setting up policies and procedures to ensure that DCRA reporting is complete,” according to the act.
The “Gazette” requested all death in custody reports that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has received from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office during the past five years.
Documents provided by the MCSO show there have been 23 deaths in the agency’s custody since 2020.
However, the FDLE only had documentation for seven of those 23 deaths in custody. The reports are for inmates Wayne Vanderslice, Mayra Ramirez, Kelly Henry Rayborn, LanquantisWashington, Michael Watkins, Tyler Allen White and Scott Whitley.
To obtain these records from FDLE, the “Gazette” had to hire an attorney, file a notice of intent to litigate and pay research fees. The seven DCRA reports are all that FDLE provided from that process.
The “Gazette” asked MCSO why FDLE only received seven death in custody reports from the agency. MCSO spokesperson Lt. Paul Bloom said he spoke to the jail investigator and confirmed that “those 23 deaths were, in fact, documented and reported to FDLE.”
No further explanation was provided for the discrepancy in the number of reports compared with the number of deaths reported by the MCSO. The “Gazette” has requested all DCRA reports filed to FDLE within the past five years and will update this report if the agency provides the public records.
DCRA in depth
The DCRA, passed by Congress in 2000, requires all states to report “information regarding the death of any person who is under arrest, is en route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county jail, state prison, or other local or state correctional facility, including any juvenile facility.”
The law has since been expanded to require the law enforcement agency that had custody of the person to report the death.
“Each quarter, state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as correctional agencies, are obligated to report deaths in custody to the Office of Criminal Justice Grants in compliance with the DCRA,” according to the law.
A representative from the FDLE told the “Gazette” that MCSO applies for grants and thus reports the agency’s in-custody deaths.
“Under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG), the Bureau of Justice Assistance made all State Administering Agencies responsible for collecting and submitting death in custody data through BJA’s Performance Measurement Tool,” according to the FDLE.
The information from reporting of deaths in custody has been captured by the BJA since 2019.
Records retention policy
After combing through the 23 reports of deaths in custody at the Marion County Jail, the “Gazette” requested the inmate files of seven persons whose circumstances struck an interest.
The “Gazette” reviewed years of Quality Assurance Reports authored by registered nurse Mary Coy, the Inmate Medical Liaison for the MCSO. The “Gazette” noticed consistent concerns about inmates receiving timely medical care.
Upon request, MCSO said it no longer had records for four out of the seven inmates requested, due to its policy of only retaining records for a year after an inmate’s release.
The “Gazette” questioned why the retention period is not longer, especially given the death of an inmate.
MCSO said its policy for records retention, regardless of the death of an inmate, is to destroy inmate records after one year of an inmate’s release. No differentiation is made between the “release” of an inmate and an inmate’s death in custody.
Further, there is no requirement for the FDLE to investigate deaths of people in MCSO’s custody. The sheriff has sole discretion to decide whether a death must be investigated, unless use of force by an employee is involved, according to MCSO policy.
According to the MCSO policy for “notification in the event of injury, serious illness or death,” most cases of in-custody death are investigated internally by the Major Crimes Unit.
The only cases that must be reported to FDLE, according to the policy, are cases that occur in conjunction with an employee’s use of force. Such was the case with the death of MCSO inmate Scott Whitley, where FDLE deemed that the deputies involved in his death were not at fault and should return to the force.
Otherwise, it is up to the sheriff’s discretion which cases should be referred to FDLE to investigate.
This policy was last reviewed by MCSO in February 2020, two years before Whitley’s death. Since then, 23 deaths have occurred in the custody of the Marion County Jail. Whitley’s death was the only one referred to FDLE for further investigation.
The “Gazette” requested data on any deaths in custody of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office from FDLE since the same physician oversees both facilities. The FDLE said it didn’t have any reports from that agency within the past five years in part because SCSO hadn’t applied for federal grants through their office.
When requesting any internal records of deaths in custody from SCSO itself in November 2024, the agency responded that it would not be able to access or provide records indefinitely.
“The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office experienced a Ransomware attack on August 2024. Due to the attack, we have limited access to our network and electronic records. We are diligently working on restoration,” said SCSO.
Upon reiterating this request over a month later, the “Gazette” was told by the agency that its network and electronic records were still down. SCSO said it would complete the request when its server is restored but provided no indication of when this would happen.
Deaths in MCSO custody since 2020
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