“And God created humankind in the divine image. In the image of God did the Divine create them” — Genesis 1:27.

“The bible text, and the ancient rabbinic discussion around it, are the basis for Jewish understanding of human rights. These teachings obligate Jews to treat every human being as worthy of care that recognizes the spark of divinity in all of us.” — Matir Asurim: The Jewish Care Network for Incarcerated People

“I spent 9 grueling hours in a 2 by 2 foot cage at the notorious RMC (Regional Medical Center)” — individual describing recent experience while seeking medical treatment within Florida’s prison system

Below is a report from a Matir Asurim penpal. For context: the writer is incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution (UCI) in Florida and in need of post-operative physical therapy; this requires hours in a transport cage (about the size of a phone booth). Torturous in any situation, in this case, this confinement effectively worsens the medical condition for which treatment is required and undoes any benefits of therapy received. What follows is a graphic description of that experience and related reports from others in the same facilities. Punctuation, spelling, and formatting are lightly edited for ease of reading. This report is shared with permission of the author and his plea that that readers share this information with legislators and others with power to stop the abuse he and his neighbors in incarceration regularly suffer.

Dec 1, 2024

Dear Senator and Representatives,

On Tuesday 11/26/24 I spent 9 grueling hours in a 2 by 2 foot cage at the notorious RMC (Regional Medical Center). It’s a cage inside of a cage. There’s a toilet and urinal, neither works, so as soon as you step through the solid steel door into this cage, the stench of piss offends your nostrils. Once you step inside this tiny 2 foot by 2 foot cage with a wooden bench seat, it’s sitting or standing room only. You should try it. There’s no room to move! Especially for someone like myself who’s 6’4.

Yes, I spent 9 hours in this cage listening to horror stories of prisoners who were mentally and physically abused. Men who have been beaten, sprayed with chemical agents and tortured in strip cells under the guise of property restrictions. Yes, placed in cells where they’ve taken everything including the men’s mattress, blanket and clothing and leaving them to endure cold temperatures, because they’ve pissed off some officer, or had a minor rule violation. I listened to stories of grown men crying, because they’re freezing in unconstitutional strip cells. Tortured beyond anything you can imagine. Believe me, I know what its like!

For it happened to me in 2011. And my father Ronald W. Clark Sr #015851 was murdered in a cell over at Columbia C.I. on 9/18/20 with no mattress or blanket. So when these men are telling me these stories, I know exactly what they’ve went through. For I was tortured in a strip cell and beaten in 2011-12 over my writings. And I’ve personally witnessed the unlawful use of chemical agents as retaliation on several occasions. I sat there listening to stories of men pushing paperclips and Styrofoam into the head of their penis! Can you imagine that? As I’m listening to these horrific dehumanizing acts of brutality, I’m visualizing the desperation, from my past experiences on strip. And I’m thinking something has to change.

We need the House and Senate Criminal Justice Committee to step forward and pass a Bill into law, making it illegal, a class A felony, to place a prisoner in a cell without a mattress and blanket.

Yes, I heard stories of men who were not being fed. Stories of officers placing empty trays into the food slots, so the camera records the facade of prisoners being fed when in actuality its an empty tray. I’ve heard these stories over and over and over again!

Stories of men not getting their recreation or day room time. And believe me, where there’s smoke, there’s fire! And yet this fire continues to burn out of control with more and more abuse in the Florida Department of Corrections! Why? Is it that everyone is scared that they’ll wind up the victim of a homicide that’s made to look like a suicide?…

If you want to come meet with me, I’ll gladly speak with you about this and all the other contents in this email, as well as the conditions here in P dorm at UCI, where we’ve got a severe mold problem, as well as gases coming out of the floor drains, toxic drinking water and overflowing toilets.

Bottom line is this, we need the FDOC overhauled from the top to the bottom. Sure they’re trying to entice new recruits, 18 year old kids with a $22.00 an hour starting pay. But is it worth it to sell their morals, their life and soul for a measly $22.00 an hour pay check? Because they’re coming into an environment where the staff is more dangerous than the prisoners. Step over the line, and you as an officer will find yourself being placed in dangerous positions. You’ll experience reprisal and pressure like you’ve never seen. Fall in line and ignore the abuse of these prisoners and become a good old boy, become part of this diseased system, and you can survive. But the cost of survival, is one hell of a pay off! Because these young officers are on a path to unlawful conduct. These young men with undeveloped brains are being trained and led by immoral and unethical leader’s. That’s what needs to change. We need your help. You can’t continue to ignore what’s going on here. You’ve seen it time and time again, stories of FDOC corruption and abuse that’s run all the way into the office of the Secretary….

The Criminal Justice Committee’s turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the corruption and abuse of these prisoners that’s taking place in here. And without your help, this change will not happen. It’s going to take a brave soul to step forward and make this change a top priority. I hope and pray that this touches your soul, and that you will be the one to make these men’s lives a priority. May G-d bless you, and touch your heart and soul to do the right thing.

Sincerely Ronald W. Clark #812974

MORE FROM Ronald W. Clark

All who can protest against something wrong that one of their family is doing and does not, is accountable together with their family.

All who can protest against something wrong that a citizen of their city is doing and does not protest is accountable together with all citizens of the city.

All who can protest against something wrong that is being done in the whole world is accountable together with all citizens of the world.

— teaching from Rav, Rabbi Chanina, Rabbi Yochanon, Rav Chaviva, B. Talmud Shabbat 54b

Photo title “Prisoners in cages await group therapy, Mule Creek State Prison photo from US District Court Briefing. Found in: 2013 article about California, “Motion Denied,” https://sfbayview.com/2013/03/motion-denied-governor-medical-neglect-is-still-killing-prisoners/. Image description: Five individuals in prison jumpsuits in five separate, adjacent cages, each the size of a phone booth.