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Feds Probing Charges Of Sex Abuse At Florida Prison

barbed wire prison fence
WMFE
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Federal investigators are looking into allegations of rape, assault, and the smuggling of drugs into a central Florida prison for women.

The Miami Herald reports that about 100 former inmates and relatives of inmates at the Lowell Correctional Institution near Ocala, Florida, attended a town hall meeting on Sunday to talk with the investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Department of Justice opened a federal civil rights investigation into sexual abuse of inmates in July.

The federal investigators are examining whether the Florida Department of Corrections ignored complaints of misconduct.

Florida corrections spokesman Patrick Manderfield says they don't tolerate abuse and welcome the investigation.