JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Since the Jacksonville sheriff announced an unspecified incident that led to the removal of nine corrections staff at the Duval County jail and the death of Charles Faggart, two Jacksonville advocacy groups spoke out to call for accountability and justice.
Faggart died on Thursday after suffering critical injuries from the incident. According to his family’s attorney, Belkis Plata, he “was beaten” and had been “brain dead” since Monday.
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The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office released another statement on Thursday, saying that detectives were “working diligently to gain a complete understanding of the facts and circumstances that led to the brain death" of Faggart.
The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville issued the following statement on Faggart’s deaths:
“The Duval County jail was ‘an incident away from a federal court order’ according to the Chief Judge of Florida’s 4th Circuit, Lance Day, and now it appears we have that incident. The FBI will investigate and the US Department of Justice should be next. The officers responsible must be held accountable, along with the Sheriff who has mismanaged the jail. The taxpayers of Jacksonville again will surely be paying out millions in a settlement due to JSO’s actions. I reiterate that we must not only improve conditions in the jail and prevent further deaths, but also reduce the need for people to be in jail in the first place.”
Kelly Frazier, Northside Coalition president
The Jacksonville Community Action Committee also issued a call for transparency in Faggart’s death, pointing to similar incidents that furthered the organization’s push for JSO to form a civilian oversight and public safety committee.
The statement said, in part, “The Jacksonville Community Action Committee condemns the actions of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and its correctional officers that led to Faggart’s death. The JCAC supports calls from the family for full transparency from the Sheriff and JSO. The JCAC demands the release of the names of the officers involved along with any video footage of the incident. All officers involved in Mr. Faggart’s death must be fired, indicted and convicted.”
On Tuesday, Sheriff T.K. Waters announced that eight correctional officers and a correctional sergeant were removed from their positions and stripped of all their correction authority following the incident, which happened on Monday morning.
Waters said he would not give details about the incident or how the inmate was injured because it was still an open investigation.