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Families of two men who were fatally stabbed inside a Florida prison are demanding answers after months of mystery surrounding the circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths.
The families of Allec Garcia, 34, and Antron Griffin, 31, filed separate lawsuits on Monday against the GEO Group, which operates prisons across the U.S., including the South Bay Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility where the men were stabbed to death in separate incidents.
The lawsuits accuse the GEO Group of negligence and failing to address threats from other inmates, saying this led to the men’s wrongful deaths.
Kimberly Wald, an attorney representing the families, told HuffPost in an interview that there are similarities between the two cases, though the men died in separate instances.
According to state records, Griffin was serving four years for aggravated battery, and Garcia was serving eight years for battery.
“They made some mistakes in their life, and they were doing what they needed to to serve their sentence, but they didn’t deserve to die,” Wald said. “The GEO Group, they’ve been paid over $400 million for this contract to operate this prison, and you have to keep the inmates safe. They’re human beings.”
In a statement to HuffPost, the GEO Group said it is “committed to the safety, security, and well-being of those entrusted to our care.”
“The facts and circumstances surrounding these two incidents are currently under investigation,” the statement read. “GEO is fully cooperating with the appropriate law enforcement officials who are reviewing these cases.”
The Florida Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
According to its website, the GEO Group operates about 50 secure facilities nationwide, including several ICE immigrant detention centers, with more than 64,000 total beds. The company’s stock price has risen sharply since Donald Trump won a second term and said mass deportations are coming. In an earnings call, founder and executive chair George Zoley said the company is facing a unique opportunity.
Wald described both Garcia and Griffin as close with their families and added that both men had told their relatives that other inmates were threatening them before their deaths.
Griffin was fatally stabbed inside the prison on March 11, while Garcia was killed four months later on July 3, according to Wald and the lawsuits.
Garcia’s mother said she did not find out about her son’s death until two days after the fact, NBC affiliate WPTV reported.
“They called me on the 5th and [said] he had died on the 3rd,” she said Tuesday, according to the outlet. “I had no knowledge that my son had been dead for almost three days.”
Wald told HuffPost that, unlike in a typical homicide investigation, authorities know that the men’s killer or killers are still inside the corrections facility.
“It is a closed facility, and so we know whoever did this is there, and the fact that now we are here six months later, and the family has been told absolutely no information is absolutely baffling,” Wald said.
According to the lawsuits, inmate killings are nothing new at South Bay. The filings cite the cases of other people who have died in the prison, some in fatal stabbings.
Wald told HuffPost that she believes underpaid or undertrained staff at the prison bear some of the responsibility, based on her firm’s experience in other lawsuits against correctional facilities.
“They should have had better training on how to see and recognize threats, of what to do when you see a prisoner being threatened, or how to do their rounds in a fashion that can be more efficient,” Wald said.
She hopes any information that comes to light because of the lawsuits leads to change at the prison.
“They were sons, they were brothers, they were friends, and the purpose of the justice system is for accountability and rehabilitation,” Wald said. “They were not sentenced to death, and that’s the punishment that they obtained, and that is not justice.”
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