findings and legal conclusions binding on, or admissible in, any court, and nothing in this Notice of Investigative Conclusions (Notice) should be construed as such. Accordingly, this Notice is not intended to be admissible evidence and does not create any legal rights or obligations. Specifically, the United States provides notice that the State of Florida, through the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), fails to keep prisoners at Lowell safe from sexual abuse by staff. FDOC has documented and been aware of a pattern or practice of staff sexual abuse of Lowell prisoners since at least 2006. Despite being on notice of this sexual abuse, FDOC and Lowell failed to take timely action to remedy the systemic problems that have enabled corrections officers and other staff to continue to sexually abuse Lowell prisoners. As documented in this Notice, Lowell prisoners have suffered harm from sexual abuse and are at substantial risk of serious harm because existing systems discourage prisoners from reporting sexual abuse and fail to effectively detect and deter sexual abuse. Between 2017 and the present, Lowell sergeants, corrections officers, and other staff have committed notorious acts of sexual abuse, including rape, against prisoners. For example, in July 2020, a sergeant was arrested and charged with sexual misconduct after he admitted to engaging in oral sex with a prisoner in the maintenance room of a prisoner dormitory as recently as April 2020. That same sergeant had been accused in 2017 of sexually abusing a different prisoner, causing lesions on the prisoner’s throat from oral sex, and then retaliating against the prisoner when she refused his sexual advances. Even though FDOC verified the prisoner’s injuries, FDOC never completed the investigation for the 2017 incident, and the officer remained employed until his arrest in July 2020. This recent staff arrest is not an isolated incident. The Department identified evidence that Lowell has a long-standing pattern of criminal charges, discipline, and documented allegations of staff sexual abuse. In 2018, another sergeant allegedly raped a prisoner in a storage area, “pull[ing] [her] pants down and forc[ing] his penis in anally.” Extensive photographic evidence documented the prisoner’s injuries. Another officer allegedly took a prisoner to an outdoor area between two buildings, pushed her down, and forced his penis into her mouth. Prisoners repeatedly told the Department of officers making harassing, sexually explicit comments to them. One prisoner alleged in 2018 that an officer boasted to her that he had a large penis, and made graphic comments suggesting he wanted to perform oral sex on a Black woman. It is common for officers to grope prisoners, including their buttocks and breasts; bribe prisoners with contraband including drugs, cigarettes, food, and makeup in exchange for 1 sex; comment on prisoners’ bodies using crude sexual language and names; compel prisoners into ongoing abusive sexual “relationships;” watch prisoners as they use the toilet or shower, and when changing clothes, without justification; and threaten prisoners with solitary confinement if they report sexual abuse. Consistent with the statutory requirements of CRIPA, the Department writes this Notice to notify the State of Florida of our conclusions with respect to these constitutional violations, the facts supporting those conclusions, and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the identified deficiencies. II. INVESTIGATION On April 17, 2018, the Department notified the State of Florida of our intent to conduct an investigation of Lowell pursuant to CRIPA. Our investigation focused on wheth
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