| RIPTIDE | ▼ FLORIDA MAXIMUM INSECURITY despite the fact that the facility is located in a mandatory evacuation zone prone to storm surges from the Caloosahatchee River. Less than five blocks from the river, the jail A is a booking facility where most inmates are awaiting court proceedings — meaning they have not been convicted of the charges for which they were arrested. On September 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall, packing winds of 150 mph and deci- mating Fort Myers and the surrounding area. Its storm surge engulfed entire city blocks of the southwest Florida municipality’s down- town district. Late that evening, following the publica- tion of a New Times story about the jail offi- cials’ decision to stay put, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno released a statement, de- claring that inmates were safe. “In an abundance of caution,” the sheriff said, inmates had been “relocated within the main jail to a higher floor.” In contrast to the sheriff’s reassurances, the daughter of one inmate tells New Times that her mother, a 60-year-old Lee County resident, rode out the hurricane in desperate straits alongside her fellow detainees at the downtown jail. The woman says her mother relayed to her that toilets were overflowing with human GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ MIAMI SILVER SCREAM tors gathered outside Tower Theater on Tuesday, October 4. Some attendees were experienced A 44 filmmakers whose movies have won awards at the Miami Film Festival. Some were aspiring artists who dream of seeing their works on the venue’s silver screens. Others were longtime residents of Little Havana who remember arriving in Miami from Cuba in the 1960s and watching films at Tower Theater to learn about American culture. Each of the protesters came with a unifying mission: to “save the Tower” following the City of Miami’s decision to oust Miami Dade College PROTESTERS FEAR CITY WILL TURN TOWER THEATER INTO TOURIST TRAP. BY JOSHUA CEBALLOS mid the barking of street vendors and the clatter of game pieces from nearby Domino Park, a group of demonstra- FORT MYERS JAIL INMATE RECOUNTS HARROWING HURRICANE IAN ORDEAL. BY ALEX DELUCA s Hurricane Ian plowed its way toward Florida’s west coast earlier this week, Lee County declined to evacuate its downtown Fort Myers jail waste and that jail staff was providing cloudy brown water to drink. Some inmates had be- come hysterical, her mother told her. “They have bottled water for the officials, but obviously they don’t give it to [the in- mates],” the daughter says. (The 21-year-old, also a Lee County resident, asked that her name not be published for fear of repercus- sions for her mother for speaking out.) The daughter says that during the storm, THEY HAVE PEOPLE THAT WERE TAKING PSYCH MEDS THAT ARE NOW NOT TAKING THEM, COLD TURKEY. as water seeped into the jail, inmates were moved into the lobby area. She claims there were reports of a fire breaking out in the com- plex and emergency responders urging the jail to consider an evacuation. “They said no, that they weren’t go- ing to evacuate. They were just gonna ride out the hurricane,” the daughter says, cit- ing her mother’s nar- rative. The daughter adds that she called the sheriff’s office to of- fer to donate water bottles, but that a staff member hung up after she complained about her mother’s lack of access to drinking water. Potable water is scarce in Lee County be- cause the storm severely damaged utilities in the region. Many residents and businesses have unsanitary, contaminated water, or no water at all. The Army Corps of Engineers has been working with local officials to bring back potable water, Florida Gov. Ron DeSan- tis said on September 30. Rene Suarez, the inmate’s attorney, tells New Times that before the storm hit, his cli- ent was set to secure a plea agreement that would have resulted in her release. Though she was arrested September 14, she couldn’t get a hearing scheduled until Tuesday, Sep- tember 27, the attorney says. The hearing was then canceled because of the incoming storm. (MDC) as operator of the historic theater, a post the college has held for the past two decades. “This is the theater of the community. I’ve been coming here since I was 9 years old,” Ana Roca, professor emerita of Spanish and linguis- tics at Florida International University, tells New Times. “Miami Dade College has done an excel- lent job running it, and we need to preserve our Little Havana landmarks.” The city notified MDC in a letter last month that it was terminating the college’s manage- ment agreement on the property and taking over once the contract expires on January 2. At a press conference on Monday at Miami City Hall, City Commissioner Joe Carollo, whose district in- cludes Little Havana and Calle Ocho, said the city wants to expand the services provided at Tower Theater to include art exhibitions and Spanish- language films. “I wanna thank Miami Dade College for the years that it managed the Tower Theater, but as with everything else in life, everything changes,” Carollo said during the conference. Photo by Lee County “No one was thinking about inmates who had no choice to leave. The majority of the people in the downtown jail have not been convicted of a crime,” Suarez says. When asked about the sheriff’s decision not to evacuate, Suarez says, “The jail is right next to the river. It’s insane.” Suarez, whose downtown law office was swamped with water during the storm, says he’s working to free his client, but the local circuit court’s schedule remains uncertain in the hurricane’s wake. The woman was booked for allegedly violating pretrial release terms in a DUI case. Interviewed on Friday, the inmate’s daughter told New Times that her mother had been transported post-storm to the Lee County Core Facility, a medium/maximum- security jail with 1,216 beds that’s located a nine-minute drive inland from the downtown jail. She says her mother told her corrections staff there scolded inmates for relaying their concerns about jail conditions to family members. “The city administration has been of the belief that the use of the Tower Theater is nowhere near its maximum use.” Several observers pointed out that under the “WE NEED TO PRESERVE OUR LITTLE HAVANA LANDMARKS.” college’s management, the theater already has the kind of programming to which Carollo al- luded. The college hosted an exhibit by Cuban-American visual artist Daniel Marin until October 12. The theater also features films in a variety of languages, including Argentina 1985 by director Santiago Mitre, at the theater in Spanish with English subtitles. Carollo also said that the city plans to turn Tower Theater into a visitors center — though one already exists just a few feet west at Domino Park — where tourists can browse tours and pick up pamphlets that outline places to visit in Miami and Little Havana. Supporters of MDC’s continued operation of Lee County’s downtown Fort Myers jail is only a few blocks from the Caloosahatchee River. New Times has spoken with relatives of inmates at the core facility as well. One woman, whose husband is incarcer- ated at the facility, tells New Times that as of Friday morning, he had been given only three Styrofoam cups of water since the storm hit. He described to her how inmates were with- out power –– and thus air-conditioning –– while officers at the facility enjoyed cool air. Her husband told her jail officials had not ensured that inmates had an adequate supply of their medications. “They are not giving meds,” she says. “They have people that were taking psych meds that are now not taking them, cold turkey.” The Lee County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t re- sponded to New Times’ request for comment since the afternoon the storm struck. Before Ian made landfall, an LCSO spokesperson said, “In the event of an emergency, we have procedures in place.” the theater say Carollo’s plan sounds impractical. “Joe said he wants to do a tourism center here and charge people to come in and see com- mercials for things to do around the city. That doesn’t make sense. YouTube already exists,” says local filmmaker Chris Molina, who started an online petition for the theater that has garnered more than 6,000 signatures. Representatives from MDC did not attend Tuesday’s protest. Following the city’s press con- ference, the college put out a statement saying they appreciated Carollo’s ideas for the theater and were willing to implement them. “There is no need to change management; Miami Dade College can implement many of his excellent ideas in as little as 30 days - much sooner than a change in management. We would be eager to create a welcome center, con- tinued year-round programming and community art exhibits in our second-floor mezzanine,” the college wrote. [email protected] 4 miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 OCTOBER 13-19, 2022 NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | miaminewtimes.com
