Welcome to

A man concerned about the conditions in Florida jails and prisons amid the pandemic found himself behind bars after cementing himself in concrete in front of the Governor’s Mansion Friday morning.

While cases have begun to rise among inmates and staff, the Governor is resistant to the idea of releasing offenders.

Police were called to the Governor’s Mansion around 6 AM and found 28-year-old Jordan Mazurek with his arms seemingly cemented into two large barrels reading Stop the Massacre and Free Prisoners Now.

“He was protesting some element of the Department of Corrections,” said Tallahassee Police Department PIO Officer Kevin Bradshaw.

Though he was able to remove his hands freely, he refused, so officials were forced to cut him out, as the Governor’s children played on swings just yards away.

Mazurek was charged with resistance and obstruction without violence.

He was also issued a traffic ticket for blocking the roadway.

A second protestor, 45-year-old Karen Smith was also charged with resistance and obstruction without violence after running from law enforcement agents when they arrived on scene.

We spoke Mei Azaad with the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons, who’s organization supported the protest.

They’re advocating for inmate release.

“We’re expecting around 8,000 possibly, people to die from this inside of prisons, jails, detention centers, juvies,” said Azaad.

This was the second protest demanding inmate release in the Capitol this week.

A car protest was held Monday.

“We’ve been warning the Governor, we’ve been warning the correctional department for a month at this point telling them what is going to happen if they don’t release people and then we’ve seen our predictions come true,” said Azzad.

63 corrections staff and 44 inmates have tested positive, the majority at a privately run prison, but Governor Ron DeSantis said he’s not in favor of releasing inmates, citing the case of Joseph Williams.

“This guy committed a murder after he was released, very, very dangerous and you know we’ve got to always put the public safety first,” said DeSantis.

So far there have been four COVID-19 related inmate deaths reported by the Department of Corrections.