JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Community advocacy organizations in Jacksonville are voicing concerns after the sheriff announced an unspecified incident this week that led to the death of a Duval County jail inmate.
Charles 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.
The incident that sent Faggart to the hospital led to the removal of nine corrections staff at the Duval County jail, and Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters has asked the FBI to investigate.
Now the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) is inviting the public to a rally at 1 pm. on Sunday, on the steps of the JSO Memorial Building at 501 E Bay St., to “demand justice for all victims of police and jail violence.”
JCAC said that while Faggart’s family is grieving, “this moment is about more than one tragedy.”
The organization wants the sheriff to release the names of the officers involved, along with any video footage of the “incident,” calling the system “corrupt.”
JCAC said it also demands:
- The termination, indictment, and conviction of all officers involved.
- Civilian oversight and a Public Safety Committee to hold JSO accountable.
- An end to plans for a $1 billion new jail, with funds redirected to community services and rehabilitation.
“We refuse to accept that jail time is a death sentence,” JCAC wrote in a news release about Sunday’s rally.
The release pointed out “repeated scandals” at the jail, including one last year that involved a corrections officer accused of being part of a jail drug smuggling ring.
“Yet instead of fixing these systemic failures, city leaders are pushing for a costly new jail—a band-aid solution that won’t stop the violence," JCAC wrote.
The Northside Coalition of Jacksonville also issued a 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
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 corrections 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.
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.
