OCALA, Fla. – A women’s prison in Ocala has shown a long-standing pattern of abusing inmates, including rape and other sexual abuse by staff, but the Department of Corrections has failed to protect Lowell inmates for more than a decade, a U.S.
Department of Justice investigation found.The Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala is Florida’s oldest and largest women’s prison with more than 1,450 inmates overseen by Warden Stephen Rossiter, according to the DOC.
It’s the largest women’s prison in the country.On Tuesday, the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ released a 36-page report detailing crimes committed against inmates and a pattern of discouraging prisoners from reporting abuse and to deter it.