Family of beaten, mentally ill Broward Jail inmate seeks answers after deadly jail attack
FORT LAUDERDALE - Janard Geffrard won't live to see his 30th birthday after a brutal beating at the Broward jail.
Geffrard was pronounced dead after being removed from life support while being treated at Broward Health Medical Center. His relatives said his organs have been donated.
"This is a very troubling story," said Bill Gelin, a defense attorney and courthouse blogger. "Anytime there is an alleged attack, any violence in the jail which is supposed to be a safe place."
Gelin says it's particularly troubling because of the events leading up to the violent beating.
Geffrard was in jail on a burglary charge but in November he was deemed 'incompetent' because of mental illness.
He was in a cell with Kevin Barnes.
Barnes was also deemed incompetent to face a judge on a probation violation because of mental illness.
In mid-December, the two had a violent confrontation in their jail cell.
According to an arrest report, Geffrard suffered a fractured rib, sternum and pulmonary bruising that left him in critical condition.
On a ventilator, surveillance captured Barnes putting him in a chokehold and later showed him stomping on the floor.
When questioned, Barnes told detectives he was bothered Geffrard never cleaned himself and by his lifestyle... that he was 'gay, upset him.'
"Basically, one mentally ill person is accused of choking another one and then ten minutes later kicking him on the ground before anyone discovered what was happening," said Gelin
The ACLU has sued the Broward Sheriff's Office in the past because of conditions at the jail. Recently, they have focused on mental health and it's not just Broward.
CBS News Miami's Jim Defede explored the treatment of the mentally ill in the Florida criminal justice system in his documentary 'Warehoused.'
All the more reason Bill Gelin says why it's an urgent problem that has to be addressed.
"Roughly 50 percent of the jail population identifies with a mental health component and jails aren't designed for that. But there is still a level of care that has to be provided particularly when the jail is aware that both individuals were the highest level of mental health consumers."
