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The curious death of mentally ill Florida inmate Darren Rainey in 2012 has reemerged as a ruling has been made on how he passed. According to the local medical examiner, Rainey’s death was ruled accidental despite being deliberately thrown into a hot shower and left there for two hours.

Rainey, 50, was an inmate at the Dade Correctional Institution and his death ignited a deeper look into how Florida’s prison system handles the imprisoned.

What has turned heads in this case is that the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s autopsy concluded late last week that Rainey died from “complications of schizophrenia, heart disease and “confinement” in the shower” in June 2012. While Rainey didn’t suffer any physical trauma from the hot shower, the corrections staff claims they were not trying to harm Rainey by confining him.

Much of what’s being revealed in the media regarding the autopsy report can be rendered as speculative as the information inside it is sealed from the public. But sources on the inside say that those seeking justice for Rainey by claiming he was mistreated are undoubtedly skeptical.

From the Miami Herald:

News of the “accidental” ruling drew immediate criticism from Miami’s American Civil Liberties Union.

“I have not reviewed the M.E. report, but it defies logic that the conclusion is that Darren Rainey’s death was accidental,” said Howard Simon, the ACLU’s executive director in Florida.

“This is why we called for and still need an independent investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.”

The Herald broke the news of Rainey’s death in 2012 and has been instrumental in the investigation of the Florida Department of Corrections. Since the story has gone public, there has been some shifting among the corrections leadership staff.

Harold Hempstead, an inmate and orderly with the facility Rainey was housed, said that officers used the shower as a fear tactic to control the inmates.

Rainey was serving a two-year sentence based on a narcotics charge.

SOURCE: Miami Herald | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

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Death Of Mentally Ill Inmate Locked In Hot Shower Ruled Accidental  was originally published on newsone.com