11/18/2014 Why Did This Florida Inmate Die—And Who Killed Her? | The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/184937/why-did-florida-inmate-die-and-who-killed-her# 1/4

Share Tweet

Share Tweet

Related Topics: Jails and Prisons | Police and Law Enforcement | Society

Why Did This Florida Inmate Die—And Who Killed Her?Melissa Harris-Perry on October 23, 2014 - 9:38 AM ET

A month ago, Latandra Ellington wrote a letter to her aunt from the Lowell Correctional Institutionin Florida, saying, “He told me he’s going to beat me death. He was all in my face, then hegrabbed his radio and said he was going to bust me in the head with it.” The 36-year-old AfricanAmerican inmate was extremely afraid of one of the people whose job it was to keep her safeduring her imprisonment: a correctional officer. Ten day after she wrote the letter, on October 1,the mother of four was dead.

Though the circumstances of her death are still unclear, a private autopsy revealed that Ellingtonsuffered from force trauma in her abdomen consistent with being kicked or punched. Appearingon the Melissa Harris-Perry Show, Miami Herald investigative reporter Julie Brown dives into thedetails of the case, explaining that Ellington was just one of four inmates to die while in the state’scustody at Lowell in 2014.

—N’Kosi Oates

Blogs » Melissa Harris-Perry » Why Did This Florida Inmate Die—And Who Killed Her?

Melissa Harris-Perry details the contents of a letter written by Latandra Ellington, an inmate atLowell Correctional Institution in Florida who was found dead, and what we know about hercase right now. Julie Brown from The Miami Herald joins to discuss.Melissa Harris-Perry 10/19/14Questions surround Florida inmate’s deathVisit msnbc.com forMelissa Harris-Perry

watch nowwatch now

Melissa Harris-PerryFollow @MHarrisPerry 325K followers RSS Feed

Race, gender, politics, religion and our struggles.

11/18/2014 Why Did This Florida Inmate Die—And Who Killed Her? | The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/184937/why-did-florida-inmate-die-and-who-killed-her# 2/4

Suggested for youTwo Detroits, Separate and Unequal

The Truth About Anonymous’s Activism

Why the Pentagon’s Third Iraq War Is Falling Apart

Will Republican Know-Nothings Torpedo ClimateProgress?

The American Empire on the Psychiatrist’s Couch

The Democrats Lost Big, but Obama ShouldDouble Down

From Around the Web20 Selfies That Were Meant To Be "Sexy"...Buzzlie

Social Security: 5 Facts You Must KnowThe Motley Fool

Washington - New Rule allows residents tocut their car… Lifestyle Trends

Here's the ugly truth about blood pressuremedication your… Simple Blood Pressure Fix

FREE Galaxy S4 with innovative cameraand fitness monitoring.… Verizon Wireless DC

40 Hottest Female Celebrity Bodies of AllTime Rant Lifestyle

Advertisement

Before commenting, please read our Community Guidelines.

11/18/2014 Why Did This Florida Inmate Die—And Who Killed Her? | The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/184937/why-did-florida-inmate-die-and-who-killed-her# 3/4

Comments for this thread are now closed.

The Fight to Repeal ObamacarePersists48 comments • 7 days ago

Walter Pewen — Sounds good to me.

History Didn’t Bring Down the BerlinWall—Activists Did3 comments • 7 days ago

1968_Camaro — Great article! Reaganhad NOTHING to do with this historicevent. A DOG could have been US …

Mary Landrieu170 comments • 5 days ago

Bob W. Ryley — This isn't an attempt tosave Landrieu's seat. It's an audition forher new career as an oil industry …

Anonymous No More76 comments • 7 days ago

quinbusflestrin — This is incoherent.How can four people possibly have giventhis an up-vote?

ALSO ON THE NATION

×

4 Comments The Nation Cathy Brennan

Sort by Best Share ⤤

•

caMORON's enemy • a month ago

Why hasn't the man involved been suspended during investigation? Disgraceful. Thiswoman has been murdered.

3△ ▽

•

didactic1 • 25 days ago

safety is not a criterion for promotion or salary increase in most prisons. make it so andthere might be some interest by officers in protection of victims in jails.

1△ ▽

•

PigStateNews • a month ago

At least 887 people have been killed by U.S. police since January 1, 2014.At least 1641 have been killed since May 1, 2013.https://www.facebook.com/Kille...

1△ ▽

•

Darryl Warner • 24 days ago

I TRULY HOPE THIS WOMAN,S FAMILY FILES A MASSIVE LAWSUIT AGAINSTTHE STATE OF FLORIDA AS WELL AS THE FLORIDA DOC.

△ ▽

WHAT'S THIS?

Subscribe✉ Add Disqus to your sited Privacy

Favorite ★

Share ›

Share ›

Share ›

Share ›

HomeBlogsColumnsCurrent Issue

PoliticsWorldBooks & ArtsEconomy

AdvertiseNationFilmSubscription ServicesThe Nation Builders

HelpAbout & ContactDigital, Mobile and E-ReaderCommunity Guidelines

RSS

11/18/2014 Why Did This Florida Inmate Die—And Who Killed Her? | The Nation

http://www.thenation.com/blog/184937/why-did-florida-inmate-die-and-who-killed-her# 4/4

Magazine ArchiveMultimediaE-BooksPuzzleCommunityEducatorsStudents

EnvironmentActivismSociety

NewsletterNation in the NewsStoreSpanish Translations

Work for UsPrivacy PolicyTerms of Use

Copyright © 2012 The Nation