'Edward's Law': Florida Senator plans to propose bill to help inmates suffering from COVID-19
ORLANDO, Fla. - State Senator Randolph Bracy announced his plans to propose a bill to help those suffering from COVID-19 inside Florida prisons.
“This lack of response is unacceptable,” Senator Bracy said. He called a news conference on Monday with Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill.
The bill will be named “Edward’s Law” after Commissioner Hill’s brother who passed away last week. She explained, “my brother died Monday evening of COVID-19 as a Florida inmate."
The goal is to make it so that inmates must select a healthcare surrogate when they enter prison so that their loved ones can have access to their medical records if anything happens to them while they’re inside.
Commissioner Hill said she found out her brother had COVID-19 after he had already been in the hospital for two weeks.
“I was also told that I was the emergency contact and not the healthcare surrogate,” Hill said. “My question then was, ‘How can I have access to knowing how he ended up in the hospital?’”
Senator Bracy and his supporters also want other resources for inmates, like more coronavirus testing to help keep track of the number of cases inside the prisons.
“We recognize that these jails and prisons are hotbeds for COVID-19 transmission and we understand that there are so many people that while they might be incarcerated that at the time of sentencing, they were not sentenced to death,” Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Executive Director Desmond Meade stated.
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Senator Bracy plans to propose Edward’s Law during the next legislative session next year.
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