Good afternoon, Sayfie here.
Let me begin by making a clarification bc your post was missing some needed context. 1. You left out all the recipients in the email. I did not send that email just to my colleagues.
I sent it to leaders at the PDO, the RC and FACDL 2. You posted only my email from last year, 2018. I have been sending a version of that email annually to everyone, most recently earlier this week. The purpose of that email is to make sure that judges & defense
attorneys have a short cut and quick access to corrections to get their clients medical care as soon as possible, without having to litigate. AND in the event that a court hearing is still necessary, to ensure that the attorneys can properly serve corrections
so that the motion can be heard expeditiously. In the event that any of your readers still have a concern, then as most REG lawyers know, my door is open.
Please post this email in its entirety.
Nushin G. Sayfie, Circuit Court Judge
Administrative Judge of the Criminal Division
Rumpole, duly chastised, meekly replies:
First- Judge Sayfie is the messenger. Our post should not be taken as implying this is a policy she endorses.
Second, we intentionally did not list the email recipients. Lord knows that if we did, there is probably some law against posting email addresses of state employees on popular blogs, and that would result in our arrest, prosecution, being held without bond, no access to medical treatment, and no recourse for help. Additionally- damned if we do, Judicially taken to the woodshed if we don't. We can envision legions of outraged individuals who received that email complaining to us about posting their email address if we did. So we made the call erring on the side of privacy. We did not even post the Chief Judge's email. We stand by our decision. The buck stops here.
As to Judge Sayfie's reasons for the initial email, as she explains above...Res Ipsa Loquitor.
The fact remains, if your client is sick and dying and corrections doesn't give a damn, what do you? We have no idea. The Judge Frank Johnson's of the world are long gone.
Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
But there are limits to power and today we write about those limits and a favourite subject: those who wear black robes to work and sit a few feet above hoi polloi.
A judge can take you into custody. They can adjudicate you a felon. They can take your children and sever your rights as a parent. A judge can incarcerate you for decades, or life, and a judge has the power of life and death and can sentence you to die.
But the limits of that awesome power stop at the doorstep of the Dade County Jail. Like the neutral zone in Star Trek, DCJ and the Department of Corrections are where judge's fear to tread.
While a judge can send you to jail, once there, if you're dying and need medical treatment, there is nothing a judge can do. "Es no my job" is the new refrain. If a loved one is in jail and dying of cancer or appendicitis, you are, to use a technical legal term, sh*t out of luck. A judge can call balls and strikes. Federal judges took over school districts and state transportation agencies, and basically desegregated the south. But a judge cannot get a doctor to give you an aspirin if you are in a Miami jail.
Witness this disheartening email from El Jefe Sayfie to all her minions who wear black robes:
From: Sayfie, Nushin
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2018 3:58 PM
To.......
Good afternoon –
Please remember the we cannot order corrections to provide medical care to inmates. And orders “recommending” specific medical care or an evaluation are also not the best practice. They are time consuming and often do not achieve the
desired result.
If you have an issue involving an inmate’s mental and/or medical health please use the contact list I am providing you in this email.
Additionally, cc’d on this email are Dr. Patricia Junquera who is the head of psychiatry at CHS and Edith Wright who is the Acting Director of CHS. Also, Ben Simon from the County Attorney’s Office who handles legal matters for corrections
and who should be noticed on all motions BEFORE corrections is ordered to do anything.
All of these people are extremely accessible and would prefer an email directly from you or an attorney on the case rather than an order that is often not accurate and takes a long time to reach them.
Please call me if you have any questions about this.
Yes Judge, we have questions about this.*
If not you, who?
Who do lawyers go to when corrections is killing their clients? Who do family members seek justice from when DOC leaves their loved ones in dark, damp, cells, without care, medication or concern? Who does a panicked parent turn to, when their child is in jail, and having an appendicitis attack, and no one cares (which happened in Miami a few years ago)?
Why do judges have jurisdiction over all that is between The Keyes and the evil empire north of the border....except the jail and corrections?
Why does your email seem so troubling in an age when our government throws children into cages and government lawyers argue against them having toothbrushes and soap?
Where are the Judge Frank Johnsons of the world today?
Our county turns its lonely eyes to you.
*We'd love a nice telephone confab, but alas we are anonymous, and as such, we cannot call, so we take to our prefered method of expressing concern.