FAC Letter to Miami-Dade Homeless Trust
FAC has sent a letter to the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust after the City of Miami is about to impose a new ordinance allowing officers to arrest homeless registrants without the safeguard offered to other homeless individuals – the offer to be housed in a shelter.
We have copied all Miami-Dade County Commissioners and are sending copies of the letter to some South Florida news outlets.
You can read the letter here: FAC Letter to M-D Homeless Trust 07292026
If anyone would like to contact the Homeless Trust directly or any of the commissioners ([email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]) you can do so.
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Political Cortadito
https://politicalcortadito.com
Miami’s brilliant new homeless policy: ‘Move faster or go directly to jail’
https://politicalcortadito.com/2026/07/31/miami-homeless-faster-jail-warning-policy/
RYAN
I will get rocks thrown at me for saying this but, if I was homeless, I would probably let them send me to jail. You have showers, bathrooms (Although not always clean) and three meals a day (If you can call them meals). The jail has a nurse, but you might not get much more medical help than living in the woods. If someone finds you in the woods laying sick, they might at least call 9-11.
Regardless, rich, poor, woods, living in the streets, on a park bench, prison or a mansion, everyone seems to find somewhere to lay their head but cannot always get food. When I see people begging on the side of the road, I never know if they are scammers, however, in Florida, everyone needs water so even if they are scammers, I still give them a bottle of water.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
My time in the local jail was brutal. I essentially starved.
For breakfast, I was given a single-serving box of Frosted Flakes (about 3 oz.) with roughly 2 oz. of milk. Lunch was one slice of beef bologna that looked rainbow-colored and smelled like it had gone bad, along with two slices of bread. Dinner was rice and green beans. There were no condiments, no salt, no pepper—nothing beyond exactly what I listed.
On weekends, it was even worse. They served breakfast and dinner, but lunch was often reduced to a single slice of bread. From what I’ve learned, this isn’t uncommon in many local jails.
The facilities themselves are also extremely old. The metal plumbing leaves deposits in the water, and it has a sulfur-like taste that coats everything.
The medical situation was even more concerning. I take blood pressure medication every day, anti-seizure medication three times a day for combat-related injuries, and several other prescribed medications. Abruptly stopping these medications can be dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening. My prescriptions specifically state that withdrawal from my anti-seizure medication should be medically supervised because of the high dosage.
I was in jail for three and a half days before I was able to post bail. During intake, I told the nurse about my medications. I reminded another nurse on the second day, and still nothing happened. On the third day, I was taken to the medical unit, where they simply had me lie down for about four hours until my blood pressure came down before sending me back to my cell.
I was told they fax the VA or private physicians and wait for a response before providing medications. In the meantime, I went through withdrawal from my prescribed medications with no treatment and no real medical assistance.
People often say jail is “three meals and a cot.” That was not my experience. The conditions I experienced felt more inhumane than how I witnessed enemies of America being treated during my military service. I’m simply sharing what I personally lived through.
IS JAIL BETTER?
Ryan
I do not want to one up you, but I am going to super-size re-up you.
I got out of jail same day as parents bailed me out.
Moving onto to getting sentenced, was ordered to go to prison. Bad thing is, for some reason, the van never came to get me from jail, and I got ZERO gain time applied the 5 months they left me to rot in jail. I lost 30 lbs and everyone in there including me had scabies so bad that they had to spray us down.
And again, none of that went towards my gain time. Once I got to a facility for classification, another 6 months passed, again, NO gain time. Wasn’t until I got to the permanent facility until I started to get gain time and lost out 11 months that could have applied to my sentence. I basically served 11 months past my sentence, but they didn’t care and not a single lawyer would help me and stated, “There was nothing they could do”.
Is Dream Defenders still around? I have an idea. FAC should ry getting in touch with groups like Dream Defenders, other pro-immigrant/anti-ICE groups, and other grassroots civil rights groups. Let them know about the connection between Ron and Lauren Book and private prisons like GEO Group, that ran “Alligator Alcatraz” and let them know he is running the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust. We need to get people together to pressure the Homeless Trust to fire Ron Book.
This is definetly very sad and maybe good angle. Working on reaching for here for sure!!
According to their website, Ron Book is still the head of that trust. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he was involved in enacting the referenced ordinances.
Accordingly, don’t expect much in terms of response.
We don’t expect a response. But when we sue, they can never say they were not aware of the issue or that it’s not a problem.
Emailed
ACLU of Florida’s Miami headquarters and the local Greater Miami Chapter through online form
Media & Press Enquiries: For media requests or immediate press communication, email [email protected].
Mayor Higgins can be reached (I believe) at [email protected]
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