Darren Rainey, 50, was killed at a Dade County prison in Miami after corrections officers left him in a scalding hot shower (Picture: Florida Department of Corrections)

Four prison guards who allegedly threw a schizophrenic man into a prison shower, turned the heat up to 82C and left him there for two hours until he died will not be charged.

Donald Trump should be sent to Guantanamo Bay says former prisoner Moazzam Begg

Darren Rainey, 50, had been serving time for cocaine possession in 2012 when he was thrown into the shower at Dade Correctional Institution on June 23 that year.

Rainey was kept in the shower by corrections officers John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson, Ronald Clarke and Edwina Williams despite him screaming ‘Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!’ and kicking the shower door.

His pleas were allegedly ignored and instead they shouted ‘Is it hot enough?’ at him, according to the Miami New Times.


Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced on Friday that the four guards who oversaw the boiling will not be charged with a crime. (Picture: Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office)

But when they finally turned it off, Rainey was found dead on the shower floor with 90% burns to his body.



A nurse later said his body temperature was too high to register with a thermometer.

Prisoners are being taught Latin to boost their vocabulary

Yet despite all of this, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced on Friday that the four guards who oversaw the boiling will not be charged with a crime.

A report issued by Rundle’s office stated that the shower was ‘neither dangerous nor unsafe’ and that: ‘The evidence does not show that Rainey’s well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff.’

The 72-page close-out memo relied heavily on an autopsy that claimed his body was not found with burns when he did.

Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews, speaks about an investigation into the death of Rainey on July 10, 2014. (Picture: AP)

Though it accepted that nurses said Rainey’s body had ‘red areas’ on it, and that his skin was ‘slipping off’, the memo said this could have due to ‘body decomposition’ rather than burns.

Essentially, Rundle did not think there was enough evidence to bring criminal charges despite the man’s death and multiple witnesses saying they saw the burns on his body.

According to a Miami Herald investigative reporter, witnesses told her that the showers were regularly used to scald inmates who acted out or upset the guards.

MORE: Shamed Adam Johnson is ‘running a fantasy football team from prison’

The 50-year-old had been serving time for cocaine possession in 2012 when he was thrown into the shower at Dade Correctional Institution on June 23 that year (Picture: Getty)

While the New York magazine, which centred an entire investigation around Rainey’s death, reported how a whistleblower who tried to speak out about the incident was harassed and forced into therapy after speaking out about abuses at the jail.

The whole case became even more complicated by the fact Rainey’s family allegedly were pressured to cremate his body quickly – so even if there was further evidence, it no longer exists.

Rundle’s memo ended with the conclusion that ‘the facts and evidence in this case do not meet the required elements for the filing of any criminal charge.’

MORE: Male prisoners ‘forced to wear women’s underwear and kicked as they do chores’