Alicia Devine and Jim Rosica

Tallahassee Democrat

A man protesting the handling of coronavirus in state prisons was taken into custody Friday morning after he trapped himself in two concrete-filled barrels outside the Governor's Mansion, police said.

Jordan Mazurek, 28, was first seen outside the fence of the mansion in downtown Tallahassee around 6 a.m. He identifies himself on social media as a sociologist from Fort Worth, Texas, and the "national organizer and co-creator of the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons."

Tallahassee police officers tried to talk Mazurek out of the protest, spokesman Kevin Bradshaw said. When they realized he was not going to stop, they began using jackhammers to remove the concrete in the barrels surrounding his hands. The process took about two hours. He was freed shortly after 10:30 a.m.

As the scene unfolded, with firefighters trying to extricate him, First Lady Casey DeSantis could be seen behind the fence pushing her children on a swing. Gov. Ron DeSantis was not in Tallahassee at the time; he was holding a news conference in Broward County.

Bradshaw explained that there were PVC pipes placed horizontally into two 55-gallon plastic drums filled with concrete into which Mazurek had inserted his arms.

One of the drums was painted in white letters, "Stop the massacre." The other read, "Free prisoners now." He wore what appeared to be a surgical mask and face shield.

"He refused to let go so we ended up having to use heavy equipment" to extract him, Bradshaw said.

Police knew that Mazurek could remove his arms, however, because he had been spotted adjusting his mask. They discovered that he had attached his arms inside using carabiner clips to "prevent his arms from being forcibly removed, but he could unclip himself if he chose," Bradshaw said.

Mazurek, brought to the mansion by friends who stayed to watch, was charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer without violence, according to court records. He was released from the county jail on $500 bail Friday afternoon.

Later Friday, Bradshaw said another person with Mazurek — Karen Smith, 45 — fled when Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents approached to investigate. She also was charged with misdemeanor resisting without violence.

Another man on scene who identified himself with the pseudonym "August Spies" said he, Mazurek and others "feel that there are people sitting in jail who are unable to make bond and they are being put unnecessarily at risk because they are too poor to pay."

Earlier this week, prisoner rights advocates in a caravan of about 20 vehicles circled the Capitol complex and the Department of Corrections' headquarters in Tallahassee, chanting and shouting through megaphones. They demanded that inmates in Florida prisons and jails be released to stop the spread of coronavirus behind bars.

More:Caravan demands decarceration of Florida inmates to stop coronavirus spread in prisons, jails

They have complained about prisoners' inability to properly socially distance or receive medical care if sick. It was not immediately known whether Mazurek was involved with Capital City Mutual Aid, the group that helped organize that demonstration.

As of late Thursday, 44 inmates and 63 workers tested positive for coronavirus, according to the state's Department of Corrections, and four inmates have now died with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.

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