But Mike Forche, assistant chief of investigations for the DJJ inspector general's office, said that if anything, children in adult prisons complain less often than those in juvenile facilities, because they fear being labeled as snitches. Two prisons for young felons, Hillsborough Correctional and Indian River Correctional, have security set-ups unlike any other Florida prison. Some wings are patrolled by fewer than one officer per dorm. Prison officials say that's because the prisons have small dorms of no more than 24-32 inmates, allowing officers to rove easily. Inmates say assaults occur in one dorm while an officer patrols another, and that many fights go undetected.
Cons serve as lookouts.
With more than 70,000 inmates in the system, there are about that many locks circulating. One teenage Hillsborough inmate lost an eye in an attack in 1999. C.J. Drake, until recently a DOC spokesman, e-mailed The Herald in the course of interviews involving assault cases. A rock, bar of soap, shampoo bottle filled with sand or other heavy object in a sock is equally effective as a weapon. Prison officials say inmates would merely find other means to attack and that switching to another method would be costly.