Florida sends more children to adult court than any other state in the country, according to Human Rights Watch.
Logan Mott, 15, is accused of killing his grandmother, Kristina French, and is currently being held in the Duval County Jail, charged as an adult.
French was found buried in the backyard of Mott's Neptune Beach home in late November. An autopsy showed she’d been shot and stabbed to death.
Logan was arrested hundreds of miles away near the U.S.-Canadian border. He's being charged as an adult and is now being housed in adult jail.
The state of Florida has what is called a direct file statute, which allows the prosecutor’s office full discretion in the charging process.
Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson said juveniles are housed in adult facilities to keep them away from other minors who are charged with lesser crimes.
“In the state of Florida, if you are direct filed as an adult, the SAO and the sheriff’s office require you be housed in the main jail here in Jacksonville,” Carson said.
Juveniles in adult facilities are kept in protective custody away from adult population for the child's protection.
Mott's mother, Carrie Mott, sent Action News Jax a letter accusing the jail of not properly taking care of her son's Type 1 diabetes. She wants her son to be held in a juvenile facility
Carson, who has represented juveniles housed in the Duval County Jail, said while there is controversy in keeping children in facilities designed for adults, the state has few options when it comes to housing children charged with murder.
“They don’t have a facility for that type of youthful offender, so the result is they have no choice but to keep them in the main correctional facility here,” Carson said.
Cox Media Group
