So one day in July, Caeser says, he signed out of work and ate the bag of food the state had prepared for him. He took a sandwich out of a brown paper bag, took a bite, and "noticed a strange taste to the sandwich, but assumed it was due to him smoking a cigar earlier that day."
He then went back to work. He casually mentioned to his co-workers that his sandwich tasted weird. The other inmates in his work-release program were aghast: They had all avoiding eating lunch, they said.
According to court records, one inmate then "showed him his sandwich, and the sight was horrific: Maggots crawling around the sandwich, the meat being clearly spoiled." There was a second sandwich in his brown bag — frantically, he took it out and looked inside. Sure enough, he says, maggots were crawling in that sandwich too.
Within a few hours, Caesar says, he began feeling dangerously sick. He eventually returned to the Miami North Community Release Center, where he reported as part of his work-release program. Guards sent him to a nearby clinic, where a doctor told him he'd contracted food poisoning.
According to Caesar's lawsuit, the culprit was a malfunctioning freezer, which he says officials have still refused to fix. Instead, according to his suit, kitchen staff simply throw away meat as it spoils.
"Upon further inquiry, it turns out that the
Reached via phone, Caesar's lawyers weren't immediately able to comment on the suit last week. But the suit claims Caesar suffered "bleeding in his stool, stomach contortions and other physical changes, and severe sickness that almost killed him."
The suit adds that he has suffered permanent damage because of one maggot-infested sandwich — and warns that, if the issue isn't fixed, other inmates across Miami might be forced to suffer the same fate.