SET IN STONE

Protester Encases Himself in Concrete Outside Florida Governor’s Mansion

Jordan Mazurek reportedly inserted his arms into two 55-pound drums filled with concrete and emblazoned with the words “Stop the massacre,” and “Free prisoners now.”

A protester from the “Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons” was arrested Friday after barricading himself in two concrete drums outside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ mansion to protest prison conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. The man, Jordan Mazurek, 28, reportedly inserted his arms into two 55-pound drums filled with concrete and emblazoned with the words “Stop the massacre,” and “Free prisoners now.” Police were forced to use jackhammers to free his limbs before arresting him on charges of resisting an officer without violence. (They later discovered he could have freed himself using carabiner clips inserted inside the drums.) Forty-four Florida inmates have positive for coronavirus and four have died, according to the state Department of Corrections. An accomplice on the scene told the Tallahassee Democrat that he and Mazurek were there because they “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.”