$11M Worth of Music Revoked From Florida Inmates, Class Action Says

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A Florida inmate says the Florida prison system sold him more than $500 worth of digital music on a prison-sponsored music player and then took it from him when they switched music vendors.

William Demler is serving a life sentence in Florida, and says that he began purchasing digital music to listen to during his time in prison in 2012.

According to a class action lawsuit filed by Demler, he spent $569.50 on digital music and $99.95 for a music player sold to him through the prison.

However, the plaintiff says the Florida Department of Corrections switched vendors to a different music player provider in 2018, and during the switch, he was not able to transfer his music to a new player.

Demler argues that the FDOC violated the U.S. Constitution by depriving him of his property without compensating him.

The FDOC class action further claims that the prison broke the promise it made to inmates when selling them the music, as it was advertised that “once the music is purchased, you’ll always own it.”

This turned out not to be the case, according to Demler. He says that the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) notified inmates who had punched the old players that they were switching to a new vendor for digital music players and that they would need to repurchase the songs previously bought if they wanted to listen to them on the new players.

The Florida prison class action claims that the FDOC told inmates that they had the option to send the music player to a friend or relative who was not in prison, or burn a CD of the music and send it to a relative, so that someone else could use the music.

Demler says this defeats the purpose of the digital player, because he, like the other inmates, purchased the player so they could use it while incarcerated.

The digital music class action claims that the FDOC admitted that “the download of content purchased from one vendor to another vendor’s device would negate the new vendor’s ability to be compensated for its services.”

In contrast, the FDOC music sale class action lawsuit argues that the Florida prison system made this move to make more money, as they would effectively be able to sell inmates the same music twice.

He notes that the FDOC sold about $11.3 million worth of digital music between 2011 and 2017. Of that amount, $1.4 million was passed on to the FDOC as commission, the plaintiff says.

Demler seeks to represent himself and all other similarly affected individuals.

The Florida inmate is represented by Shawn A. Heller and Joshua A. Glickman of Social Justice Law Collective PL, and by Dante P. Trevisani and Ray Taseff of Florida Justice Institute Inc.

The FDOC Music Player Class Action Lawsuit is William Demler v. Mark S. Inch, in his official capacity as Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, Case No. 4:19-00094-MW-CAS, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division.