Florida Justice Institute

Florida Justice Institute The Florida Justice Institute uses impact litigation and advocacy to improve the lives of all Floridians. The Florida Justice Institute, Inc.

(FJI) was founded in 1978 by Roderick N. Petrey while serving as Executive Vice President of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in New York City. Rod was and still is a leading figure in securing funding for public interest law programs across the country. Upon leaving the Clark Foundation to enter the private practice of law in Miami, Rod was given a start-up grant to establish FJI. Rod’s initia

l mission for FJI, a private, not-for-profit, public interest law organization, was to:
1. Improve the administration of justice for all Floridians;
2. Encourage better representation of citizens’ interests; and
3. Increase the ability of citizens to resolve disputes quickly and inexpensively. FJI was to accomplish these goals by working with existing organizations to identify major, unmet needs in the community and address them with advocacy and litigation. FJI’s initial Board of Directors, in addition to Rod, included LeRoy Collins, former Governor and Undersecretary of Commerce; Chesterfield Smith, former President of The Florida Bar and American Bar Association and managing partner at Holland & Knight; John Edward Smith, a partner at Steel Hector & Davis; Hugh McMillan, Jr., former Legislative Counsel for Governor Askew and in private practice; and Eleanor Mitchell Hunter, Assistant General Counsel to the Governor and eventual Executive Director of the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. After incorporating the organization, establishing the Board, and obtaining section 501(c)(3) charitable status, FJI hired Randall C. “Randy” Berg, Jr. in 1978 to be its Executive Director, a position he held until his retirement at the end of 2018. Randy sadly passed away in April of 2019.

09/02/2026

September is National Su***de Prevention Month, and Florida's prisons belong in this conversation. Su***des in state prisons across the country rose 85 percent between 2001 and 2019, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. People with serious mental illness end up in cells instead of treatment, often in isolation, and isolation makes the illness worse.

FJI supported the Murphy family as they pushed for the Tristin Murphy Act, a law that strengthens training standards and expands access to mental health care for people in Florida's jails and prisons. Passing a law is a start, but we need to keep working to make sure that care actually reaches the people who need it. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Su***de and Crisis Lifeline.

09/01/2026

Happy birthday to Jessica Pla, our Director of Operations. Jessica’s exceptional leadership has been an undeniable asset to our team.

Thank you for balancing the books, guiding our growth, and leading our team with integrity and excellence. Happy Birthday Jessica!

08/25/2026

The Marshall Project highlights FJI's lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections as one of the cases shaping the story nationally.

Nearly half of state prisons across the country still lack full air conditioning, leaving people vulnerable to heat stroke and death. We will continue fighting in Florida and serving as a model for others to do the same. Learn more about our case at linkin.bio/fji

08/24/2026

Mayor Eileen Higgins had until August 3 to veto the City Commission's changes to the encampment ban. She did not. Police in Miami can now arrest someone for sleeping in public after a verbal warning and a "reasonable amount of time" to gather everything they own. This decision is part of what keeps Miami on the list of state and local governments spending more on handcuffs than they do on housing.

FJI will keep fighting laws that punish people for trying to survive. See the full government spending report at linkin.bio/fji

08/21/2026

Orlando is spending $60 million on housing instead of handcuffs. The Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida is building a new Center for Women and Families, funded through a public-private partnership with the City of Orlando, Orange County, the federal government, and a foundational gift from Morgan & Morgan.

The facility adds 112 residential beds, an on-site health clinic, expanded childcare, and new bridge housing. This is what actual solutions look like. See how they’re doing it at linkin.bio/fji

08/20/2026

Five women at Lowell Correctional Institution accused a prison gynecologist of assault during medical appointments. He worked for Centurion of Florida, the contractor the state pays to provide health care in its prisons.

A settlement settles a court case. It does not answer why Centurion kept him seeing patients after women reported him. Read the full Tampa Bay Times report at linkin.bio/fji

08/19/2026

Rent for a two bedroom in Miami jumped roughly 60 percent in five years while median household income grew by only a third. A new Mckinsey report found more than half a million Miami-Dade households now live paycheck to paycheck.

The cost of living is what pushes people into homelessness, and Miami answers the crisis with jail time. FJI fights those laws in court because arresting people is making the problem worse. Read the full report at linkin.bio/fji

08/17/2026

This National Nonprofit Day, we want to be clear about what your support funds. Donations pay for the investigations that document abusive conditions inside Florida prisons. They cover the intake calls and case work that connect people to a lawyer who will answer them. They also fund impact litigation, which means one case can change conditions for thousands of people at once.

Donate at linkin.bio/fji to directly fund the change you want to see.

08/17/2026

Erica Downs is back at FJI today, and today is her work anniversary as well.

Erica is one of the attorneys behind our case against the Florida Department of Corrections and its medical contractor Centurion, where people waited years for eye surgery. That work matters, and we are glad to have her back in action.

Welcome back, and happy work anniversary Erica!

08/14/2026

FJI and our co-counsels from Bilzin Sumberg spent this week in Federal Court for the Wilson extreme heat case class certification. Making this a class action lawsuit means we can improve conditions for thousands of people at once, instead of one case at a time.

Learn more about the case at linkin.bio/fji

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