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Accusations of cover-ups, bullying, and prisoners being murdered have come down on Florida’s Department of Corrections. The man trying to weather the storm; DOC Secretary Mike Crews.

“It’s unfortunate, but we do have a few that have put us in this situation we’re in now,” he said.

Crews has had the top job for nearly two years.  Another death case gained national attention last week, with prominent civil rights attorneys representing the family of a woman who claimed to be threatened by guards, and then turned up dead.

“Do you trust that same institution to now do a fair investigation?” asked attorney Ben Crump.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently looking into more than 100 suspicious deaths at Florida prisons. The Secretary says he understands why people sound the alarm.

“If you are a family member that has someone incarcerated with us that has supposedly been subjected to this, yes, I’m going to be concerned, too. What I want those individuals to understand, though, is this. If they have concerns, they need to voice them to us,” said Crews.

An ombudsman will now be used to work with mentally ill inmates. Nearly 20 percent of Florida prisoners have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

“It’s the first of it’s kind in the country, and this will hopefully not only give the inmates a better level to be able to respond to when they have concerns and when they have issues they want to discuss,” said Crews.

The DOC says more than 2700 staffers have already been retrained on crisis management.  The secretary traveled to every stat facility over the past two months, while the department fired more than 40 employees.

The American Civil Liberties Union along with other human rights advocates have called for a federal investigation into the abuse claims against the Department.