Donna Adelson was transferred from the Leon County Detention Facility, where she has long complained about her treatment, to the Wakulla County jail after a policy change left her without the use of a computer tablet.
Adelson, who is charged in the 2014 murder-for-hire of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, was moved to her new digs behind bars on June 6. Shonda Knight, a Leon County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said Adelson’s lawyers requested the transfer last week after the policy change went into effect.
Under the old policy, inmates in administrative custody – which includes solitary protective custody – had unfettered access to tablets in their cells 24 hours a day. That was taken away under the new policy.
“Her access was taken away, which is when her attorney made a request to have her relocated,” Knight said. “Once her attorney made the request to have her relocated, we did evaluate it and determined it was in the best interest of all parties to relocate her to Wakulla County.”
Donna Adelson, who is charged in the 2014 contract killing of law professor Dan Markel, speaks with her defense attorneys Jackie Fulford and Josh Zelman before a motion hearing on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
Leon Sheriff’s spokesperson: Inmates ‘abusing the policy’
Knight said the Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, made the “shift” in jail protocol “because we had individuals who were abusing the policy.”
“We were running into an issue where we had limited space because so many people were using the policy to be in a space by themselves verses being in the general population,” she said. “So that incentive was removed.”
Since the change, about half of the 50-70 inmates who were in administrative custody elected to go back to general population, Knight said. She added that no other lawyers asked for transfers after the policy change and no other inmates have been moved.
Knight said that all inmates at the detention facility have the ability to speak with their attorneys and that, even without access to a tablet, Adelson “could still communicate with her attorneys via phone call and personal visitation.”
‘Cruel and unusual punishment’ at Leon jail, Donna Adelson says
Adelson has long complained about her treatment at the Leon County Detention Facility, alleging “cruel and unusual punishment” in 2023 and saying she was subjected to blackmail and unwanted touching earlier this year.
In March, her attorneys asked Leon Circuit Judge Stephen Everett to set bond and allow her to be released pending trial. But Everett denied it, saying her attempt to board a flight from Miami to Vietnam in 2023 after her son Charlie Adelson’s conviction in the Markel murder made her a flight risk.
More recently, a jailhouse snitch alleged that Donna Adelson offered to pay for witness testimony in her trial, which touched off a new investigation by police and prosecutors. Though no charges were filed, the probe led to a delay in the trial, which had been set to start in June.
Donna Adelson is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in the contract killing of Markel, her former son-in-law. Jury selection in her trial is set to begin Aug. 19.
Donna Adelson is escorted back to her seat by the bailiffs during her motion hearing at the Leon County Courthouse on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Trial looms as Donna Adelson moved to new Florida jail. Here’s why