Florida cracking down on inmate abuse by guards...11 guards arrested so far; multiple firings

[davidn3600]

Eleven prison guards were arrested and fired this week for allegedly abusing inmates — including five guards and a captain accused of pummeling a handcuffed and shackled prisoner — in separate incidents at two Florida prisons.

The firings are part of Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews’ attempt to reverse the beleaguered agency’s tarnished reputation in the wake of reports of widespread brutality and cover-ups involving at least two inmate deaths.

On Wednesday, five prison guards were arrested for allegedly stomping on a handcuffed and shackled inmate at the Northwest Florida Reception Center last month. A sixth — a captain — was also charged with taking part in the attack and lying about it.

A new warden took over at the prison Friday because William Churchwell, who had overseen the Panhandle facility, is retiring, according to Crews’ spokeswoman Jessica Cary.

The guards allegedly knocked inmate Jeremiah Tatum, who had been gassed with chemical agents, to the ground face-first and jumped on him while he was handcuffed and his legs were restrained and then tried to cover it up, according to probable-cause affidavits accompanying arrest documents.

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As another sign of house-cleaning at the department, Crews also fired Okaloosa Correctional Institution guard Houston Biddle after Biddle was arrested for DUI and Desoto Correctional Institution guard Glen Gordon, who was arrested for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked driver’s license.

In the Northwest Florida Reception Center incident, Sgts. William Finch, James Perkins, Robert Miller, Christopher Christmas and Dalton Riley were charged with felony battery on an inmate. Capt. James Kirkland, accused of getting the sergeants to lie about what happened, was also charged with official misconduct. Crews also fired the workers, according to a news release issued by his office late Thursday.

http://flaglerlive.com/70314/guard-brutality-florida/

However, lawyers for the inmates say the firings and arrests don't go far enough because they are mainly low-level employees. They say the upper levels of leadership must be held accountable as well for supporting a culture of abuse.

[99th_Monkey]

1. K&R ~nt~

[libodem]

2. My boyfriend's son

Is dying of aides from being abused in a Florida prison.

[Initech]

3. We need to go after the ultra corrupt companies that run these prisons.

They're the real criminals in all of this.

I am seriously more afraid of the police and the for profit prison system than I am of any number of terrorist groups in the world. For profit prisons and education have done far more damage to our country than Al Qaeda or Isis could ever dreamed of.

[Mercy_Queen]

5. I do not commit crime so I am not afraid of the police...

But even I think that police excess is beginning to spiral out of control.

[Initech]

6. I don't either.

But what's happening in Furgeson is really making me question who the good guys and bad guys are in the world.

[dickthegrouch]

7. Looking at a cop wrongly can be a capital crime

I wouldn't be so sure that you don't commit crimes, if I were you.

[IdaBriggs]

8. There are a lot of innocent dead people out there - and

people in jail - who used to say the same thing.

I work with one gentleman in his early fifties. He and his wife were stopped at lunch time on a weekday for "possible drunk driving." They both work in the area for a well known company with a zero tolerance policy for such things, and bonus: he does NOT drink for both religious and health reasons. He was given conflicting orders by the police officer, and ended up arrested. "Get out of your car" and "why did you get out of your car?" which both came down to him not being "deferential" to the police officer. His wife's testimony was not allowed. He is an educated professional person (as is his wife), with two children in college, and the third completing her medical residency. Prior to this ridiculous traffic stop, he had NO "criminal record" whatsoever/had NEVER been arrested.

"Not being a criminal" is no longer enough to protect one from a negative interaction with those we pay to "protect and serve."

[tridim]

4. The only people who watched Shawshank Redemption and sided with the warden and the guards. nt