> 7/23/99 -- 12:55 AM
>
> Inmate case tests agreement
> By DAVID WASSON and MICHELLE PELLEMANS of The
> Tampa Tribune
>
>
> TALLAHASSEE - A homicide probe of prison guards
> marks the first use of procedures for an independent inquiry.
>
> No stranger to controversy, the Florida Department of
> Corrections is again embroiled in an ugly conflict.
>
> The weekend beating death of convicted murderer
> Frank Valdes marks the third time since 1998 that Florida
> prison guards have faced
> criminal investigations after suspicious deaths of inmates.
>
> It's a grim pattern that is drawing national interest.
>
> ``Certainly, we're not suggesting that the inmates are all saints,
> but they do have rights protecting them while they are being punished,''
> Gerald LeMelle, a spokesman in Atlanta for Amnesty International USA,
> said Thursday. ``It seems highly unlikely that Mr. Valdes hurt
> himself, as [an attorney representing prison guards] has suggested,
> by throwing himself up against a wall.''
>
> Incident reports filed by guards involved in the
> Saturday beating of Valdes indicate he became agitated
> when officers tried to search his cell.
>
> Valdes, who was on death row for the 1987 slaying of
> a prison guard in Palm Beach County, had threatened to kill a prison sergeant
> earlier Saturday, according to the 32-page report released Thursday
> by the Corrections Department. Initial information spelled his name
> as Valdez.
>
> The inmate refused to be handcuffed during the search. A team of
> guards was sent into the cell with an electronic stun shield and pepper
> spray.
>
> ``From our end, we have members of our association who were
> lawfully doing their job as they were trained to do it,'' said Bill Johnson,
> an attorney for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union
> representing state prison guards. ``There is no coverup.''
>
> Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the
> American Civil Liberties Union, said Thursday he was ``heartened'' that
> the death of Valdes was under investigation as a homicide.
>
> It is the first test of new procedures requiring independent
> investigations of all suspicious deaths inside Florida prisons. The
> procedures,
> started as a memorandum of understanding between the Corrections
> Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, were
> drafted after articles examining the cases of two women state
> prisoners who hanged themselves in 1998 appeared in The Tampa Tribune.
>
> Simon said it was premature to tell whether the procedures would
> result in long-lasting changes.
>
> ``A prosecution for responsibility for the death of somebody
> in custody is the only thing I know of that will change the behavior of
> officers,'' Simon said. ``You can write all the memorandums of
> understanding you want, but somebody has to be held responsible,
> maybe criminally responsible.''
>
> Johnson lashed out at what he called the unusual pressure being
> exerted in the case.
>
> FDLE Commissioner James T. Moore indicated Wednesday that
> his agency might be willing to cut a deal with any guards willing to
> cooperate with investigators. The probe is focusing on the nine
> Florida State Prison guards involved in the struggle, all of whom have
> been suspended with pay.
>
> ``I think it's very clear that FDLE is doing everything it can to bring
> an extreme amount of pressure against these men,'' said Johnson. ``I
> don't understand how Commissioner Moore can continually be stating
> that he knows what happened, that it's a murder, but then in the
> next breath say they need someone to come forward and tell them what
> happened.''
>
> Johnson said there are plenty of indications Valdes
> flung himself onto the floor and against the walls of his cell,
> which could have caused the fatal injuries.
>
> Moore disagreed. ``Obviously we have a different opinion
> by virtue of the fact we're calling this a homicide,'' he said.
>
> Moore said the investigative agreement with the
> Corrections Department, announced this year by Gov. Jeb Bush,
> was working well.
>
> Last year, after the hanging deaths of two inmates at
> Jefferson Correctional Institution, the Corrections Department
> rejected an offer of investigative help by the FDLE. It sparked criticism
> and the unusual intervention of Bush, who ordered the department to sign the
> agreement to cooperate with the FDLE.
>
> One of those to die, Florence Krell, 41, of Hollywood, who
> was serving an 18-month sentence on car theft charges, alleged
> mistreatment at the hands of male and female guards. In letters to
> her sentencing judge that were illegally confiscated by prison officials,
> Krell wrote that she had been pepper sprayed, left naked and handcuffed
> and that water to her cell had been turned off. Six guards were disciplined,
> but no criminal charges were filed after state inquiries.
>
> Earlier in 1998, 10 prison guards were indicted on federal conspiracy
> charges in connection with the death of an HIV-positive inmate at Charlotte
> Correctional Institution. John Edwards was beaten and left chained to his
> bed, where he bled to death. The attack allegedly was in retaliation for a
> confrontation in which Edwards bit a guard at Zephyrhills Correctional
> Institution. Three guards pleaded guilty to lesser charges; the other seven
> were acquitted in a U.S. District Court trial.
> _________________________________________
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