Gainesville Sun Article re FBI & FSP Homicide
> Investigation
> Saturday, July 24, 1999
>
> Federal authorities join
> death row probe
>
> By MARK HOLLIS
> Sun Tallahassee Bureau
>
> TALLAHASSEE - The inquiry
into the suspicious death of convicted
killer Frank Valdes expanded significantly Friday as federal
investigators were asked to look into dozens of allegations of
brutality and other potential civil rights violations at the Florida
State Prison near Starke.
>
> The FBI and the U.S. Justice
Department's Civil Rights Division will investigate accusations
raised by inmates on Florida's Death Row,including deprivation
of food and alleged instances of excessive use of force by
corrections officers.
>
> Three of the corrections officers at the center of
the investigation have had prior written reprimands
for using excess force, according to a New York Times Regional
Newspaper Group review of personnel records.
>
> Jason Griffis, 26, a six-year employee of the prison
system, was the subject of a 1996 physical abuse complaint at
the Florida State Prison.
>
> ''This is not the only instance of inmates sustaining
injuries in your presence from unknown sources,'' wrote Everett Perrin,
the then-superintendent of the prison.
>
> Montrez Lucas, employed by the department for nine
>years,
used ''inappropriate force in quelling an inmate disturbance'' in 1994 and
has received numerous reprimands from supervisors.
>
> The records also included numerous ''use of force''
>reports
involving Capt. Timothy Thornton, a $36,500-a-year, 14-year Corrections
Department veteran.
>
> The decision to bring in the FBI follows a number of
>requests
to state officials from human rights organizations to pursue a speedy but
expansive investigation into the Valdes homicide. It also comes as a
lawsuit is filed Friday infederal court in Jacksonville by a prisoner rights
group alleging that two of the correctional officers under investigation
for Valdes' death - Griffis and Thornton - are also responsible for the
January 1998 beating of another inmate - David Skrtich - in the X-wing
corridor of the prison.
>
> The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, meanwhile,
is continuing its criminal investigation of Valdes' death - a case that began
a week ago when authorities and Gainesville prosecutor Rod Smith's office
learned that the inmate's upper body had been badly injured - with
broken ribs and boot marks.
>
> State Department of Corrections authorities on
>Friday also
announced that two more correctional officers from Florida State Prison have
been suspended with pay for failing to cooperate with the FDLE
investigation.
>
> The corrections officers were identified Friday as
>Daren C.
Patgett, 34, who has been employed by the state prison system since 1990;
and Philip E. Maddox Jr., 26, who has worked for DOC since 1996.
>
> Nine other correctional officers at the center of
>the FDLE
investigation remain on paid administrative leave. The men have not responded
to requests to be interviewed by reporters, and law enforcement
authorities say they have received little assistance from the men and
their attorneys. Searches have been conducted in at least some of their
homes, yielding evidence such as prison paperwork.
>
> Making his first public appearance since Valdes' death,
Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Moore said Friday he
''wants to find out who's responsible for this'' and intends to ''take swift
action'' to prevent similar instances.
>
> ''We're going after it, no holds barred,'' said
>Moore. ''And
we're going to get to the bottom of it. We're going to go after those guys
who are responsible because it's a sad day for corrections in Florida. And
it's a sad day for corrections in the nation.''
>
> FDLE Commissioner Tim Moore told reporters the
>investigation
is not intended to criticize the work of the vast majority of Florida's
corrections workers, but rather to seek justice for a prison homicide.
>
> ''This is not about maligning the men and women of the
Department of Corrections,'' FDLE's Moore said. ''They do a very difficult
job.
What we're about here today is finding those persons, small in number, who
are responsible.''
>
> The decision to call in the FBI was made jointly by
>the DOC and
FDLE, along with State Attorney Smith. But it was a move that also
had the blessing of Gov. Jeb Bush, who has said he was troubled by
Valdes' death but believes it to be an isolated case of homicide behind
prison walls.
>
> Bush's spokesman, Cory Tilley, said Friday no one
>should
assume that bringing the FBI into the case to investigate inmate allegations of
wrongdoing at the prison is any indication of a ''wider spread problem
at the Department of Corrections.''
>
> ''The governor is still confident that it's a
>limited isolated incident
with Valdes,'' Tilley said. But Randy Berg, an attorney for the Florida Justice
Institute, a Miami-based prisoner rights group that filed a lawsuit against
several Florida State Prison officers Friday, said Valdes' death fits a
pattern of trouble at the North Florida prison.
>
> To support his claims, Berg points to the
>allegations raised
in his lawsuit pertaining to the Jan. 13, 1998 beating of inmate David
Skrtich.
Named as defendants in the lawsuit are correctional officers Timothy Thornton,
Jason Griffis, Willie Archie, Tony Anderson, James Dean, and Stacey
Green.
>
> ''The similarities between what happened to Mr.
>Skrtich and Mr.
Valdes are virtually identical,'' Berg said. ''The only difference is
that Valdes died.''
>
> Skrtich remains incarcerated at the Lake
>Correctional Institution,
according to Berg.
>
> Berg and other inmates rights advocates say they
>intend to use the
circumstances of Valdes' death to attract public attention and scrutiny
to the treatment inmates receive in the solitary confinement ward known
as ''X-wing,'' where the worst inmates are kept at Florida State Prison
for undetermined periods. Lawyers for Death Row inmates described
the conditions inside X-wing as ''claustrophobic'' and a ''prison within a
prison.''
>
> The corridor consists of 30 7- by 9-foot sealed
>vaults, protected
by a barred gate and another solid steel door.
>
> ''If you treat a person like an animal, they'll act
>like an animal,''
Berg said of X-wing. ''And that's exactly what happened. People acting like
animals.''
>
> Dara Kam of the Tallahassee Bureau contributed to
>this report.
>
>
>
=== Karen Koerner Crane Orlando FL (407)696-7942 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Want the power to purchase wisely? Productopia has the answers. http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/553
------- To subscribe to The Florida Left List, send a message to reporter at magicnet.net.
Read messages you may have missed at http://www.egroups.com/group/floridaleft/