North Florida prison PARTY ends in Rape and Death

I don't understand why I am so shocked that a female correctional officer was brutally raped and beaten by 6 drunken Correctional officers on Friday, September 30, 2005. I know guards who have killed inmates, I know retaliation on their own coworkers is a fact, but this horrible and inhumane act committed by coworkers whom she thought were her friends still shocks me.

By all reports, the lady was attending a function (party) at the officers quarters at FSP. She WAS NOT Drunk (medical has verified this).

Captain Keith Davidson - New River and 5 other officers from various other institutions got mad because she would not have sex with any of them.

They took her, by force, and repeatedly raped her and then beat her. She is still in the hospital with two broken ribs, a very swollen face and lacerations in her vagina and genitalia area due to the gang rape. She is broken, emotionally and physically.

Guard found dead

5 October 2005
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Independent Florida Alligator, FL
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/051005ap4.php

STARKE - A corrections captain fired in an ongoing investigation into an alleged sexual assault at Florida State Prison was found dead Tuesday of an apparent suicide, officials said. His death is the latest in a string of scandals in the state's prison system.

The body of Capt. Keith Davison, who worked at New River Correctional Institution, was found a day after he was fired for conduct unbecoming of a corrections officer. The Union County Sheriff's Office confirmed Davison died from a single gunshot wound
to the head.

"I am deeply saddened by the news of Capt. Davison's death," Department of Corrections Secretary James Crosby said in a statement. "On behalf of the entire department, our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this very difficult time."

A telephone number listed for Davison was disconnected, and it was not known if he had family in the area.

In Davison's dismissal letter, it said he was being terminated for unauthorized use of Department of Correction's property.

"Specifically, you have admitted that you used the visitor's suite at Florida State Prison's Bachelor Officer Quarters, and you participated in a party that had not been authorized. You also engaged in inappropriate behavior with a subordinate employee while at this location," the letter said.

Bradford County authorities were still investigating an alleged sexual assault at the party Friday night and refused to comment on whether Davison was a suspect, said Bradford Sheriff's Lt. W.H. "Bear" Bryant.

"It is still an open investigation," Bryant said.

Robby Cunningham, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said the agency was cooperating in the investigation.

A party Friday night at Florida State Prison set into motion a series of events that now include a ranking officer's apparent suicide, a sexual assault at the prison and the arrest of another officer who had to be hit with multiple Taser shots to be brought under control at a bar.

Capt. Keith William Davison, 39, was fired from his job Monday with the Department of Corrections at Florida State Prison.

He was found dead Tuesday morning of an apparent suicide.

Davison's body was found alone inside his pickup, which was parked next to a small pond in a wooded area outside Union Correctional Institution by another correctional officer. Davison was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Union County Sheriff's Capt. Gary Seay, who is leading the death investigation.

"We do not suspect foul play," Seay said. "This appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound and we are waiting for the autopsy to say anymore."

After talking with several witnesses, Seay determined that Davison's truck was not parked near the pond before midnight. An autopsy may help determine the approximate time of his death.

Davison was fired for conduct unbecoming an officer after the department began investigating a party at the Bachelor Officers Quarters at the prison that he and others had reportedly attended. Prison officials close to the case said the party was to celebrate Christopher Eric Eddins' promotion to lieutenant.

The prison system's investigation into the party was triggered by the sexual assault of a woman on prison property.

At 10:04 p.m. Friday, the Bradford County Sheriff's Office was called to the prison to investigate the report of a sexual assault.

On Tuesday following Davison's death, Sheriff's Lt. W. H. "Bear" Bryan said the sexual assault investigation was continuing.

A separate prison system investigation was under way Tuesday into Eddins' alleged behavior a couple of hours after the party while he was drinking at George's, a bar west of Starke on State Road 16 that is popular with correctional officers. Eddins was arrested inside the bar and charged with affray, a misdemeanor.

Bradford County Deputy Ray White was working off-duty at George's when a fight broke out about 12:15 a.m. Saturday. In his written report, White said he went onto the dance floor to try to break up the fight. White said had to discharge his Taser on the left side of Eddins' back several times to get the 6-foot-tall, 250-pound Eddins to stop resisting White's attempts to control him.

It was not immediately clear late Tuesday whether Eddins is assigned to work at Florida State Prison or New River Correctional Institution West.

Prison officials said because the charge against Eddins was a misdemeanor and not a felony, the department will conduct an administrative investigation. Information from that investigation as well as from the Sheriff's Office investigation will be used to determine whether any disciplinary action should be taken against Eddins, officials said.

Also expected to be taken into consideration is Eddins' prior record.

In March 2000, Eddins was sentenced to serve a year of state probation for simple battery. He successfully completed his probation on March 12, 2001. Details about the case were not available late Tuesday. Eddins did not return calls asking for comment.

Funeral arrangements were still pending Tuesday evening for Davison, who had worked for the prison system for 16 years.

He began his corrections career in September 1989 at the Central Florida Reception Center where he was promoted to sergeant in August 1993. Davison transferred to Florida State Prison in October 1998 and was promoted to lieutenant in July 2003. Davison received another promotion - to captain - and was transferred to New River Correctional Institution at the end of 2004.

The head of Florida's prison system, Secretary James V. Crosby, Jr., who knew Davison personally, issued a brief, written statement about his death.

"I am deeply saddened by the news of Captain Davison's death. On behalf of the entire department, our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this very difficult time."

Karen Voyles can be reached at (352) 486-5058 or voylesk@gvillesun.com

Guard accused of rape found dead in truck at North Florida prison

TALLAHASSEE - A state prison guard facing rape accusations was found dead at a North Florida prison Tuesday, and a phantom prison employee was arrested for stealing the salary he was paid to play in a prison softball tournament.

These are the latest developments in an escalating series of state and federal investigations into wrongdoing at Florida prisons.

Capt. Keith Davison, 39, was found dead in his Dodge pickup truck at a landfill at Union Correctional Institution, a prison not far from where he worked at New River Correctional Institution.

Davison was fired Monday by New River warden Michael McRae after he admitted using a visitors suite at nearby Florida State Prison's bachelor officer quarters for an unauthorized party.

"You also engaged in inappropriate behavior with a subordinate employee while at this location," the warden noted in a letter firing Davison for conduct unbecoming a public employee. The letter was released Tuesday by state corrections officials.

Bradford County sheriff's Lt. W.H. "Bear" Bryan confirmed that his department was investigating the alleged rape of another guard but would not discuss details of the death investigation being handled by neighboring Union County.

Officials in Union County said Davison died of a gunshot wound to the head, an apparent suicide. Davison reportedly had a wife and two children.

Corrections Secretary James V. Crosby Jr. confirmed the death in a written statement.

"I am deeply saddened by the news of Capt. Davison's death," Crosby said. "On behalf of the entire department, our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this very difficult time."

Davison was hired Sept. 22, 1989, and most recently worked at New River, which is across the highway from Florida State Prison.

Meanwhile, agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Mark Michael Guerra, 33, in Sneads, a Jackson County community in the Florida Panhandle.

Charged with grand theft, Guerra is accused of accepting $1,247 as payment for a library assistant's job at Apalachee Correctional Institution when all he actually did was play softball on the prison team during the Secretary's 24th Annual Tournament in Jacksonville in May.

The Apalachee team won the tournament with Guerra's help, according to an FDLE affidavit. Crosby attended the three-day tournament, according to his official calendar, which was obtained by the St. Petersburg Times.

Investigators said Guerra, the husband of another prison employee, was hired with the knowledge of Col. Richard Frye and Col. Winfred Warren, officers at the prison who also coach the softball team.

Guerra told investigators he had played minor league baseball and played for a team in Venezuela for about five years.

An employee who supervised the prison library where Guerra was supposed to be working told investigators she never met him or saw him at work but filled out his time sheets because she feared she would lose her job if she didn't cooperate with Frye.

Mike Hanna, chief of staff at the Department of Corrections, said the agency is working closely with the FDLE on the investigation.

"This kind of behavior is unacceptable and will not be condoned," Hanna said.

State investigators have also looked into another incident involving the prison softball teams and Col. Frye. In that incident, witnesses said, Frye helped Allen Clark, supervisor of 18 North Florida prisons, beat up the husband of a corrections major who slipped and fell during a softball party at the National Guard Armory in Tallahassee.

Clark, a longtime protege of Crosby's, resigned Aug. 30 for personal reasons. State investigators recently seized a Jeep and several trailers owned by Clark after serving a search warrant in connection with an investigation into the alleged misuse of prison funds and property.

Federal officials are investigating reports of steroid trafficking and use among prison guards at New River during a time when Clark served as warden at the prison. Some of the guards allegedly using steroids also played for prison softball teams.

Four former prison guards have pleaded guilty to steroid trafficking after thousands of tablets were seized by federal authorities as they arrived at post offices near the prisons in Bradford, Union and Clay counties.

It has been reported Col Glen Kemp and Col Colin Halle were the last to see Captain Davison alive and to have spoken to him!

FDOC PARTY TOWN
ALL ABOUT ALLEN CLARK	ALL ABOUT JAMES CROSBY
MTWT PRISON WORKERS

Guard accused of rape found dead in truck at North Florida prison

Facing a rape investigation, he had been fired from the North Florida facility on Monday.