Date: 6/4/2021 1:54:29 PM

: "FDOC and THE HISTORY OF ABUSE”

Iwas speaking with a couple of officer's just the other day. We were discussing staff shortage. |
stated , "A lot of its because people hate working for people who have no leadership skills.”
‘One of them spoke up and said, " That's part of it, but a lot of its our fault, pointing at his self." |
said ," What do you mean?" He said ," A lot of officer's have given the correctional officer
position a bad name, by beating on inmates burning them in the shower etc etc. " He went on to
say, ' So a lot of people don't want to be tied to a profession that has so much stigma of racism
and abuse tied to it." | said, " That's true." And although officer's do get out of hand with that
type of abuse, 9 times out of 10 its encouraged by the Wardens and those who are in
authoritative positions. | know at Florida State Prison (FSP) in the late 90's when inmates were
being beat and even killed on the notorious X - wing. Yes death row inmate Frank Valdes got
beat and stomped to death by 9 correctional officers in what can only be described as a
ruthlessly brutal homicide which you can read about in case law by Googling VALDES vs
CROSBY, 450 F. 3d. 1231( Flat 2006) . Most of that abuse was supported and approved by then
Warden James V. Crosby Jr. which you can read about in that case. And I'm pleading with you
READ THE CASE! There's testimony from former Warden McAndrew who testified of how
dangerous these officer's were and how he tried to fire them and warn Crosby that he had a
potential killer working as a Lt. You'll see the testimony of officer Hanson who watched Captain
Timothy Thornton and seven other officers beat and stomp this human being to death!!! Yes
Crosby promoted Killers gave them special housing and privileges, and gave his officers the
green light to beat the living shit out of inmates. And Mr Barry V. Reddish come out of that
cesspool of an administration. So it was no wonder when Mr Reddish became Warden here at
Union Correctional Institution (UCI) in 2009, that the officer on inmate assaults sky rocketed!!! |
was assaulted twice by staff for writing about Warden Reddish, his unethical conduct and the
abuse that was taking place here. Two months after | was assaulted in May 2012, staff here
killed inmate Frank Smith. So can we put this on the officer? Well yes and no. Yes they should
have had enough moral and ethical integrity to report the assaults, rather than join in. But look
we're human, and thus fallible and fall in to peer pressure. We've all done it! On top of that some
of these are third and forth generation correctional officers. And when the assaults are being not
only approved but encouraged by the leadership, then how is some young inexperienced
correctional officer suppose to stand up to the monsters who's calling the shot's?? Would you do
it? Probably not. Would | do it? Yes but look how stupid | am! | mean | was in the hands of my
"enemy Warden Reddish" and writing about him and what was going on here. | wrote about the
alleged DUI's where local police officer's drove him home instead of taking him to jail. Most of
his staff hated him enough, that they were telling us inmates about this. | was just the only one
stupid enough to write about it and send him a copy telling him | was posting it on my blog. And
for that | spent a year on disciplinary confinement. | got placed on strip cell, property destroyed
mail thrown away and so much more. But all the staff abuse we see, its usually not one single
officer, although sometimes it may be a rogue officer who just loses control and beats an
inmate. But most of the time, when that's happening, its because the top administrators have
given their stamp of approval. It was like that with Crosby, Reddish and others. Yes the
corrections profession has got a serious black eye especially with incidence like Darrin Rainy

who was burned to death in a scalding hot shower and all these other beating deaths that was
reported in the Miami Herald News paper. | was talking with an officer the other day, who had
said that one of our top administrators was saying he didn't know how to fix the problem. | said,"
Its hard to fix a problem when your part of the problem and can't see that your part of the
problem." He just laughed and said," No comment." He knew what | was saying was true. |
don't see it getting any better, until someone comes in and cleans housel! And | do mean cleans
house! Anyone with the ranking of a Lieutenant or above needs to be removed. Yes I'm talking
a complete and total overhaul of the Florida Department of Corrections. Its drastic, but its
needed. Because a lot of staff who have gotten promotion's aren't worth of leadership roles. Just
like last year when they tried to promote Mr Barry V. Reddish to Assistant Regional Director. Yes
and had it not leaked out to several of the Florida Senators and House Representatives Mr
Reddish would have probably gotten a promotion that he surely was not worth of getting, If
nothing else our Legislature should look at all the personnel files of those with the rank of Lt and
higher viewing their history and where they came from and how and who promoted them. All |
know for certain, is this current system is beyond repair. Its collapsing like a house of cards. And
we are all suffering over the FDOC's history of abuse.

Sincerely Ronald W. Clark Jr. #812974

June 4 2021