AP: Gov Jeb Bush Ousts Prisons Chief Amid Investigation

[seafan]

Published Friday, February 10, 2006
Bush Ousts Prisons Chief Amid Investigation

The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ousted the state corrections chief Friday after he became part of a wide-ranging investigation into possible criminal activity among prison system employees.
James Crosby, a former warden at Florida State Prison, had headed the nation's third-largest corrections system since 2003. The governor didn't give details about why he told Crosby to step down, but a spokesman said Crosby was a subject of the probe.

snip

In recent months, the department had been under intense scrutiny in the face of arrests for steroid abuse and accusations of sexual assault, and the arrest of an employee allegedly hired only to help a Florida prison softball team.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been conducting an investigation on several matters involving department employees, but FDLE officials have declined to comment on the exact nature of their probe.

snip

Crosby had worked his way up through the prison system, starting in 1975. During his tenure as warden of Florida State Prison, he was under the spotlight when guards were accused of beating prisoner Frank Valdes to death.
.....
As secretary, Crosby had to deal in 2004 with questions about the probation system. He fired a probation officer and three supervisors for missing key opportunities to lock up a violent ex-convict who was later accused of masterminding a home invasion massacre of six people.

snip

Last year, a new series of problems cropped up at the department, including a brawl that broke out at a softball banquet in Tallahassee in April.
.....
Also, four corrections officer have pleaded guilty to taking part in a prison-based steroids distribution ring. Several of the guards involved in the steroid case played on a prison softball team coached by Clark.
In an another embarrassing incident last year, a former minor league baseball player was arrested after it was alleged he was hired to work at the agency simply to play on the softball team.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060210/BREAKING/60210004

[Roland99]

1. He'll be in charge of Abu Ghraib soon.

Why not?

Ashcroft chose 4 criminally inept wardens/prison admins to setup Abu Ghraib in the first place.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Jeb tells Crosby, "You're going to The Show."

[phoebe]

3. Crosby described Jeb Bush's model faith-based prison as "a cocoon"

http://nightlight.typepad.com/nightlight/2004/11/the_god_gulag.html

snip

Flash-forward to the 21st Century, where Florida "Secretary of Corrections" James Crosby described Jeb Bush's model faith-based prison as "a cocoon" where inmates could practice their faith free from "negative pressures and interactions." Mr. Crosby, thy speech doth sound strangely familiar.

Nobody can rationally argue that our prison system doesn't need reform. It is a torture chamber with 1,000 rooms. It is no coincidence that guards from the U.S. prison system were used to supervise the torture at Abu Ghraib. Yet the "reform" being promised here is a thought control project run amok. The misinformation being spread about this initiative includes the following:

Participation is strictly voluntary. Prisoners are, in fact, heavily coerced to participate. The potential consequences for refusing to participate include a longer prison term and harsher living conditions while incarcerated. Given this enormous pressure, it is surprising that 100 out of 800 prisoners at Lawtey Prison (the Florida experiment) declined to participate when the program was created, knowing that they would be transferred to other prisons and denied the opportunity of early release as a result.

It is non-sectarian. The program's organizers stated, and the press dutifully reported, that the prisoners at Lawtey represented 26 faiths. This implies an ecumenical program, but experience teaches otherwise. The InnerChange Prison Initiative, initiated in Texas in 1997 when George W. Bush was Governor and expanded into Iowa, is exclusively Christian. A more telling statistic, reported in Science & Technology News: "Most of the groups that work at Lawtey are Christian; on a roster provided by the Florida Department of Corrections, there are no non-Christian volunteers listed."

Just to underscore the point, I'm sure all the non-Christian prisoners got the message when Jeb Bush came to visit for the holidays and said, “I can’t think of a better place to reflect on the awesome love of our Lord Jesus than to be here at Lawtey Correctional. God bless you.” Happy Hannukah to you too, Mr. Governor.