REPORTED MURDERS AND ASSAULTS
COMMITTED AT UNION 'CORRECTIONAL'
INSTITUTION BY FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF 'CORRECTIONS' OFFICERS
By Kay Lee
kaylee@idiom.com
Murder has no statute of limitation... The reported murders and assaults summarized on this page all happened at Union CI.
They cover the time span from December 1995 to December 2001. None of the incidents were resolved satisfactorily, and that is why they are being brought up at this time. It is time to get serious about cleaning up Florida and the only way to do that is to acknowledge all that's been happening and continues to be covered up in the DOC. Much of the information came from attorneys, affidavits came from prisoners. Since guards at Union CI have repeatedly threatened nearly every writer I correspond with at that institution (and there have been many), I will not divulge the names of the prisoner writers of these accounts and affidavits until such time as the Federal level shows their intention to conduct proper and impartial investigations, at which time all will be shared with them.
I now have 11 general affidavits attesting the actual facts and circumstances surrounding the untimely death of Curtis White DOC #180411, due to the grossly negligent and inhumane treatment he received at the hands of the security and medical staff working at Union CI.
Kay Lee kaylee@idiom.com
THE MURDER OF CURTIS WHITE
December 1995The murder of Curtis White DOC #180411, who was alleged to have cut the face of Sergeant Butler while confined in the S.E. Unit at Union C.I. (Butler claims he fell and cut his face on a filing cabinet).
The day after Butler was injured and on medical leave, Curtis White was taken out of his lockup cell and severely beaten by several correctional officers.
Curtis suffered some sort of internal injuries from this beating because he became totally unresponsive. He couldn't keep any food he ate down, until he became so weak he couldn't eat at all.
After almost two weeks, the other prisoners in lockup with Curtis noticed he had not been eating or responding to their calls and they tried to get the guards to provide Curtis with medical treatment.
These prisoners related in their affidavits, that in effect, one evening at approximately 10:30 pm, Curtis White was taken from his cell by several guards and the next morning they heard he had died.
The next morning I had a medical call out for lab work at Union CI's hospital. As I reached the top of the stairs, I noticed a body on a stretcher, just inside the doorway to Urgent Care, with a sheet over the body. The right leg of the body was hanging over the side of the stretcher and about halfway between the knee and ankle, the leg had sustained a compound fracture with the leg making a 90 degree bend at the break. There were about thirty correctional officers in Urgent Care and they ordered me to leave the hospital, even after I tried to show them my medical call-out. (At the time I didn't know this was the body of Curtis White.)
Several days later I received sworn affidavits from the prisoners who were in confinement with Curtis White. I collected these affidavits and also one from a Union CI hospital prison orderly, Mark Johnson. I sent these affidavits to an investigator who forwarded them to Governor Lawton Chiles. Shortly after this, I was targeted by Union CI guards and my cell was systematically searched three to five times a week and I was constantly harassed about the affidavits. I had another copy of these affidavits sent to Florida Prison Legal Perspectives and they should still have them in their files.
The medical orderly said he was the last person to talk to Curtis before he died early that morning. He said Curtis told him that the guards had really busted him up and he was having trouble breathing and asked the orderly to get him some medical help. The orderly went to Urgent Care and told the female nurse on duty that Curtis White needed medical help. The nurse told the orderly, "He has been saying that all night and there is nothing I can do." About an hour later Curtis White was dead.
The orderly told me that the body I saw in Urgent Care that morning was the body of Curtis White.
It was my understanding that Union CI administrators sent the body of Curtis White to the funeral home that takes care of the bodies. This funeral home, called the Union County Medical Examiner's Office, for a death certificate because the condition of the body of Curtis White clearly indicated that he had been murdered.
The Union County Medical Examiner called Union CI and wanted to know the facts of the murder for his report. Union CI's administrative staff denied there had been a murder. The body of Curtis White was removed from the funeral home and sent to Gainesville for cremation without an examination or cause of death certificate report.
THE CURTIS WHITE WITNESSES
THE MURDER OF DONALD BRENNER
Brenner was the 34 year old inmate who was bounced off walls by among others Mr. Wilkerson, Sgt Martin, and Lt Harden. It was after that that a good Officer Cartwright, a retired Navy Chief said he had had enough and quit. -G-
DOC # 311297, w/m:
On September 24, 1998, Inmate Brenner was transferred from North Florida Reception Center to Union Correctional Institution at approximately 1:10 pm.
Witnesses saw Donald Brenner being escorted by five (5) correctional officers, in waist chains and shackles, from the Main Housing Movement Center to the Union CI hospital. Brenner's face was injured and there was blood all over him. Brenner was walking under his own power. Union CI's records show he was transferred from N.F.R.C. (aka Butler CI) to Union CI at 1:10pm, cell E3-101L to R1-207S and at 2:20 pm from R1-207S to deceased.
Prisoner hospital orderlies reported that correctional officers at N.F.R.C. wanted to have a little sport and they had ganged up and beat Brenner. And because Brenner had fought back, they decided to transfer him to Union CI because they didn't want any prisoner witnesses at N.F.R.C. to learn Brenner's identity.
Right after Inmate AAA saw Brenner, he was taken into the hospital where the escorting officers forcefully strapped Brenner to a restraining gurney. The escorting officers and CO-1 Burnside severely beat Brenner again and left him strapped to the gurney until he died from his injuries.
THE ASSAULT OF ANTENICO LEMAR MIFFIN
The assault of Antenico Lemar Miffin, a prisoner who was beaten in full view of about 600 prisoners, by nineteen (19) correctional officers.
Sergeants Griffin and Hopkins initially took Miffin into A-Area sick call waiting room and proceeded to beat Miffin. Miffin fought them off and escaped from the room but could only run around in the S.W. Housing Unit area.
The two sergeants called for backup and seventeen (17) officers responded. They chased Miffin and finally captured him on the grassy area south of the kitchen in full view of the prisoners on the S.W. Unit recreation yard.
Miffin was pinned to the ground with a Tazzer shield and five or six officers piled on top of it. They kept hitting the Tazzer button for several "minutes" and finally, during a break, one of the young officers did a knee drop on the side of Miffin's head, which was sticking out from under the shield.
When the prisoners on the recreation yard saw that happen, six or seven prisoners went under the gate of the recreation yard and took Miffin away from the nineteen correctional officers.
This event was called a riot and when reported in the Gainesville Sun and Jacksonville Times Tribune, no mention was made regarding what the guards had done to Miffin. Instead the articles claimed that hundreds of prisoners attacked prison guards.
The Florida Department of "Corrections" used the Miffin event to justify replacing the 10 foot chain link fence around the recreation yard with a new 12 foot chain link fence, and also greatly reduced the size of the yard at the expense of several hundred thousand dollars for the new material.
Miffin is out of prison now but the six or seven prisoners that came to his aid are still in lockup and are being confined at Florida State Prison.
THE MURDER OF AN UNIDENTIFIED PRISONER
Unidentified until now:
Kay The one involving Sgt Burch - The prisoner's name was Lindy Holmes. That's the one I saw. -G-
There is one murder case that happened in our housing area that I have no direct knowledge of. However, it involves Sergeant Burch, who was supervising the Inside-Fence Squad. In this case, there was an old black prisoner that was having chest pain and couldn't keep up with the other prisoners in his squad who were using push mowers. Burch was shouting at the old black prisoner and took him into an office on the south side of B Area breeze-way. Five minutes later the black prisoner was dead and a hospital prisoner orderly was called to clean up the blood in the office.
THE ASSAULT AND ISOLATION OF EFREN YERO
Then there is the Efren Yero assault case, where five guards handcuffed and shackled Yero then beat him senseless. XXX, along with YYY, were called to give a taped statement to a DOC Investigator because both saw him when the guards had Yero in handcuffs. YYY actually saw the beating by looking in the B Area office window (The same office the old black prisoner was killed in).
This young man needs to be communicated with. I do not know what condition he is in.
He has been in isolation at Florida State Prison since his attack at Union CI.
DC Number: 069632
Name: YERO, EFREN
Race: WHITE
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BROWN
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5'08''
Weight: 166
Birth Date: 09/21/1962
Initial Receipt Date: 10/02/1979
Current Facility: FSP - MAIN UNIT
Current Classification Status: CM I
Current Custody: CLOSE
Current Release Date: 09/22/2025
They saw Yero the next day in the upstairs west wing of the hospital with his eyes swollen shut and the side of his head all beat up.
No action has been taken by the DOC to punish the officers, even after Yero passed two polygraph tests. Instead, Yero has been placed in lockdown over at Florida State Prison for almost 10 years for filing a complaint against the guards.
THE ASSAULT OF LARRY RICHARDSON
On December 13, 2001, Larry Richardson was assaulted by Sergeant Kirby in full view of 16 prisoners that work in the Inside Fence area. Sergeant Kirby grabbed Richardson and slammed him into a fence and then asked another officer for his mace. Richardson broke away and climbed the fence to keep from being maced. Richardson ran to A-Area and was dragged off the fence by Officer Foster.
On December 14, 2001, Colonel Coleman (sp - Colman) ordered the 16 prisoners that watched the assault to be placed in lockup pending being charged with "Inciting a Riot" or "Threatening an Officer." This was to prevent these prisoners from giving statements on behalf of Larry Richardson, because after Richardson was handcuffed hands and feet, he was dragged about a quarter mile to the Movement Center by about 15 correctional officers, where he was beaten into a coma.
All the prisoners at Union CI were locked down for several hours while Larry Richardson was being beaten because, after the Miffin incident, the administration did not want any prisoners to witness what was taking place or come to the aid of Richardson.
THE ASSAULT OF MAXE LORISTON
No longer shows up on DOC siteMaxe Loriston, DOC #430463, was beaten and a victim of unwarranted and excessive use of force. On Saturday, December 8, 1995, he was housed in 30 Bldg. on A-Wing in Cell 101, singing to himself and talking from his cell on the wing. The line staff correctional personnel, including supervisor Lt. Biddix, Officer Griffis, Officer Trembel, Sgt. Lee, and others, came down the hallway, opened up the locked food flap located in the cell door and sprayed mace in the cell. Maxe was quiet for a while and then started singing again. The officers sprayed mace once more inside the cell, then Officer Tremble said that Maxe had a cup of urine to throw on them, but there was no way he could have done so, because the bean flap on the solid steel cell door was locked with a padlock from the outside. So they went and got a ram shield and opened up the cell door, rushed in, and beat Maxe down. They handcuffed him and dragged him out of the cell with his arms jacked up behind his back to his leg shackles. Then they picked him up off the floor and carried him like that - hog-tied - by his arms to be transported to the Northwest Unit/Crisis Care Unit/Transitional Care Unit.
They brought Maxe back in handcuffs the following day, dragging him outside on the ground back to his former cell, butt-ass naked, and put him back into the same cell. The cell was not cleaned. So they put him back into the cell with mace and water everywhere, no clothes, and with wet, dirty bedding. They left him like that until the following Monday. To the best of this writer's knowledge and belief, because Maxe believed that Officer Jones on the 4 to 12 shift was messing over his food, Maxe has not eaten since being brought back from the TCU on the 9th. Today is December 22nd.
THE ASSAULT OF RONNIE GIALLARD
Ronnie Giallard, DOC #207622, was beaten while in handcuffs by Officer Tremble when he was living in Cell 30-182. he was transferred to Florida State Prison on December 15th. See enclosed Daily Change Sheet.
DC Number: 207622
Name: GIALLARD, RONNIE
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BLACK
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5'06''
Weight: 148
Birth Date: 11/07/1958
Initial Receipt Date: 07/10/1995
Current Facility: FSP - MAIN UNIT
Current Classification Status: CM I
Current Custody: CLOSE
Current Release Date: 08/19/2006
OTHER ASSAULTS IN BUILDING 30
Lamonte Lisbon, DOC #272919, Cell 30-147, B-Wing, was also beaten recently.
DC Number: 272919
Name: LISBON, LAMONT K
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BLACK
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 5'08''
Weight: 244
Birth Date: 06/01/1975
Release Facility: EVERGLADES C.I.
Current Custody: CLOSE
Release Date: 09/16/1999Released to:
PINELLAS COUNTY JAIL
14400 49 ST. N.
CLEARWATER, FL 33762And so was Anthony Williams, DOC #081388, Cell 30-222, A-Wing.
DC Number: 081388
Name: WILLIAMS, ANTHONY
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Hair Color: BLACK
Eye Color: BROWN
Height: 6'00''
Weight: 212
Birth Date: 09/08/1962
Release Facility: BRADFORD
Current Custody: CLOSE
Release Date: 08/20/2001All happened in building 30. Others have been beaten since then. Most of those locked up in the Southeast Unit are there for a very long time, and the cells back there are kept full, whether people truly meet the criteria for being there or not. Regardless of whether they meet the criteria or not it serves no socially redeeming purpose to impose uncivilized conditions and treatment on any human being; time has proven that.
UNION "CORRECTIONAL" INSTITUTION