FBI to investigate Fla. Prison Shooting (1 Viewer)

[scottyz]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Jun 22, 2006 (AP)— An FBI team headed to a federal prison Thursday to begin investigating a deadly shootout between a guard and federal agents who were trying to arrest him and five others indicted in a sex-for-contraband scandal.

Corrections officer Ralph Hill, an Air Force veteran, had smuggled a gun into the prison and opened fire Wednesday morning on FBI agents and Justice Department investigators, officials and his attorney said.

Hill, 43, and Justice Department special agent William "Buddy" Sentner were killed, and a prison employee helping with the arrests was wounded.

The five surviving guards have pleaded not guilty and were scheduled to appear in court a bail hearing Thursday afternoon. The men were indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on charges alleging that five of them had sex with female inmates in exchange for contraband such as money, alcohol or drugs and another helped in the scheme.

Officials did not release the gunman's identity, but attorney Tim Jansen said the dead guard was Hill, one of his clients. He said Hill's behavior was "totally out of character."

"He had no criminal history or issues of violence in his background," Jansen said.

Officials said the guard fired with a personal weapon guards are prohibited from bringing personal weapons into prisons but are not screened the way visitors are. Agents from the Justice Department's inspector general's office returned fire, killing the guard. It was not immediately clear who fired the shot that killed Sentner.

"These agents were out just trying to do their job, trying to do an arrest in a very controlled situation, and it just didn't come down exactly as planned," FBI agent Michael Folmar said.

Besides the sex-for-contraband charges, the guards were accused of threatening to plant contraband in inmates' belongings or have them sent to other institutions farther from their families if they reported the illegal activity.

According to the indictment, the guards showed inmates information about themselves and inmates on the prison computer system to prove that their threats were real. It said the guards switched assignments to arrange trysts with inmates.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, witness tampering, mail fraud and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2106276

Always a good sign when the prison guards are as bad if not worse than the prisoners. I wonder if this little incident will change the screening process for guards?