3 Florida Prison Guards Accused Of Killing Inmate: Police

MIAMI, FL — Three Florida correctional officers are facing murder charges after state authorities say they killed an inmate at Dade Correctional Institution after he threw urine at them.

Twenty-nine-year-old Christopher Rolon, 34-year-old Kirk Walton, and 24-year-old Ronald Connor are each charged with murder, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement news release. A fourth correctional officer remains at large, authorities said.

On Feb. 14, a Dade Correctional Institution inmate was scheduled for transfer to Lake Correctional Institution, authorities said. Before correctional officers removed him from his cell in the mental health unit, the inmate reportedly threw urine on one of them, police said.

The correctional officers then handcuffed the man and moved him from his cell. Despite the inmate's compliance with commands, authorities said the correctional officers began to beat him.

Following the altercation, the inmate was carried to a transport van where he was put in a secure compartment by himself, according to the news release. When the van stopped in Ocala, the inmate was found dead, laying on a bench inside the van, authorities said.

Following an autopsy, a medical examiner determined the cause of death was internal bleeding caused by a punctured lung. The inmate also had injuries to his face and torso consistent with a beating, authorities said.

"Staff misconduct, abuse or criminal behavior have no place in Florida’s correctional system," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a news release. "Individuals who are sentenced to incarceration by our criminal courts have lost their freedom but not their basic rights. Inmates should not be subject to forms of ‘back alley’ justice which are actions in violation of Florida law."

Rolon, Walton and Connor were arrested Thursday and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case.