Century Correctional Inmate Convicted Of Murdering Another CCI Inmate

January 28, 2012

A Century Correctional Institution inmate was found guilty Friday of the 2010 murder of another inmate at the facility.

An Escambia County jury convicted John Scaife after a two-day trial of manslaughter and battery upon a prison detainee.

On December 22, 2010, Scaife engaged in a brief verbal argument with fellow Century Correctional Institution inmate Donald Bart. Scaife then struck Bart once in the face, causing Bart to fall backwards and hit his head on the concrete floor. Three days later, Bart became unresponsive and subsequently died on December 26 due to bleeding within his brain and swelling of his brain. It was determined that Donald Bart had several nasal fractures as well as a fracture to the lower rear portion of his skull, and that these injuries were all a result of Scaife’s actions on December 22, according to testimony.

Scaife faces a sentence of up to 40 years in state prison as a habitual felony offender when he is sentenced by Judge Joel Boles on March 15.

Scaife was serving a 12 year sentence from Polk County for a 2001 conviction on charges of burglary, grand theft auto and fleeing/eluding law enforcement. According to the Florida Department of Corrections, he has been in and out of prison since 1979 for a list of offenses that include burglary, robbery, aggravated battery, sexual battery and petty theft.

Bart was sentenced in 2009 in St. Lucie County to eight years for arson, torturing animals and burglary, and a five year sentence for a 2008 St. Lucie County conviction on marijuana charges.

Comments

7 Responses to “Century Correctional Inmate Convicted Of Murdering Another CCI Inmate”

  1. CO's Wife on January 30th, 2012 9:45 pm

    I remember my husband coming home telling me about this incident. It bothered him and myself, but what can you do when the prison system will NOT hire any more to replace the ones that have retired or quite due to Scott’s cut backs. I can tell you that my husband and many other CO’s do NOT get paid enough for the jobs they do. The inmates are there to do their time for the crimes they commit, but that doesn’t mean they are all worthless. They are also HUMAN just as you and I are. They are paying their dues and should be treated to the code of ethics that each and every correctional officer takes when accepting the job. The CO’s in any prison system don’t get the recognition they deserve. Then you DO have some CO’s that go in there with a power trip and treats the inmates like dirt {to be polite}, which is totally uncalled for. My husband is a highly respected CO among the inmates. He treats them like he would want to be treated. My sympathy goes out to the Bart family and thankful they received justice for the death of their father, son, brother, or grandpa.

  2. co on January 29th, 2012 1:55 pm

    i work at century and this sorta thing happens all the time. do you honestly think the state cares about these officers that do this job. if they did they would hire more people to fill these positions. we are need to fill around 60 slotes but they will not hire . this could have easily been an assult on an officer. i worked this dorm and he hit the guy one time. we as officers should get more respect from the public….from our employers….and even from our leaders at this institutution…but we don’t

  3. Hmmm on January 28th, 2012 4:54 pm

    It is unfortunant when this happens in a secure setting. The state of Fl. has cut back so many positions in the state prison system that there are not enough correctional officers to adequately monitor and provide proper security for incarcerated individuals (for sure not enough to protect other staff). So, having said that, the public can count on more of these types of incidents occurring in our state prison systems. Again, I say this is unfortunant, and I say that because this individual did not deserve to die at the hands of another convict, he was attempting to pay his debt to society the way he was reqiured to.

  4. justsayn!! on January 28th, 2012 11:15 am

    these are still people either way u look at it!!!we have family in prison one was innocent and the other was a good person and we would never wish anything like such to happen

  5. ms k on January 28th, 2012 10:35 am

    I agree with justice

  6. Tax payer on January 28th, 2012 5:50 am

    The state needs to fire up old sparky and put the the tax payers money to good use besides feeding and housing this thug!!!!!

  7. Justice for all on January 28th, 2012 4:14 am

    We have 2 winners here! They were where they belonged. I can’t find any sympathy for either of them.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News