Florida Corrections Continues Terminations For Inappropriate And Criminal Behavior

September 13, 2014

Friday, the Florida Department of Corrections announced that in addition to the six members of its staff that were terminated Thursday, this week an additional seven were dismissed under the DOC’s new employee discipline policy.

Five employees of Lancaster Correctional Institution — Officer Earl Short, Officer Stephen Nygard, Officer Julious Riley, Sergeant Robert La Puma, and Sergeant Brittain Williams — were dismissed for battery on an inmate.  Officer Houston Biddle of Okaloosa Correctional Institution was dismissed for a DUI arrest and Officer Glen Gordon of Desoto was dismissed for an arrest for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended/cancelled/revoked driver’s license.

Last week DOC announced a strict zero-tolerance policy for employee misconduct and DOC Secretary Mike Crews sent a memo to all employees.  DOC employees who commit a criminal act will immediately be placed on administrative leave and the Department will initiate disciplinary action for their dismissal.

“The action we have taken this week makes it clear that we will not tolerate inappropriate behavior or criminal activity by our staff.  Our staff should be held to the highest standards, and the zero-tolerance policy that we have put in place ensures that anyone who fails to do the right thing will no longer work for this agency.   We value our culture of professionalism and integrity, and we will not let the bad actions of a few undermine and tarnish the reputations of all the hard working men and women in our department.  Enforcement of our new discipline policy is a critical step in ensuring that happens,”  Crews said in a written statement.

Six Florida Department of Corrections employees were arrested and fired for alleged wrongdoings at a Panhandle facility, as announced Thursday. For that story, click here.

Comments

4 Responses to “Florida Corrections Continues Terminations For Inappropriate And Criminal Behavior”

  1. My2Cents on September 14th, 2014 9:21 pm

    AMEN….David Huie Green…AMEN! I can’t wait to see what Mr. Crews finds in our area. This too shall be interesting!

  2. bartender on September 14th, 2014 9:40 am

    It not only happens in corrections,it happens in reg work places. bulling goes on retaliation against employees and upper management sweeps it under the rug/ people needs to speak out even though people are scared.if you see wrong doings report even though you will be a whisle blower,you can be protected by the state employee commission. not only the inmates are wrong its employees are to sometimes.

  3. David Huie Green on September 13th, 2014 9:49 pm

    be careful regarding who you associate with, it rubs off

  4. mick on September 13th, 2014 11:45 am

    Looks like the criminals were the employees…

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News