Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2006 The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tbo.com/news/opinion/submissionform.htm Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446 Author: Kevin Begos The Tampa Tribune Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) PRISON PROBE TAKES FATAL TURN TALLAHASSEE - A prison guard who shot and killed a federal agent after the FBI tried to arrest him and five other guards Wednesday morning had been cooperating with officials investigating wrongdoings at the prison, his attorney said. The FBI arrived at Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution about 7:30 a.m. to arrest the guards, who were accused of trading alcohol and drugs for sex with female inmates since March 2002. The exchange of gunfire at 7:42 a.m. left two dead, guard Ralph Hill and William "Buddy" Sentner, an agent from the Justice Department's office of the inspector general, the FBI said. A prison employee helping with the arrests was hospitalized with gunshot wounds but was expected to fully recover. Authorities had not identified him, pending notification of his family. Hill used a personal weapon and opened fire trying to escape from the building, authorities said. Guards are prohibited from bringing personal weapons into prison facilities, but they are not screened as visitors are, federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Carla Wilson said. R. Timothy Jansen, a Tallahassee lawyer, said he had been representing Hill since November and that Hill voluntarily had provided a DNA saliva sample to the FBI. Jansen said he was surprised at his client's involvement in the shootout. "I was shocked. I don't understand the circumstances of how it took place," he said, even though the basic story was sadly familiar to him. Jansen, a former federal prosecutor, said the problem of guards having sex with inmates has been a major one at the institution. "I can't tell you how many [guards] I've represented in this area. A lot," he said. Sentner, 44, who was based in Orlando, was a 15-year law enforcement veteran and a former Secret Service agent. Hill, 43, was an Air Force veteran who had worked at the prison for more than 10 years, Jansen said. Hill had not been terminated or suspended from his job, Jansen said, adding that he felt Hill would have voluntarily turned himself in if authorities had requested it. FBI Special Agent Michael Folmar said none of the six guards was warned the arrests were coming. The guards were indicted by a grand jury on charges alleging, among other things, that they exchanged contraband for sex and used it to buy inmates' silence. The grand jury indictment states that the six defendants also brought contraband into the prison to bribe inmates to keep silent about violations of prison regulations. Inmates, their family members and others paid the correctional officers by mail, wire transmission and hand delivery, the indictment states. The defendants discouraged inmates from reporting the scheme by threatening to plant contraband among inmates' belongings and threatening to have inmates transferred to other facilities that were farther from their families, according to the indictment, and the guards showed inmates information about themselves and other prisoners on the prison's computer system to prove their threats were real. It said the guards switched duty assignments to arrange trysts with the female inmates. The other guards in the indictment were Alfred Barnes, Gregory Dixon, Vincent Johnson, Alan Moore and E. Lavon Spense. The five were in custody and expected to be kept in a facility outside Tallahassee, law enforcement officials said. If convicted, the guards could face up to 20 years in prison. The five pleaded not guilty in federal court and are scheduled for a detention hearing today, said Alan Sprowls, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Trial is set for Aug. 21. A woman who answered the front door Wednesday's at Hill's home in a well-kept neighborhood in the eastern part of Tallahassee had little to say. "We don't want to talk now, and we never will want to talk," she said. The prison where the shooting happened is on Capitol Circle, a busy commuter road that normally is packed with traffic each morning. Convenience stores and many other businesses are about 100 yards away from the prison entrance, where officials said the shooting took place. Mark Rayboun was just starting work at a construction supply store across the street when he heard a series of shots, "and then a swarm of people" responded, he said. Officials shut down the prison after the incident, preventing trucks from making normal deliveries and even stopping phone calls in and out of the facility, said a woman whose husband works there. The facility houses mostly men and is part of the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution. A low-security prison for female inmates is next to the men's detention center. Together the men's and women's units house 1,445 inmates. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake