Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Culture of corruption

Florida's prison system is in for a well-needed scrubbing after abuses that investigators found under ex-Corrections Secretary James Crosby.

The man who was in charge of Florida's prison system may end up behind bars, but a criminal conviction alone won't eliminate the culture of corruption James Crosby Jr. left behind. With 21 former corrections employees prosecuted, that will require that federal and state investigators continue their aggressive investigation and that the next governor take advantage of their work to start clean.

Crosby was picked more than three years ago to replace a corrections secretary, Michael W. Moore, who had bungled privatization and endured charges of racism. But investigators say he began feathering his own nest within months of appointment, helping steer part of a prison concession contract to a Gainesville buddy who in turn gave him 40 percent of the take.

Gov. Jeb Bush fired Crosby in February and said Wednesday he is "disappointed by this violation of the public's trust." But Bush and state lawmakers seemed all too willing to brush aside the stories that accumulated during Crosby's tenure.

Upon his appointment, Crosby was given a pass for his role as Florida State Prison warden when inmate Frank Valdez was beaten to death. When Crosby acknowledged dining in Manhattan with executives seeking prison contracts and allowing lobbyists to book his tickets for concerts and ball games in Tallahassee, the governor didn't bat an eye. When investigators uncovered guards selling steroids, a phantom employee and items that were disappearing from prisons, the governor offered little reaction. After investigators took a metal rack, leaf blower and ladder from Crosby's home, Bush called him "a good person, a good leader" and said he told him "don't let the 'blanks' get you down."

The truth is that Florida's prison system, a $2-billion-a-year enterprise, has long suffered from political neglect. So long as inmates don't escape or die under mysterious circumstances, lawmakers and governors tend to look the other way. When they do take an interest, they find it difficult to bring change to a system with its own ruling families and power bases. Meanwhile, prisons are staffed by people who are poorly paid, overworked and face daily danger and abuse.

What Crosby's admissions have done is reveal how rotten the core had become. The indictments have not likely ended, but they are indeed sending one necessary message about the law to people who are sworn to uphold it. Jim McDonough, the retired Army colonel who took over for Crosby, is sending another. Since Bush appointed him in February, 40 employees have been fired, demoted or have resigned. McDonough is also reviewing contracts signed by Crosby.

The prison system is being scrubbed in ways that should be helpful to the next governor, who will take office in January. But he will find there is no simple answer to keeping this massive system clean and on the right track.

Moore demonstrated bringing in an outsider isn't always the solution. Crosby grew up in Bradford County, the heart of prison country, and lived the culture and knew the politics. He was mayor of Starke and campaigned for George and Jeb Bush. He was affable, a talker, and, as recently as last fall, he deflected criticism with a familiar swagger.

"No one has ever been able to write anything bad that I've done," he told the Times. "What they can't say is 'Jimmy Crosby stole this or Jimmy Crosby beat this inmate or Jimmy Crosby violated this (policy).' "

Thanks to federal and state investigators, it is now clear Crosby stole and Crosby lied. This is an opportunity to fundamentally change the culture of a bureaucracy that needed a good scrubbing. Let the prison-cleaning continue.

[Last modified July 7, 2006, 06:00:11]