Official responses dismiss diary

By ADAM C. SMITH

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 6, 2001

Michael Moore

Florida corrections secretary Michael Moore declined to comment on the allegations in Capt. Willie Hogan's journal, but his spokeswoman dismissed them.

Debbie Buchanan cited a department investigation completed last year in which Hogan was quoted as having "no direct knowledge" of inmates being physically abused at Lancaster.

"He denied knowledge of staff abuse of inmates. If he had knowledge of it, he would have brought it up in the investigation," said Buchanan, who would not permit the Times to visit Lancaster. "We're not going to comment on a so-called hand-written diary."

The internal investigation was prompted by a December 1999 Times article about a group of Lancaster officers who carried knotted-cord key chains.

Dying inside [Times art: Rossie Newson] A prison guard, sickened by abuse behind the walls, documented what he heard and saw. Now, after his early death, his diaries testify to what he could not change in life. Hogan's is not a lone voice A pending federal lawsuit by dozens of black corrections officers charging systematic discrimination by their agency suggests that Capt. Willie Hogan was not alone in his sense of helplessness to correct wrongdoing in Florida's prison system.

Hogan was among several officers interviewed by the Times who described the knotted cords as a secret symbol of solidarity for officers willing to assault inmates and cover up for one another. Several inmates said the key chains symbolized membership in a racist hate group.

The department found two dozen officers carrying the key chains, but concluded the allegations were baseless because no one said he or she knew of hate group activity or inmates being abused.

The investigation report shows Hogan was asked about abuse of inmates. He said he had no direct knowledge, except for a case already under investigation. Precisely what Hogan told interviewers is unclear, though, because the department did not tape its interview with him as it did with other officers.

In an off-the-record conversation at the time, Hogan told the Times he believed investigators were mainly out to knock down the allegations and had little interest in uncovering wrongdoing. Though the probe was supposed to be a surprise, he said many officers knew investigators were on the way to Lancaster well before they arrived.

As an offshoot of the knotted cord probe, the department conducted a separate inquiry into the racial climate at Lancaster. That report contains a more detailed summary of Hogan's comments, including his belief that many officers did not want to work for him because he would not tolerate abuse of inmates or the filing of falsified reports. Hogan also said that when he worked as an internal investigator, his boss had asked him to cover up investigations.

That probe found widespread complaints about racism at Lancaster and uncovered testimony about other officers wanting to oust Hogan. Officers talked of a "good ol' boy" clique running the prison and said the most aggressive officers got the best job assignments and shifts. Nothing came of that investigation.

Hogan's immediate supervisor at the time most of his diary was written, Col. Jeffrey Wainwright, declined to comment for this article. He is now an assistant warden at a Miami-Dade County prison. Former Lancaster assistant warden George Sapp, now warden at a Bradford County prison, also declined to comment.

Warden L.E. "Pete" Turner, formerly of Lancaster and now warden at a Hamilton County prison, said Hogan never came to him with such concerns.

"He might have had problems I didn't know about, but if he had reported anything to me, it would have been thoroughly investigated," said Turner, who didn't recall significant numbers of abuse complaints at Lancaster.

"If he didn't feel anything was getting done through his chain of command, I had an open-door policy," Turner said.

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