‘BACK ALLEY JUSTICE’

Three Florida Prison Guards Arrested for Murder After Inmate Is Beaten to Death

The prisoner in the mental-health ward was attacked “even though he was in handcuffs and compliant with officer commands,” according to a state report.

Three prison guards working in Dade County, Florida, have been arrested on second-degree murder charges in the fatal beating of an inmate last week. Christopher Rolon, 29; Kirk Walton, 34; and Ronald Connor, 24, were apprehended Thursday and seven additional officers have been placed on administrative leave over the death. The victim, who has not been formally identified, was serving time in the facility’s mental-health unit and was allegedly taken from his cell in handcuffs and beaten to death after throwing urine on an officer. “Individuals who are sentenced to incarceration by our criminal courts have lost their freedom but not their basic rights,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement to NBC News. “Inmates should not be subject to forms of ‘back alley’ justice which are actions in violation of Florida law.”