Ronald Connor, 24, Christopher Rolon, 29, and Kirk Walton, 34, were arrested Thursday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the agency said. They are charged with second-degree murder, conspiracy, brutal violence and other charges, online recordings of the Miami-Dade County Correction Show and Rehabilitation.
All of them were denied bail on the charge of murder, the archives show. Walton’s lawyer, David Donnett Jr., declined to comment on Friday; it is not clear whether the others have lawyers. A fourth correctional officer is still at large, the US law enforcement agency said in a press release.
Miami-Dade Attorney General Catherine Fernandez Randall, whose office will investigate the case, is expected to release more information on Friday afternoon.
The incident that led to Thursday’s arrests took place on the morning of February 14, when the prisoner had to be transferred from the Dade Correctional Facility to another facility, the agency said. He reportedly threw urine at a police officer before being taken from his cell to the mental health department.
Police then handcuffed him and took him out of his cell, the agency said. Then, “although he was handcuffed and obeyed the officer’s orders, agents say officers began beating him,” the statement said.
“The prisoner was beaten so badly that he had to be taken to a minibus for transport,” the agency said, adding that he had been placed alone in a secure compartment.
On the way to the other facility, the van stopped in Ocala, Florida, and the prisoner was found dead lying on a bench in the van, the agency said, without revealing the prisoner’s name.
The cause of his death was a punctured lung, which led to internal bleeding, a forensic doctor ruled, adding that the man had injuries to his face and torso corresponding to the beating, the agency said.
“Staff misconduct, abuse or criminal behavior have no place in Florida’s correctional system,” Fernandez Rundell said in a statement. “Persons sentenced to imprisonment by our criminal courts have lost their freedom, but not their fundamental rights. Prisoners should not be subject to forms of justice in the “back street” that are acts in violation of Florida law. ”
The officers involved in the case failed, “and as an agency, we will not tolerate this,” Florida Correctional Services Secretary Ricky Dixon said in a statement.
His department “is committed to providing a safe and professional environment for prisoners and offenders,” Dixon said. “All prisoners, regardless of their crimes, have the right to serve their time free from victimization and abuse.”
CNN’s Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.
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