Wakulla officer arrested
Corrections guard fired and accused of perjury
Posted on Thu, Sep. 18, 2003 Tallahassee DemocratBy Tony Bridges
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITERState corrections officials say a senior guard at the Wakulla Correctional Institution attacked an inmate and then lied about it in a statement.
The Department of Corrections concluded a three-month investigation this week by firing Lt. Daniel Cosson, 47, and charging him with one felony count of perjury.
He was booked into the Wakulla County Jail with bail initially set at $3,000 but was later released on his own recognizance, according to jail records.
Until his dismissal, Cosson had been temporarily assigned to the Tallahassee Road Prison.
"We obviously have very specific rules and procedures in place," said Sterling Ivey, a DOC spokesman. "When one of our employees steps outside those rules, we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law."
Contacted at his Tallahassee home Wednesday, the 20-year correctional officer said his attorney had advised him not to comment.
According to arrest reports, this is what happened:
Cosson approached a subordinate correctional officer June 9 and asked for his help in arranging an attack on an inmate.
That inmate - whose complete name was not available Wednesday - was being moved to a confinement cell for threatening another officer. Cosson wanted the junior officer to take the man to a secluded area and claim the inmate had kicked him.
That would give Cosson an excuse to spray the inmate with pepper spray, according to DOC investigators.
Instead of helping, the officer reported the plot to another supervisor, who ordered him not to participate.
But later the same day, Cosson told the officer to escort the inmate to the confinement area and followed them to a quiet hallway there. That's where he punched the inmate, sprayed him in the face, knocked him down and sprayed him again, according to DOC.
Then, he took the inmate to another officer and again told him to act as if the inmate had kicked him - and then sprayed the man a third time.
According to investigators, Cosson later tried to persuade a fellow lieutenant to help him concoct a story that would justify the use of the pepper spray. The supervisor reported him to senior prison officials, who ordered the probe.
Cosson was charged with perjury because he denied the plot when questioned in a sworn statement to investigators, court documents show.
He was fired and arrested Tuesday.
His personnel file was not immediately available. Ivey said Cosson had been with DOC since 1983 and had worked at Florida State Prison before transferring to Wakulla.
Other charges may be pending.