Officer on Officer Abuse at Okeechobee
PREYING ON NEW RECRUITS
We know a bit about Allen Clark and friend James Crosby and some of their group, but dirt is everywhere in the FDOC and the whole department needs a good housecleaning.
The following story will most likely be taken by defensive department people as an act of revenge (as if the FDOC was a stranger to such things), but when a person feels that justice has not been done, it is very hard to let go of a betrayal.
We know by now that sex games and extramarital affairs, as unprofessional as it may be, are numerous in the department. We wouldn't care so much but we know it often happens on the job, on 'company time' and involves employees leaving their posts in what is referred to as a dangerous place to work. I think if it is as dangerous as prison workers say (and I don't doubt that it can be), most employees will feel a sense of conflict about a Captain who not only deserts his co-workers to carry on a little hanky panky, but takes C/Os off the job with him. Is this man still working for the department? Not only is he still working for the FDOC, but he has been promoted to Colonel at Hamilton Annex despite his bad habit of preying on the new hires.
To: kaylee1@charter.net
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 12:50 PM
PLEASE HELP MY STORY BE TOLD AND STOP THESE CRIMINAL INSTITUTION LEADERS
Hello, my name is *** [NOTE: This courageous officer left her name on this site for maybe two years. She has done her part and in order to move on is now, with our gratitude, going anonymous.].
"I write to you in sincere hopes that you will hear my story and help me to get it out there so
that stories like mine happen no more.
I am a former CO trainee of the Okeechobee Correctional Institution. I was employed there from June 6, 2003 until approximately September 23,2003.
Being that this situation took place 2 yrs ago and I moved out of state after this incident, I have been unable to file a complaint with EEOC. Now my hopes are to be able to put these racist people that are leading this institution out in the open. Let people know what's going on on the inside of these correctional institutions from someone who was on the
inside.
The reality that these prisoners face is really unbelievable. as is the "system" that the CO's follow. The "small city" that is created inside the walls. the degradation. the flat out racism. A lot of the facts of my story I am very ashamed of, but it would be for the better of so many people to let it be known. It would be for the better that the poor characters in
leadership be checked.
My story is about the truth of a Captain David Coleman, formerly of the Okeechobee Correctional Institution, who was known for his harsh abuse towards black inmates. This behavior being kept secret because he protected his CO's and Sgt's. This Captain David Coleman is a married man, also being known for his many affairs with the young female trainee's that came through the institution.
The latest known scandal of this captain David Coleman being one of an affair with a young black female trainee who came to the facility, with his promises to help with her new career in the field of Corrections. He was parading her around the institution with all eyes to see. even as he slanders her name, and makes plenty of incredibly outlandish racial threats. When these events became known to his superiors at the institution he was soon transferred and PROMOTED. AND THIS YOUNG FEMALE CO TRAINEE WAS FIRED, FOR REASONS NOT GIVEN, that person being me.
PLEASE HEAR MY STORY. PLEASE help me pay back to my community with information about what I should have steered clear of to begin with. Please help other female officers know of the scandal behind these prison walls. This story needs to be heard so this racism behind the walls of prisons and this abuse of prisoners and staff can be stopped and some productive programs can be reintroduced back into the prison systems so these inmates can learn and prepare for the world outside of prison walls and not be consumed with the life behind prison walls and have no choice but a Life behind these walls..
I thank you sincerely, and I hope and pray to hear from you soon.
Now Anonymous
It is very good for us to meet, and yes, I can put your story out there for everyone to see. The racism, the male chauvinism, the favoritism, the department's lack of responsibility are all issues that I've pounded on for a long time. I know that some of the prison workers exhibit too much testosterone, take too many steroids, and/or have too much power and don't mind using it to hurt people. I call them guards, as opposed to 'corrections' officers, who are admirable professionals.
I truly believe that your story will stun more people into awareness and, coming at this critical time in the department's efforts as a clean up, will hopefully spotlight these problems in a way no one can ignore.
Questions:
Why do you think it ended the way it did? Is it common for the male to be rewarded and the female to be punished? Did you talk to his superior about this? Were your complaints ignored, because you were black, female, or new hire? Was it because he was there longer and his words held more weight?
How are you doing now?
Kay Lee
I'm so happy that you responded so promptly. so happy, thank you. Well first to answer your questions. whether i share my name or not depends on whether this person is going to just go on about his life and have no consequences. i will put my name out there if it will help. this is a very embarrassing thing for me but i want him out of his position just like i am out of mine. That may sound bad but why should he be in the position he is in with the information i have on him? He's a bad person of bad character. Those inmates are far worse off in
there with him than they were before they got there. i believe anyway.
i think it ended the way it did because of all the reasons you stated. RACISM, his seniority. favoritism. Like i stated, it's like a little city there. they protect each other from each others wrong doings. it's horrible, i have so many stories of corruption from OCI. i got fired shortly after he started getting static from an outsider.
By the way, how far are you willing to go with this? What would be your intentions for the whole story to get out? What do you think would be the outcome?
Honestly I want action and I'm willing to do all that i can to make sure that there is justice for all involved in my situation and ones before and i'm sure after me. I want this man to pay for his scandalous affairs, his corruption, his Racist ways, and his Abuse. There were many witnesses to his wrong doings.
How am I now? Well it caused severe family problems for me. obviously lost my job, and couldn't find another so I relocated. Still emotionally it wears on me. it will forever be a stain. Forever. I was not a saint in this whole thing. The thing is though it's something I've done and learned a horrible lesson from. Lessons from.
MY STORY
My story is one of the scandal going on in these institutions. A story about the Corruption led by one Ex Captain David Coleman, now Lieutenant David Coleman.
June 6, 2003:
My first day on the compound as a CO trainee. I came into my new career thinking such great things. a career with much room for advancement. stability. I had no idea of so much of the corruption that really went on inside of these prisons. I started my first week on days at the compound learning the ropes of the day shift. After one week of the first shift I got notice that I would be on the night shift.
Being a woman on a prison compound, I an intimidating thing in itself. The night shift was even more intimidating to me. Being on the yard you are in the light with hundreds of prisoners at a time, transferring them from here to there. everything is visible. If something is about to break out, you have a
fair chance to seeing what's to come.
The night shift was way different to me. All the inmates were confined. behind these huge doors that plenty of times malfunctioned. During the day you would go down into the wings of the dorms to count with another 1, 2 or 3 officers. At night they would send you out into the wings alone to count. Every single time I would go out into the wings to count, I would be VERY nervous. Aside from having to go down into the wings in pretty much the dark, I was a woman that these inmates make no bones about staring at. doing whatever they could to have to ask me questions, or favors.
My first couple weeks being on night shift, my captain was pretty much out of sight. Everyone said that he would pretty much go into his office and sleep unless otherwise needed. which made lots of sense to me because every time I needed to go into that building and past his office the door would be closed and the lights would appear to be off. Whatever, it was not much of a big deal to me.
After a couple of weeks he went on vacation and a dayshift captain came along and took his place. That was Captain David Coleman. Captain Coleman was very out in the open. traveling from one dorm to the next. mingling with his friends/co-workers.
For my first couple weeks on night shift they a lot of times put me into the same dorm every night. There was a Sergeant and another female trainee in this dorm. Captain Coleman would often spend hours in this dorm socializing and "playing" with this other female trainees. He would stay throughout our counts and through transferring inmates to their jobs in the morning time. It was very obvious at the time that she was his favorite play toy. He would spend lots of time clowning with her. making jokes and teasing her about things.
Soon after I began working another dorm Captain Coleman started showing up in my dorm and staying for hours like he did with the other female trainee. At first there was not much communication between us. I kind of sat back and just observed my surroundings. He shortly began to show me the ropes. gave me lots of material on the rules to read. Took me in the van on tours around the compound, which is not something that was a normal occurrence. In the beginning I did start to feel like he was taking favor to me, and for all
eyes to see.
On day shift they did things by the book as far as counting and as far as having the sufficient number of officers in a dorm at a time. On the
night shift count was done with just one officer, OR TRAINEE. That was not
in the books.
Captain Coleman soon learned that I liked animals from being around me and would several times a night call me on the radio, or come get me from my assigned post to meet him here or there to go searching for alligators. That would often leave my dorm with one officer alone. or one sergeant alone. This was an occurrence that happened very often.
I'm not going to lie. I did feel very umbrella'd by his position. I was being pulled away from my dreaded assignment of being bored to death, sometimes hardly being able to hold my eyes open. Many nights my superior officer or my sergeant would turn the light down and just sleep until count time. then when count time came it became a very nerve racking thing for me to do. I was not happy about having the night shift.
Anyway Captain Coleman made it very apparent by the way he talked that he felt he was the Big Man on campus. I do remember times asking if I would get in trouble not being at my post and him making comments such as, "How would you get in trouble hanging with the Captain?" and saying that his nick name is 'Big Daddy', and that I should start referring to him as such.
Now I understood that these comments were made in a joking manner, but the understanding was still there. Captain Coleman had a very playful and flirtatious personality, so it did not take him long to begin flirting with me. He would often come into the dorm I was in and just stay there throughout the entire shift. When he left he would pull me along with him and he would take me to go see alligators or deer. His flirting soon turned to physical play, to where he began rough housing with me.
Soon I had my first experience with being "gunned" on the job . It was very unexpected and I took it kind of hard. Captain Coleman made some distasteful jokes about this event at first, I guess not knowing that I was a bit shaken up by it. In days to come he would joke about this event and if any other inmates tried to show me their stuff again.
The next time I was "Gunned", Captain Coleman had been the Captain on duty and took it a little more personally. I was left alone in a dorm by my sergeant and one of the inmates gunned me. When I notified my sergeant, I was then notified by Captain Coleman to get help from the sergeant on how to write the report. There were certain words needed to be put into the report and certain wording needed in the report to insure that the inmate would be jailed or put into confinement. YES, you are reading correctly. even though the event does not happen like you need to write, you still need to write it saying it happened a certain way. Captain Coleman schooled me to this.
Well anyways, after the 2nd gunning incident, Captain Coleman called me to his office asking if I was o.k. He then had the inmate come into his office. Captain Coleman then preceded to scream at this inmate, making racial suggestions such as "now you have this honky motha fucka in your face. What you gonna do now?" At the time I felt like I was being protected so I was o.k. with the way he was screaming at this inmate. The inmate was then taken to confinement, and Capt. Coleman told me about how he was 'going on vacation'. Another Capt. was in the office at the time and they both preceded to say things to make me feel better and not feel down about being gunned.
My next day at work Capt. Coleman was on vacation. early in my shift Capt. Coleman called me at work from his home. he told me that he sprayed this inmate until he fainted and that he wanted for me to get my sergeant to take me to the confinement dorm to go speak to the inmate and see what he says. My sergeant walks me to the inmate in confinement and the inmate tells me he is very sorry for what he did. Captain Coleman sprayed this inmate so bad and broke him down so bad that all he could do was submit.
Captain Coleman made his first big move on me when I told him that I was going to start working out, so he took me to the workout facility on the compound and actually took off his uniform shirt and started to work out and had me do some reps on a couple of machines there.
When I was finished I told him I was tired and then I sat down on one of the work benches. He came and sat behind me in a straddle position and whispered in my ear how pretty he thought I was and he liked my hair. he then kissed me on the back of my neck.
By this time I had grown an attraction to Coleman from all the attention he showed me and from the position he held with the department. He would tell me that all I needed to do was learn the things he taught me and stick with him and I could get where I wanted to with the department.
From the first time he kissed me, it pretty much started a habit of his to change the rosters so that I would be in certain dorms when he worked or he would place me on ground security, which means I check the outsides of buildings and I don't have to be in one specific place. That made it very easy for him to have access to me.
He would have me in his office, on one occasion typing out documents to go to his superiors about certain persons he did not particularly like. These were letters telling his superiors why these persons should be fired.
As time went on he would bring me to a certain office in the medical building to become intimate. or at times he would just lock the door and have us lay on the floor and talk or even sleep at times.
He would tell me how his marriage is in pieces and he wanted to leave his wife any day now but he does not want to hurt his children. He even at one time asked me if he ever is transferred to another prison would I come with him. He invited me to his house on several occasions while his wife was at work. and would make arrangements with me outside of work to meet me at places.
When went to his house, I rode his horse. It's an old horse but in good shape for its age. He didn't have any adult saddles for her so I rode bare back. We also went riding on his rv in the woods surrounding his house. Also I was offered to take a shower in his house but I turned down the offer.
On the inside of his house there is a room just filled with his kid's toys. the kitchen is not standard eat in with kitchen table. It has a tall counter with stools. Not sure if that's where dinner is made or not. but on the fridge there are lots of pictures of the family and all. Then there is a sitting room with a big screen television that was not working at the time..
Later I learned that Coleman was making sexual derogatory comments about me, and spreading rumors about me at the time.
This man is known for his racial slurs. At one time when my family member spoke with Coleman about what was going on and told him he needs to stop his actions or he would tell his wife, Coleman's words were "YOU BETTER LEAVE ME ALONE OR I'LL KILL YOU AND YOUR LITTLE NIGGER KIDS." This is the same man that is in a leadership position in a State Institution, with a hugely BLACK POPULATION. This is the same man that is known for pepper spraying inmates until they faint.
Captain Coleman was known for his harsh abuse towards black inmates. this behavior being kept secret because he protected his CO's and Sgt's.
David Coleman is protected by his fellow workers because he is the one they go to to get out of a jam. He is known for how he will help you out if you need help with an inmate. I don't mean that in a good way.
This Captain David Coleman, a married man, was also being known for his many affairs with the young female trainee's that came through the institution. Another thing. He also told his wife that I was some crazy woman from work that he invited over to go horse back riding. i tried to tell his wife what had happened and she screamed that I was crazy, and needed help. not sure if that was her defense or if she really did not believe me, but that's what she said.
Coleman led me to believe that sticking with him would have positive effects on
my career with OCI. One of my family members soon found out about the affair
going on with me and my Captain and became very upset at the situation. this
family member of mine proceeded to make his superiors aware of what was
going on and pleaded with them to make the situation stop.
Soon after this situation was brought out into the open and brought to the superiors, I was fired. They told me that because I was a trainee they did not have to give a reason why. Captain David Coleman was PROMOTED AND TRANSFERRED. Need I say any more?
Officers who witnessed our hanging out are sergeant Dodd. sergeant Cunningham, Officer Livingston and O'Brien... these are all male officers that worked the night shift at the time. I think they all would offer their input. Livingston, Dodd, and O'Brien are good witnesses. O'Brien at one time asked if I was o.k. with the attention Coleman was throwing my way or if I was uncomfortable and needed help. He said because he would protect me if I needed it, that Capt. Coleman had done this to other girls and some go along with it, others don'. There was a name of another female officer that was given to me but I've forgotten it.
I want justice. I want this man investigated. I want his scandal stopped. I want his Corruption ended. I want the black inmates that have to deal with his abuse to not have to deal with it anymore. he should not be in the position he is in.
People of the public should know what happens behind those prison walls. Inmates are there to serve time. that is their punishment. they should not be abused, and degraded. They should not have to fear the officers that are there to protect them and keep things in order. how are these inmates going to get anything but more corruption from being in a place lead by criminals like this.
By the way I'm not sure what the name of the institution Captain David Coleman is at now. I think it is a work camp though. Would you be able to find out? do you need names of officers who could verify my story?
This letter came from Okeechobee on Nov 17 2005. The writer did not sign it --- only with a
smiley face ---
Dear KayLee
Thank you for sharing your information about the former c/o trainee who was
fired from Okeechobee CI two years ago.
I remember the young trainee, a pretty light skinned black girl with a
childish and scared look all the time. I believe her name was 'Now Anonmous'.
I also know Captain David Coleman. Now Anonymous is absolutely right. Capt. Coleman is an extremely racist officer and a sadistic criminal as well.
Capt. Coleman is known to have committed several criminal acts against prisoners of all colors and races, including murder. Capt. Coleman has been
protected by his superiors and other governmental officials to avoid scandals within the deptartment
Capt. Coleman has not acted alone during any of his criminal acts, therefore, in order to protect other cohorts in situations such as what happened to 'Now Anonymous'. Being that she was a trainee not yet certified, they fixed her and her doors were completely shut down, while Capt. Coleman received a promotion that would assure his silence about the cover up of lot's of criminal acts committed by him and others throughout the years as a c/o.
What 'Now Anonymous' has already said against him is nothing compared to what Capt. Coleman could testify to against the deptartment if the dept. would ever decide to take action against him. That the purpose and reason why the rule of disciplinary actions against staff is a matter of Secretary Crosby's discretion.
Another selfserving reason for the dept. to have fired her was because of one family member finding out and getting involved. That is a no, no for FDOC
procedure. It violates [un]ethical codes of silence.
Sgt. Dodd, Sgt. Cunningham, Officer Livingston and O'Brian are all Capt. Coleman's friends and would not only make good witnesses, but rather good defendants in other implemented criminal acts.
Officer O'Brien at one time asking 'Now Anonymous' if she was okay was only a front to find out of any bad intentions and at the same time preparing ground for passing her around in pretense that she would be protected by them which are no better the Capt. Coleman.
My understanding is that Capt. Coleman is now a Colonel at Hardee CI [Hamilton] and he is definitely not a threat to her being that she has relocated and not involved with DOC any longer. These kind of people, like Capt. Coleman, when they are outside their nest they are no threat to no one. She should follow through with her complaint.
If she has relocated south of here, I'm sure we could find some honest friends for her to keep in contact just in case she needs a scarecrow for the big birds. 
You or any of the newspaper reporters can call me any time. Please leave a message if I do not answer. Thank you much and I am ready to do this full throttle...thanks again." Now Anonymous and Moving On
If you want to interview Now Anonymous or offer her legal assistance, you may contact me and I will put her in touch with you.
Kay Lee
2683 Rockcliff Road Southeast
Atlanta Georgia 30316
(404) 212-0690
kaylee1@charter.net