A Florida corrections officer is charged with the beating death of an inmate
Michael Riley Jr. became a Florida Department of Corrections officer in 2019, one month after Christopher Howell became a Corrections inmate at Lake Correctional Institution. Howell was scheduled to do three years, at the most.
Now, Howell is dead from a June 18 beating, and Riley is looking at a prison sentence much longer than three years if he’s convicted of a second-degree murder charge.
Riley’s Monday arrest by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was announced Tuesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Online records say the 27-year-old Riley was released Tuesday after posting $50,000 bond.
The Florida Department of Corrections said Riley, who had been on administrative leave after Howell died June 19, was fired after his arrest.
FDLE investigated Howell’s death at the request of Corrections and found “the victim died as a result of actions taken by Riley in his capacity as a correctional officer.”
A statement from Secretary of Corrections Mark Inch said, “The Florida Department of Corrections has zero tolerance for the malicious application of force. We must work to ensure the safety of both the community and those entrusted to our custody. If an officer acts outside of their authorities and the standards of the department, they will be held accountable.”
The inmate
Christopher Howell was 51, but his arrest affidavit called him “disabled” with a “juvenile disposition.”
He was doing time for ripping off an $8 folding knife from a West Palm Beach Home Depot, then four $15 phone chargers from a nearby Target. When caught, he gave back two of the chargers. When asked for the other two, Howell showed the knife.
That earned Howell a four-year sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon. He went to Lake Correctional Feb. 20, 2019, with a scheduled release date of June 3, 2022. Riley became a corrections officer March 22, 2019.
Witnesses told the Miami Herald that a corrections officer beat a handcuffed Howell in his cell for refusing a command this past June 18. Corrections said Howell died the next day, June 19, but witnesses told the Herald that Howell was dead shortly after the beating.
Previously, at Lake Correctional Institutional
A July 8, 2019, inmate beating by a gang of Lake Correctional staff was caught on video and posted to YouTube. The ensuing investigation resulted in the arrests of Capt. Milton Gass, Officer Hunter Lingo, Officer Joshua Petersilge and Officer Ian Gretka.
Lake County court records say Gass has been in plea negotiation conferences. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of perjury by false declaration and three counts of solicitation to commit perjury in an official proceeding. He hasn’t entered a plea to principal to aggravated battery, great bodily harm and principal to malicious battery.
Lingo and Petersilge also have plea negotiation conferences scheduled after pleading not guilty to principal to malicious battery. Gretka has the same after pleading not guilty to malicious battery and not filing a plea yet to aggravated battery with great bodily harm.
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