#Florida inmate allegedly beaten to death by corrections officer

A Florida inmate serving time for robbery died Friday after a corrections officer beat him while he was in handcuffs, according to media reports.

Christopher Howell, 51, was in his cell and cuffed on Thursday when he allegedly refused a command at the Lake Correctional Institution in Orlando, according to the Miami Herald.

The officer allegedly repeatedly struck him as two other officers looked on but did not intervene, the report said.

Multiple sources told the paper that Howell suffered a broken neck and died shortly after the assault.

Howell was locked up for stealing  four phone chargers from a West Palm Beach Target then threatening a clerk who confronted him with a knife in September 2018, according to the report. In court papers, Howell was labeled “disabled” with a “juvenile disposition.”

Less than a year ago, video footage of another beating at the men’s prison went viral on YouTube and appeared to show several officers take turns punching an inmate who was on the ground, according to the paper.

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Correction issued a statement Friday. “Any employee found to have acted inappropriately or illegally faces disciplinary action up to and including dismissal and arrest,” the statement read, according to the Miami Herald. “FDC has zero-tolerance for staff who act inappropriately and contrary to our core values: respect, integrity, courage, selfless service and compassion.”

The department spokesman told the paper it would not release the name of the officer, but that all the guards involved in the incident were put on administrative leave.

The department’s Office of the Inspector General and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are probing Howell’s death, according to the Miami Herald.