Gun Battle Follows Sex Scandal in US Prison.

international | crime and justice | news report Thursday June 22, 2006 13:49 by Rob

Warden and FBI agent die in exchange of gunfire

A prison guard and an FBI agent died Wednesday in a gunfight that began when agents tried to arrest six corrections officers inside a federal prison complex.
The six guards at the Tallahassee Federal Detention Center were facing charges of having sex with female inmates in return for money and banned items.

Ralph Hill, the guard who died in the battle, sparked the shooting when he fired his personal weapon at a prison employee who was helping the agents make the arrest, according to an FBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation. One or more of the agents then pulled weapons and shot Hill.

Also killed in the gunfight was William Sentner, 44, a special agent in the department's Office of Inspector General. It was not known who fired the bullet that killed Sentner, the source said. A prison employee who was not named was wounded, but is expected to fully recover.

"These agents were out just trying to do their job, trying to do an arrest in a very controlled situation, and it just didn't come down exactly as planned," FBI agent Michael Folmar said.

Timothy Jansen, Hill's lawyer, said Hill's behavior was "totally out of character." He said Hill knew he was being investigated.

Hill, 43, had voluntarily supplied a saliva sample after authorities began investigating the sex-for-contraband scandal in November, Jansen said.

A woman who answered the front door at Hill's home declined to comment.

The detention center houses mostly men who are being processed before entering the prison system and is part of the Tallahassee Federal Correctional Institution. A low-security prison for female inmates is next to the detention center. Together the men's and women's units house 1,445 inmates.

Guards are prohibited from bringing weapons into prisons but are not screened the way visitors are, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Carla Wilson said.

They are accused of giving alcohol and other items to female inmates at a neighboring low-security prison for sex. They also are accused of threatening to plant contraband in inmates' belongings or have them transferred to other prisons farther from their families if they talked, the FBI said.

According to the indictment, the guards showed inmates information about themselves and inmates on the prison computer system to prove that their threats were real. It said the guards switched assignments to arrange trysts with inmates.

The five other guards entered not-guilty pleas in federal court and were scheduled for a bail hearing Thursday. They were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, witness tampering, mail fraud and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison.