New Warden Overseeing Fla. Prison Changes

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By Charlotte Sun-Herald

Published: 07/28/2003

The first priority of Charlotte Correctional Institution's new warden is 'to protect the public and make sure that the inmates are incarcerated. After that, to maintain order and control, and to run an excellent facility.'
After three weeks on the job, Warden Chester Lambdin introduced himself and his new staff at a Department of Corrections press conference, held Wednesday on prison grounds in southern Charlotte County. With him were Glenn Young, assistant warden for programs; Tim Cannon, assistant warden for operations; and Col. Jack Howdeshell, chief of security.
A career Department of Corrections employee, Lambdin, 54, was serving as warden at Okeechobee Correctional Institution until DOC Secretary James Crosby appointed him to CCI last month. He inherits a troubled prison with more than 500 inmates.
Lambdin is the third warden to supervise CCI since corrections officer Darla Lathrem and inmate Charles Fuston were murdered in a failed escape attempt on June 11. Three former inmates are being held at Florida State Prison in connection with the crime, but they have not been charged.
Lambdin takes over for Don Gladish, who resigned for personal reasons just days after his appointment. Gladish replaced Warden Warren Cornell, who resigned a week after the escape attempt.
No one has been reprimanded, and the incident is still under investigation. Four employees have since left, citing the incident as the reason.
'They were new officers, and they found the shock pretty difficult,' Lambdin said.
Asked about staff morale, Lambdin acknowledged that the 'tragedy' had hurt it, but he described it as 'good and getting better.'
'My door will always be open' to employees, Lambdin said. He declined to answer any questions about the attempted escape, citing the ongoing investigation.
Lambdin, who started as a officer with DOC in 1965, has been tasked with expanding CCI's population and moving it from an 'open population' institution to 'close management.' The prison is one of 30 in the state housing close-management inmates.
Lambdin defined close management as 'confinement apart from the general prison population for reasons of security. These inmates have demonstrated that, for whatever reason, they can't live in the general population.'
That has less to do with the nature of their crimes than their attitude and behavior: management problems, behavioral problems, difficulties following rules and regulations.
'They are very dangerous,' Lambdin said. 'They wouldn't be in here if they weren't. The officers that work in those units deserve everything they get.'
Young described close management prisoners as 'one step below those on Death Row.'
CCI currently harbors 255 close-management inmates, 178 open-population inmates and 92 medical inmates, Howdeshell said. It's also short-staffed, with 58 positions unfilled.
'We're steadily hiring corrections officers,' Lambdin said.
When new dormitories now under construction are completed, CCI's population will swell to 1,050 inmates, 780 of them in close management.
Some 200 low-risk prisoners will help run the institution, performing routine tasks like cooking and grounds maintenance.
It's part of a plan to reduce the state's close-management prisons from 16 currently to just three, Lambdin said: one in the Panhandle, one in Central Florida and CCI.
The prison won't be just for punishment. Young said an 11-person education staff will help inmates get their GEDs and offer courses in wellness.
'We'll focus on stuff they can do inside their cell,' he said.
Lambdin said he is satisfied with the prison's operation and has made only 'incremental changes' so far.
'We operate at a very strict manner, as we will in the future, to make sure the inmates are secure all the time,' Lambdin said.

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