Correctional officer fired after zapping children

CARRABELLE - A corrections officer at Franklin Correctional Institution in Carrabelle has been fired after zapping children with 50,000 volts of electricity during a "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day " tour last month.

Department of Corrections Secretary Walt McNeil has ordered the department's Office of Inspector General to investigate the April 24 incident. DOC spokeswoman            Gretl Plessinger said word reached McNeil sometime  after the incident, part of a tour which is typically for schoolchildren between ages 8 and 14.

           "I believe there was a complaint," she said.

           Sgt. Walter Schmidt Jr., a Perry resident employed with DOC since 1995, could not be reached for comment Monday. He told the St. Petersburg Times last week that parents had given him permission to shock the children with an electrical immobilization device (EID), which requires direct contact with the person to deliver the shock.

"It wasn't intended to be malicious, but educational," Schmidt told the St. Petersburg Times. "The big shock came when I got fired."

An EID is different than a Taser, the stun gun used by many law enforcement agencies, in that it can be used on subjects from a distance.

           "It (EID) shocks and (the person) is frozen for a minute, temporarily," Plessinger said Monday. "It's not a standard-issue piece of equipment. Our officers carry them and utilize them during transports."

In Schmidt's April 27 letter of dismissal,   Warden Duffie Harrison wrote Schmidt "engaged in inappropriate conduct while demonstrating the weapons, contraband and security arsenal to several kids during a special event at the institution. On April 24, 2009, you tased at least two kids to demonstrate the EID, which is in direct violation of procedure and placed the Department at risk of litigation."

The children's names and ages were not released. An incident report attached to the letter of dismissal was not made available for release Monday.

           As a Career Service employee with permanent status and a member of the Security Services Collective Bargaining Unit, Schmidt has the right to either appeal this disciplinary action within three weeks of the receipt of Harrison's letter, or file a Collective Bargaining grievance, within 14 days from receiving the letter.

Florida Freedom Newspapers' David Adlerstein contributed to this story.