MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A prison guard has been extradited to Miami from Los Angeles to face charges in connection with the beating death of an inmate in February.
Jeremy Lee Godbolt was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday and is being held without bond.
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He is charged with second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated abuse of an elderly or disabled person and battery/cruel treatment of a detainee.
Ronald Connor, Christopher Rolon, and Kirk Walton have also been charged in the death of 60-year-old Ronald Gene Ingram while Ingram was an inmate at the Dade Correctional Institution in Homestead.
According to an arrest warrant, the medical examiner determined that blunt-force trauma to Ingram’s upper body during an assault resulted in broken ribs, a punctured right lung, and the internal bleeding that eventually killed him.
Ingram was serving a life sentence for murder when he was killed on Valentine’s Day.
According to the FDLE, Ingram was supposed to be transferred to Lake CI upstate, but prior to being removed from his cell in the mental health unit, an incident occurred in which he threw urine on one officer.
Authorities said correctional officers handcuffed the inmate, removed him from his cell, and began to beat him.
Ingram was beaten so badly, he had to be carried into the transport van, authorities said.
The FDLE said he was placed inside a secure compartment by himself in the van.
“On the way to Lake CI, the van made a stop in Ocala where the inmate was found deceased, laying on a bench inside the van,” a news release from the FDLE stated. “The Medical Examiner determined the death was caused by a punctured lung leading to internal bleeding. In addition, the inmate had injuries to his face and torso consistent with a beating.”
Ten officers from the Florida Department of Corrections were initially placed on administrative leave following the inmate’s death.