Donna Fitzgerald killed on duty at prison, but not on Florida's time?

Florida needs make this right. She was working at the jail with the inmates and was killed there. They need to do the right thing. Other guards work for Pride as well.

October 02, 2008

Guard killed on duty not on state time, officials say

By LYDA LONGA and JIM SAUNDERS
Staff Writers

A corrections officer stabbed to death at Tomoka Correctional Institution was not working for the state the night she died, but rather for the corporation that employed some of the inmates, state officials said this week.

Because of that, the state is not certain whether officer Donna Fitzgerald's family will receive an additional financial benefit that is usually paid to the relatives of officers who die in the line of duty on the state's clock, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger.

The night Fitzgerald was murdered -- June 25 -- she was working part-time for PRIDE Enterprises, the entity that provides jobs to inmates inside prisons across Florida. The corporation employs and pays inmates and provides them with skills they can use once they're released.

Several corrections officers who work in prisons that have a PRIDE facility work part time for the corporation in order to make extra money, Plessinger said. Foster Harbin, a PRIDE vice president, said the corporation employs five staff members from Tomoka prison, which is just outside Daytona Beach.

The day Fitzgerald was murdered, she had already worked a full shift at Tomoka, then started work as a PRIDE supervisor. She was on PRIDE's clock, and being paid by PRIDE, Plessinger said.

"She will get her state benefits, but we still don't know whether she will get the benefits that are paid to an officer who dies in the line of duty," Plessinger said. "We won't know that until after the investigation is done."
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