MILTON, Fla. (AP) - The state's Department of Juvenile Justice is sending staff to monitor employees at a Florida Panhandle facility where surveillance video showed a guard battering a teenage inmate.
The guard has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge but continues to work at the privately managed Milton Girls Juvenile Residential Facility. Juvenile justice officials say the 15-year-old girl seen in the video recorded Aug. 9 was moved Friday to another facility.
State officials say that case and a Nov. 2 complaint made by another inmate against the facility's director "reveal a pattern of improper conduct leading to safety and security issues at Milton."
Juvenile justice department staff will act as ombudsmen at the facility until further notice. The department also has frozen admissions to the facility.
