Ex-Fla. Corrections Officer Found Guilty in Inmate Assault

Former Florida State Corrections Officer Paul Tillis was found guilty after a federal jury in Jacksonville convicted him of a felony civil rights crime. The offense? An August 2005 assault on an inmate with boiling water inside Florida State Prison.

Tillis, then a supervisory corrections officer, is accused of dousing the victim’s chest with scalding water after the inmate feigned injury. He neglected to provide medical attention, resulting in second-degree burns.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King emphasized that corrections officers cannot use their authority to harm inmates. Tillis faces a decade behind bars and a quarter-million-dollar fine.

The case marks the Civil Rights Division’s commitment to enforcing federal laws against excessive force and misconduct among law enforcement officials, with this being one of the largest federal civil rights cases in recent years.