James V. Crosby

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James V. Crosby

James V. Crosby, Jr. (b. 1952) is the former Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections. He took over from Michael W. Moore. He was appointed by Florida governor Jeb Bush in 2003.

Crosby earned his bachelor's and is a certified public manager. Crosby joined the Florida Department of Corrections in 1975 and served as the warden at five major institutions, including Florida State Prison. He also served as regional director of Security and Institutional Management, Region II. He replaced George Denman as Region II director in 2001.

On February 10, 2006 Secretary Crosby was forced to resign as Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections. Several investigations by state and federal law enforcement agencies brought a great deal of negative publicity to the agency. Governor Jeb Bush published a brief statement, noting that in time, it would be evident why Secretary Crosby was forced to resign.

On July 5, 2006, CNN reported that Crosby would plead guilty to accepting kickbacks. Two law enforcement officials close to the case also said that new charges were expected against almost a dozen current and former prison employees. [1]

Governor Jeb Bush named James McDonough, Col. (ret) as interim secretary and McDonough was later given the job on a permanent basis. McDonough is a former Army colonel who commanded troops in Vietnam and Africa. He served as Florida's drug czar before taking on the job as the head of Florida's prison system, which oversees 90,000 inmates. On February 7, 2008, he left his post as secretary of Florida's Department of Corrections because, saying that he felt he had cleaned up the corruption left behind by Crosby.

James Crosby is now serving an eight-year prison sentence in FCI Morgantown, a Federal Prison in West Virginia. His projected release date is May 11, 2014.