James Crosby at a glance

The Associated Press

NAME: James Vernon Crosby Jr.

BORN: Aug. 15, 1952.

EDUCATION: Bachelor's Degree, journalism, University of Florida, 1973.

CAREER: Crosby joined the Department of Corrections at North Florida Reception Center in Lake Butler as an inmate classification specialist.

In January 1990, Crosby was named superintendent at Cross City Correctional Institution, and later served as superintendent at New River Correctional Institution and Tomoka Correctional Institution.

In 1996, he was promoted to a job as director of security and institutional management for several prisons in the system and then later that year named warden at Florida State Prison.

He was then promoted to regional director for several prisons, and in January 2003, Gov. Jeb Bush named him corrections secretary.

Crosby has also been active politically. In 1980, he was elected as a city commissioner in Starke, and later served as mayor from 1983-1984. In 2000, he attended the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Crosby was asked to resign in February 2006 by Bush.

In July 2006, Crosby and his former friend and protege, Allen Cark, pleaded guilty to accepting $130,000 in kickbacks from a prison canteen contractor.

On April 24, 2007, Crosby was sentenced to eight years in federal prison.