Prison Incidents, 1979-1988

Nearly ten years' worth of records regarding Ted's prison incidents, complaints, and disciplinary reports. The file represents at least one incident for every year he was at the FSP (with the exception of 1981).

On September 14, 1979, a correctional officer saw various magazine pictures pasted on Bundy’s cell walls. The officer ordered Bundy to take them down, since having anything on the cell walls was a violation of policy. He refused, saying: "The pictures are on the wall since I have no T.V.” At the disciplinary hearing, Ted pled ‘not guilty.’ He said that since he didn’t have his television as required by institutional regulations, he felt that the pictures would “brighten up" his cell, but admitted to refusing a direct order.

On October 14, 1980, a CO gathering food trays after lunch found Bundy’s tray had been destroyed, with a hole burned into it. Ted claimed he didn’t burn the tray, though the tray was from his cell, so he clearly had. The disciplinary committee fined him $4 in restitution for the tray.

On October 12, 1982, during a routine search of Ted’s cell, a CO found a metal mirror, a jeweler's type Phillips head screwdriver, and a draftsman's T-square. Bundy said the mirror was issued to him for shaving and the officer neglected to retrieve it. He claimed he was using the 3” screwdriver to repair and “get the roaches out of his radio.” The T-square was received properly through a package permit. He claimed he was unaware that any of these items were contraband. Ted was found guilty of possession of contraband specifically for the screwdriver.

On February 2, 1983, a guard heard the sound of flowing water and found that Bundy had intentionally flooded his cell until it poured out onto the catwalk. Officers confirmed that the pipes to his cell were constantly running. Ted denied causing the flooding, but was found guilty of disorderly conduct.

On July 18, 1984, Bundy was caught in an escape attempt, shortly after his first round of appeals had been denied in the Florida Supreme Court. During a routine search of his cell, a guard noticed that three of the flat pieces of steel that the vertical cell bars ran through looked thicker than the others. When scraped with a nail file, he found gray putty (toothpaste mixed with dirt). When struck with the hammer, the entire vertical bar came loose. All the flat steel had been cut at one vertical bar that would pull out far enough to allow an exit from the cell. News reports also indicate that hacksaw blades were found in Bundy's mattress, although the records don't reflect this. Ted pled 'not guilty,' but refused to answer the question, "Did you saw the bars out?" He was found guilty of attempted escape.

On June 11, 1985, a CO searching Bundy's cell discovered a homemade knife concealed in a cup of pens. The weapon was made out of a white plastic ball point pen with a broken triangular piece of mirror at the end. Ted claimed it was a "spook mirror." He was found guilty of possession of miscellaneous contraband.

On November 4, 1986, two weeks after his third death warrant was signed, guards attempted to escort Bundy to a new Death Watch cell, located thirty feet from the electric chair. He refused to move, saying: "I am not going in cell #1, I want to go in cell #2." When the prison officers insisted, Bundy demanded, "I want to see Superintendent Dugger." When asked why, he replied: "I am tired of y'all fucking with me, I'm not on fucking Phase II [of Death Watch], and I don't need no fucking COI sitting in front of my cell." At his disciplinary hearing, Ted stated he had not used the term "fucking" but admitted he had been upset, and didn't recall whether or not he had used profanity in addressing the officers. He stated that their report was inaccurate, and that he had never been informed of being written up. He was found guilty of disrespectful behavior.

On June 4, 1987, prison mail room workers noticed an especially thick, bulky envelope addressed to John Tanner labeled 'legal mail.' Since it was too bulky to be inspected for contraband from the outside, as required by policy guards opened the envelope in Bundy's presence. Inside, they found a letter Bundy had written to John Hinckley Jr's parents, and another letter Bundy asked Tanner to deliver to Carole Boone on his behalf. Bundy wrote the Hinckleys because their institutionalized son, who had famously attempted to assassinate President Reagan, was denied a holiday visit after the Secret Service learned he'd been writing to Ted (letters are in an earlier post). He asked Tanner to send the letter to Carole for him because "I didn't want to take a chance of alerting the authorities to the possibility of a name change," and the guards opened all correspondence other than legal mail. The package was confiscated, and Bundy received a mail regulation violation for abusing the legal mail policy. At his disciplinary hearing, Ted admitted that he had smuggled out other letters this way in the past, and planned to do so in the future as well. As punishment, the disciplinary team prohibited visits from the Tanners for 30 days.

On December 15, 1987, while a guard was preparing Bundy for transfer to federal court for his competency hearing, a detailed map of north Florida was found glued between the pages of a legal pamphlet. The map showed the area around the FSP, was deemed 'escape paraphernalia,' and came with a loss of privileges for 60 days. Bundy appealed the conviction, stating that his investigator had given him the map.

On July 10, 1988, a guard found that Bundy had been hoarding narcotic medication from 1986 and 1987. The inmate managed to beat this, however, because "the appropriate charge was not used" in the original disciplinary paperwork.

On August 21, 1988, guards confiscated one of Ted's white socks. He complained, "that sock belongs to the only decent pair of socks I have."