Couey arrives on death row

STARKE -- John Couey arrived on death row Monday afternoon, three days after he received the death penalty for the murder of Jessica Lunsford.

His new home while awaiting execution is the Florida State Prison in Starke, where he joins 36 other death row inmates. The majority — 345 of 381 — are kept at nearby Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.

State prison officials said they are taking no special security precautions, even though legal experts believe the 49-year-old could be in danger because of his notorious crime.

"We don't foresee a threat at this time," said Gretel Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

Death row inmates spend approximately 23 hours of their days alone in a 6-foot-by-9-foot cell, mixing for an hour during recreation three times a week. Plessinger said security on the "yard" during recreation is tight.

Jessica's father, Mark, said Friday he wouldn't mind if Couey died at the hands of another inmate, saying “I would be buying a lot of cigarettes for someone.”

Couey’s neighbors include four fellow convicted murderers:

• James Duckett, a police officer, sentenced in June 1988 for raping and murdering a 11-year-old girl while on duty in Lake County;
• Steven Hayward, sentenced in June 2007 for fatally shooting a newspaper carrier in St. Lucie County;
• Jesse Guardado, sentenced in October 2005 for killing a 75-year-old community activist in Walton County for drug money;
• William Davis, sentenced in August 2006 for fatally stabbing a mother and her 16-year-old daughter in their Duval County home using three kitchen knifes.

--John Frank, Times staff writer