Staff Writer

Maybe she was thinking of her young son or maybe it was her military training, but Osceola County Corrections Officer Reeshemah Taylor made a split second decision June 22, 2009, that kept her alive.

During an escape attempt, inmate Angel Santiago held a loaded 9 millimeter, semiautomatic handgun to Taylor's head in the medical ward of the Osceola County Jail. She grabbed the gun to point it away from her, kneed Santiago in the groin and got him in a headlock while she called for backup, squelching his escape attempt.

Because of her heroics, Taylor in Tallahassee on Wednesday received the Florida Attorney General's Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award for 2010.

“Our state is lucky to have some of the best law enforcement officers in the nation,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the ceremony honoring the nominees. “Every day these officers and their families sacrifice in order to protect and serve their communities. I am honored to be able to show my appreciation for their incredible contribution to our society.”

Taylor, who lives in Orlando, also received the American Correctional Association's 2011 Medal of Valor on Jan. 31 at the 2011 ACA Winter Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

“If I could clone her, that would be amazing,” Osceola County Jail Chief Sherry Johnson said. “I think it speaks volumes to her fiber.”

Taylor, 38, an eight-year veteran of the jail, said she feels overwhelmed by the attention.

“It's nice to see a corrections officer get recognized and corrections put into a positive light,” she said. “It lets the public know the hard work corrections officers do.”

Taylor originally wanted to be a probation officer or work for the border patrol. After nearly nine years in the U.S. Army and with a degree in criminal justice from Florida Metropolitan University, Taylor applied for the positions she wanted but none were available.

For work, she turned to the Osceola County Jail.

“You can ask everyone what they want to be when they grow up, they aren't going to say corrections,” she said. “It's definitely unique.”

She had been working for just six months in the medical department of the jail when the June 2009 incident with the inmate occurred.

According to Taylor, Santiago had been asking her co-workers what they would do if an inmate held a gun to their head. Taylor said she was never asked.

According to reports, Santiago was already serving three consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole and was being held in the Osceola County Jail pending trial for a violent armed robbery. Santiago acquired a gun from corrections officer Michelle Hung, whom he had befriended. The gun's clip had 15 rounds.

“I figured he was going to kill us; that he was going to shoot his way out,” Taylor said.

It was later discovered Hung was waiting in her car for Santiago to assist him further with his escape.

According to Taylor, her partner Gerson Roche was escorting Santiago back to his cell after a phone call when Santiago pulled a gun on him, forced him into a vacant jail cell and made Roche give him his  corrections officer uniform.

When Taylor found them, Roche was wearing Santiago's jail-issued shorts.

“It was pandemonium,” she said.

She calls the incident a “learning experience” but said she refuses to let it get her down.

“I'm ex-military,” Taylor said. “It can happen to anybody; you never know when it's your day to go.”

Johnson called Taylor's confidence “contagious” and said she has implemented many new safety features, both externally and within her employees, to keep everyone safe.

“Our security measures weren't as good as they are now,” Taylor said. “I feel safer. We have a lot of new things.”

Johnson said she tries to drill a “ready-for-anything” attitude into her employees to keep them calm and level-headed as they interact with the inmates.

“The one thing I try to impress upon the officers is staying mentally prepared,” Johnson said.

Johnson implements drills, such as placing a “bomb” somewhere and seeing how long it takes her employees to find it and recording their reaction; and contests providing scenarios for her officers to work through.

“It's a continuing thing,” she said. “You don't want to make them paranoid. We need to be in tune.”

Taylor was the eighth recipient of the Officer of the Year Award since its introduction by the Attorney General's Office in 2003.