GAINESVILLE -- Death Row inmate Frank Valdes was beaten so brutally the day he died that his attackers broke 22 ribs, his jaw, sternum, collarbone, shoulder and three vertebrae, according to documents made public Thursday for the first time in the case that rocked Florida's prison system.

The violence started the day before Valdes died, a prison guard testified, when a corrections officer cuffed the convict's hands behind his back and hit him in the face repeatedly.

The hundreds of pages of pre-trial material paint a grim picture of a badly beaten prisoner, and of correctional officers who remained silent for weeks and were too frightened to tell what they saw.

Two autopsy reports say that on July 17, Valdes was beaten so ferociously on X-Wing at Florida State Prison that all 12 ribs were broken on one side of his body and 10 on the other. North Florida Medical Examiner William Hamilton, who conducted the first autopsy, concluded the 36-year-old inmate from Miami-Dade died of ``multiple blunt trauma injuries.'' In detached medical terminology, Hamilton cataloged dozens of injuries including internal lacerations of the intestines and liver.

BEATEN TO DEATH

``Probable cause of death: Beating,'' Hamilton wrote, a conclusion that clashes with the version offered by guards, who claim Valdes hurled himself face-first onto the concrete floor of his cell.

Dr. Robert Kirschner, a former Cook County, Ill., medical examiner who examined the body for the Valdes family, concluded Valdes ``suffered multiple blunt trauma injuries that are highly characteristic of an assault, and inconsistent with any form of . . . self-inflicted trauma.'' Kirschner noted injuries to the heart and diaphragm and wrote: ``The multiplicity and severity of the injuries indicates that several assailants were involved.''

Four prison guards were indicted by a grand jury Feb. 2 on charges of second-degree murder in connection with Valdes' death. They are Capt. Timothy Thornton, 34, and sergeants Chuck Brown, 26; J.P. Griffis, 26; and Robert Sauls, 37.

Sgt. Montrez Lucas, 30, was charged on Nov. 2 with aggravated battery, battery on an inmate and coercion to influence a report in connection with the hitting incident the day before Valdes died. Lucas is not charged in Valdes' death.

REPORTS DISPUTED

In initial reports filed the day of Valdes' death, some officers wrote that Valdes sustained self-inflicted injuries when he jumped from his bunk, or off steel bars onto the concrete floor of his cell.

Another X-Wing inmate told prosecutors a different story.

``I have lived on the wing for years and you can tell when people get beat up,'' inmate Mark DeFriest told prison inspector Jack Schenck. DeFriest lived on the same small, high-security hall Valdes occupied in a special section for unruly inmates.

DeFriest said he heard Valdes being beaten Friday afternoon and again Saturday morning, the day authorities say the fatal blows were delivered. DeFriest told Schenck that after the Friday confrontation, he asked for Tylenol, then pitched it to Valdes on a makeshift fishing line that inmates sometimes use to send and fetch things.

During the fatal encounter the next day, peeking through a 3/8-inch horizontal slit between the bottom of his cell door and the floor, DeFriest said, ``I saw [Valdes]. He was all. . . his whole face was covered with blood. . . there was blood leaking out of his head.''

GUARD'S DESCRIPTION

Corrections officer Charlie R. Griffis Jr., 32, a three-year worker in the prison system and no relation to the officer charged in Valdes' death, said he was with Lucas when Valdes argued with and threatened to kill Lucas the day before his death.

Griffis told prosecutors that Valdes unleashed a torrent of racial epithets against Lucas on July 16. Lucas ``ordered the inmate to cuff up, which he complied,'' referring to Valdes' submission to being handcuffed with his hands behind his back.

``Valdes told him: `F--- you, man,' and Sergeant Lucas slapped inmate Valdes,'' Griffis told prosecutors. ``Inmate Valdes told Lucas that he was a [racial slur] and if he didn't have these handcuffs on him that he wouldn't slap him around like that,'' Griffis said.

Griffis said every time Valdes called Lucas a name, Lucas would slap him several times with an open hand or with the back of his hand.

``Lucas hit him with a clenched fist to the facial area and then turned to come out of the cell and just before exiting the cell, inmate Valdes was on the bunk and I heard a kind of like a `pop' noise. I turned around and looked and that time I saw Sgt. Lucas strike Valdes to the facial area again with a clenched fist,'' Griffis said in his sworn statement to investigators.

AFRAID TO SPEAK

The autopsy said Valdes suffered a broken jaw.

Because of Valdes' threats, guards returned to his cell the next morning to move him and search the cell for potential weapons. Valdes resisted -- and the fatal confrontation ensued, authorities say.

In one of the documents released Thursday, Kevin Porter, 32, a nine-year guard at the prison, said he knew Valdes had threatened Lucas and added that he opened the door for Lucas and another officer to go into the area where Valdes was being held.

Even testifying about that scared him, Porter told prosecutors.

``Are you concerned that the testimony you've given here today could come back to hurt you?'' Alachua County State Attorney Rod Smith asked.

``Oh, yes I am,'' Porter said.

``Why is that?'' Smith asked.

``Because of all these people that I work with, anything get back and I could get hurt. And that's why I am nervous right now,'' Porter said. ``But I believe in God and I'm telling the truth sitting here right now. And I have to answer to God, and that's who I'm answering to, and whatever happens to me happens.''

Alachua assistant public defender Johnny Kearns, who represents Lucas, said late Thursday that he was not surprised by the autopsy reports or the corrections officers' testimony.

``We are going to be going to trial,'' Kearns said. ``Lucas is not guilty of any of the accusations or any of the charges.''

Gil Schaffnit, one of two lawyers who represents Thornton, declined comment before getting information from the state attorney's office on Thornton's case.

Jim Neels, attorney for Sauls, said, ``It is too early to comment on it. Our experts will be going over all of the information.''