Justice Officials Admit Errors Led to Fatal Fight

CURTIS KRUEGER. St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Oct 9, 2003. pg. 1.B
 [SOUTH PINELLAS Edition]

Abstract

A trainee detention worker's decision to open two cell doors by using electronic controls. This allowed the two youths, Matthews and Louis Lauro, to confront each other and fight. The trainee, David Elswick, told investigators he thought he was opening doors for a group of inmates who were returning to their cells, not trying to get out.

Senior detention officer James Hull stayed behind in a JDC classroom putting away board games while a group of youths left and walked down a hallway to their cells. Under department procedures, he should have followed the youths. "This contributed to Elswick's confusion" when he opened the cell doors, the report says.

At the legislative hearing in Clearwater, lawmakers heard from parents and advocates who said inmates sometimes don't receive proper medical care, and sometimes face violence from fellow inmates or overzealous guards. Two former employees said youths sometimes have been placed in confinement naked, a procedure designed for suicidal youths. But one said the practice was occasionally used as discipline.

Full Text

Copyright Times Publishing Co. Oct 9, 2003

For the first time, the Department of Juvenile Justice has admitted it made mistakes that led to a fatal fight between two inmates at the Pinellas Juvenile Detention Center.

The department this week began proceedings to fire one senior detention officer and suspend an assistant superintendent for five days in connection with the fight that killed Daniel "Danny" Matthews, 17.

The agency's staff violated three procedures at the time of the fight, by failing to adequately supervise youths, failing to properly monitor one of the department's own employees and opening cell doors incorrectly, according to a new report prepared by the department's inspector general.

The report was another blow to the state-run agency that operates detention centers, which are essentially jails for juveniles, and residential rehabilitation centers for youths who have broken the law.

A criminal investigation in Miami is looking into the case of a 17-year-old detention inmate who died of a burst appendix even though he had reportedly complained of stomach pain. Staff members did not call 911 in that case.

Juvenile Justice Secretary Bill Bankhead said Wednesday it was clear the staff had erred in the Pinellas case, but he said his agency had made great strides overall in increasing the professionalism of its staff.

"It's a little (disappointing) to us that these situations would happen after we have worked so hard to improve the training of the department," he said.

Bankhead was in Clearwater attending a legislative committee hearing looking into safety at Florida's juvenile detention centers.

Some lawmakers expressed frustration at the state's handling of the Pinellas and Miami cases, and in the department's explanations.

"It just seems like they neglected to do things that are very important to secure the safety of our children," said state Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor.

"The department has this philosophy of just circling wagons and of trying to minimize the damage instead of just confronting the situation and dealing with it," said Rep. Gustavo "Gus" Barreiro, chairman of the Select Committee on Juvenile Detention Facilities.

The new report on Matthews' death in May pointed to three violations of procedures, one of which had been previously disclosed in a sheriff's report:

A trainee detention worker's decision to open two cell doors by using electronic controls. This allowed the two youths, Matthews and Louis Lauro, to confront each other and fight. The trainee, David Elswick, told investigators he thought he was opening doors for a group of inmates who were returning to their cells, not trying to get out.

Department policy says two detention workers should be present when an occupied cell is opened.

"It should not have happened," Assistant Juvenile Justice Secretary Larry Lumpee said.

Elswick, the trainee, should not have been working at the JDC. He had failed to pass his certification test, missing a passing score by one point. New workers have up to 180 days to pass the test, but Elswick had worked 241 days without passing it.

This oversight led to the five-day suspension of Assistant Superintendent Maureen Honan, who oversees training, and who has an otherwise spotless record, juvenile justice officials said.

Senior detention officer James Hull stayed behind in a JDC classroom putting away board games while a group of youths left and walked down a hallway to their cells. Under department procedures, he should have followed the youths. "This contributed to Elswick's confusion" when he opened the cell doors, the report says.

Matthews' mother, Diana, appeared at Wednesday's hearing and said afterwards she wasn't satisfied with the department's actions.

"Five-day suspension for my son's life?" she said.

"I would like to see some guards being punished a lot more than what they were," said Gerald Spence-Matthews, Daniel Matthews' brother. "If people were trained the right way, then my brother wouldn't be passed away right now."

At the legislative hearing in Clearwater, lawmakers heard from parents and advocates who said inmates sometimes don't receive proper medical care, and sometimes face violence from fellow inmates or overzealous guards. Two former employees said youths sometimes have been placed in confinement naked, a procedure designed for suicidal youths. But one said the practice was occasionally used as discipline.

Other speakers urged the department to provide more mental health services for youths in detention.