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| Jail attack prompts suit against sheriff's office |
| By News Chief |
| Published: 04/26/2004 |
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A Frostproof, Fla., man, who was slashed when a Polk County detention deputy placed him in a holding cell with a suspected multiple murderer, is suing the sheriff's department for damages. Jose Carranza, then 41, was being held for a traffic offense on March 12, 2000, when he was placed in a holding cell with Francisco Gonzalez of Wahneta. Earlier, deputies gave Gonzalez a razorblade as part of the standard jail hygiene kit that also includes toothpaste, a comb, a toothbrush and soap. Gonzalez, then 30, last year pleaded guilty to gunning down three men at a birthday party for his 8-year-old niece. A fourth body was found afterward. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole under the plea bargain. Prosecutors would have otherwise sought the death penalty. Court-appointed psychologists diagnosed Gonzalez as a schizophrenic who suffered from drug-induced delusions. He was deemed fit for trial. Carranza and his wife, Maria Reyes Carranza, accuse the sheriff's office of negligence and violating Carranza's constitutional right to a safe environment. The pair are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages. The statutory maximum award is $100,000. According to court papers filed last month, the PCSO breached its own policy when it knowingly housed a minimum-security prisoner with a maximum-security prisoner. As an accused murderer, Gonzalez was a high-risk inmate who should have been segregated from other prisoners during his initial classification, according to the PCSO's own detention directives. Carranza was injured and suffered loss of earnings and aggravation of a previously existing condition, according to the civil complaint filed March 10 in state circuit court. Carranza's lawyer, N. Brook Nutter, of Ferlita, Nutter & Rosello, PA in Tampa, said the sheriff's office recently filed court papers denying the accusations. |
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