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| Four fired at DJJ for ill treatment |
| By Miami Herald |
| Published: 07/19/2004 |
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Anthony Schembri, newly appointed secretary of Florida's beleaguered Department of Juvenile Justice, fired four employees last Thursday, including a 20-year veteran, for physically abusing or neglecting their charges. A fifth was suspended. According to Catherine Arnold, spokesperson for DJJ, the discharged employees are: Floyd Williams, a supervisor at the Broward Regional Detention Center, who failed to notify Poison Control or give medical attention to a detainee who became sick after deliberately taking another juvenile's medication. Williams had been disciplined three times prior to the incident in his 20-year tenure for neglecting to submit paperwork properly. Pedro Salazar, who when faced with a juvenile who expressed a desire to commit suicide, failed to notify his supervisors at Dade Regional Juvenile Center. Salazar also neglected to remove items that the detainee might use to hurt himself. And he left the suicidal teen unsupervised while talking on the phone. The detainee attempted suicide by wrapping a pillowcase around his neck. Upon discovering this, Salazar, employed 3 1/2 years, called authorities and waited for their arrival before entering the juvenile's room to offer assistance. Charles Kendrick, a senior supervisor at Marion Detention Center in Ocala, who struck a detainee twice on the back of the head, then choked the juvenile. Staffers had to pry Kendrick off the teen. He was employed for 3 1/2 years at DJJ. Royce Burgess, a house parent at Dozier School for Boys in Marianna which holds 130 juveniles, used an ''improper head-lock restraint'' on a boy and did not record the incident in a logbook. Burgess, hired a year ago, had previously been disciplined by DJJ for giving unauthorized food to juveniles. Senior supervisor Mary Lou Jaramillo received a 10-day suspension from Fort Lauderdale's Broward Regional Detention Center. A videotape shows Jaramillo, a 16-year employee, pushing a shackled and handcuffed detainee. Jaramillo received a written reprimand in 1994 for negligence. DJJ's leadership has been overhauled in the wake of the death last year of Omar Paisley. The 17-year-old died of a burst appendix that went untreated for three days at the Miami juvenile lockup. |
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