06/16/06 DJJ - Policy and Procedures: This is an open message to Secretary Schembri of the DJJ... In order for you to truly improve your organization...you must get rid of the idea that your job is linked to an image...you must listen to the front line workers...this type of leadership is called Total Quality Leadership (TQL) and is what is needed to turn DJJ around. ~Anonymous
[NOTE from J4K: Message forwarded to Schembri and Caballero.]

[Re: 06/16/06 DJJ - "Policy and Procedures: Deepest sympathy...]

This is an open message to Secretary Schembri of the DJJ: This posting is an accurate description of your leadership style. In order for you to truly improve your organization you need to do something that may be extremely difficult for you. First, you must get rid of the idea that your job is linked to an image that you project and that the secretary position is a largely public relations matter. Next, you must listen to the front line workers; this may be hard for you because you are used to utilizing your chief of staff to handle these tasks. I realize you have come from the New York Department of Corrections but the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice needs to be handled differently than from your other leadership positions held. Your organization is in a deep crisis and only gets worse...take my advice and start using hands on leadership by disregarding what you hear from the superintendents of these facilities...you need to go direct to the front-line staff -- this type of leadership is called Total Quality Leadership (TQL) and is what is needed to turn DJJ around. ~Anonymous

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06/16/06 DJJ - Policy and Procedures: Deepest sympathy to Danny's family. Until our state leaders get the courage to stand up to the lobbyists,political hacks and entrenched bureaucrats that provude cover for a corrupt system,kids held in DJJ facilities will be at risk. DJJ is in need of one honest and competent leader that puts the rehabilitation of troubled kids above personnal ego and a state pay check... ~anonymous

[Re: 06/15/06 Other DJJ facility:...The hardest thing in my life...]

Deepest sympathy to Danny's family. Until our state leaders get the courage to stand up to the lobbyists,political hacks and entrenched bureaucrats that provude cover for a corrupt system,kids held in DJJ facilities will be at risk. DJJ is in need of one honest and competent leader that puts the rehabilitation of troubled kids above personnal ego and a state pay check. While many of the line staff may be poorly trained and unmotivated the major problem is higher up the organizational chain. It seems that at the state-level DJJ displays a lack of integrity,a lack of ability and most of all a lack of concern for the youth and staff assigned to department facilities. Again, the sympathy of all should be with Danny's heartbroken family.  ~anonymous

 

Dear  Mrs. Carol M Miller,

          

           First let me introduce myself. I am Diana Matthews mother of Daniel Jack Matthews killed Pinellas DJJ 5-31-03 . 9 days prior to the death of Omar Pasley June -9-2003. You had writen a good artical , Showing how  youth are punishedf or there misdeeds. While to be a employee of DJJ your past or present misdeeds, Which in some cases are very serious! Go unpunished.Or may not have provented employment in caring for our children. My question is , Since the artical have you done a follow up to see if there has been any real changes? From what I can see there are few to none. 

    Posted on Thu, Dec. 04, 2003
DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE. Hundreds with rap sheets work for agency
About 350 of almost 2,000 of the department's detention workers and supervisors have arrest records, including four superintendents.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER                                         

 

                                                             Thank you for your time. 
                                                            Forever in tears Diana Matthews

 

                                                            PLEASE! Help save the children !

                           To  lern more go to   http://www.freewebs.com/dinmyheart/index.htm

 

 

 

 

The following is the first ,I have seen of someone caring or remembering what happened to my son Daniel. I pray what is said is true.----------

04/17/06 Pinellas JDC: ...I love my job. I love the people I work with. Sure we have our problems from time to time but were a family, the kids actually like us, I think they like coming to JDC sometimes. We listen to them, we pay attention to them, color with them, watch tv, and laugh with them... They're our kids. Our center is really not like the others that we hear about. The kids even say it's one of the cleanest. We really get a bad rep. all the way around...God Bless (Daniel Matthews) he stays in my heart. ~Name Withheld

I just sent a Bulletin to your site. I am a Pinellas DJJ Employee, Have been for several years. I love my job. I love the people I work with. Sure we have our problems from time to time but were a family, the kids actually like us, I think they like coming to JDC sometimes. We listen to them, we pay attention to them, color with them, watch tv, and laugh with them, we don't care what they did to get into detention. They're our kids. Our center is really not like the others that we hear about. The kids even say it's one of the cleanest. We really get a bad rep. all the way around. Sincerely, anonymous please, God Bless (Daniel Matthews) he stays in my heart. ~Name Withheld

HERALD WATCHDOG          

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13138064.htm 

 

Lost lockup tapes called coverup

Questions are being raised as to why surveillance tapes in state juvenile facilities continue to be so unreliable, years after concern was raised about them in several cases involving the deaths of inmates.

By CAROL MARBIN MILLER

cmarbin@herald.com

Omar Paisley, Danny Matthews, Shawn Smith and a now a 16-year-old named Robert.

Three children who are dead; a fourth who was allegedly raped.

All of their deaths or abuse happened in a state juvenile detention center. And in each case, one of the most crucial pieces of evidence was missing: the jail's surveillance tapes.

Tapes would have shown whether Shawn was being observed every five minutes as required, Barreiro said. And Daniel ''Danny'' Matthews was 17 when he died in May 2003 after a fight with another detainee at the the Pinellas County lockup.

Agency officials later acknowledged responsibility for Danny's death as guards had mistakenly opened cell doors for the two youths, knowing they had been spoiling for a fight.

 TO WHOM NOT HIS FAMILY !

 

 

 

10/14/03 Five day suspension is a cover up

I was sickened by the punishment handed down by DJJ Administration for the negligent death of a youth: a five day suspension!

[In contrast,] A supervisor who was on duty and had no direct contact with an escape that happen, was given a reduction in rank and pay, and also suspended for 30 days without pay. The youth who escaped was captured within 4 hours and was unharmed. The reason the escape happened in the first place, was due [to] shortage of staff created by the new administration, who threw out the staff-to-inmate ratio so they could save money. We use to have a ratio 1 of staff per 6-8 youths as a written rule, but it was abolished to save money on overtime and to have fewer staff to pay, well it paid off, but for who? It seems like when it comes to punishing administrations' errors, they look the other way and take care of themselves.

A five day suspension for a youth's death, this is a cover-up that they hope we will ignore and it will go away. Somebody, call the labor board or get some lawyers involved let's try this in a court of law; let the public be heard.

If you saw Sunday's St. Petersburg Times Floridian section, you saw Charles Phillip Cunningham, another one of the administrations victims, it was told he was retiring, the article states he was forced out. ~Anonymous

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10/11/03 "...A 5 day suspension for a youth's life..."

I can't believe the gall of the DJJ administration, a 5 day suspension for a youth's life, for a decision she made that could have been avoidable. Officer Elswick failed the State certification exam 3 times; he never should have been on the floor. He was on the floor because of the shortage of staff she has caused from her firing and running off staff due to her egotistical and dictatorship fantasy world. Officer Hull was fired for not properly supervising Officer Elswick, Officer Elswick never should have been on the floor in the first place. They are looking for scapegoats; it was her fault "period". Other staff receives longer suspensions and firings for attendance issues, and no one died in those cases. This is a big cover-up; if I were Officer Hull and the Matthews family I would sue Asst. Supt. Maureen Honan for her liabilities in this fiasco. DJJ administration didn't announce the suspensions until the day of the forum, so they would look good for the public. DJJ administration is a bunch of heartless "good ole boy" Klan. I know a supervisor who got a longer suspension for an escape at Pinellas JDC, and nobody died, another event caused by the shortage of staff created by Maureen Honan. Please forward this to the State panel, and have them look at the turn over ratio, the escapes, and the death since Maureen Honan started at Pinellas JDC. Pray for us. ~Anonymous

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10/11/03 Honan knew officer failed certification exam 3 times
 

Maureen Honan had direct knowledge that Officer Elswick had failed the State certification exam 3 times and chose to ignore this information and place Elswick on the floor in contact with youths , making her liable for the unfortunate death. If someone failed the school bus driving license exam 3 times, would you let them drive your child's school bus? This lady is a cancer at Pinellas JDC please help get rid of her. The Mathews family should sue her and the Regional directors for wrongful death. ~Anonymous

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10/10/03 Open letter to Rep. Gus Bilirakis

First let me state I am instituting my constitutional right to free speech, First amendment to the bill of rights. I was an employee of DJJ for nine years and four months at PRJDC. I was injured preventing what could have had an outcome as in the death of Daniel Matthews, fortunately it did not as I separated the two youths far before they had a chance to even become verbally combative. The instigator of the incident, Whom which I dealt with reasonable and necessary force in accordance with DJJ policy and procedure was placed in his cell (details forthcoming) after I had to wait for assistance while restraining him in accordance to DJJ policy in the hall of the mod outside of his cell, The end result was that after more than a year after this I was told that because I had reached Maximum Medical Improvement with a Partial permanent disability that I could no longer work for DJJ.

Honorable G. Bilirakis what is your take on this?

I was unable to attend the hearing. ~Walter Grau, Former Senior Juvenile Detention Officer at Pinellas JDC, October 10, 2003

08/08/03 Questions about Daniel's death

Questions:

1. Why was the trainee (Elswick), who open the doors of the youths involved in the fight, allowed to work the floor that night. He had failed the State Officers Certification exam twice. He was uncertified. The facility Trainer, not the FTO, was aware of this, but allowed him to work the floor, leading to the incident. He was soon dismissed after the incident to cover up the facts. All of administration was aware of this, yet he was allowed to continue to work the floor uncertified. Why? Wouldn't that make the facility Trainer liable?

2. What took so long for the initial 911 call to be made?

3. Why didn't more staff respond?

4. Why were all the youth still up past the scheduled bedtime?

5. Why was an Intake staff on the floor, that's not their unit?

6. Why did the paramedics stroll in as if there was no emergency?

7. Why, if it was common knowledge that the 2 youths were having problems for 2 days, wasn't one youth moved to another Mod, hence preventing the fight?

The only reason I can think of why staff Elswick was on the floor was the lack of staff we already have. The high turnover rate and the lack of staff support, the "take everything personal" attitude of management, the "clicks", the "out to get you" attitude of administration, leads to a 60-40 ratio among veterans and rookies, in favor of the rookies. Well, an uncertified rookie made a big mistake, the results are obvious.

When a code blue was called why didn't all staff hear it? Why was the radio signal not heard, why wasn't an "all call" sounded over the PA by master control?

First, the radios were old and out dated. We had been complaining for months — funny thing, we got new ones the following week.

Next, no staff heard an "all call" from master control because another rookie was in that unit that night and didn't know how to respond; this was due to lack of training.

All these blunders are due to the management, not the floor staff. Staff are thrown into forest fires with squirt guns for tools and not even shown how to use the squirt gun. Staff are thrown into positions and units with no knowledge of what to do, but don't make a mistake because it's your ass.

Administration management is well aware of this and chose to ignore staffs complaints, this is vicarious liability. They say s_ _t rolls down hill; well, for once, let's push it up hill. ~Anonymous

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06/26/03 "DJJ...does not care in the least for these kids..."

, I want to personally thank you.  Don’t listen to the critics. Yes these kids did break the law, but abusing them in the system is not the answer. If anything, it will only cause more problems for society in the future.  DJJ, especially here in the Pasco-Pinellas district, does not care in the least for these kids and I’m telling you this with first hand knowledge.  Someday, the system will be forced to change due to the numerous incidents with deaths, etc. but ‘til then all we can due is pray that we don’t see more of the same.Sincerely,  An anonymous senior juvenile detention officer 

A First Warning...

November 9, 2002

A First Warning:
1. The staff at the Pinellas Detention Center is being forced to hold over, work 16 hours without overtime and without proper notice. This leads to burnout, poor moral, decision making, and appropriate attention to special needs youth (suicidal, mental, physical needs)
2. The administration does not seem to care about coverage, leaving many youth and staff vulnerable for a disaster
3. The turn over rate has increased in Cathy, as a juvenile detention officer here in the state of Floridathe last 2 years, with no replacements or help coming at an adequate rate
4. Many labor laws are being broken here, if only someone could alert The Department of Labor for an audit or inquiry here to help prevent a major incident to the detained population
5. This is a first warning for; staffing patterns, youth to staff ratio, staff forced to work hold over hours, turn over ratio, attention to special needs youth (mental, suicidal, physical), adequate staff coverage in all units
6. Contact the teachers, who have a first hand view of the daily procedures of what is happening behind the closed doors. They are not affected by the administration, and can give a better account of how something bad is going to happen. They work in the portable by the break area with the soda machines, go there during lunch 11:30am to 1:00pm, or call them at 538-7115
7. The staff is forced to work overtime, but must flex their time by what the Supervisor tells them, like if you work 16 hours in a row, they might let you leave 2 hours early for 4 days, instead of giving you a whole day off. So if you work 7am to 3pm, you holdover 3pm to 11pm, you must return at 6:30am and maybe leave 2 hours early for 4 days. But most staff holdover twice a week, leading to burnout.
8. Rules are established and then changed to fit the Administration desires, like we have certain hold-over days, but without proper warning, your told, "your holding over", forget the previous rules that were established,
9. In a real job, if you work anything over 8 hours you get time-in-a-half. Why doesn't PJDC staff get that?? Please contact the Federal Dept of Labor, before a youth hangs himself due to staff shortages.
HELP!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

...a blind eye was turned when kids needed help.

Date: 02 Jun 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: Cathy - I am sick about this latest "incident" at JDC.  My heart goes out to both families in this unnecessary tragedy.  Again, a blind eye was turned when kids needed help.  This state only cares about wealthy people and what they can contribute to Bush's campaign so he can continue his onslaught of slash and burn cuts to programs so crucial to families. This state ranks so low in anything having to do with "social need based programs".  Let's not have any programs to help our children.  Let's just throw them behind bars and put them at the whim of  mostly uneducated, untrained, uncaring staff who are on a power trip over our children.

C.R.

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I was sorry to hear...

Date: 02 Jun 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: I was sorry to hear of the tragedy at JDC that resulted in the death of a child.  My prayers have gone out to the children and their families. I was sickened to read the letter from the employee that used the incident to complain about his boss, and being denied breaks. [Read What more proof do you need that the system is failing?]

 

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Please help us!

Date: 02 Jun 2003
Topic: I am frustrated and discouraged
Comments: Please help us! I work in a JDC not too far from Pinellas and this place is totally out of control. We currently have 8 positions available and they won't fill them. We are seriously understaffed and I'm afraid that one of these kids might possibly be killed at the hands of one of their peers and we won't have available man power to stop it. It has now been common practice in my facility to only have one staff assigned to each mod due to flexing staff for no overtime, court runs, or training outside of the facility that could be handled in the building. These people really don't care and this place is a time-bomb! I hate this job for what these people have done but unfortunately I have a spouse and children too support. The people running DJJ in this area have really screwed things up and until Bankhead changes them we might possibly see more incidents like what happened at Pinellas.

Anonymous

"Well it's too late, last night a detainee died..."

Date: 1 June 2003
Subject: Feedback from justice4kids.org
Comments: I am the author of A First Warning, and 2 other letters to you, trying to tell you how difficult it is to do our job, how we needed help before something happens. Well it's too late, last night a detainee died as a result of the new era forced on us. We are handcuffed by the new administration, we have no tools or defense against the environment set up for us by the new regimen and the results are now clear. The saving of money resulted in a human life, is that a fair trade? I can't tell you how desperate we are, and in need of help. The new policies are geared toward a business, like were in this for monetary profit. Well the payoff sucks, a human life, who knows next time it might be a staff. We are defense-less here, the new game sucks. The best way to describe things is: out of control chaos with no direction or consistency. What more proof do you need that the system is failing? We lack staff, we are force to hold over without overtime, we lack leadership, there is favoritism, we can't get time off, we lack vacation time, we are treated like a dictatorship instead of a democracy, there is no direction, we can't call in sick, we are suppose to act like robots without having a life outside of the detention center, we are forced to perform exhausting tasks, we can only have breaks when dictated, the turnover rate is high, the burn out rate is high, the discipline system is unfair, the ratio of veteran staff to rookies is ridiculous, staff are leaving at an alarming rate, some supervisors aren't qualified to be in there job capacity, we aren't given leave time when requested, everything is geared to benefit of the facility and not to the staff and detainees quality of life. All I can say is if we were treated fair, had some veteran staff, had a more fair detainee to staff ratio, more communication, were treated like human  beings with lives, given support, some constancy, able to have leave time, not having to fear all the cameras and video tape, there would be  one more teenager alive today!