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.

November 11, 2005

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.

Lawmakers, child advocates, parents and agency critics are demanding to know why critical investigations at state juvenile detention centers have been hampered by either faulty videotape equipment or theft.

The latest case involves a 16-year-old severely mentally retarded boy, who allegedly was raped twice last summer by another inmate. That inmate, a 17-year-old accused sex offender, had been ordered by guards to change the younger boy's diapers.

An internal probe is underway by the state Department of Juvenile Justice into the disappearance of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the boy. They were reported missing from a cabinet where they were stored at the Tallahassee juvenile detention center. The facility's superintendent, who has since been fired, told authorities the cabinet had been broken into twice.

An inspector general report, released Wednesday, also said the lockup's superintendent, Linda Edwards-Ellis ''did not report the alleged break-in, initiate an investigation, or request an inventory'' to determine which tapes were missing.

`MAJOR COVERUP'

Cathy Corry, a Clearwater-based juvenile-justice watchdog who maintains a website, Justice4Kids, said she has received dozens of calls or posts from parents complaining that officials could not confirm abuse allegations against their children because surveillance equipment didn't work.

''Talk about a major coverup,'' said state Rep. Gustavo ''Gus'' Barreiro, a Miami Republican and the agency's most persistent critic. ``These people should play the lottery.''

Tom Denham, DJJ's spokesman in Tallahassee, said the agency has made significant strides in improving its surveillance equipment in recent years.

''We are attempting to move to more modern video systems that don't require tapes,'' Denham said. ``We can only do that as funding permits.''

Denham pointed out that in Miami, for example, DJJ has installed a new $400,000 digital surveillance system that does not rely on tapes.

SYSTEM HAS WORKED

Besides, he said, police and prosecutors have successfully prosecuted youths for violent acts in detention centers using video equipment that did work properly.

``It's not like every time we have an incident the tapes go missing.''

But critics still question why the tapes and the equipment continue to be so unreliable, years after concerns were raised about them in several high-profile cases involving the deaths of young inmates.

Omar Paisley, a 17-year-old Opa-locka youth, died in June 2003 at the Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center after pleading with nurses and detention officers for three days for medical attention. He succumbed to a ruptured appendix, a condition that seldom results in death unless left untreated.

''During our investigation, we longed for a dispassionate, objective recording of the days preceding Omar Paisley's death,'' the grand jury wrote in the Omar case.

``However, we learned in the course of our investigation that although cameras were installed in the (lockup) nearly ten years ago, most were not working at the time of Omar's death.''

Advocates say they continue to hear that tapes aren't available.

''I got pretty sick of hearing that the videotape was lost, or the videotape didn't exist, or area in question wasn't covered by the videotape,'' said Corry.

``If I ever did hear there was a videotape, the parent wasn't allowed to see it. They were always told there would be other juveniles on the tape, as if the parent didn't see other juveniles when they went to see their child at the facility.''

SUICIDE CASE

Surveillance tapes would have also helped the investigation into the death of Shawn Smith, 13, who hanged himself at the Volusia County juvenile detention center, in October 2001. Classified as a high-risk for suicide because he was being bullied by another inmate, the youth was supposed to be under close watch by officers.

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.

RECENT CASE

In the latest case, Robert, who just turned 16, was ordered detained at the Tallahassee lockup in May after a juvenile judge grew tired of releasing him back to two elderly relatives, a grandmother and great-aunt, whom he had been accused of mistreating on four occasions.

At the heart of the DJJ internal investigation into Robert's alleged rape was a conflict between the testimony of youths detained at the center -- 10 of whom were interviewed -- and DJJ officers. The Inspector General report concluded the inmates' testimony was more credible than that of the guards.

Four detained youths told investigators they saw the inmate, Lee Donton, enter Robert's room, and saw a guard ''confiscate'' Donton's boxer shorts following an incident investigators believe occurred on June 8.

''It seems coincidental the missing videotapes for this [living area] are dated June 8, 2005,'' the report states. 'The missing videotapes cast doubt on staffs' stories.''

Seven employees, including Edwards-Ellis, have been fired as a result of the case, and five other employees were either demoted or disciplined.