Missing
Tapes
Hinder
Juvenile
Center
Probe
The
lost
surveillance
camera
footage
could
have
shown
whether
a
male
inmate
was
raped.
By
Associated Press
Published
November 12, 2005
TALLAHASSEE
- An
investigation
into
missing
surveillance
tapes at
a
Department
of
Juvenile
Justice
detention
center
has some
critics
suggesting
there is
a
pattern
of
coverups.
The
tapes
were
discovered
missing
as
police
began
investigating
the
alleged
rape of
a
severely
retarded
15-year-old
male.
It's
not the
first
time
critical
evidence
was
unavailable
during
similar
investigations.
Surveillance
tapes
also
were
missing,
nonexistent
or of
such
poor
quality
as to be
useless
after
the
deaths
of three
youths
in
custody:
Omar
Paisley,
Daniel
Matthews
and
Shawn
Smith.
Cathy
Corry, a
Clearwater
juvenile
justice
watchdog,
said she
has
received
dozens
of
complaints
from
parents
that
officials
could
not
confirm
abuse
allegations
against
their
children
because
surveillance
equipment
didn't
work.
"I
got
pretty
sick of
hearing
that the
videotape
was
lost, or
the
videotape
didn't
exist,
or (the)
area in
question
wasn't
covered
by the
videotape,"
Corry
told the
Miami
Herald.
In
the
latest
case,
the
department's
inspector
general
is
investigating
a
break-in
into the
cabinet
where
tapes
are
stored.
Detention
center
superintendent
Linda
Edwards-Ellis
was
aware of
the
break-in,
but
didn't
report
it or
start an
investigation,
according
to the
report.
She was
fired
this
week.
Tom
Denham,
a
department
spokesman,
said the
agency
is
"attempting
to move
to more
modern
video
systems
that
don't
require
tapes.
We can
only do
that as
funding
permits."
Denham
said
tapes
have
helped
prosecutors
in other
cases.
"It's
not like
every
time we
have an
incident
the
tapes go
missing."
Paisley,
17, died
of a
ruptured
appendix
in June
2003 at
the
Miami-Dade
Juvenile
Detention
Center.
He had
pleaded
for
medical
attention
for
three
days.
The
grand
jury
investigating
the
death
said it
"longed
for" a
recording
of the
days
leading
to the
death,
but most
of the
10-year-old
video
cameras
in the
facility
didn't
work.
There
were no
tapes
available
after
Smith,
13,
hanged
himself
in a
Volusia
County
center
in 2001.
Guards
were
supposed
to be
closely
watching
the
youth.
Matthews,
17, died
in May
2003 in
a fight
with
another
detainee
in
Pinellas
County.
Although
a video
camera
was
running
at the
time, it
did not
provide
a clear
image of
what
happened,
the
Pinellas-Pasco
State
Attorney's
Office
said |
