Congresswoman wants election chief removed
By wire services
Published July 18, 2004
JACKSONVILLE - U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has asked that Duval County's ailing election chief be removed from office, saying the office isn't fit to run elections later this year.
Supervisor of Elections John Stafford has not worked since suffering a heart attack in March. There is no timetable for his return.
"There is no leadership there. The supervisor is not there. The education is not there," Brown said Friday during a campaign event for U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, a fellow Democrat running for U.S. Senate.
Brown also recalled reports of trouble voting in past elections and questions over the state's preparedness, and likened Stafford's job performance to that of Broward County's ousted elections supervisor, Democrat Miriam Oliphant.
Riot at girls' prison was preventable, review saysWEST PALM BEACH - A riot at Florida's maximum-security prison for girls earlier this year could have been prevented if workers investigated telltale signs that an incident was looming or alerted supervisors more quickly, according to a state review.
Staffers at the Florida Institute for Girls overheard inmates discussing "a party" and failed to immediately act when three girls who recently returned from a mental-health facility attempted to hang themselves during a game of flag football, officials said Friday.
"According to the witness statement, staff really did not respond at all," said Darryl Olson, a regional director for the state Department of Juvenile Justice.
The May 2 riot involved each of the prison's 48 residents, 11 of whom were injured to the extent that brief hospitalization was required - although none of the injuries were classified as serious.
Officials speculated that the three girls who apparently sparked the riot acted out in order to return to the mental hospital, which some inmates prefer to the prison setting. The report also found that staffers did not check if the returnees from the mental facility were suicide risks.
Many of the staffers involved in the riot have since left the prison, and a new firm has since assumed management of the facility.
The Florida Institute for Girls opened in April 2000 and was praised for its innovative practices But it has been plagued in recent months by reports of inappropriate sexual contact, improper physical restraint and excessive stays in isolation units.