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Juvenile detention official called lax

The superintendent ignored guards' concerns about a retarded boy's care, a report says.

TALLAHASSEE - A juvenile detention center superintendent failed to tell guards how they should take care of a mentally retarded boy who police say was raped by a sex offender assigned to bathe and change him, says a report released Wednesday.

And while guards at the Leon County facility denied they told youths to care for the boy, who was 15 at the time, 13 youths stated that the convicted sex offender bathed the disabled boy. Another seven said other detainees were also told to care for him. The report by the Juvenile Justice Department's inspector general's office was released the day after Juvenile Justice Secretary Anthony Schembri announced six people were fired and five others punished over the case. Among the fired was superintendent Linda Edwards-Ellis.

Edwards-Ellis should have developed a plan to make sure the boy was properly cared for, the report said, but "Edwards-Ellis did not take any action to try to get assistance for (the boy) for at least three weeks," despite two guards' telling her about the problems.

She merely out an e-mail saying, "Youth are not allowed to do or help other youth with their physical hygiene even with staff assistance," the report said.

Shift commander Donald Williams, also fired, failed to tell managers about problems guards reported. One guard said Williams said, "We have bigger things to worry about right now." The investigation also found that a guard heard a youth say the boy was sexually assaulted, but never reported it because he didn't think it was true.

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:20:16]