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Report: Jail staffer ignored inmate pleas

A former social worker did nothing to help with prisoners' dire problems, say records.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published December 20, 2005

The request, written by an inmate at the Pinellas County Jail in June, detailed his desperation.

"The voices in my head are getting louder and meaner," the inmate wrote. "Please help me."

Another wrote, "Please I'm hurting inside. . . . I'm so sad and depressed."

A third inmate wrote, "I have been feeling angry and unable to handle my anger properly - could you help me?"

Social worker Penny Howland should have helped but didn't, according to Sheriff's Office records made public Tuesday.

Howland, 58, resigned earlier this month after an internal inquiry found she ignored more than 100 requests from inmates seeking psychological and medical help, the records said.

An investigation began in August when a nurse discovered a cache of unanswered inmate requests in a desk Howland used. That month, an inmate had also filed a complaint that no one had acknowledged his numerous pleas.

Howland should have responded to the inmates, assessed their health needs and formulated treatment plans, the Sheriff's Office said. Instead, the appeals for help went into a desk drawer and left unanswered, investigators found.

The discarded documents carried various messages from inmates, including demands for different medication and complaints about living conditions. Many notes ended with urgent calls for assistance.

Howland, who had worked for the Sheriff's Office for six years, resigned earlier this month, making $54,787 a year. Sheriff Jim Coats would have fired her otherwise.

In a memo dated Sept. 8, 2005, Howland denied many of the charges, writing, "I never refused to see a (patient), never did NOT answer my radio, in fact, just the opposite has been said about me."

Howland could not be reached on Tuesday. Debra J. Gell, an attorney who represented Howland, declined to comment on the case.

Another social worker at the jail, Sylvia Watkins, said ignoring an inmate's request for help was a serious violation and dangerous.

"On a scale of zero to 10, 10 being the strongest, honestly it's about an 11," Watkins told sheriff's investigators. "Any one of those patients potentially could have killed themselves."

The 3-inch-thick internal affairs file does not indicate what, if anything, happened to the inmates who had appealed to Howland for help.

[Last modified December 20, 2005, 19:50:14]