Pinellas inmate commits suicide
The man, considered to be suicidal, was checked every 15 minutes - long enough to hang himself.
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published December 28, 2005
LARGO - From the beginning, Juvenal Hernandez Flores appeared to be troubled, telling a police officer that someone was after him.
The nurse who first evaluated him at the Pinellas County Jail believed he was suicidal and ordered that he receive constant supervision.
A doctor's diagnosis, however, changed his status and Flores was put under "close observation," with deputies checking on him every 15 minutes.
That time alone proved to be fatal.
On Saturday, Flores, 28, slipped off his jail-issued pants and tied one leg around a bar and the other around his neck, hanging himself, the Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.
Once he was discovered, Flores was taken to a hospital. He lived several hours but died Christmas Day. The Sheriff's Office released his photograph Tuesday in an effort to locate his family.
As standard procedure, homicide and internal affairs detectives are investigating Flores' journey through the jail system, which began with his arrest Thursday on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a traffic charge.
Little is known about Flores or what might have troubled him.
His last known address is the management office of an apartment complex in Charlotte, N.C., but no one there Tuesday could recall him.
Records show Clearwater police pulled Flores over in 2000 and cited him for three traffic offenses, including driving without a valid license. That warrant prompted Thursday's arrest.
At 5 p.m. that day, Flores flagged down a police cruiser at 1365 Cleveland St. in Clearwater, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said. Flores told Officer Gary Martinez that someone was following him but did not elaborate.
"He seemed to be antagonized," Shelor said of Flores. "There was no credible threat at all."
Martinez was considering whether to hospitalize Flores under the state's Baker Act, which allows people to be committed for up to 72 hours for psychiatric evaluation, when he found Flores' outstanding warrant, Shelor said.
At the jail, Martinez told the people processing Flores that he appeared to be "mentally unstable," Shelor said. His bail was set at $513.
Because Flores also had made suicidal comments, a nurse classified him as a suicide risk. He was put in the medical wing under constant monitoring by a closed-circuit television, said sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen.
The following day, Dr. Richard Miller, a psychiatrist, met with Flores and ruled him suitable to be placed in the general population of the jail, McMullen said. Miller declined to comment Tuesday.
Flores, however, remained in the medical wing in a holding area with several other inmates, pending a medical evaluation, McMullen said. Then at 12:30 a.m. Saturday, Flores began to disturb the other cellmates by scurrying between their beds, he said.
Deputies moved Flores to his own cell - with only his jail uniform and a mattress - and began checking on him every 15 minutes, McMullen said.
At 4:55 a.m., nothing was amiss.
At 5:10 a.m., Deputy Paul Papasergi found him hanging, cut him down and began to resuscitate him, McMullen said.
Paramedics were called and took Flores to Humana Northside Hospital. He died Sunday.
Nationally, suicide is the leading cause of death in jails, experts say.
"As health professionals, we treat suicide as though it's preventable, but we know from experience that people who are committed to doing harm to themselves can succeed," said Edward Harrison, president of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.
Lindsay Hayes, a national expert on preventing jail suicides, said 15-minute checks are standard for inmates not considered to be at high risk.
"The key is to ensure the checks are random," said Hayes, project director for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives.
"But the inmates should also be in a cell which is as suicide resistant as possible," without bars or objects from which to hang a noose.
CAN YOU HELP?Anyone with information about Juvenal Hernandez Flores is asked to contact Detective Ed Judy at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office at (727) 582-6200 or Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-873-TIPS.