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Relatives of inmate press for suicide inquiry

Under close observation, the man is said to have been deprived of h is medication while in jail.

By SHEELA RAMAN
Published November 18, 2006

The family of the Pinellas County Jail inmate who committed suicide last Thursday has some serious questions for jail officials, and they've hired an attorney to help them get answers.

They want to know how Richard John Troyanos, 44, managed to hang himself even though he had been placed under close observation. And they want to know whether the medical staff at the jail prescribed for him any of the numerous psychiatric medications he had been taking at the time of his arrest.

Sheriff's officials are still investigating the suicide, which occurred Nov. 9, two days after Troyanos was arrested on a felony domestic battery charge.

Troyanos hanged himself using a chair and the elastic cord from the pants of his prison garb. At the time of the suicide, he had been under close observation status at the jail - which means a deputy was supposed to check on him every 15 minutes.

Troyanos' relatives have hired John Trevena, a Largo attorney who has represented prison inmates in the past. No legal action is planned until the Sheriff's Office releases more facts about the suicide, Trevena said.

"But I'm confident we will have a strong case on our hands," he said.

Troyanos was made unstable because he was deprived of his numerous mental health medications when he was placed in jail, said Roberta Troyanos, 43, who flew to Florida from Staten Island, N.Y., after learning of her ex-husband's death.

"I called the jail the day after he got arrested to tell them he needed his meds, and they told me, 'It's not our problem. We don't care,' " Roberta Troyanos said.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said she could not comment on the specifics of the investigation until it is completed, probably in two weeks' time.

Roberta Troyanos said her ex-husband had a long history of schizophrenia, depression and suicide attempts, and stayed in the psychiatric ward of King's County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 1991 to 1994.

He was arrested last week at his residence at the Boley Center for Behavioral Healthcare in Pinellas Park, an outpatient mental health facility.

Medicare statements show Troyanos was taking at least 11 psychiatric medications at the time he was arrested.

A nurse evaluates every inmate upon booking and decides whether to issue any prescriptions.

Troyanos was placed under close observation for uncooperative behavior, not for suicide watch, Pasha said.

"It seems like (jail officials) were not convinced that he was a risk to himself," said Pasha.

That is why Troyanos was issued a standard jail uniform with an elastic waistband, instead of the tissue garb issued to inmates on suicide watch, she said. Troyanos was found sitting in his chair, with the cord tied around his neck attached to one of the bars on his cell door.

The Sheriff's Office is still awaiting the results from Troyanos' autopsy.

His cell was not video-monitored, Pasha said, but Troyanos was checked once at 5 p.m. on the day of his suicide, and again at 5:14 p.m., when he was found unconscious.

Depriving medications to a severely mentally ill patient is like "shooting them in the head," said Trevena.

"I can't believe that they'd give a junkie methadone in prison, but they won't give a sick person his medication," said Roberta Troyanos.

Pasha said suicides aren't frequent in jail but do happen.

"More people are saved from suicides here than commit suicides," she said.

[Last modified November 17, 2006, 22:54:07]