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A Sheriff's Office investigation into the death concludes that detention deputies and others involved in his care followed rules and procedures.
By JANE MEINHARDT
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000
LARGO -- When inmate John William Patterson's breakfast tray remained untouched, it was the first indication detention deputies had that something was wrong.
It was 4:11 a.m. Oct. 1 when deputies became concerned and went into his cell. Patterson, 42, had committed suicide in his cell by hanging himself with his shoelaces from a steel towel rack.
A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office investigation into Patterson's death has concluded that detention deputies and others involved in his care at the jail followed rules and procedures.
According to a report released Thursday, Patterson was placed in a psychiatric observation jail pod, where inmates are checked every 30 minutes. He was not classified as a suicide risk but was on medication for psychiatric problems, records showed.
Investigators determined that Patterson called his mother, Florence Patterson, six times the night before he died. She refused to comment Thursday and referred questions to her St. Petersburg attorney, Roy Glass.
"We're still conducting our own investigation," Glass said. "They knew or should have known that he was a suicide risk, and they did not use reasonable care."
Patterson's mother told investigators that her son was upset when he called because he was going to prison and would not be able to see his daughter, who was 6 months old at the time, the report said. Patterson, of Treasure Island, was estranged from his wife.
He was jailed Sept. 28, charged with violating the probation he received after a conviction in a drug-related case. Patterson took medications with him when he surrendered at the jail and was put on the medical wing.
When screened the day he surrendered, he told the jail medical staff about a suicide attempt in 1995. Patterson's medical screening records from previous jail stays in 1996, 1997 and 1998 indicated "no current suicidal thoughts," according to the report. His screening Sept. 28 found his behavior and appearance did not suggest he was a suicide risk, records showed.
On Sept. 30, a jail psychiatrist assessed Patterson and cleared him for a transfer from the medical wing to a pod on E Wing, where inmates are on psychiatric observation. According to records, he told the psychiatrist, "I want to be cleared" to leave the medical wing.
Detention deputies checked inmates in Patterson's pod every 30 minutes by looking into the pod through a window in the hallway. Investigators determined that was the proper procedure for psychiatric observation inmates, who are monitored as they resume normal activities but not physically checked.
Because Patterson was not classified as a suicide risk, he was permitted to have sheets, towels and shoelaces, according to jail procedures.
A detention deputy who was monitoring the pod about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 30 saw Patterson making various configurations with a shoelace and took it from him. Patterson told the deputy that he was making "a cross necklace."
It was unclear whether Patterson was allowed to keep his other shoelace or what shoelaces he used to hang himself. Sheriff's Lt. Clyde Headrick, one of the investigators, said Thursday that the shoelaces were thrown away before they could be examined.
In mid-December, an inmate contacted investigators and told them he warned deputies that Patterson was going to commit suicide. Investigators discounted his statements because they were inconsistent and because he had a record of lying and causing problems to attract attention while in the jail, records showed.
Nine days after Patterson died, 25-year-old Daniel Cory was found unconscious in a cell and died at a hospital. A recently released investigation showed that jail nurses did not give him his medication for Addison's disease.
After the two October deaths and other problems with the jail's medical contractor, Sheriff Everett Rice decided to take over inmate medical care.