Schembri’s 1^st eight months in office

Tom Denham, Director of Communications Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, summarizes the accomplishments of Anthony Schembri during his first 8 months as head of Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice.

E-mail from Tom Denham to Dave Plyer [justice4kids.org and member Pinellas County Juvenile Justice Council)
April 27, 2005

Hi Dave:

All of the unfortunate deaths you mentioned happened before my time here at DJJ, as well as many of the other people here at headquarters, including Secretary Schembri. We recognize that history, but prefer to look forward to see how we can keep that type of thing from happening again.

Secretary Schembri has placed many new programs in place with that in mind, including

• mandating a youth "bill of rights",
• eliminating many of the holds formerly used that were breaking limbs,
• hiring the agency's first full time statewide medical director,
• implementing surprise facility inspections and significantly increasing staff training.

This is only a sampling of the many programs he has initiated in the last eight months since he has arrived - if you think this is the "same old DJJ" that was here during the Omar Paisely incident, you are very mistaken.

Another thing that was implemented by the Secretary was a free abuse hotline that any youth in our care can call anytime, day or night, to report any type of abuse. These reports make it to Tallahassee and are reviewed within two hours of any incident, and are reviewed by the Secretary daily. The Inspector General has the authority to investigate any allegation on the abuse hotline without clearance from anyone, including the Secretary.

We share your expectation - Secretary Schembri has put an emphasis on making sure that youth are treated with dignity and respect, and if there is an allegation of abuse, that it is independently investigated.  Not all allegations are true.  But if they are verified, the Secretary has pledged to take swift action.

The death of those youths was tragic - there was a huge housecleaning after Paisley's death, and a lot of people lost their jobs due to indifference and incompetence in the old administration, including the previous Secretary. Paisely's death was one of the reasons the Governor brought in a man of Secretary Schembri's national caliber. He came in and fired a lot more people - he fired more than 70 people at Miami-Dade Detention Center alone.

So far on Secretary Schembri's watch, there have not been any deaths or serious accidents - and he is doing everything in his power every day to keep it that way.

Tom Denham
Director of Communications
Florida Department of Juvenile Justice
850-921-5900
tom.denham@djj.state.fl.us