Nearly a year after workers at the Miami-Dade Regional Juvenile Detention Center ignored the pleas of a young man who later died of a burst appendix, the state has found staff in the same center unresponsive to the attempted suicide of a 16-year-old boy.

An inspector general's report, provided to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel onTuesday, states that a guard radioed a supervisor and waited for help to arrive before entering the cell of a 16-year-old suicidal boy found face down on the floor March 3 with a pillowcase around his neck.

The Department of Juvenile Justice, in response to questions from the newspaper, said therapist Juliet Alvarez, who contracts with the state to treat the children and was first on the scene, also did not render aid but, instead, called the guard. Other juvenile justice officials, including a nurse, responded quickly.

The boy, who was not identified in the report to protect his privacy, survived.

The report also states that administrators at the lockup regularly discouraged mental health providers from assigning one staff worker to watch suicidal youths around the clock, as required in serious cases, "due to staffing shortages."

The findings are the most disturbing of numerous failings substantiated by the inspector general regarding the incident.

"I've had to deal with suicide attempts all my life," said state Rep. Mitch Needelman, a retired marine patrol officer and Melbourne Republican who serves on a select House committee investigating Florida's juvenile justice system. "You don't wait for your backup to show up to take whatever action is necessary to prevent a suicide."

In recent months 14 workers at the center were fired for failing to render aid to another child, 17-year-old Omar Paisley, who died of a burst appendix June 9 after begging for help for three days. In the aftermath, state juvenile justice officials instructed workers to "treat every child like your own" and to dial 911 immediately in an emergency rather than wait for supervisory approval.

The failure of Detention Officer Pedro A. Salazar to enter the room to rescue the boy who tried to kill himself is reminiscent of a highly publicized case in Broward County. In June 2000 a worker at an Oakland Park shelter took four Polaroid pictures of 15-year-old Anthony Dumas rather than free him from the noose he'd made with his belt. Dumas later died. The worker, Sandra Trotter, was convicted of child neglect and sentenced this month to house arrest and probation.

Juvenile Justice Department spokeswoman Catherine Arnold said Tuesday that "assistance to a youth in distress is to be immediately rendered."

Arnold was not aware of any charges filed against Salazar but said the department contacted the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office on March 11 regarding possible falsification of records in the attempted suicide. She said prosecutors informed Juvenile Justice on March 16 that they would pursue the falsification issue.

A spokesman for the State Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Disciplinary action against Salazar and two other employees is under review by the detention center's management, Arnold said.

Reached at his home Tuesday, Salazar said he had no comment. He is also accused in the report of being in his office on the telephone for 15 minutes when the incident occurred rather than checking on the youth every five minutes.

The inspector general's report is highly critical of The Village, the Miami-based mental health provider for the detention center, stating that it failed to have a suicide risk assessment of the boy prepared or to have the assessment supervised by a licensed mental health professional, as required by state policy.

It also notes that the boy, who had tried twice to kill himself before, should not have been monitored every five minutes but should have been on more frequent observation.

Operators of The Village told the Inspector General's Office that the only other option they were aware of was one-to-one supervision, which had been discouraged by the management of the detention center "due to staffing shortages," the report states.

In response to the attempted suicide, The Village was given an additional $50,000 in state funds through June 30 to hire three licensed clinical social workers who are available around the clock, seven days a week, to respond to a child in distress and to expand mental health screenings and case management for all youths, according to the Department of Juvenile Justice and Frank Rabbito, administrator of The Village.

Asked whether children who vow to kill themselves will now be monitored at all times if necessary, Rabbito promised that they would "if I have to stand there myself." At the same time, he said, the additional funding the state provided will run out July 1. The Village, he said, will seek money from the state to continue the expanded services.

Megan O'Matz can be reached at momatz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4518.

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Salt Lake murder-suicide is 48th violent death associated with schools nationwide

Alexandria Sage THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY -- The murder-suicide of a Salt Lake City high school cafeteria worker and her husband brought the number of school-associated violent deaths to 48 this year, said a national expert on school safety.

"Although incidents like this certainly stem from an employee's personal matter, they spill over into the school and affect the entire school," said Kenneth Trump, president of a Cleveland consulting firm, National School Safety and Security Services.

The bodies of Marisela Lavalle, 39, and Federico Cervantes-Lavalle, 52, were found on a grassy area in front of the West High School faculty parking lot across the street from the school's north entrance when police arrived just after 6 a.m. No one else was injured, and no students were involved in the Monday morning shootings.

Witnesses reported seeing Cervantes-Lavalle get out of his car outside the parking lot, where his wife had just parked, said Salt Lake City Police Department spokesman Dwayne Baird.

A struggle ensued before he pulled out a .38-caliber handgun and shot Lavalle at least three times in the head and chest, Baird said. Witnesses said Cervantes-Lavalle then shot himself once in the head.

Police cordoned off the area as students arrived to school and held up sheets to block their view before the bodies were removed by the medical examiner's office.

Because the incident occurred before school started, canceling classes was not necessary, Principal Margery Parker said. She made an announcement to students at 8:30 a.m. that they were safe, she said.

The couple was in the process of a divorce, Baird said, and the wife was living with a roommate.

Trump said the 48 deaths this year, including two other pairs of murder-suicides, is in addition to 60 non-death shootings and more than 160 other high-profile violent incidents, like stabbings and riots, since the school year began in August.

"The murder-suicide that happens at 6 o'clock in the morning is still going to have an impact on the entire school community," Trump said. "Where the problem still has a direct impact is on the emotional, psychological and physical safety of children and staff."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D4

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