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Head Of Hillsborough's Jails Quits

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 15, 2008

Updated: 09/15/2008 04:53 pm

TAMPA - Days after Col. David Parrish passed one of the biggest tests of his career, he announced he would retire Sept. 27.

Parrish said that after 27 years overseeing Hillsborough County's jails, he had received an offer he couldn't refuse. He decided Friday to step down.

"Col. David Parrish served this agency and the citizens of Hillsborough County with professionalism and distinction for almost 35 years," Sheriff David Gee says in a statement. "Col. Parrish elevated the reputation of the Hillsborough County Jails system to national prominence through his leadership. … I am proud to have called Dave Parrish a colleague, fellow deputy and a friend. I will miss his counsel, insight and levelheaded demeanor."

Parrish, 61, said this year that he planned to step down in February. He sent a memo to detention staff Sunday afternoon saying he would be stepping down sooner than expected. Parrish, who has been with the sheriff's office about 35 years, is taking leave until his resignation is effective, and he is at a meeting in Colorado.

"It's the best job I've ever had in my life," he said today of his position as head of Hillsborough's jails. "I wouldn't trade it for any other job in the sheriff's office."

Though his upcoming job is in California, Parrish will maintain his residence in Florida.

Parrish's resignation comes less than a year after quadriplegic inmate Brian Sterner was dumped from his wheelchair by a detention deputy. Video of that incident, which drew acute media attention, led to the creation of an independent review commission of Hillsborough County's jails.

The commission released its final report on the county's jails last week and found 40 recommendations for change but mostly good things to say. Chairman James Sewell called the Sterner incident an anomaly.

Parrish sat in a conference room Wednesday, taking notes on glowing comments about the jail system from Sewell.

"I've got a lot of respect for David. He's one of the reasons the jail has been effective as it is," Sewell told The Tampa Tribune today. "Historically, Hillsborough County has been a leader in the nation, and I think that's really been because of his hard work."

Attorney John Trevena, who used to represent Sterner, had called for Parrish's resignation. Trevena said he thinks more and more past incidents of inmate abuse will come to light in the next few years.

Told today of Parrish's resignation, Trevena said, "So much for loyalty to the Hillsborough County Jail. I guess my thought goes to the old adage: If the house is on fire, you get out as quickly as possible. Even though he would never say that publicly, I'm sure that's what happened."

Parrish said the timing of his resignation is coincidental, though he wouldn't have wanted to leave until after the commission's report was released. He said he would have been foolish to turn down an exciting job opportunity recently offered him.

He is in a program that would require him to retire in February from the sheriff's office, and he had been looking for career plans for about a year, he said. On Wednesday night, the same day the commission's report was released, he met with the head of a planning and design firm that works with jails and prisons. He was offered a job that night.

He accepted the position, but nothing is finalized yet. He declined to provide the firm's name.

Parrish doesn't have an official start date with the firm and isn't sure what his job title will be. In coming days, he wants to ride in his grandfather's 1938 Plymouth to visit his mother in Pennsylvania. He chose Sept. 27 for his retirement date because it's his mother's 87th birthday.

Julianne Holt, public defender for Hillsborough County, said Parrish knows what it takes to run a jail and has worked well through the years with the public defender's office.

She said Parrish is a caring and attentive gentleman whom she considers a friend.

It can't be easy to run a place populated with many inmates with medical, mental health or substance abuse issues, but Parrish does it well, she said.

"The few stories that have been done on the successes of the jail system certainly haven't been splashed on the news in the ways that the negatives have been," Holt said. "I think sometimes we should do a better job of letting people know all of the good things the jail does."

In 1985, Parrish brought the concept of direct supervision to Hillsborough County's jails. That type of supervision provides deputies a better ability to oversee inmates, making escape attempts, assaults and vandalism more difficult to commit, Maj. Robert Lucas said.

Lucas said the direct supervision has worked quite well.

Among the other major jail system accomplishments during Parrish's leadership: Orient Road Jail opened in 1990, and Falkenburg Road Jail opened in 1998.

Parrish earned a bachelor's degree in history from Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree in criminology and corrections from Sam Houston State University in Texas. He has received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Central Methodist College in Fayette, Mo.

Parrish joined the sheriff's office in 1974. His starting salary was $12,800 a year. He said he currently earns $135,893.

Then-Sheriff Malcolm Beard brought Parrish in as a captain. Four years later, he was promoted to major. Among the responsibilities of the various administrative positions he held was overseeing construction of the sheriff's headquarters in Ybor City in 1979.

In 1997, Parrish was awarded the E.R. Cass Award by the American Correctional Association. The highest recognition given by the organization, the award normally is reserved for administrators of state and federal prison systems.

On an average day in 1981, there were about 1,200 inmates in the jail system, Parrish said. This year, he said, it's about 3,870.

Parrish had nearly 500 people working under him in 1981; now he has about 1,500.

Among the low points in Parrish's career: In the 1980s, an inmate escaped for four days from the Morgan Street Jail before anyone was aware he was gone. And in 2004, a Falkenburg inmate pleaded for medical help before giving birth to a baby boy over an infirmary toilet. That child died before reaching a hospital.

Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said he is not aware of a timeline for replacing Parrish.

Lucas, who said he hopes to be the next person to head the jails, said Parrish is genuine and a good leader.

"He was the best," Lucas said. "Absolutely, unequivocally the best. He still is."

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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