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A black eye is a good day for jail guards

Staff photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Inmates "can look at officers and deputies and see which one's vulnerable and which one's not just by their demeanor and they way they carry themselves," says veteran detention deputy Mark Molins.

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By DANIELA VELAZQUEZ

dvelazquez@tbo.com

Published: September 13, 2009

When the inmate attacked her, Sgt. Regina Walker thought of everything that could happen. She could be beaten unconscious and require 25 stitches in her head like Deputy Ernest Morgan. She could have had her face slashed with a razor like Deputy Nelson Birch. She could have a fatal heart attack like two Hillsborough detention deputies did after skirmishes with inmates.

None of that happened. She had two black eyes and a bruised leg. She considers herself lucky.

That is the world of detention workers. Their shifts are spent watching some of society's most dangerous members, who are often angry, violent, addicted to drugs or alcohol, or members of gangs.

"We all have it in the back of our minds as we go through our daily shift that at any moment something could happen," Walker said.

The work is dangerous - second only to law-enforcement officers, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics. It also can be fatal.

Sgt. Ronnie Brown of the Polk County Sheriff's Office died Tuesday after breaking his back Aug. 30 trying to control inmate Terrence Barnett, who became violent in his cell. Barnett, who was held on a murder charge from Highlands County, is 6 feet, 10 inches tall. He has been moved to Hillsborough's Orient Road Jail, in the same cell block as Humberto Delgado Jr., accused of fatally shooting Tampa Police Cpl. Mike Roberts on Aug. 19.

In honor of Brown, Hillsborough deputies wear black bands on their badges as a sign of mourning.

"It saddens you, it hardens you, it makes you angry, all at the same time," said Hillsborough Master Deputy Mark Molins. "It's a very emotional time for us."

Detention deputies are reminded of the job dangers. Suspects you read about when they're arrested? Detention deputies are with them 40-plus hours a week.

"In a corrections facility, we're out of sight and out of mind, kind of like the inmates themselves. We're locked in here with them," said Walker, whose main job is to ensure the booking process runs smoothly.

Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said a sobering reality of Brown's death is that violent encounters between inmates and deputies are commonplace. "There's not a week that goes by that detention deputies don't skirmish with violent inmates in the county jail," he said.

According to the National Institute of Justice, a poor public image and low pay contribute to the stress correction officers face. In Hillsborough, a detention deputy's salary starts at $42,328 a year. Patrol deputies start at $42,744.

Patrol officers also deal with danger and stress, but they may only have to deal with a violent suspect for a few hours, jail officials said.

"We will deal with that individual for weeks, months or even years. The risk for something happening in the jails is greater," said jail director Maj. Robert Lucas.

Many people cannot work surrounded by those who might want to harm them, Judd said. "It takes a special person to walk into a cell with a hundred people, by themselves, to keep the peace in a facility," he said.

Stress is constant, in part because developing a rapport with inmates can be dangerous, said crisis counselor Nancy Bohl. "Remember, the jails are filled with cons, they con the guards all time," said Bohl, founder and director of Counseling Team International, which provides counseling to first-responders after traumatic incidents such as the 9/11 attacks and Oklahoma City federal building bombing. "It's a completely non-trustworthy environment," she said.

"You keep everything in perspective because when you become complacent, you let your guard down and people know, especially people that are career criminals or have been in the system for a long time," said Molins, an 18-year veteran. "They can look at officers and deputies and see which one's vulnerable and which one's not just by their demeanor and they way they carry themselves."

In Hillsborough jails, the ratio of guards to inmates is 1 to 72. There have been 20 assaults on guards by inmates this year. In 2008, there were 56 inmate assaults.

The Hillsborough sheriff's office said officers foiled an escape plan this year that could have resulted in a detention deputy's death. Investigators said five teenage inmates planned to stab a detention deputy to death with a razor blade knife, take his keys and escape. They are charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to escape.

Two Hillsborough detention deputies have died after struggles with inmates, though not recently. Deputy James Allen had a heart attack and died after an altercation with an inmate in 1974. Ron Poindexter performed CPR on Sgt. James Strachinsky who had a heart attack while trying to quiet a Morgan Street Jail disturbance in 1969.

Poindexter served 27 years with the sheriff's office, retiring in 1996 as a colonel. "No one expects it to happen to them. If you expect it to happen to you, you couldn't do the job," he said.

Deputies take one day at a time.

"Thank God I get to go home at the end of the shift," Molins said. "And so far, I've gotten to go home every day."

TBO news producer Daniela Velazquez can be reached at (813) 259-8074.

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