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Miami HeraldPosted on Tuesday, 07.19.11
Lockup has no medical staff at night, nurse says
The state’s juvenile justice chief said budget constraints were not a factor in last week’s death at a juvenile jail. But a nurse said the facility has no medical staffing at night.
By Carol Marbin Miller
cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com
After Omar Paisley died of a burst appendix in a Miami-Dade juvenile lockup eight years ago, juvenile justice administrators announced sweeping reforms, including on-site medical care around the clock at the Miami facility.
When Eric Perez died Sunday, July10 at the Palm Beach County juvenile jail, there were no doctors or nurses on duty, according to the nurse jailers say they tried in vain to reach.
“Nobody works there at night,” Diana Heras said of lockup medical staff. “There is no state funding for night nurses for any night of the week. They do not have a nurse who works at that ... facility on the night shift, and they do not work weekends.”
Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters, at the helm for just half a year when 18-year-old Eric perished at the West Palm Beach lockup, said Florida’s historic budget woes — which prompted lawmakers to trim tens of millions in juvenile justice spending this year — are not to blame for his death last week.
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http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/19/2321768/lockup-has-no-medical-staff-at.html