Gee names 11-person panel to probe jail abuse claims

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee has announced creation of a 11-person panel to be led by a former state law enforcement official to probe mounting allegations of inmate abuse at the jail.

"It is incumbent on me as sheriff, as well as the command staff of this agency, to deal with these issues in a way that is both immediate and objective," Gee said.

The Independent Review Commission will be headed by Dr. James Sewell, former assistant commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, former regional director of FDLE's Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center, and a respected author and instructor in law enforcement training and management issues.

"Recent reports about alleged abuse of inmates have cast a critical light on the Detention Department," the Sheriff's Office said in a prepared statement. "Sheriff Gee is keenly aware of the public reaction and questions about what occurred in the jail, and understands that public confidence in the county jail system is an essential element in protecting the citizens. Internal investigations into the allegations are currently under way; however Sheriff Gee believes an independent commission needs to further examine the inmate booking and incarceration procedures, and afford the public a legitimate, unbiased report on the jails."

The other members are Dr. Lorie Fridell, associate professor at the University of South Florida; Ned Hafner, director of corrections and jail services at the Florida Sheriffs Association and former director of corrections for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office; Al Higginbotham, Hillsborough County Commissioner, District 4; Brian Kensel, Special Agent (retired), FBI; The Rev. Beverly Lane, pastor of First Mount Carmel AME Church; Clarence McKee, CEO of McKee Communications; Linda McKinnon, CEO of Central Florida Behavioral Health Network; Dr. Delia Aguirre Palermo, professor at St. Petersburg College; Raymond Velboom, special agent (retired), Florida Department of Law Enforcement; and Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, former Army chief of staff.

The Sheriff's Office said Sewell had complete autonomy in assembling the panel. Its meetings will be public.

The commission is expected to produce an initial report in 60 days and a final report with recommendations in 180 days.

Meanwhile, Brian Sterner, the quadriplegic former inmate who was dumped from his wheelchair by a deputy as surveillance cameras rolled, began talking to investigators from the Florida Attorney General's Office about 10 a.m. as part of a state probe into practices at the Sheriff's Office, according to his attorney, John Trevena.

Another abuse claim surfaced Wednesday, when attorneys for a paraplegic named Benjamin Rayburn said he was dumped from his wheelchair and left to flail on a holding cell floor for an hour or more.

The Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that deputies moved to subdue Rayburn after he tried to stab a deputy with a glass crack pipe on Oct. 3, 2006. He then threw the pipe, which shattered and sent fragments flying at a deputy's head, according to a sheriff's report. The Sheriff's Office said deputies handled the incident properly. 

Rayburn joins a growing list of inmates who have alleged abuse by detention deputies at the jail and who have provided videos to back up their claims. He is the fifth person to make such a claim this month.

-Times staff writers