By Joseph Neff
The News & Observer
RALEIGH, N.C. — When an inmate died of dehydration last year after lying handcuffed for days in his feces and urine, Secretary of Public Safety Frank Perry ordered an investigation that culminated in the firing of nine employees.
“We have been righteous with our investigation and dismissals,” Perry said in November.
But after some employees challenged their firings, problems have emerged with many of the dismissals.
Five of the nine employees have gotten their firings rescinded. In the latest case, an administrative law judge ordered reinstatement, back pay and attorney fees for Michael Youron, a psychologist who didn’t treat inmate Michael Anthony Kerr and who was on leave for the last six days of Kerr’s life.
The judge ruled that the woman who investigated Youron was not a credible witness because of “her repeated instances of evasive and non-responsive answers.” The judge noted that the investigator had no mental health or medical experience and failed to interview key witnesses and to review key documents.
Perry declined to discuss specific cases but said he stands by his department’s investigation.
“I am satisfied with every decision made here,” Perry said. “Everybody here wanted to be fair, firm and forthright.”
Perry said the department has made progress since Kerr’s death. Some 1,200 of the department’s 15,000 employees have been given crisis intervention training, which teaches officers how to appropriately manage mentally ill inmates and minimize the use of force.
Kerr spent the last five days of his life handcuffed in a prison cell, unresponsive, off his medications and lying in his feces and urine. Shortly before the former Army sergeant died, officials at Alexander Correctional Institution put him into a wheelchair and drove him 21/2 hours east to a prison hospital in Raleigh.
When Kerr, 53, arrived at Central Prison on March 12, 2014, his body was cold. Somewhere between Taylorsville and Raleigh, as the prison vehicle passed emergency rooms at eight hospitals, Kerr died of dehydration.
“This case was shocking,” Perry said. “It shocked this department.”
A different picture
One of the nine fired employees was Youron, a psychologist accused of “grossly inefficient job performance.” The department said Youron failed to properly document Kerr’s case and failed to intervene or take action to address the inmate’s deteriorating condition.
“You did not see the inmate for 45 days and did not facilitate his timely transfer to Central Prison Mental Health,” Corrections Director David Guice wrote in the letter of dismissal.
A different picture emerged as Youron and his attorney contested his firing and presented evidence and testimony at a hearing at the Office of Administrative Hearings. The office hears appeals brought by people aggrieved by decisions of state agencies.
Kerr was not Youron’s patient and had never been on Youron’s caseload. Kerr was a patient of Dr. Christine Butler, who resigned after Kerr’s death.
On March 6, 2014, Youron was seeing a patient in the cell next to Kerr. Youron noticed a towel stuffed under Kerr’s door, a sign Kerr had flooded his cell.
Youron spoke with Kerr, who was walking around in his cell.
“Come on in, the water’s fine,” Kerr told Youron, according to the judge’s ruling.
Later that day, Youron directed Butler, whom he supervised, to have Kerr transferred to Central Prison Mental Health. The next day, March 7, Youron went on leave and did not return to work until six days after Kerr died.
The department assigned Phyllis Vandiford to investigate Youron’s actions. Vandiford was a retired administrative services manager with one year of college and a year and a half of experience as a correctional officer.
The ruling by Administrative Law Judge Melissa Owens Lassiter paints a picture of a sloppy investigation.
Vandiford had no medical or mental health background. She did not know that Youron, as a psychologist, could not prescribe medicine. Vandiford testified she did not know the mental health staff was overworked and understaffed, despite statements in her file to the contrary. She never interviewed Youron’s superiors and she never reviewed minutes of the weekly staff meetings at which the mental health staff discussed Kerr and his care.
At one point in the hearing, Vandiford was asked about her use of the mental health term “decompensating,” which means deteriorating, and where she learned its meaning.
“I Googled it,” Vandiford said. “I wanted to know what it means.”
“You Googled it on your cell phone?” asked Youron’s lawyer.
“Yes, I did.”
“And that is how you obtained your definition of the mental health term ‘decompensating,’ is that correct?”
“Yes.”
In her opinion, the judge said Vandiford gave “repeated evasive answers,” was “overtly evasive” and “non-responsive.”
Vandiford could not be reached for comment.
Series of reversals
Michael Byrne, the lawyer for Youron and four others who were fired, said the facts emerged in the Kerr case because of the Office of Administrative Hearings. Employees can gather evidence and cross-examine witnesses under oath before an independent judge.
“Without those, it would have been unlikely that we would have won any of these cases,” Byrne said.
Byrne noted that for three years Gov. Pat McCrory has proposed removing the Office of Administrative Hearings from the process when state employees challenge their firings. The legislature has not acted on McCrory’s proposal.
Along with Youron, four other employees have had their dismissals reversed:
- The department agreed to reinstate John Monguillot, director of psychology, with back pay and attorney fees.
- An administrative law judge reinstated nursing supervisor Jacqueline Clark and awarded her back pay and attorney fees.
- Karis Fitch, head psychologist at Alexander, found a new job after being fired. After her protest, the department agreed to rescind the dismissal and categorize her departure as a resignation.
- Midway through a hearing, the department agreed to reinstate Roger Moose, a prison administrator, with back pay and attorney fees.