Inmate, experts raise questions about Volusia jail's inmate observer program

The job is called "INOB," which is pronounced "Eye Nob." That's shorthand for "inmate observer."

Inmates who are assigned to INOB duty at the Volusia County Branch Jail must watch fellow inmates who are detoxing from drugs or have been judged to be potentially suicidal, and who are naked except for a smock and a stiff blanket they can use to cover themselves in an observation cell.

Stefan Cole Kifner, 20, is among those inmates assigned to INOB duty. In a recent interview with The News-Journal, Kifner described how suicidal or detoxing inmates would sometimes sob or moan in front of him. Others walk around naked. Some are in restraints.

The job began to bother Kifner, who is serving time for a probation violation. So he said he asked jail personnel to be taken off INOB duty and given another job.

"I'm willing to work, just not this," Kifner told The News-Journal in a recent interview.

But Kifner said he was ordered to do INOB duty, or else. When he refused, he said he was made to serve 15 days in disciplinary confinement. And he lost five days of time off his sentence for good behavior.

"I’m going into lockdown for refusing to do it. Because I don’t want to watch naked inmates,” the 20-year-old Kifner said in a phone interview with The News-Journal from jail, where he remains locked up on a probation violation.

A jail disciplinary report shows that Kifner complained about having to watch a naked inmate. But the report also indicates Kifner was disciplined after he complained about the lack of a television near the cell he was assigned to watch. 

Prison experts The News-Journal interviewed questioned using inmates to watch suicidal inmates.

“First of all, nobody should be required to do it. It should be a voluntary job. It’s fine to compensate people for it but it should never be ‘do this or else,’ “  Joel A. Dvoskin, a forensic psychologist and professor at the University of Arizona Medical School, said in a phone interview.

It's difficult to find suitable inmates to do the job, said Terry Kupers, a forensic psychologist and a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.

“What we know is that suicides happen to people who are alone in a cell so one of the solutions is to put someone next to them,” Kupers said in a phone interview. “But then they make all kinds of outrageous moves like having someone who doesn’t want to do it in a situation where he doesn’t have a choice. All that is horrible.”

Ron McAndrew, a former Florida prison warden who now has a prison and jail consulting service, was more blunt about the INOB program.

"In my wildest imagination, I cannot imagine doing it," McAndrew said after hearing a description of the INOB program. "I cannot believe they are doing it. That's money-saving lunacy is what it is. One lawsuit could sink the jail."

But in an email, Volusia County Corrections Director Mark Flowers dismissed the views of the psychologists, whom he wrote were "professors and not practitioners."

"I wonder if they are aware that prisons and jails across the country are using this same program and that it has been called a 'Best practice' among practitioners," Flowers wrote.

After Flowers' email, county spokeswoman Joanne Magley responded to News-Journal inquiries about the INOB program via email. She wrote that the program supplements security staff. She also wrote that jails in Atlanta and Louisville use similar inmate observer programs. Jail officials in both those cities did not return phone calls or emails late last week.

All sentenced inmates in Volusia County are required to work, Magley wrote. Inmates awaiting sentence may volunteer to work. But the jail appears to lump the job of watching suicidal inmates with jobs like cooking, mopping, barbering or laundry duty.

"Inmates who refuse to work are disciplined. So, an inmate who refuses to wash dishes would be disciplined for disobeying an order just as an inmate who refuses an INOB assignment would be disciplined," Magley wrote.

She wrote that the jail received support from a psychiatrist at Stewart-Marchman-Act and the jail's medical provider, Armor Correctional Healthcare, both of which provided information for training inmates for INOB work. And, Magley wrote, one inmate on INOB duty was rewarded with five days off his sentence for stepping in and possibly saving the life of a fellow inmate who attempted suicide. 

But Volusia County's jail is the only county facility that uses inmates to watch other inmates in the 7th Judicial Circuit covering Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam counties. The state prison system also does not use an inmate observer program.

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in an email that the use of inmates to watch suicidal inmates is up to wardens at individual prisons. He could not say how many federal prisons use such a program.

Besides Kifner, another former Volusia County inmate told The News-Journal he didn't receive any training before he was picked for INOB duty.

Suicides too common

That jails often have suicidal inmates is clear. The Volusia County Branch Jail has had 11 suicides since 2013. The two most recent ones occurred within days of one another earlier this year.

Robert L. Jones hanged himself in his cell on Jan. 20, officials said. A guard doing hourly rounds just before midnight spotted Jones hanging by a bed sheet tied to an air conditioning vent.

Douglas Robinson, 23, hanged himself on Jan. 24. Robinson was found about 2:10 a.m. when his cellmate returned from his work assignment. Robinson had hung himself by winding a blue sheet around his neck and tying it to a hook over the toilet.

Both deaths remain under investigation.

Suicide has been the leading cause of death in local and state jails every year since 2000, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2013, one-third of all inmate deaths were attributed to suicide, according to the DOJ's most recent study. That same study found that from 2009 to 2014, the suicide rate increased from 35 per 100,000 local jail inmates to 45 per 100,000 local jail inmates.

The Volusia County jail had a rate of 93.4 suicides per 100,000 inmates, which “greatly exceeds that of county jails throughout the country,” according to a May 2017 report by consultant Lindsay M. Hayes, who was paid $15,000 for the work.

As part of an effort to reduce suicides, the jail began the INOB program on Thanksgiving 2016 in which inmates serving time are assigned the job of watching inmates considered to be at risk for suicide, or who are detoxing from drugs. INOB observers also watch inmates placed in four-point restraints.

In an email, Magley wrote that the county jail's INOB program is modeled after the program in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. 

The federal prisons program is voluntary, according to an email from its public affairs division. The program's guidelines state that those who wish to serve must be "mature, reliable individuals who have credibility with both staff and inmates." The federal program also recommends that "observers will ordinarily work a four-hour shift."  Each inmate observer receives at least four hours of initial training and then four additional hours semi-annually.

A 2005 federal study conducted at a prison medical complex suggested that the use of inmate observers reduced the amount of time suicidal inmates remained on suicide watch and helped rehabilitate the observers by providing them a chance to be helpful. The study also noted that the use of inmate observers led to "tremendous cost savings to the institution." The study warned that "the results of this study cannot be generalized outside of a federal medical center context."

Asked about the training inmates received for INOB duty at the Volusia County jail, Magley wrote: "All inmates receive training for jobs they are assigned. Training times vary." She also emailed an "INOB orientation" sheet listing topics to be covered with inmates who are on INOB duty, including:

•What to do if an inmate they are watching needs assistance;

•What to look for to know whether an inmate is distressed;

•What to tell medical or other staff they have observed, such as vomiting, shakes, or diarrhea;

•They are encouraged to engage the inmates they are watching in conversation;

•INOB workers are to keep everything they hear or see confidential.

Magley declined News-Journal requests to allow a reporter and photographer to attend INOB training. The jail did allow a photographer to take a photo of one of the cells used to house suicidal inmates.

The orientation sheet Magley provided also has a subheading titled, "How to get out of the INOB job" Among the ways is if the jail's medical or mental health staff "claims that you cannot have a job," or if an inmate is locked down "for any reason."

A shift for an inmate on INOB duty lasts eight hours, during which inmate observers watching detox inmates get a 30-minute break every hour they work. Inmate observers watching a "continuous watch inmate" or inmates in restraints need to be “switched out” every four hours.

Inmates stand in front of a cell to watch detox inmates, and sit when watching a "continuous watch inmate" or inmate in restraints.

"You're an INOB"

Kupers, the forensic psychologist and professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, said inmates in Volusia County's INOB program should volunteer first, and then they should be screened.

"Ask prisoners whether they would like to be trained for suicide observation and then screen them, have them apply for it and screen them that they are not themselves predators or, you know, dangerous in some ways, and give them some training and let them be proud of themselves as helpers for the mental health staff," Kupers said.

He said the difficulty of finding qualified inmates to be observers is one reason why many jails avoid such programs.

"The reason it's not widespread is exactly the problems I’m talking about," Kupers said. "They (most jail facilities) are more worried about putting someone with gang affiliations in a position of power over other prisoners than they are about observing for suicides, so basically this kind of approach is more trouble than its worth."

Dvoskin, of the University of Arizona Medical School, said the county's INOB program should never be a replacement for competent mental health treatment and should never be the only kind of supervision over inmates who are potentially suicidal.

"The people need to be very well and carefully trained not only in what to watch for but how to document what they’ve seen so that mental health people can learn of anything that’s important that they should know about," Dvoskin said.

One former Volusia County inmate said he received no training before he went on INOB duty.

Terry Gordon said he wasn't told anything in advance about the job when he was first assigned to do it. The 42-year-old DeLand resident has prior arrests for domestic violence, felony battery and home invasion robbery.

“I didn’t even know I was going to do it," said Gordon. "They said, ‘Gordon, get dressed for work at 11 o’clock.' I get down there and say, 'What is it?' And they said, ‘You’re an INOB.’ I go, ‘I'm a who?’ "

But Gordon added that he saw value in the program. He said inmates on INOB duty can alert guards to problems much more quickly than if guards were simply checking the cells containing potentially suicidal inmates while making normal rounds.

“If somebody has a seizure after a round, you have to wait 30 minutes to an hour before (guards) realize it. Two seconds versus 30 minutes. That’s a lot of speed. We are on the door. We are right on the door,” Gordon said.

According to a jail document, corrections staff perform 30-minute rounds in the detox unit and 15-minute rounds in the suicide prevention units.

Gordon agreed INOB duty can sometimes be an unpleasant job. For example, inmates sometimes throw up and sometimes don’t smell the best. But he said he did not mind the task because it gave him some sense of freedom.

Among jails in the 7th Circuit, only the Volusia County jail uses inmates for INOB duty.

"The Flagler County jail encourages inmates to report issues, including a suicidal inmate," wrote Flagler County Sheriff's office spokeswoman Brittany Kershaw in an email. But it does not have an inmate observer program.

"We do not allow inmates to assist with suicide watches," Kershaw wrote.

Chuck Mulligan, a spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s office, said its jail is aware of the program in Volusia County.

“Our jail staff basically discussed it, discussed the liability and the fact that we ultimately are responsible, and so our folks and our staff continue to monitor for those issues,” Mulligan said.

Kifner's experience

Stepan Cole Kifner is in Volusia County's jail for violating probation on a charge of third-degree felony murder.

In 2013, Kifner was 15 when he and two other teens ripped off 18-year-old Tristan DeJoy of Deltona for some pot. When DeJoy handed the teens the pot, they took off in a pickup without giving DeJoy money. DeJoy clung to the pickup, and according to an investigation, Kifner shoved DeJoy from the truck. DeJoy suffered a skull fracture and died.

Kifner was sentenced to 364 days in jail and 10 years drug offender probation in that case. Records show he violated probation by testing positive for cocaine in December 2015 and he was placed on house arrest for two years.

He was again arrested last September when a deputy spotted him riding a motorcycle without a license plate. Kifner tried to flee but crashed the motorcycle and was arrested, a report said. The deputy discovered that Kifner was supposed to be at home on house arrest.

A judge sentenced Kifner on Jan. 22 to 364 days in jail, with credit for 109 days of time served.

Kifner told The News-Journal that he had been working an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift on INOB duty for about four weeks. Kifner said it's a distasteful job. Inmates sometimes refuse to cover themselves up.

"Sometimes, they're naked, sometimes they're not, and it's very uncomfortable to watch," Kifner said. "Sometimes they cry, they moan. Sometimes they're just being taken there because they're acting out."

Kifner was assigned on Feb. 17  to watch Nicholas Barbati in Unit 2 B Block of the jail. Barbati was charged in November 2016 with deriving support from proceeds of prostitution (third offense), transport to a building for prostitution (first offense), human trafficking (of a person less than 18 years old), and unlawful use of a two-way communication device. Barbati is also charged with racketeering in connection with prostitution.

Kifner said in the phone interview with The News-Journal that he told corrections officer Jay Navarro that he would no longer do INOB duties because Barbati was naked and it bothered Kifner to watch him.

Navarro's report of the incident says that Kifner arrived for duty and “immediately asked why there was no TV.”  According to the report, Navarro told Kifner he needed to watch Barbati. Kifner then reportedly asked to be moved to an area where he could watch TV. Kifner also asked to use a phone while he watched Barbati, a request which was denied, according to the report.

Navarro also wrote that Kifner said that because of his third-degree murder conviction he was only supposed to watch inmates going through detox, not those who were suicidal. Navarro wrote that he told Kifner that because Barbati was both going through detox and was considered suicidal, Kifner had to watch him.

According to Navarro, Kifner then said, "I don't care if he dies," in reference to Barbati. Navarro wrote that he asked Kifner if he was refusing to work, and Kifner replied, "If that('s) what you want to call it."

But in a follow-up report of the incident, Kifner told an investigator, "I don't like watching naked people. I felt violated. I never refused to work, that's what the officer said. I just wanted to be moved. I never had a problem before because they're always covered up."

Kifner complained specifically about having to watch Barbati. "I know the guy I was watching (from) the streets and he has a child sex charge," Kifner said. "I did say, 'If he dies that's not my problem' because I don't condone that stuff."

Kifner appealed the disciplinary action against him, to no avail.

"Your appeal is denied," a jail official concluded.