Cynthia Murphy wrote the following letter to Circuit Judge Terence Perkins after the first part of the sentencing of Brendan Depa in May. Depa pleaded to a first degree felony charge of aggravated battery of a school employee following the February 2023 beating of Joan Naydich, the paraprofessional assigned to him at Matanzas High School at the time. Depa is severely autistic.
Murphy’s son Tristin, who was schizophrenic, had been sentenced to a three-year prison sentence in 2021 for a littering charge after driving a truck into a pond. He killed himself in prison with a chainsaw. The judge who had sentenced him, now-retired judge Scott Cupp, regretted the sentence. “I could say this now because I’m off the bench. Does it seem a little excessive? Yes, it does. Yes, it does,” Cupp told CBS News Miami, which had produced a documentary on Tristin Murphy’s death. “Could there have been another way to deal with that and handle that? Absolutely.”
The second and final part of Depa’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning before Perkins. Cynthia Murphy’s letter is reproduced here as it was sent to the judge.
Byway of introduction, my name is Cynthia Murphy. In 2021, my adult son Tristin Murphy used a chainsaw to kill himself in a Florida prison. I am writing to you today to make sure that you understand the danger that awaits Brendan if he is sentenced to the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC). Specifically, I am asking you not to believe Dr. Suzanne Klein’s glowing account of FDC’s mental health services. While I applaud the aspirational nature of it, it is not reality.
My son, Tristin Murphy, suffered from schizophrenia and had a documented history of mental illness. On December 17, 2019, Tristin drove his truck into a pond at the Charlotte County jail. Rather than recognizing Tristin’s mental illness and diverting him for mental health treatment, the local prosecutor charged him with felony littering. After being adjudicated incompetent to stand trial, being sent for competency restoration and treatment and returned to the Charlotte County jail, Tristin pled no contest and received a three-year prison sentence with credit for time served.
Tristin was transferred to the South Florida Reception Center (SFRC) in Miami on July 15, 2021. Tristin’s medical records show that for at least six days after his arrival, he received none his prescribed psychotropic medication. On July 22, 2021, an intake interview was conducted by a Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurse in which she noted that Tristin was speaking to himself, rambling about a man with no skin and about being tortured by the FBI, that he was wringing his hands and rocking back and forth and was delusional, that he believed that someone else was in his head and was hearing voices.
That same day, a Mental Health Behavioral Specialist reviewed Tristin’s records and noted that he had a recent psychiatric hospitalization, that he was prescribed psych meds and had engaged in self-injury or attempted suicide. In a second entry she noted that he had attempted suicide in 2021 in the Charlotte County jail.
Despite these alarming findings, Tristin was assigned an S-3 classification, put on psychotropic medication and was assigned to a general housing unit. He never saw another mental health provider while in FDC custody.
On September 10, 2021, Tristin was moved to the South Unit of SFRC. For six days, he received none of his prescribed medications, causing him to become increasingly delusional. Despite this, on September 16, 2021, he was handed a chainsaw by a guard while on a work detail, which he immediately used to take his own life.
Written statements from inmates who witnessed his suicide indicate that he was clearly distressed and agitated that morning, that he was acting strangely and not in his right mind. (You can see some of these witness statements in the CBS Miami Documentary “Warehoused, the Life and Death of Tristin Murphy.”
Tristin died with only 15 months remaining on his sentence. What should have been a short sentence became a death sentence for Tristin. I do not want the same thing to happen to Brendan Depa.
The negligent care that Tristin received is not an anomaly. As you may know, FDC’s health care services have been privatized with Centurion of Florida, LLC being the current contract provider. There is a well-documented history of Centurion failing to properly assess and treat incarcerated people with mental illnesses at SFRC (and I doubt it is much better elsewhere). The FDC performs periodic contract monitoring of its services and sends its findings to Centurion in Contract Monitoring Reports (CMRs). The CMRs in the years leading up to Tristin’s death reveal widespread, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies in the mental health evaluation and treatment being provided at SFRC. Audits are also done by the Correctional Medical Authority (CMA). This is an independent state agency that conducts audits of the medical and psychological care provided to people incarcerated in the FDC. The CMA reports show severe deficiencies, corrective action plans put into place, re-inspections and repeated failures to correct deficiencies.
I was not in court when Dr. Klein made her presentation to you but I have a good idea of what she presented as I spoke right after her at a legislative hearing this Spring in Tallahassee. At that hearing, I heard her describe DCF’s Traditional and Intensive Outpatient Treatment, its Inpatient Mental Health Care and its Court-ordered Mental Health Treatment. I heard her describe the availability of psychotropic medications and the careful supervision of it. I heard her describe the individual counseling, the group therapy, etc. I heard her describe all the services that Tristin should have received but did not.
Tristin was 37-years old and had the life experiences of an adult. Yet, he survived only 63 days in the Florida prison system. I have never met Brendan and admittedly have limited knowledge of his mental health challenges or his abilities. But, knowing what I know about the Florida prison system, I have to wonder what chance an autistic 18-year-old with complicated mental health issues who has spent the majority of his life homeschooled has of surviving in a Florida prison.
May God give you courage, compassion and wisdom in deciding this matter. Sincerely,
Cynthia Murphy.
Click On:
|
