PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri suspended two detention deputies for humiliating a couple of inmates by posting notes on their backs in January during an incident that was caught on surveillance video, according to internal affairs.
- Deputies serving 240-hour suspensions
- Incident happened in January, but video released Tuesday
- Suspended deputies didn't deny what happened
Deputy Willie Jordan Jr. and Deputy Kenneth Rowe each received a 240-hour suspension that began last week and will finish by mid-August.
Both deputies admitted the inmates did "absolutely nothing wrong" and were just asking for gloves to clean the kitchen when they were forced to undergo a type of humiliating corporal punishment on January 13.
According to testimony from the administrative review board, Rowe said the deputies got annoyed when the inmates approached the office glass window because they were "peering in looking through the window... to like, snoop on us."
Pinellas jail surveillance video shows the deputies order the two inmates to stand with their heads against a glass wall and hands behind their backs. Rowe said he escalated the situation by creating the signs that Jordan Jr. helped tape to the inmates backs.
According to the report, the notes stated something to the effect of "I'm an idiot", "I can't stop messing with the guards", and "I can't get it right." The deputies then ordered other inmates to walk past and read the signs out loud.
The two inmates had to stand with their heads against the glass wall for a total of 11 minutes.
Deputy Rowe said he felt like he was losing his mind for a second and forgot he wasn't in the Army, where that type of corporal punishment is allowed. Deputy Jordan Jr. said as a senior deputy he should have stopped it.
Jordan also said he embarrassed the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, his family and his faith.