- May 16, 2024
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After reading recent articles published on FlaglerLive titled, “The Dis-Education of Brendan Depa” and other articles, I felt compelled to highlight the collaboration and teamwork that has taken place to provide continued educational opportunities for Mr. Depa during his stay at our facility.
As Chief of the Court and Detention Services Division for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, I oversee the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, also known as “The Green Roof Inn.” Over the past year, on average there were almost 300 inmates in custody each day in our facility. Brendan Depa has been included in this count since August 22, 2023 when he turned 18 years old and was transferred to our facility from a Jacksonville juvenile detention center.
I am very proud of our detention team and their desire to adopt Sheriff Staly’s mission to “Improve Inmate Outcomes to Improve Our Community” by offering various inmate educational and technical skills, mental health and addiction recovery in our jail. In fact, our jail was recently recognized by the American Jail Association as an innovative leader in correctional facilities.
Mr. Depa’s case was a national story and remains very polarizing within Flagler County. Getting some form of education was vital for him but was also not the statutory responsibility of the Sheriff’s Office. Even before his arrival, I had been involved in discussions with his mother about his housing, his access to reading materials and visitation. Last fall, a retired special education educator, Eugene Lopes, contacted me and expressed an interest and desire to tutor Brendan.
Over many years, Flagler Technical College (FTC) and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office have enjoyed a very positive relationship to provide adult education programs to inmates including GED classes and testing. I immediately reached out to FTC and discussed the possibility of partnering to provide Brendan with an opportunity to continue his education with the goal of him taking the GED examination.
All parties worked collaboratively with detention staff to accommodate a schedule that would work best for our volunteer instructor. Mr. Depa and Mr. Lopes spent 3⁄4 of the lessons in December preparing him to take the Reasoning Through Language Arts section of the GED. The other 1⁄4 of his time was spent on either math, science or social studies. The educational plan we created was for him to take these sections after language arts.
By mid-January, he completed all sections of the reading prep. Mr. Depa was now ready to take the Language Arts section of the GED, except one roadblock was identified. Brendan did not have a Florida ID Card since he was incarcerated when he turned 18. He needed this in order to be enrolled for the exam.
Our team contacted Flagler County Tax Collector Suzanne Johnston’s Office and another partner emerged! Shelly Edmondson and David Herne provided access and enrollment instructions and we transported Brendan to the Tax Collector’s Office one morning before the office opened, provided the documents required and he obtained his Florida ID Card.
Now it was up to Brendan as all educational roadblocks had been removed. We are proud to say he passed the Language Arts section of the GED! He has now completed all sections of the social studies and science lessons of the GED prep, and we are in the process of arranging computer access so he can take the social studies and science sections of the GED and to complete the required math lessons. Math has always been a struggle for Brendan but he is making significant progress through the lessons, according to Mr. Lopes.
By providing long blocks of time with Brendan, our team and partners, we were able to dramatically increase his academic stamina. Mr. Lopes doesn’t think Brandon would have been able to sit and focus for a two-hour test prior to their work together. While in-custody in our detention facility, Brendan has worked on his coping mechanisms for dealing with frustration and developed time management and pacing skills.
FTC’s GED facilitator, Mr. Paul Delisle was the glue that made this arrangement work. Most importantly, he also developed a strong relationship with Brendan, making him feel important and smart every time he was in the classroom and sometimes taking on instructional duties when Mr. Lopes was not available.
Our detention staff made sure that Brendan was always ready and on time for his classes and gracefully providing encouragement when he was struggling to adapt to incarceration and living in a jail environment.
While we do not know how his education was previously handled, we can assure the community that since he has been in our custody our dedicated detention team, with the partnership of FTC, the Tax Collector’s Office and our amazing volunteers and through the vision of Sheriff Staly, we have been able to provide him his education, the cornerstone of success in society, in a difficult situation.
