Tuesday, June 14, 2005 | 8:54 a.m.
The late Brittany Nicole Kish was no stranger to the staff at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center when her parole officer brought her in on April 11. She had been there before, many times, for such offenses as running away, shoplifting and assaulting her parents. She had also spent time at the state reformatory in Caliente. And in October 2003 she had been a patient at the Spring Mountain Treatment Center in Las Vegas, a private facility under contract with the state to treat juveniles. There, she was violated by an employee, who later was convicted of statutory sexual assault and child abuse.
Her mother said Brittany's emotional troubles began around age 9, when she was diagnosed with a mental illness, and had plunged to new depths after the assault. When the illness was dormant, the mother described Brittany as an outgoing, charming child. But there was another Brittany, the one her mom found bloodied in March from a suicide attempt. After that incident, the girl spent 10 days at a private psychiatric hospital. Upon discharge, Brittany showed improvement -- for awhile. But on April 2 she ran away again. When she returned April 11, her mother, sensing she needed constant supervision, called Brittany's probation officer.
At 12:30 p.m. that day, she was interviewed at the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center and found to be at risk for suicide. According to procedure, staff was notified, her chart was filled out to reflect her status and a card also reflecting her status was placed on the door to her cell. She was to be checked every five minutes.
By 3:15 Brittany was dead, having become the first suicide victim at the detention center in 29 years after hanging herself with a sheet. In a report by a Metro Police detective, and confirmed by an in-house report, no one checked on Brittany from 2:40 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
The floor supervisor in charge of Brittany's cell said in the police report that she had been escorting other girls to a classroom during those 35 minutes. And her supervisor said that no one else was available to monitor Brittany's hallway. No one available? "No one available" is a nonchalant, sickeningly irresponsible attitude when it comes to someone on suicide watch. Have standards at the detention center fallen that low? This case should not recede into history until that question is answered and resolved.
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