Former Indiantown prison guard from Vero Beach deserves answers in death of son | Opinion

On May 23, Kaytrina Humphrey-Williams received a nightmarish phone call.

A former corrections officer, Humphrey-Williams knew getting a call from the chaplain where her son was incarcerated wasn’t a good sign.

“When (the chaplain) told me, ‘I’m so sorry,’ I just dropped the phone,” she said. “I was freaking out.”

The chaplain’s message: Her son, Dennis E. Williams Jr., known around Gifford and Vero Beach as “Lil Dent,” 34, had died at Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City.

As of Thursday, all Humphrey-Williams had heard was corrections officers found her son dead in a cell with another inmate. There was no official word from the Department of Corrections on how her son died, she said.

I find that unconscionable.

So does Humphrey-Williams, who grew up in Gifford and now lives in Indiantown. She worked 11 years at Martin Correctional Institution, including time as a sergeant, and her husband retired after 28 years in the corrections field.

“This is why it hurts me tremendously,” she said. “There are things I was held accountable for that could have saved my child’s life.”

Those things include bed and security checks. She said she tried to call in sick before a standard midnight shift in 2009, but she was told she had to show up. Feeling sick to her stomach on medication, she skipped an inmate security check and was terminated.

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Lack of information disturbing

She has lots of unanswered questions for corrections officials. So do friends and relatives, who have begun a campaign to seek justice for Lil Dent based on unconfirmed information they’ve heard about his death: through what appears to be a Tik-Tok recording of a prisoner alleging foul play.

A Jacksonville-area TV station produced one of the most vague stories I’ve ever seen on an inmate death: three sentences, no names, no details, two weeks after the death.

My luck's been no better so far.

The Department of Corrections, which lists Williams as “deceased,” declined to provide additional information, referring me to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE could not be reached for comment.

The District IV Medical Examiner’s Office in Jacksonville said it would not release information until up to 90 days after its examination because of a criminal agency investigation.

After 40 years in journalism, including several years covering the crime beat, I understand the importance of limiting the release of information during an investigation.

How Williams got to prison

I don’t understand — especially given the attention to victims and their families the past few years through Marsy’s Law — how Humphrey-Williams hasn’t received even basic information about her son’s death.

No mother deserves that, even if her child is incarcerated.

Williams was far from perfect.

He had a few run-ins with the law before he turned 21, and in 2009 was one of five men charged with first-degree murder after breaking into a Vero Beach home to steal a TV and other items.

Ultimately, Williams pleaded to reduced charges and was required to spend six months in a drug and mental rehabilitation facility after helping prosecutors with their case. Leviticus Taylor was sentenced to life in prison for bashing a concrete block over the head of resident Nestor Perez, 63, according to TCPalm. 

In February 2015, Williams was charged with selling hydromorphone to an undercover sheriff’s deputy in Indian River County. Six months later, St. Lucie County deputies said he was involved in a burglary at Lakewood Park where a 79-year-old woman was shot at.

In 2018, Williams was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the drug charges. In 2021, after his attorney failed to persuade a judge he was mentally incompetent to stand trial, Williams was sentenced to 15 years on burglary and attempted murder charges.

Despite the issues, Humphrey-Williams said her son was a “lovable guy” who took care of his younger siblings. That help was especially important when she was a single mom working three jobs to try and help her four children get ahead.

“It was just so hard to see,” Humphrey-Williams said of her son’s challenges, which she started seeing when he was about 18. So she sought help.

“I knew where he’d end up if he didn’t get help,” she said, noting he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

“He’d do good as long as he was taking his medicine,” she said. When he didn’t, he’d hang out with the wrong crowd and could be manipulated. “I always told him, ‘if you do the crime, you’re going to do the time.’ ”

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Humphrey-Williams knew from speaking with her son he wasn’t taking his medication regularly at South Bay Correctional Institution. Three days before his death, he was transported to Columbia after an altercation with another inmate at South Bay, she said.

Still, said Humphrey-Williams, a certified nursing assistant and 2018 criminal justice graduate of Indian River State College,society needs to treat patients with mental health issues better than just locking them up. Oftentimes they’re not — especially if they’re small like her son (130 pounds) — equipped to handle the challenges posed by some other inmates.

“There is no way my son should have died in a cell with that guy (or anyone else),” she said. “My son’s life was taken. Having a mental illness should not be a death sentence.”

She's right.

"His life mattered," she said, emotionally upset over her loss and seeking to get to the bottom of her son's case. "My mission is to prevent other mothers' pain."

She, her friends and family want to ensure this case isn't swept under the rug by state officials. You can learn more by emailing Justicefordennis33@gmail.com.

The Williams family and public deserve answers. If there was foul play — almost 18 inmates are murdered each year in Florida prisons, including two the past six years at Columbia — or negligence, people must be held accountable.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Former Martin CI prison guard needs answers in death of son | Opinion