psychiatric disease and her longstanding history of self-harm and suicide attempts, Weekes says. His letter demands that BSO review its policies regarding monitoring mentally ill and suicidal detainees. BSO did not respond to questions about the jail’s mental health or suicide watch pol- icies. In an email to New Times on October 26, spokesperson Carey Codd wrote that a BSO internal affairs unit is reviewing the in- cident. The sheriff’s office denied that Kei- rstyn was under active suicide watch when she took her life. Keirstyn’s father is calling on the sheriff’s office to make “significant changes” in the way it treats mentally ill inmates. “First of all, if you’ve got cameras, why aren’t you watching the damn camera?” Ja- son Bucy asks in an interview with New Times. “They would have seen her cutting her pants... They could have stopped it before it even started.” According to Weekes, the 22-year-old’s sui- cide was part of a systemic failure of mental health protocols in Broward jails. In the past year and a half alone, Weekes has sent several letters to Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony re- garding deaths and injuries among people with psychiatric disorders in his facilities. In January 2021, Weekes wrote to Tony about a 43-year-old man in custody with a history of psychiatric issues who was alleg- edly pepper sprayed in the face and tasered into submission by an officer during a men- tal health crisis. The man sustained an irre- versible brain injury and was left in a vegetative state. Months later, in August 2021, Weekes con- tacted the sheriff about a July incident in which a deputy was accused of pouring bleach and other chemical substances into a man’s cell in retaliation for spitting in his face. The man, who had a history of mental illness, was taken to the hospital in “grave condition,” the public defender said. Then, in December 2021, the public de- fender called attention to the case of a 44-year-old man who allegedly attempted suicide under jail staff’s care and died in a hospital several days later. In another letter to the sheriff, Weekes said that the man’s death reflected a “disturbing trend” in Broward de- tention centers and marked at least the third unnatural, seemingly preventable inmate death in BSO jail facilities in 2021. Other incidents include an inmate who cut his penis off after being left unsupervised in isolation in September 2018, the public de- fender says. According to Weekes, a 17-year- old suffering from a psychiatric disorder committed suicide in BSO custody the fol- lowing year. “At some point in time, we need to cast the light of transparency... and start holding folks accountable,” Weekes tells New Times. Jason Bucy remembers his daughter as a vibrant girl who could play the drums before she could walk. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Keirstyn had open heart surgery at five days old to treat a congenital heart defect, and she was put on a laundry list of medications at birth. She faced medical hardships in early childhood but came out with an indomitable spirit. “She wasn’t afraid of anything,” Bucy re- calls with a laugh. Bucy says that as an infant, Keirstyn “WE NEED TO CAST THE LIGHT OF TRANSPARENCY... AND START HOLDING FOLKS ACCOUNTABLE.” would crawl on him and play on one of the many drum sets scattered around their house at the time. “When she was in the sixth grade, I had an opportunity to teach her with the winter per- cussion line,” Bucy says. “That kid would be so meticulous in her part, she’d play five mea- sures over and over and over until she got it perfect.” As Keirstyn grew older, her father began to notice some things were dif- ferent about her compared to other kids. Aside from be- ing more lethar- gic than others, she took partic- ular pride in lining up her toys and sorting them by color. When she was old enough, she always en- sured her bookshelf was perfectly orga- nized. Keirstyn also displayed behavioral issues, including sudden outbursts and an inability to understand consequences at times. Still, the father recalls Keirstyn embraced her love for music — and was very particular about it. She went on to play everything from marimba to vibraphones to the bells in school bands. And she loved to ride horses, fish, and hunt with her dad. At 12, Keirstyn was diagnosed with high- functioning autism, Bucy says. Doctors later determined that she also had borderline per- sonality disorder and bipolar disorder, among other diagnoses. When she was 15, Keirstyn moved from Indiana, where she lived with her mom, to North Florida to stay full-time with her father. Within the first few months, Bucy says Keirstyn began to go through cycles of “high highs” and “low lows.” She would go from being a happy-go-lucky girl to cutting herself in the bathroom at school, her father says. Keirstyn was subjected to Baker Act pro- ceedings dozens of times in the subsequent years, Bucy recalls. He admits he would sometimes beg mental health facilities to keep his daughter in their care because he be- lieved she was safer there. “She would be incredibly angry and hos- tile and would lash out for a couple of weeks, and then, one day, it would be like the switch was flipped: ‘I love you Daddy. I’m sorry. I’m getting better,’” Bucy says. At 18, Bucy says, Keirstyn dropped out of school and left home. She remained homeless for much of her short adult life while still keeping in contact with her father on occa- sion. Court records list her most recent ad- dress as “at large.” After she was arrested in June, she rang her father up from behind bars. “My little girl called me and asked me to bail her out of jail, and I said no... I said you’re in the safest place you can be,” Bucy remembers. [email protected] Eligible for Medicare & Medicaid? HELP YOURSELF! Get $7,500 worth of FREE extra benefits that Original Medicare & Medicaid don’t cover. Keep ALL your Original Medicare & Medicaid benefits $0 monthly premium Call now to enroll: 1-866-396-1586 (TTY: 711) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week Or visit: vipdualfl.com/new AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care is an HMO-SNP plan with a Medicare contract and a contract with the Florida Medicaid program. Enrollment in AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care depends on contract renewal. AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care is only available in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. 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