‘Commish’ to Run Fla. Juvenile System

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —  The former chief of New York City’s jails was named Wednesday to head Florida’s beleaguered Department of Juvenile Justice.

Anthony Schembri, who was the model for the TV show “The Commish,” will take over an agency that has faced a long list of troubles in recent years.

The department has seen two inmate deaths and allegations of guards having sex with locked-up girls. A newspaper reported in April that more than 600 cases of abuse or neglect have taken place at state juvenile detention centers in the last decade, with nearly two-thirds occurring since 2000.

In June, 17-year-old Omar Paisley died from a burst appendix in a Miami-Dade County detention center after going three days without treatment. Since then, nearly two dozen agency employees have taken extended leaves, stepped down or been pushed out.

Schembri, 61, was appointed to the post by Gov. Jeb Bush. He will replace Bill Bankhead, who has left the agency.

Schembri, who now lives in Florida, was praised for reducing overtime and bureaucracy during his 10-month stint as the commissioner of New York City’s jails. He retired in 1995 amid questions about his residency in the city.

Investigators found that Schembri spent most of his non-working hours living with his family in a New York suburb, although he kept an apartment in the city. But officials concluded that he did not cheat the city because he spent so much time working.