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Chief Engert: How Flagler County Jail Stepped Up to Ensure Brendan Depa’s Continuing Education

April 29, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Brendan Depa, in the orange shirt, arriving for a hearing in court last June, before his transfer to the Flagler County jail. (© FlaglerLive)
Brendan Depa, in the orange shirt, arriving for a hearing in court last June, before his transfer to the Flagler County jail. (© FlaglerLive)

Brendan Depa is the former Matanzas High School student with disabilities who in February 2023 was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery of a school employee. He pleaded to the charge, and is scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday.

By Daniel Engert

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. 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 and was transferred to our facility from a Jacksonville juvenile detention center.

Chief Daniel Engert. (FCSO)
Chief Daniel Engert. (FCSO)
I am very proud of our detention team and their desire to adopt Sheriff Rick 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 three-quarters of the lessons in December preparing him to take the Reasoning Through Language Arts section of the GED. The other quarter 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 the 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 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, 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.

Daniel Engert has been Chief of the Court and Detention Services Division at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office since January 2020.

Click On:


  • Brendan Depa's Sentencing Set to Conclude 3 Months After It Started: 'I'm Going to Accept Whatever Happens'
  • Mother of Tristin Murphy, Who Killed Himself with Chainsaw in Prison, Pleads with Judge on Brendan Depa’s Behalf
  • Brendan Depa's Sentencing Will Not Resume Until Aug. 6, Giving Defense Time to Recover from Bad Day
  • At Brendan Depa Sentencing, Prisons’ Mental Health Chief Draws Bizarrely Rosy Picture of Services Awaiting Him
  • Joan Naydich, Brendan Depa’s Victim of Beating, Details How ‘Everything Was Taken Away’ from Her
  • Chief Engert: How Flagler County Jail Stepped Up to Ensure Brendan Depa’s Continuing Education
  • Lawsuit Blames Flagler Schools’ Failure to Address Brendan Depa’s Known Needs and Risks Before Attack on Aide
  • The Dis-Education of Brendan Depa
  • The Brendan Depa I Have Come To Know
  • Brendan Depa’s Mother Tells Her Son’s Story
  • Brendan Depa's Sentencing is Postponed as Lawyers Cite More Preparation Needed
  • Brendan Depa Tenders Open Plea in Beating of Matanzas High Staffer, Leaving Sentence Up to Judge
  • Brendan Depa Will Plead Out in Teacher-Assault Case, Leaving His Fate to a Judge
  • Brendan Depa, Now 18, Is Transferred to the Flagler County Jail to Await Trial
  • Shocking Disparities in Flagler’s Handling of 3 Different Assaults by Disabled Students Against School Staff
  • Despite Severe Autism, Judge Finds Depa, Ex-Matanzas High Student, Competent to Be Tried for Assault on Aide
  • Court Roundup: Plea Possible in Ex-Matanzas Student Case; Murder Trials Pushed Back
  • Matanzas Aide Attacked by 17 Year Old Had Reported His Threats As Far Back as August
  • Judge Orders Mental Evaluation for Matanzas Student Who Assaulted Aide
  • Matanzas Assault Case: A Miscarriage of Justice Hardens Before Our Eyes
  • Matanzas Student Who Attacked Aide Was Arrested 3 Times for Battery Before; Other Cases Examined
  • Matanzas Student Charged as Adult with 1st-Degree Felony in Assault on Teacher Aide
  • Matanzas High School Special Education Student Arrested in Attack of Teacher Aide
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lynne says

    April 29, 2024 at 9:35 am

    As the grandmother of a special needs child and aunt of two, I can vouch for the special attention needed by and provided for these children. My grandson and one nephew are now functioning as responsible individuals – the nephew works as a postal carrier. The other nephew, who also has anger management issues which may or may not be part of the special needs, would not participate in the programs provided and is, once again, homeless and/or on welfare.
    These efforts DO WORK!!! And we owe it to our children, all our children, to provide them with whatever it takes for them to realize their potential.

  2. Peaches McGee says

    April 29, 2024 at 9:52 am

    Thank-you to all involved.

    I’m glad the proverbial key wasn’t thrown away.

  3. Jim says

    April 30, 2024 at 6:37 am

    This may be a case of good management vs. not so good…
    I am very impressed that the jail staff took the time and effort to develop a plan for Brendan and the determination and willingness to see it through.
    I wonder if Brendan would be in jail now and that teacher’s aide severely injured if the school system had adopted a similar strategy when it mattered?
    More to the point I hope the school system handles kids like him better now. I sure hope so.

  4. Ray W. says

    April 30, 2024 at 1:35 pm

    Thank you, Chief Engert! I am glad to read of the variety of resources across the educational community that are available to successfully improve Mr. Depa’s educational capacity and to expand his intellectual horizons.

    As I have commented on this site before, in my over 30 years of practice, I have visited clients in corrections facilities all over the state. I have interacted on numerous occasions with all types of corrections personnel. The Flagler County facility employs many professional and helpful officers and officials. I may have forgotten some instances, but I cannot remember a time when a Flagler County client was less than professionally treated in my presence, even Joseph Bova. Over the last nine years of my practice, I mainly worked out of the Flagler County office as an assistant public defender, but my client base was spread over the northern three counties of the 7th Circuit, so much of my work was in Flagler County. When assigned to the Flagler office, every fifth weekend morning was spent physically in the jail attending first appearances. I just want all of your corrections staff to know that I appreciate their efforts. Not all jails are created equal. I am not saying other corrections facilities are bad. I am saying yours is good.

  5. William Stonehocker says

    May 1, 2024 at 7:07 am

    Rock on to Gene Lopes for using his 30 year career of being a special ed teacher to help Brendan.

  6. Travis Thomas says

    May 2, 2024 at 11:56 am

    I am thrilled to see the work Flagler Technical College’s AGE program is doing to help change the lives and trajectories of so many people, and this is another great example of how localized partnerships can be powerful catalysts in achieving that goal.

    Kudos to Paul and Eugene, and the entire AGE Department at FTC, that works tirelessly to help those in our community that need academic skills building and English language development services.

    I’m proud to see us working together for the benefit of all concerned, and hope that trend will continue to develop and flourish with many more success stories to come.

  7. Doug L says

    May 5, 2024 at 8:09 pm

    I’m retired from Law Enforcement after 31 years, and I’ve read about and personally seen the successes of once-incarcerated individuals. I also certainly don’t condone what Brendan has done either, but what the FCSO Detention staff did to accommodate Brendan’s needs was amazing. I hope this case comes to an agreement that works for all affected.

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