JUVENILE JUSTICE Fixes at youth lockup promised Juvenile justice chief William Bankhead offers assurances in Miami that he will remedy problems at a lockup where a teen died of a ruptured appendix. BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER cmarbin@herald.com As black lawmakers called on Gov. Jeb Bush to fire the head of Florida's embattled juvenile justice agency, Secretary William G. ''Bill'' Bankhead flew to Miami on Friday and pledged to ''embrace the recommendations'' of a critical grand jury report.Alternately conciliatory and defensive, Bankhead told reporters Friday that the Department of Juvenile Justice already had taken great strides to improve the operation of Florida's largest detention center. He said administrators will take additional steps to upgrade the Miami facility and its staff in coming days. ''We all want to do the same thing: operate a first-class detention facility in Dade County, and provide excellent care to the youth while they are there,'' Bankhead said.He quickly acknowledged, however, that ''none of this can restore the life that was lost.'' Bankhead was referring to Omar Paisley, a 17-year-old Opa-locka youth who died June 9 of a ruptured appendix after pleading with officials three days for medical care. His death spurred a seven-month grand jury investigation.Reacting to the grand jury's blistering report, and the indictment of two licensed practical nurses whom the report claims ignored Paisley's plight, members of the state's legislative black caucus demanded that Bush take immediate steps to reform the state's juvenile justice agency. ''I'm calling for [Bankhead's] resignation. He has to take responsibility for what happened to Paisley,'' Sen. Mandy Dawson, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, said at a meeting of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators. ``The secretary has continued to ignore the black caucus. I think he´s at the top of the ticket. He has the job of overseeing the protocols in the department. And if you don´t have a protocol for 911 emergencies -- to have a child in pain who is asking for help -- and not have the proper protocols, that´s criminal.´´At a Miami appearance Friday morning, Bush said Bankhead retains his support. Bush said Bankhead, as secretary, bears some responsibility for Paisley's death, but added, ``This is the standard procedure that we always go through: We want to blame somebody rather than solve the problem. There´ll be time later to assess blame. I want to get the problem solved. ''That's the first responsibility that Secretary Bankhead has and he's accepted it,'' he said. Bush described what happened to Paisley -- as outlined in the 50-page report -- as ``unconscionable.´´ Bankhead fought back tears twice as he fielded questions from reporters at a Friday afternoon news conference near the airport. ''We will make sure that all the people who work at that facility, and all facilities, feel empowered to do the right thing, and understand what is the right thing,'' he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Herald staff writers Lesley Clark and Jason Grotto contributed to this report. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/7839850.htm