Relatives of Vaughn inmates want reform

The mothers, brothers, sisters and children of inmates at James T. Vaughn Correctional Centered gathered on Monday demanding an end to what they described as “torture” inside the prison walls.

They relayed stories of violent shakedowns, denial of medical attention and deprivation of basic rights they are told are taking place inside Vaughn in the weeks after inmates took officers hostage and demanded change in an uprising that led to the death of Lt. Stephen Floyd Sr. These stories filled Caanan Baptist Church Monday night as part of a town hall calling for reforms. 

“They are people not animals, they have to stop treating them that way,” said Karen Miller, whose son is a 20-year sentence at Vaughn. 

One by one, family members of those incarcerated looked toward the church’s altar pleading to politicians and God for solutions to problems they see in the criminal justice system. Families of those incarcerated say conditions have only gotten worse since the deadly siege. 

Inmates describe constant security sweeps at odd hours and embarrassing cavity searches that they describe as inhumane. On Monday, family members said these security sweeps have taken a violent turn since the riot.

“He said, ‘Mom I’m scared to sleep at night because I fear they are going to come in and kill us,” said Wilmington-resident Shelia White-Kelly recalling a conversation with her son, who has been in Vaughn for nine years.

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White-Kelly remembered getting a call from him during the riot. She said he was held hostage by other prisoners with a knife to his neck. 

“Anytime you have people that are holding hostage, who in the world asks for rehabilitation and education? People ask for a helicopter, they ask for money. That tells you they are being mistreated,” White-Kelly said.

Stephen Hampton, a lawyer who frequently represents prisoners suing the Department of Correction, sent a letter to Gov. John Carney on Monday demanding that the state stops torturing and brutalizing inmates at Vaughn.

He claimed that, even once the hostage situation on Feb. 1 was under control, the inmates housed in Building C were subjected to “an orgy of gratuitous violence.”

“Inmates were slammed to the ground if not already there and hogtied with the zip ties so painfully tight on their wrists that many sustained nerve damage,” he wrote. “Once restrained, they were kicked, beaten with batons, and dragged across the compound.”

Hampton requested that the governor responds as soon as possible to detail the steps being taken to end the torture.

“My son didn’t have anything to do with this,” said Theresa Liebal, who claims he was injured in a shakedown after the riot. “We shouldn’t be having to go through this.”

Gov. Carney has launched an independent review headed by two retired state judges tasked with determining what allowed the fatal standoff to occur.

Former Delaware Supreme Court Justice Henry duPont Ridgely and former Judge William L. Chapman Jr. will lead the investigation, focusing on what prompted the takeover and what security measures must be taken to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

Rev. Christopher Bullock, with the Delaware Coalition of Prison Reform and Justice and the host of Monday’s event, said that is insufficient and has called for an independent investigation.

“We do not feel the state can investigate itself,” Bullock said. “We must end the Delaware way.”

The independent review is ongoing and expected to produce a report by June 1 so any necessary budgetary actions can be taken, Carney said.

It’s unclear what reforms might come. Carney has also approved the purchase of $340,800 in new security and communications equipment for correctional officers "to respond to and prevent violent incidents at JTVCC and in Level V facilities statewide," he said in a release last week.

For one group, it's not enough.

"All we continue to get is conversation, conversation, conversation," said Geoffrey Klopp, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware. "I still have no answers, and that is entirely unacceptable given the drastic crisis situation we have at Vaughn."

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Many of the families who spoke Monday feel the review should include concrete solutions to improve conditions.

"This is psychological," said Jermaine Wright, who spent more than 20 years on death row before a Delaware court overturned his 1991 conviction.

On Monday, he spoke about the damage done by solitary confinement.

"I've been there. I've seen things on the floor that I shouldn't have seen. I'd see things and ain't nothing there," Wright said. "You got counselors that ain't really counselors. You got mental health people that ain't really mental health people. You have programs being run by inmates. You got people with degrees that don't know how to handle us."

Dorothy Watson’s son is 66. He was diagnosed with cancer at Vaughn and has twice been up for “compassionate release” only to be denied.

“My son has written letters to me that he does not want to die in prison,” she said choking back tears. “I don’t want him to die in prison.”

The town hall featured a panel of experts that did far more listening than talking. Kathleen MacRae, executive director of the Delaware ACLU said the state has many options to reduce the prison population and ease the burden on overworked and underpaid correctional officers.

She said increasing civil citations in lieu of arrests, reducing the “piling on” of charges will improve conditions for those incarcerated.

“I think it is important the legislature acknowledge this: anytime they enhance a sentence or put on a mandatory minimum or tie a judges' hands in one way or another, they are acting to increase the prison population,” McRae said. “Delaware does not have to be this way.”

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.