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Saturday, February 18, 2017

What really caused Delaware's prisoners to revolt at Vaughn Correctional Center

'We knew it was coming'

Trouble at Delaware’s toughest prison percolated for years before inmates took control of a building and killed a correctional officer.

In interviews with The News Journal, three dozen inmates and their families, prison advocates and former and current correctional officers said anyone at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center could see the deadly standoff coming.

Inmates insist that they continuously begged for respect from officers, better counseling and drug treatment, access to doctors and opportunities to earn a high school or college diploma.

"We've been trying to reach out – pushing the pen – and it was like no one was hearing us," said one Vaughn inmate whose identity was verified by the newspaper but requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. "We've been crying out for years."

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

None of those were important enough to earn them on the outside, but they'd literally kill for the privileges inside.

Anonymous said...

Does not justify murder. They are inmates they should be treated with respect but as those of us on the outside know nothing is owed to them.