Protesters demand prison reform: Community leaders, families of inmates offer plan for change

DOVER -- Carrying a 10-point plan for prison reform, a coalition of clergy, elected officials, community leaders and families of inmates who have died in Delaware prisons rallied in Wilmington on Monday, drove to Dover, and then marched to the steps of Legislative Hall and to the front yard of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's home, where they knelt in prayer.

"The system is sick. It's in critical condition," the Rev. Christopher Allan Bullock of Canaan Baptist Church in Wilmington shouted outside his church's administrative offices in Wilmington.

"Our prison system is a culture of incompetence, immorality and quite possibly criminality," Bullock said. "Where is the moral and political leadership from our governor, her administration and past administrations? This is not just a protest. It's a protest with a plan."

No response from governor

Minner did not respond to the protesters, their plan or to calls for comment from The News Journal. Delaware Department of Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor had not seen the plan and had no comment, said spokeswoman Beth Welch.

"How do we expect the inmates to do the right thing when the people in charge of them are doing the wrong thing?" Wilmington City Councilwoman Hanifa Shabazz said before the protesters drove to Dover.

Monday's protest march was organized after a six-month investigation by The News Journal highlighted AIDS-related inmate deaths and suicides over the past four years; allegations by inmates of poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and hepatitis; and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded this year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services to manage health care in the state's prisons.

"My husband is dead because they put him in a cell with a bedsheet," said Karen Barkes, whose husband, Christopher, was sent to Gander Hill for a probation violation. Upon admission, he disclosed previous suicide attempts and a history of mental illness, according to the prison's screening form. Despite his admissions, prison staffers placed him in a cell, alone, according to the form, which was reviewed by The News Journal. He hanged himself within hours.

"There are two children who do not have their father anymore, because the prison system failed," Karen Barkes said. "The state knows what's going on. This was not an isolated incident."

Seeking help and answers

On Friday, a different coalition of 30 churches, social service organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware sent letters to Minner and the General Assembly urging them to immediately send emergency medical teams into Delaware prisons to determine whether inmates are receiving appropriate medical care.

Meanwhile, four lawmakers have asked for independent investigations: House Majority Leader Wayne A. Smith, R-Clair Manor; Rep. Hazel D. Plant, D-Wilmington Central; Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East; and Sen. Charles L. Copeland, R-West Farms.

Plant and Copeland participated in Monday's march on Minner's home. The protest was organized by Bullock, Plant, Copeland and New Castle County Councilman Penrose Hollins, D-4th District.

"Just because they're criminals doesn't mean they're not human," Wilmington City Councilman Mike Brown said.

Many of the protesters carried hand-made signs: "Human rights for the incarcerated," "Governor where are you," "Justice now," "The system is sick," "Does Delaware care" and "FBI help us."

At times, the event took on the spirit of a religious revival.

"Let justice roll down like water, righteousness like a mighty stream," Bullock said, quoting a passage from the Book of Amos.

Imam Umar Hassan El said problems in Delaware's prisons demand attention.

"We are not in a Third World nation," Hassan El said. "The late Howard R. Young, the man for whom Gander Hill prison was renamed, said we must rehabilitate the offenders. That's what we must do."

Bullock and other speakers called for public hearings to investigate the system.

"If hearings are not held here, I vow I will hold hearings in the parking lot of Legislative Hall, to see that the people's voice is heard," Bullock said. "If we are going to reform the system, we need to reform from the top to the bottom."

Plant said the inmates' plight is an issue of human rights.

"Our sons and daughters are dying in prison," she said. "We should not stand by and let it happen."

Hollins said he and other County Council members are preparing a letter to Minner asking for an inquiry into prison conditions. He said he was appalled by conditions Delaware inmates face and called on other elected officials to demand an end to the "cruelty."

"How can we look the other way," he said. "We can do better. We shall do better. We will do better. And we are not going anywhere until we do better."

'We grieve every day'

Susie Wilson's son Jermaine was found Feb. 18, hanging from a bedsheet in the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna, eight days after a judge ordered his release. His clothes were stained with blood and there was a gash in the back of his head. His family insists he was murdered.

"Commissioner Taylor, Governor Minner, how can you sleep, when we grieve every day?" Wilson asked from the steps of Legislative Hall. "Where are the answers? Where are the people who have done this to our families? They need to be in prison."

Wilson said she tried to meet with prison officials to get answers about her son's death.

"Commissioner Taylor refused to meet with me. He said it's not part of his protocol," she said. "It's not part of my protocol to carry a baby for nine months, and then to have him die."

Francine Wright, whose son, Darnell Anderson, died of AIDS in January while serving a four-year drug sentence, said doctors declined to talk to her about her son's condition during his final days at St. Francis Hospital.

"They robbed me of my time with my son," she said. "They should have let me talk to my son."

On the steps of Legislative Hall, just before the group marched to the governor's residence, the Rev. Mary Wood, associate pastor of the Canaan Baptist Church, led a prayer.

"God, we petition you to turn the hearts of kings," she said. "The heart of our governor is in your hands. We declare what is done in darkness is now in the light. Now we march for justice. We want justice now."

About 75 people marched for 15 minutes until they arrived at the governor's mansion, where two Capital Police officers met them at the end of the driveway.

For about 15 minutes the marchers chanted and delivered their 10-point plan over a bullhorn.

Then they knelt in prayer.

"We're marching, an army of justice," Bullock said. "Bless this protest, bless this plan, bless these people, Lord."

THE 10-POINT PLAN

The coalition's plan for prison reform:
 

1. Provide disease screening of inmates.
 

2. Mandatory testing of inmates for hepatitis and HIV.
 

3. Require bidding for all medical service contracts.
 

4. Switch to a "cost-plus" contract for medical services.
 

5. Establish inmate grievance procedure regarding their medical care so someone other than the provider reviews the grievances.
 

6. Establish independent oversight of medical service provider.
 

7. Maintain accurate records of AIDS/HIV in state correction facilities.
 

8. Reduce the suicide rates
 

9. Support an independent commission to investigate prison medical services, to include:
 

• Inhumane treatment
 

• Lack of proper medical care
 

• Understaffing and forced overtime by correction officers.
 

• Investigate incidents of rape
 

10. Address mental health care issues.