WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - The family of a guard killed during a prison riot and five other officers who survived the inmate uprising are planning to accuse the state of Delaware in a federal lawsuit of ignoring security and staffing problems.
The lawsuit will be announced at a news conference Tuesday morning. The plaintiffs are being represented by the Neuberger firm.
Sick Out
Meanwhile, possibly as many as 200 prison officials in Delaware failed to show up for work yesterday as part of a planned “sick out”.
The Wilmington News Journal reports that’s according to state workers who were familiar with the issue.
But the paper said it could not verify that number. It added officials at in the corrections department declined to comment on the claim.
They did say that the vast majority of its 25-hundred employees reported for work.
The News Journal cited one state official who wished not to be identified as saying that corrections officers are "terrified" to work in the prisons for security reasons.
The Correctional Officers Association has complained that the Delaware prison system in understaffed.
All of this follows the inmate uprising at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.
In February, inmates took four correctional workers hostage at the correctional Center in Smyrna, setting off a nearly 20-hour standoff during which correctional Officer Steven Floyd was killed.
The siege ended after two other guards were released and tactical teams breached the building and rescued a female counselor.
