Location Smyrna, Delaware Capacity 2600 | Status Open Opened 1971 | |
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Security class maximum, medium, and minimum Managed by Delaware Department of Correction | ||
The James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (JTVCC), formerly the Delaware Correctional Center (DCC), is a state prison for men in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, USA, near Smyrna. It is the Delaware Department of Corrections's largest correctional facility.
Contents
JTVCC houses some 2,500 minimum, medium, and maximum security inmates. It is also the primary facility for housing the Kent County pre-trial (detainee) population.
The state's death row for men is in located here, while the death row for women is in the Delores J. Baylor Women's Correctional Institution. Executions occur at JTVCC.
The facility is named for former Delaware State Senator James T. Vaughn, Sr. (1925-2007).
In 1996, construction began on a $110 million, 888-bed addition which included 600 maximum security cells in six units. The new addition houses the Security Housing Unit (SHU) and the Medium-High Housing Unit (MHU).
Prisoners in the SHU, which includes the prison's death row, occupy single-bunked cells in which they are locked down and receive 3 hours a week out of their cell for recreational purposes. Inmates, other than those sentenced to the death penalty, may earn their way out of the SHU through good behavior.
In 2015, the prison became a subject of an ACLU lawsuit, due to the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill prisoners. Further lawsuits have been filed due to the Delaware State Correction's decision to feed some of the prisoners "baked slop," while other states have since discontinued the use of such meals.
Incidents
On July 12, 2004, 45-year-old inmate Scott Miller armed with a shank, took a 27-year-old female prison counselor hostage. Miller raped the woman who he held for seven hours before being shot and killed. Miller, a convicted serial rapist, was serving a 694 year sentence at the time.
On February 1, 2017, inmates took control of Building C, initially holding five correctional officers as hostages, according to media reports. This building houses about 100 inmates. The incident was first reported by a correctional officer's radio call for 'immediate assistance' at 10:38 a.m. The prison, and all other prisons within Delaware, were placed on lockdown. One hostage was released a few hours later, and taken to a hospital with 'non-life threatening' injuries. Later that evening, two other hostages were reportedly released. When the hostage situation ended, one hostage, identified as correctional officer and 16 year veteran Sgt Steven Floyd, was killed and another was injured.