21 Sussex Correctional Institution prisoners file lawsuit claiming 'pattern of abuse'
Xerxes WilsonA lawsuit filed late Wednesday on behalf of 21 former and current prisoners at Sussex Correctional Institution accuses officers there of a “systemic pattern of abuse and unlawful conduct.”
The complaint, filed in federal court, states that on “numerous occasions” in 2020 and 2021, officers engaged in “extreme, unprovoked and unnecessary acts of violence” against the plaintiffs, who are represented by the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and attorney Daniel Griffith.
“We’re concerned about the treatment of people housed at Sussex Correctional Institution, and we continue to monitor that treatment as this litigation moves ahead,” said Dwayne Bensing, staff attorney at the ACLU of Delaware, in a written statement. “Ultimately, we hope the litigation eradicates the culture of brutality that currently prevails.”
Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Correction, declined to comment.
Editor's note: Read the full lawsuit complaint at the end of this story
The lawsuit names more than two dozen correctional officers and includes multiple other unnamed officers as defendants. It also names a prison nurse as well as Warden Truman Mears and Deputy Warden John Beck as defendants.
Officer Kirk Neal is named as a defendant and plays a prominent role in several of the allegations about excessive force.
Recently, Delaware Online/The News Journal published an article detailing a history of complaints against Neal and how Department of Correction officials have declined to address Neal's work history, specific allegations of excessive force or discuss generally the department's policy and practices involving the use of force. Officials said they have declined to comment because of pending excessive force lawsuits.
INVESTIGATION:1 officer, 12 claims of excessive force; inside allegations of abuse at a Sussex prison
The 66-page lawsuit adds 19 new plaintiffs to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and Griffith in December on behalf of two men at SCI who claim they were unnecessarily beaten by Neal.
The newly filed lawsuit complaint includes a summary of the allegations by each of the 21 plaintiffs, which contain common themes:
- That officers unnecessarily use pepper spray and blunt force strikes to subdue prisoners in unthreatening situations.
- That officers subject prisoners to verbal abuse and taunts, making some feel as if the officers were seeking to provoke an unthreatening situation into violence.
- That some prisoners were subjected to spray and blunt force strikes after they had been handcuffed.
- That some officers sought to attack inmates inside cells or in areas not covered by surveillance cameras and in at least one case used handcuffs as bludgeons.
- That grievance and disciplinary systems failed to hold officers accountable for wrongdoing.
- That the prisoners were punished for the incident, did not receive proper medical care and were subjected to retaliation afterward.
The lawsuit claims the episodes amount to constitutional violations for excessive force, lack of medical care and other abuses of prisoner rights. It also makes civil assault and battery claims against the officers.
Mears and Beck, the warden and deputy warden, are accused of "allowing and encouraging" a system of abusive conduct to become "de facto policy" at the prison. The lawsuit states they failed to supervise officers properly, knew of excessive force violations and, by not taking action, failed to prevent other abuses of force.
RECENT ALLEGATIONS: Prisoner lawsuit claims beatings, 'pattern of excessive force' at Sussex Correctional Institution
The lawsuit also makes legal claims based on one man's allegations that he was left out in the hot, summer sun with no cover for seven hours in June.
It also makes claims based on a lack of privacy in barrack-style portions of the prison where men are housed on bunks and not in cells.
It states in those portions of the prison, namely the Stan Taylor building and the Program Building, restrooms and shower areas are designed in an "open" fashion that provides no privacy and that shower curtains are not allowed.
The lawsuit states prisoners "are required to defecate in front of one another and staff, including female staff, without being allowed to cover their genitalia in any way."
A defendant in the lawsuit stated that some prisoners shower in their underwear to allow some privacy.
The lawsuit states that one man was written up for a prison disciplinary violation for using a sheet to cover himself while using the toilet, something other prisoners said in interviews happens from time to time.
He was punished by losing certain prison privileges like phone use and visits for an unspecified amount of time, according to the complaint. For the lack of privacy, the lawsuit states the situation violates laws that protect the "dignity" of prisoners.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and is in its early stages.
Typically, state attorneys tasked with representing the Department of Correction will move to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing it fails to make legal claims that are actionable by the court or that prisoners failed to exhaust their so-called administrative remedies through prison grievance processes.
After that, the litigation may then move to discovery, in which the plaintiffs will be able to compel evidence like video recordings and other internal documents they claim will prove their allegations.
In inquiries by Delaware Online/The News Journal, the Delaware Department of Correction has consistently denied reporters, and the public generally, the ability to review such evidence, citing exemptions to the state's public records law that gives them the choice to conceal such records.
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareon