Union speaks out on staffing issues within Del. Department of Corrections

Thursday afternoon, a conference held by the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware discussed the aftermath of the hostage situation at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Facility.

President Geoff Klopp was surrounded by officers and those mourning the loss of Sergeant Floyd. During his speech, tension was high when he brought up issues of under staffing within the Department of Corrections.

The president of the association tells us the problem with staffing is not new, and according to him it hasn't been addressed. President Klopp went as far to say the death of Sgt. Floyd could have been prevented if changes to the corrections system were made.

"We have brought these issues to light and we had absolutely no assistance from the previous governor," says Klopp.

According to Klopp, those issues include a lack of staff, overworked staff, and staff not being properly trained. Klopp believes this idea is well known and inspired prisoners to do 'dry-runs' that test the weak points of the security.

"The inmates  have a false code just to see what our response is going to be, just to test to see how we are going to respond  so they can make adjustments about they think they are going to do  in the future," says Klopp.

Klopp says Wednesday's hostage situation is one of three major incidents that have occurred at the James T. Vaughn facility since 2004. Since then, a task force was assigned to give recommendations on how to fix this issue.

Klopp says none of those recommendations such as increasing pay and improving benefits have been implemented. Despite this incident Klopp says he remains hopeful that change will come with the new administration.

President Klopp says he has had conversations with current Governor John Carney in regards to these problems and he hopes actions are follow after this tragedy. He also says the association is also in process of doing a staffing study of the correctional facilities.