Fenel Baine fighting behind bars for more prison resources
DELAWARE – An incarcerated man at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Facility is speaking out.
“Is your life on the line, you should ask questions,” said Mike Brickner, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Fenel Baine of Seaford now voicing his concerns about resources for those behind bars following a deadly fight in 2005. “The guy Michael ended up passing away and they said I was charged as an accomplice to the murder, because I went to trial I got more time,” said Incarcerated, Fenel Baine.
Baine now serving 91 years admits involvement in the scuffle but says he was not the man behind the trigger, something his co-defendant has backed him on. Baine believes his long sentence was directly related to his lack of resources, one being a lawyer. “Public defenders are overloaded in Delaware so they do a perfunctory job, they pretty much work with the courts. They will coarse you to take a plea, scare you from going to trial – they are just like prosecutors,” said Baine.
Since Baine felt his public defender was ineffective, he’s using his time in prison to educate himself to better represent himself. “I research cases that are similar to my case and claims that were arranged, that mirror my claims then I present my arguments based off of those cases,” said Baine.
Baine says his access to law material has been limited. Mike Brickner, the Executive Director of the ACLU couldn’t comment on Baine’s case, but says a lack of resources is a common problem. “Oftentimes doesn’t always have the resources that every single person needs in the grand public defenders spread out. But then once you’re convicted, and you may be in prison, you know, it’s much harder to get those resources right,” said Brickner.
And some of the resources you can get, may come at a cost. “To get access to do internet research, oftentimes DOC has charging fees for accessing the internet and getting certain kinds of information. And so, you know, again, those are all barriers that can make it harder for that person to be able to get resources themselves, and then they’re also staring down a system that is also just very under-resourced itself,” said Brickner.
Making it harder to navigate the legal system alone, which is why Baine is using his case to try and highlight these issues some inmates face, guilty or not. “For a lot of individuals, find themselves in the same situation as me, especially people of color, and if I don’t stand up and say anything it just keeps going, so our silence is their power,” said Baine.
In order to move forward, Brickner says the Justice system needs to make some changes. “People who are incarcerated should be able to access information for free. Every single person should have access to those things, and that’s something that you know, DOC could change. It’s also something that our state legislature could change. They can mandate that people have those types of accesses,” said Brickner.
Baine says it’s been a litany of obstacles but he’s not stopping his fight for innocence and hopes that his story makes a difference. When he is released, Baine would like to open a foundation ensuring those behind bars have the necessary resources to fight their cases.
Baine has used all of his appeals and filed for a commutation. He is currently waiting to hear back from the governor about the potential pardon.
The Delaware Department of Corrections says all inmates across all security levels may request and receive law library materials through prison mail and inmate tablet requests.
