A warning from a Delaware correctional officer just 12 days before he was killed in a February prison riot could have prevented the incident and his own death, according to an independent review ordered by Gov. John Carney.
The 159-page report released Friday about the uprising at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna said Lt. Steven Floyd and other guards warned prison officials on January 20 that certain inmates should not have been in C-Building.
“Most unfortunately, the Independent Review Team believes that had the request for the removal of certain inmates from the C-Building — made on January 20, 2017 by the very correctional officer who was killed during the incident that began on February 1, 2017 — been taken more seriously and carried out, the incident and the resulting death may not have occurred,” the report said.
A footnote to the report noted that “due to the ongoing internal affairs investigation, the probe was “not able to determine whether steps were taken to address Sgt. Floyd’s request to remove certain inmates from C-Building.”
But Charles M. Oberly III, former U.S. attorney and attorney general for Delaware, who oversaw the independent investigation with retired Family Court Judge William L. Chapman Jr., said Friday that it appears Floyd’s warnings went unheeded.
“Officer Floyd did recognize that there were individuals that he thought should be removed … and as far as we can determine his requests were not acted on,” Oberly said during a news conference with Carney. “Had it been acted upon, or had [Floyd] been moved from that building — we use the word ‘may’, we can’t make the definite conclusion — but his death may have been avoided.”
Neither the report, nor Oberly or Carney, identified the inmates targeted for removal. Nor did they say whether those inmates were part of the group that took guards and other inmates hostage.
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