Following Multiple Inmate COVID-19 Deaths and Spike in Cases at State Prison, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Slams State Correction Department for Rejecting Offer of 4,600 Facemasks...

WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, following the deaths of Jim Hunter, Richard Roth and Peter Schellinger, all inmates at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Delaware, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware slammed the State Department of Correction (DOC) for failing to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) – including facemasks – to inmates, and called on the DOC to accept the CPBD’s offer of 4,600 face masks to distribute to all 4,200 inmates in the State prison system.

The deaths come just two weeks after CPBD’s offer of 4,600 facemasks for inmates the facility was first accepted, then rejected by the State amid reports the DOC would not release prisoners or supply the needed PPE to protect them from COVID-19, just hours after they had initially accepted it per official emails. The rejection came after agency officials informed the office of DOC Commissioner Claire DeMatteis, a political appointee of Governor John Carney, who has been criticized by CPBD for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis.