Delaware NAACP wants to help resolve problems at prison

The Delaware State Conference of the NAACP wants to work with state correction officials to “resolve persistent issues” highlighted by the demands of inmates who took four corrections workers hostage at the state’s largest prison.

In a statement released late Thursday, C. Linwood Jackson, the president of the state’s conference of branches, says prayers go out to the family of Sgt. Steven Floyd, who was killed at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.

Jackson says as the investigation identifies the perpetrators, their motives and the circumstances that led to the situation, they hope policies and procedures can be put in place to protect staff and address inmates’ humanitarian and mental health concerns.

He says based on reports their concerns “identify overcrowding, understaffed shifts and excessive use of solitary confinement, as possible root causes of the action taken by the prisoners.”