DOVER, Del. (AP) - A state lawmaker in Delaware said he plans to introduce a measure that would establish a task force to study how prison officials are handling the coronavirus pandemic.
The Delaware State News reports that Rep. Sean Lynn hopes the measure will alleviate complaints and concerns he’s received over the past 10 months.
“I would really like to kind of get to the bottom of various and myriad health care issues present in the Department of Correction,” the Democrat from Dover said on Monday.
Lynn shared emails from attorney Steve Hampton who has represented inmates before. Hampton’s emails alleged that inmates are kept in buildings lacking heat and are denied medical care. The attorney also said inmates have no access to the commissary.
Correction Commissioner Claire DeMatteis denied those claims. She described them as containing a “litany of falsehoods. However, she also said that the agency “has never sugarcoated the immense challenge of mitigating the threat of the global COVID-19 pandemic in a correctional system.”
Officials say that 1,704 inmates have recovered from COVID-19, while 12 have died. Eleven of those 12 had serious underlying health conditions.
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