Inmate files lawsuit following Smyrna prison uprising
WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) -- An offender held at a Delaware prison where a hostage died during an inmate uprising says tactical responders who stormed the building to end the siege injured nearly every prisoner inside.
Donald Parkell filed a federal lawsuit this week against the warden and unnamed prison staffers of the Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna.
Parkell claims that no more than 10 inmates coordinated and carried out the uprising earlier this month, during which correctional officer Steven Floyd was killed. He also says he and two other inmates protected a female counselor from other prisoners during the 19-hour ordeal.
Department of Correction officials have refused to confirm or deny details outlined in the lawsuit, including that the building where the uprising took place is not equipped with surveillance cameras.
A DOC spokeswoman said Thursday that the agency would not comment on pending litigation.
Meanwhile, corrections officers' union officials said on Thursday that the inmates who took over the prison had a hit list on corrections officers.
The union says the inmates provided a list of 17 guards they wanted to be fired, retired, or else.
The "or else" was interpreted as a threat to everyone named on it.
That list was just one of the demands the prisoners made while holding four employees hostage earlier this month.
Officials say Floyd's name was not on the list.
