Why Should Delaware Care?
The Delaware Department of Correction oversees thousands of prisoners up and down the state. One of those inmates recently alerted the public about the lack of air conditioning in a minimum security wing at the state’s largest facility. Weeks later, he was barred from communicating with his mother.
The Delaware Department of Correction relocated an outspoken inmate and blocked his telephone access to his mother weeks after he brought attention to a lack of air conditioning within a building at the state’s largest prison during a blistering heatwave.
The inmate, Joshua Chattin, was able to publicize the issue beyond the walls of the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna because his mother facilitated his conversations with elected officials though three-way calls.
Among those she linked Chattin to last month was Spotlight Delaware, which subsequently reported that hundreds of inmates within Building W at Vaughn prison were without air conditioning while outside heat indexes exceeded 100 degrees.
His mother, Jennifer Chattin, told Spotlight Delaware on Wednesday that the Department of Correction moved her son on July 14 from Vaughn prison to the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution, also known as “Gander Hill.”
She also said the department barred her from calling Joshua Chattin for 60 days, effective July 15.
She believes that corrections officials’ response amounts to retaliation against her son for speaking with legislators and the governor, who ultimately added $2 million to the state’s capital budget to install air conditioning in Building W.
“It’s total retaliation,” she said.
In a letter to Jennifer Chattin, which she shared with Spotlight Delaware, corrections officials said she violated a policy related to making three-way calls, and indicated that facilitating communications with people who are not on an inmate’s designated call list is prohibited.
But Jennifer Chattin says people make three-way calls frequently, and that this is the first time the policy has been enforced for her. She didn’t deny making the calls for her son, but she questioned the fairness in enforcing the practice now.
“So many people do them [three-way calls], they would have to write up thousands of people,” Jennifer Chattin said.
She said she went “over top of the DOC’s head” and facilitated the calls because she wasn’t hearing responses about the heat.
“I didn’t have a choice,” Jennifer Chattin said.
Since the Spotlight Delaware report last month, the Chattins have continued their advocacy, speaking with the “Highlands Bunker” podcast this month to publicize the issue further.
The Department of Correction did not respond to a request for comment.
So many people do them [three-way calls], they would have to write up thousands of people.
Jennifer Chattin
Mila Myles, a spokeswoman for Gov. Matt Meyer, said the governor has spoken with Jennifer Chattin since her son was relocated. Additionally, she said Meyer’s office is reviewing the situation and gathering information.
Myles further said the governor’s office and Department of Correction have discussed the issue and that they “alerted them to the Chattin family’s concerns.”
“We take the safety and security of our DOC staff and inmates very seriously,” Myles said in an email. “It is also important to us that inmates’ rights are protected and that they can raise issues in a safe and responsible manner.”