The Caesar Rodney Institute announces the release of its investigation into the Sept. 15 death of Daniel R. Kern, an inmate who was being held at the Plummer Community Correction Center in Wilmington.
The special report about Kern’s death, titled @link href=’http://www.caesarrodney.org/index.cfm?ref=45101’target=”>_blank”>“Always and forever your son, Daniel,”/link reveals how the 41-year-old inmate died from an illness that should have been easy to diagnose and treat.
The Delaware Department of Correction and its medical vendor Correctional Medical Services, however, ignored Kern’s frequent complaints of severe abdominal pain and other symptoms, and denied care.
Kern’s family says he was allowed to die because he was gay. They are calling on lawmakers to act before more inmates die needlessly from preventable and treatable illnesses.
CRI investigative reporter Lee Williams wrote the special report about Kern’s death.
It follows the release of “Rogue Force,” a special report that reveals how guards at the Sussex Correctional Institution are physically abusing inmates in their care.
The 10 stories in “Rogue Force” show how Delaware is breaking an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, in which the Department of Correction promised to improve its shoddy medical care, which federal investigators determined was violating the civil rights of the 6,900 inmates in state custody.
It also uncovers physical abuse by guards at SCI and its consequences.
The series proposes solutions to the problems within the DOC and includes more than 30 questions that Correction Commissioner Carl Danberg refused to answer.
The Caesar Rodney Institute will continue to publish follow-up stories on the Institute’s Web site. CRI is committed to reporting the problems revealed in “Rogue Force” until the state makes substantive changes to its prison system.
Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at (302) 242-9272 or lee@caesarrodney.org.
