By J.L. MILLER and PATRICK JACKSON
The News Journal
03/12/2006
Stanley W. Taylor Jr. first set foot in a prison in 1976 as a wet-behind-the-ears sociology graduate from the University of Delaware.
He is Delaware's longest-tenured commissioner of corrections and says he has no plans to step down, even after the announcement last week that the U.S. Justice Department is beginning a full investigation of medical care and other problems in the state's prisons.
"This is not an issue, I think, [that] warrants talk of my resignation and I do not intend to resign over this issue," said Taylor. "Having said that, I have been in this business 30 years and I don't know how much longer I want to go with that."
Most lawmakers and observers said they expect Taylor to survive the current storm because there is more than enough blame to go around for the medical care problems in Delaware's prisons.
Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, was an early backer of the federal probe and wrote a letter in support of the investigation to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
She said she is appalled by conditions first revealed in a series of stories last fall in The News Journal, but doesn't pin all the blame on Taylor.
"To a great extent, I think Stan wants to do the right thing but he is in the position he's in because the governor doesn't really care about inmate health care -- whether inmates have two heads or are dying of AIDS," she said
The newspaper detailed the case of Anthony Pierce, who became known as "the brother with two heads." He died from a brain tumor while his condition was mishandled by prison medical staff. Soon after the story was printed, the state confidentially settled his family's wrongful death lawsuit.
Peterson said many lawmakers contribute to a culture that produces inadequate care.
"The attitude among some of the people down here was beyond a lack of empathy," she said. "They had absolute contempt for the inmates."
Instituting change
Commissioner since 1995, Taylor has survived in one of the state's most politically difficult jobs longer than any of his predecessors.
"Stan Taylor was an excellent member of my Cabinet," said Sen. Tom Carper, who, as governor, picked Taylor for the job. During his governorship, Carper said Taylor helped launch several initiatives in the department, including adult education programs for inmates. He also helped establish programs that went beyond the prison walls.
"I find it hard to believe that the person who provided such great leadership for the Department of Correction for the better part of a half-dozen years is not the same person that is there today," Carper said.
Rep. Joseph G. Di Pinto, R-Wilmington West, said he thinks Taylor will survive the federal investigation.
"I think the political issues could have been handled better when all this started and maybe we wouldn't be where we are today," said Di Pinto, co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee. "But I think he's OK. ... He realized there were problems with health care and came to us to request funding for a new provider, and he's made other changes, as well."
Other lawmakers agreed that much of the responsibility for prison problems rests with legislators and Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.
"If anything, maybe Stan has been too good a soldier," said Rep. Peter C. Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach. "Instead of complaining and trying to get our attention, he always said there might be problems but that he would make do. ... In state government, it's always about money and now we're starting to spend money on corrections."
Drewry Fennell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, agreed that the problems do not begin and end with Taylor.
"I think that the Legislature has repeatedly increased sentences, increased prison population, increased expenditures on buildings without having the operating funds to keep up," Fennell said. "In health care and on everything else, there is no person in Delaware government that cannot be held accountable for the problems in our Department of Correction."
The governor's support
Minner has said she "fully supports Stan," according to Minner spokeswoman Kate Bailey, who noted that spending on prison health care has doubled in the last five years.
Minner has asked the Division of Public Health to do random surveys of inmate files, and Taylor has added an administrator to oversee Correctional Medical Services, the prison's private health provider.
Schwartzkopf and other lawmakers said Minner should stand by Taylor, citing his experience and knowledge of the corrections system from the ground up.
"At this point, I definitely think she should stand by Stan," said Schwartzkopf, a former Delaware State Police captain. "A lot of the problems he has now are because he has to follow the [federal privacy law] and couldn't tell everybody everything they wanted to know."
Not everyone, though, is willing to absolve Taylor of responsibility.
The Rev. Christopher Bullock, founding member of Delaware Coalition for Prison Reform and Justice, cited the findings of The News Journal's series on shortcomings in prison health care.
"Regardless of what your budget is, what the level of your leadership rank in state government, you still have a responsibility to produce a quality product," Bullock said. "You cannot excuse the brother with two heads. You cannot excuse suicides. You cannot excuse prisons for being a cesspool for sexually transmitted disease."
The newspaper's series highlighted high rates of suicides and AIDS-related inmate deaths over the past four years, allegations by inmates of poor medical treatment, and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded last year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services.
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has launched an investigation into the Department of Correction's management and inmate health and mental care.
"I think Mr. Taylor has served our state long enough," Bullock said. "He's not a part of the solution. He's part of the problem."
Fay Whittle, who has spent nearly 30 years working as a volunteer for Prison Fellowship, said Taylor has done the best he can with what he had.
"Stan is a decent man, a good man. I have nothing I could say about him that would be critical," Whittle said.
Whittle said responsibility also falls on lawmakers and fears this will be a storm that Taylor can't weather.
"I think he's going to be the fall guy. He's going to take it. He'll take it on his shoulders," she said.
Taylor cited the difficulties inherent in running a prison system with more than 6,600 inmates, calling it "a job that you never get done."
"You're always working to stay ahead as best you can," he said. "But there will always be problems."
Staff reporter Esteban Parra contributed to this article. Contact J.L. Miller at 678-4271 or jlmiller@delawareonline.com. Contact Patrick Jackson at 678-4274 or pjackson@delawareonline.com.
