By LEE WILLIAMS,
The News Journal
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner today nominated former Attorney General Carl Danberg to replace Stan Taylor as commissioner of the Delaware Department of Correction.
The appointment, which requires Senate confirmation and pays $142,300 a year, becomes effective Feb. 1, when Taylor retires after 11 years in the top job.
Danberg, 41, had served as attorney general since December of 2005, when Minner appointed him to fill a vacancy created when his predecessor, Jane Brady, was appointed to the Superior Court.
He was replaced Tuesday as attorney general by Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III, who was sworn in during a private ceremony following his election in November.
Danberg is no stranger to the Department of Correction. For 10 years he served as Taylor’s deputy principal assistant, advising the commissioner and handling external affairs, which included working with the community, the legislature and the media. In addition, he managed the department’s victim services, helped with budget preparation and trained the correction staff.
Before he went to work for Taylor’s department, he served as the deputy attorney general assigned to the Department of Correction.
“Stan Taylor has a strong moral leadership style, and I hope to emulate that. I care deeply about what we do in state government, and I have a deep sense of justice. Those will be my guiding principles,” Danberg said.
He inherits a department in turmoil, which is straining to house the nearly 7,000 inmates in its care.
Last week, both Danberg and Taylor signed an 87-point agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that calls for sweeping changes in Delaware’s prisons. The state promised to correct the deficiencies and “meet generally accepted professional standards.” However, the state did not admit to violating any inmate’s civil rights or breaking any other federal law.
The Department of Justice announced their federal investigators found “substantial civil rights violations” inside four Delaware prisons. For example, the report noted, flesh-eating bacteria inside Gander Hill prison went undiagnosed and untreated, placing “inmates and staff at risk of acquiring the infection and passing it to others in the community.”
Many families who have inmates in Delaware prisons have complained there was no one willing to listen to their complaints about inadequate care.
Danberg said he’s willing to listen.
“I’ve been very accessible”
“I don’t imagine my style will change, moving from the Department of Justice to the Department of Correction,” he said. “I’ve been very accessible, and have met with family members during the past year.”
The settlement agreement requires the Department of Correction to make the mandatory changes or risk being sued by the special litigation section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The federal investigation was prompted by a series of articles in The News Journal, which revealed inadequate health care within the state’s prisons.
“The settlement agreement will be something that will command a significant part of my attention in the coming year,” Danberg said.
Appointment lauded
Many believe Danberg is the right choice to lead the embattled department forward.
“Carl has had substantial experience with the Department of Correction, and I think he’d be a great successor to Stan Taylor,” said Delaware Public Defender Larry Sullivan. “He has balanced judgment and he’s decisive. Both of those attributes are necessary for that complex job.”
Sullivan said Danberg, as a former attorney general, will bring stature to the job.
“He had to make decisions on very important matters, including the settlement agreement. He knows the details of the agreement, and he knows that he has committed to the responsibility of making certain the terms are fulfilled,” Sullivan said. “This agreement, however, is just on the fundamentals. There are other things that need to be done, especially treatment.”
Sullivan, a longtime advocate for substantive drug treatment behind bars, hopes that Danberg’s appointment will precede increased drug treatment for the state’s inmate population -- 80 percent of whom he said suffer from at least one addiction.
“I can’t understand why we as a state don’t recognize that and commit additional funding,” Sullivan said. “The root of all crime, particularly shootings and murders in Wilmington, are the product of addiction, and we’re not doing anything to correct that problem. Our prisons ought to be remedying that, ought to appear inside like hospitals. What we’re doing is creating a drug war zone in Wilmington.”
Many “underserved”
Danberg said because of the state’s unified correction system, which combines the components of jails and prisons, those inmates serving less than 120 days are not eligible for drug treatment and other programs and are often “underserved.”
Effective drug treatment, Danberg said, “is something I would be interested in pursuing, but you can’t just simply grow a program without knowing what programs work.”
Drewry Fennell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, said Danberg’s experience as attorney general will be beneficial in his new role.
“He understands the very serious legal issues that the department has faced in the past, and will be taking great care to see they don’t repeat the mistakes of the past,” Fennell said.
Like Sullivan, Fennell hopes the new commissioner tackles other problems, beyond those required by the settlement with the federal government.
“Many of the problems that the DOC has are systemic, procedural and legal, including the biggest foundational issue: our prisons are overcrowded,” Fennell said. “Too many people are being asked to pay a price for the tremendously punitive drug laws passed over the years.”
Danberg said his department has to consider options for building a new facility.
“That’s our obligation, to keep the governor and the legislature informed of the needs of the department,” he said.
Political background
Danberg is a political insider, having worked on both the Senate and presidential campaigns of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
He attended the University of Delaware, where he teaches as an adjunct professor, and the Widener University School of Law.
Danberg also serves as a major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corp of the Delaware Army National Guard.
He is married to Barbara Snapp Danberg. They live in Newark with their two daughters. Before accepting the nomination to be commissioner, he talked to them about the likelihood of long hours.
“My family is incredibly supportive,” he said. “I am truly blessed with a wife and two children that love me.”
