The James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (JTVCC), formerly the Delaware Correctional Center (DCC), is a state prison for men in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, USA, near Smyrna.[1] It is the Delaware Department of Corrections's largest correctional facility for adult males.
JTVCC houses some 2,500 minimum, medium, and maximum security inmates. It is also the primary facility for housing the Kent County pre-trial (detainee) population.
The State's death row for males is in JTVCC, while the death row for females is in Delores J. Baylor Women's Correctional Institution.[2] Executions occur at JTVCC.[3]
The facility is named for former Delaware State Senator James T. Vaughn Sr (1925-2007).
Contents |
DCC opened in 1971 with a capacity of 441, which has since been increased to over 2,600.
In 1996, construction began on a $110 million, 888-bed addition including 600 new maximum security cells in six new units. The new addition houses the Security Housing Unit (SHU) and the Medium-High Housing Unit (MHU).
Prisoners in the SHU, which includes the prison's death row, occupy single-bunked cells in which they are locked for 23 hours a day. Inmates, other than those sentenced to the death penalty, may earn their way out of the SHU through good behavior.
