Delaware Correctional Center
Encyclopedia
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
. 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. Executions occur
at JTVCC.
The facility is named for former Delaware State Senator James T. Vaughn Sr (1925-2007).
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.
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for men in unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
New Castle County
New Castle County, Delaware
New Castle County is the northernmost of the three counties of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of 2010 its population was 538,479, an increase of 7.6% over the previous decade. The county seat is Wilmington. The center of population of Delaware is located in New Castle County, in the town of...
, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, near Smyrna
Smyrna, Delaware
Smyrna is a town in Kent and New Castle counties in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. 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. Executions occur
Execution chamber
An execution chamber, or death chamber, is a room or chamber in which a legal execution is carried out. Execution chambers are almost always inside the walls of a maximum-security prison, although not always at the same prison where the death row population is housed...
at JTVCC.
The facility is named for former Delaware State Senator James T. Vaughn Sr (1925-2007).
History
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.
