Department of Correction

Our Mission

To protect the public by supervising adult offenders through safe and humane services, programs and facilities.

Our Values (I-CARD)

Integrity
: : We shall be honest and consistent in character with regard to the values, beliefs and principles of the Department.
Courage
: : We shall act in a manner that displays physical, moral, ethical and social courage in the face of challenges and difficult decisions.
Accountability: : We shall be responsible for all actions that lead to the achievement of the Departments mission.
Respect: : We shall behave with the utmost respect in all personal and professional interactions.
Diversity: : We shall value different ideas, cultures and beliefs and the contributions that those differences bring to the Department.

Our Organization

Unlike most state correctional systems, the Delaware Department of Correction is a unified correctional system, which manages offenders from pre-trial detention through incarceration and community supervision.

The Department is led by the Office of the Commissioner and is organized into four bureaus:

Administrative Services
Correctional Healthcare Services
Prisons
Community Corrections

The Office of the Commissioner includes the following units:

Internal Affairs,
Community Relations,
Family Services,
Victim Services,
Media Relations,
Planning and Research, and
Information Technology

The Bureau of Administrative Services provides support services across the entire Department, and is comprised of the following units:

Central Business Office,
Central Offender Records, and
Human Resources

The Bureau of Correctional Healthcare Services provides management and oversight of medical care, substance abuse and mental health treatment to the offender population. It is comprised of the following units:

Medical Administration,
Behavioral Health Administration, and
Pharmaceutical Administration

The Bureau of Prisons operates four secure facilities housing offenders incarcerated by court order, and the following units:

James T. Vaughn Correctional Center,
Sussex Correctional Institution,
Baylor Women's Correctional Institution,
Howard R. Young Correctional Institution,
Transportation,
Delaware Correctional Industries,
Education,
Facilities Maintenance,
Food Services,
Employee Development Center and Special Operations

The Bureau of Community Corrections supervises offenders after release from incarceration or upon direct court sentence, in work release facilities, a women’s treatment center and:

Probation and Parole,
House Arrest,
New Castle County Community Corrections (Plummer Community Corrections Center and Hazel D. Plant Women's Treatment Facility),
Sussex Community Corrections Center(Sussex Work Release and Sussex Violation of Probation Center), and
Kent County Community Corrections (Morris Community Corrections Center and Central Violation of Probation Center)

Our People

The Department is authorized to employ over 2,500 staff statewide in support of our mission. Those employees work to maintain and support Delaware’s correctional system 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. It is through their hard work and dedication that the Department is successful in maintaining safe and secure facilities for offenders, staff and the public.

Legislation

On July 10, 1975, Governor Sherman W. Tribbitt signed into law Senate Bill 487 which created the Delaware Department of Correction, effective July 1, 1975. The bill transferred the Divisions of Juvenile and Adult Correction from the Department of Health and Social Services to the new Department of Correction.

The Department was statutorily established under 29 Delaware Code, c. 89 and 11 Delaware Code, c. 65. 11 Del. C. §6501 establishes the Department of Correction, and 11 Del. C. §6502 identifies the purpose of the department.

How We Measure Success

We measure our success by the degree to which we achieve our strategic objectives and our mission to protect the public by supervising adult offenders through safe and humane services, programs and facilities.

We analyze our progress in each of the following strategy areas to enable us to determine how effectively we are achieving our mission:

Focus Area #1
: : Improve Image & Quality of Service to Public & Stakeholders
Focus Area #1
: : Improve Delivery & Quality of Service to Offenders
Focus Area #1
: : Improve Successful Outcomes
Focus Area #1
: : Upgrade & Reconfigure DOC Facilities

We annually review our data collection and performance measurement processes to ensure effective reporting. We also report on progress toward achieving our strategic objectives in our annual report, which is published in the fall of each calendar year.

Vision Statements

Office of the Commissioner: The vision of the Office of the Commissioner is that DOCs facilities will be safe, secure, harmonious work environments that are adequately staffed as a result of data obtained by the Delaware Staffing Analysis Teams analysis using the National Institute of Correction model. They also envision that every offender will have an offender treatment plan developed that will consist of treatment, vocational/employment training, education, and/or training.
Bureau of Prisons: BOPs vision is to use effective strategies to keep communities and facilities safe. These strategies include the risk, needs, and classification process, evidence-based programming, and accountability through compliance and accreditation.
Bureau of Community Corrections: BCCs vision is to develop re-entry focused community corrections programs and facilities that provide treatment, education, and/or training programs to match offender needs.
Bureau of Correctional Healthcare Services: The vision of BCHS is to improve the implementation of evidence-based medical and behavioral health programming for prevention and treatment services, and to create a center for innovative treatment services in corrections with a university or college partner.
Bureau of Administrative Services: The vision of BAS is to have a recruitment plan that markets corrections as a career, resulting in fewer vacancies, and to create a robust CEIT/BOTC/Leadership Training Academy with a system for rotating instructors in the field, delivered in a first-class training facility.
IT Unit: The IT Units vision is to provide information strategies and services to deliver DOCs key business needs, to centralize IT services for the Department, and to incorporate more enterprise applications within the Department for consistent tool sets.
Planning & Research Unit: The Planning & Research Units vision is to have a clear, consistent process for using analytics to inform and guide the Departments decisions about programming.