Lawsuit says Delaware prisoners forced to ‘marinate’ in pepper spray

A lawsuit seeking to represent all people locked up by Delaware claims that prisoners are routinely left to “marinate” in a high-concentration pepper spray. 

The lawsuit filed May 7 in Delaware Court of Chancery seeks an injunction barring correction officials from using the spray until leaders enforce rules the lawsuit says require staff to decontaminate prisoners after they are targeted.

In interviews, state prisoners have frequently described officers’ use of so-called OC spray, a more concentrated form of pepper spray only available to law enforcement, as cruel. Prisoners say the spray is deployed unnecessarily, recklessly, frequently and causes intense burning on the skin and through the respiratory system.

“Imagine taking a glass bottle, smashing it up and grinding it up and snorting that up your nose, then times that by 1,000,” said a former prisoner, William Davis, describing being sprayed during a previous interview about a similar use‑of‑force lawsuit involving Sussex Correctional Institution. “I felt it burn for days.” 

Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show OC spray — short for oleoresin capsicum — is used hundreds of times a year and is a frequent issue in Delaware prison lawsuits. The new ACLU lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of all Delaware prisoners and focuses on what happens after someone is sprayed.

The lawsuit claims officers routinely ignore training, policy and clear health risks by failing to properly flush and clean people after using OC spray. It argues the practice violates Delaware’s constitutional ban on “cruel” punishment.

Prisoners allege they were sprayed while handcuffed, naked or already subdued, including one who said officers sprayed him through his cell door while he was locked inside, and another who said he was forced during a strip search to touch his genitals and then his mouth after being sprayed.

In each of these episodes, the lawsuit states that prisoners were not properly decontaminated, some were left unattended, returned to a contaminated cell, left in clothes drenched in spray and some were not allowed to shower for a day or more after.

“Refusing to decontaminate prisoners is cruel because it subjects them to hours of needless suffering. Prolonged exposure is also potentially deadly,” the lawsuit states.

Delaware Department of Correction officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The allegations of the lawsuit are built partially on declarations from eight named plaintiffs in Delaware prisons. Additionally, it leans on video and deposition evidence from two other excessive force cases the ACLU is litigating on behalf of Delaware prisoners.

In those other cases, several officers have testified in depositions that they had not decontaminated individuals they sprayed and were unaware if others had, the new lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also cites Department of Correction training materials turned over in other lawsuits. Policy and training documents outline that OC spray is only to be used when no reasonable alternative is available, not as retaliation or punishment and in short bursts from a safe distance.

A training presentation describes the health risks of OC spray and says sprayed individuals should be moved to fresh air, assessed for medical conditions and repeatedly flushed and wiped to decontaminate them.

It notes that people who have been sprayed must be monitored. It underscores these instructions with a red skull and crossbones.

Other litigation: New lawsuit claims excessive force used by Delaware officers during September prison raids

In interviews, prisoners have reported that officers would “empty the can” in long bursts directed closely at their face. The named plaintiffs in the new lawsuit include asthmatic individuals who said they were denied their inhaler after being sprayed.

Besides pain, OC spray can cause difficulty breathing, gagging, heart distress and blindness. It can also induce a feeling of suffocation and helplessness, according to a department training presentation. Failure to decontaminate can cause blindness, respiratory failure and skin conditions, the lawsuit states.

If sprayed too close, the OC molecules can cause what’s known as “hydraulic needling of the eyes” where the spray causes lacerations, the complaint states, noting that multiple prisoners in other states have died after being sprayed.

The lawsuit also claims that officers deploy OC spray in numerous ways, which include a grenade, fogger, spray, muzzle blast rounds, as well as pepper balls fired from a weapon similar to a paintball gun.

One of the named plaintiffs was shot numerous times by a pepper ball gun, rupturing the globe of his right eye. A separate lawsuit filed on behalf of that prisoner was dismissed because he didn’t address written complaints about the episode through prescribed channels inside the prison.

Rather than seeking damages for federal constitutional violations, the lawsuit asks only for an injunction forcing changes to decontamination practices. And instead of following the typical federal-court path for prisoner-rights cases, it was filed in Delaware’s Court of Chancery — the state’s business court, where cases tend to move more quickly.

It names Department of Correction Commissioner Terra Taylor as its lone defendant, claiming that the department has knowingly failed to follow its own policy regarding the spray’s use.

It also cites a deposition given by Taylor in other litigation in which she states there is no specific process for decontaminating those targeted with OC, that she hasn’t taken any steps to require officers to do so, and that she doesn’t believe there is an obligation to do so.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.