Stories Behind the Walls
Stories Behind the Walls is a hard-hitting podcast that dares to ask: Is our justice system really delivering justice at all? Each episode peels back the layers of corruption, hypocrisy, and abuse lurking behind the polished façade of courts, police stations, and prison walls.
From raw, unfiltered prison talk to firsthand accounts of systemic failure, we give voice to those silenced by the system and hold accountable those who profit from its flaws. If you're ready to question what you've been told about law and order, join us as we expose the truth behind the walls.
Stories Behind the Walls
Hearing it first hand behind the walls of the Grand ole Hilton.. with my Co-Host Goofy..
Hey, what's up? Welcome back to Stories Behind the Walls. This is your host, Annabel, and it's me, your co-host, goofy man. What's going on, dude? How you been? Oh man. Hanging in there, you know, living the life in the show. Howard Correctional Institution. Listen, I know I talked to you other day. And I reached out to you because we had filed a formal complaint and it was impossible for us to get ahold of the warden there and the deputy warden. It took us reaching out to the governor's office before we even got a response back from the Delaware Department of Corrections. Like, what? What the hell is going on inside that institution? Man. Oh man. That seems like the same thing, like with that grievance process here. You know, like some things, you know, they, they tend to like keep it, like brush it underneath the rug. You know, some of these CEOs just keep, just feel like, you know, like they feel like they are the water. Like we don't need the water. Some of these officer are the water. Like, you know, so it's like instead of you trying to contact the warden, why don't you just talk to one of these cos then you might get your answer there. Yeah, I mean, even when we called up there, when we had an inmate reach out to us about the electricity going off in their cell, up on their tier, they didn't even want us talk to the CO who was in charge for that evening. Again, we had to write another email with a formal complaint to the governor's office to even get them to respond, which took them another 24 hours before they answered us. At that point, obviously the electric had came back on, but we're talking about a day when it was 101 degrees outside. I mean, I'm not, I'm not understanding why there's no accountability when it comes to these correctional officers. It's like justice is not really justice inside where you guys are at. Oh, that's crazy. I remember a time where my electric got cut off, you know, while, while back. It didn't get turned on for like two days. Two days went by, you know, and we complained. We, you know, we said, we said something to the officers. The officers, you know, did nothing about it, you know, but what, what can we do, you know? We get pen, you know, we get strip searched, you know, we get our room fucked up. You know, it doesn't really matter. Yeah. I mean, and that's how it seems to be because it, there seems to be no accountability whatsoever when it comes to the Department of Corrections. The corruption, I really believe is on the inside. They're looking at you guys. You know the inmate, the corruption ain't coming from the inmate. From the, of course, you know, it's just like the, you know, the K two situation mail, you know, so, you know, people getting stuff the. How are we still getting these type of items through the prison? How are we still getting these type of items through a prison where we can't get mail directly from from from the streets? It's gotta go to Vegas. Vegas prints out everything for us now. Okay, so how do we get caught with fake pen? You know, you know we can't buy them on commissary, so apparently there's something going on and it ain't nothing. We can't get it through visits because our visits are through glass. You know, we can't even touch our family. So again, how can we get it right? Absolutely. And that was one of the questions that I asked when I emailed the commissioner and deputy commissioner about how is it that you're talking about contraband and you want to do these excessive cell searches on these inmates? Where's the contraband really coming from? I think they, I think management needs to look at itself. Let's not look at the inmate regardless of their crime, regardless of why they're really there. And I was just reading online that back, um, in 2024 when they had the raid at the James. Steve Vaughn Correctional Center, the A CLU of Delaware filed a lawsuit alleging severe constitutional violations during that time and in the lawsuit it claims that correction officers and prison officials engaged in excessive force with pepper spray. Inmate unnecessarily sexual assault, denied them proper medical care, decontamination. I mean, the list just goes on and on. At that facility, and I know that you had good time at that facility a while back prior to you being up there at the, uh, grand old Hilton. Yeah, because you know, like, you know, with the cos and like medical staff and like, you got like mental, mental health people, like, you know, you got all types of individuals that work. That, you know, they only do it for, they for a dollar. They don't care about our wellbeing and any of that. You know, like, just like medical staff, like medical, you know, we might have an emergency and we might, we might not see medical for like three days, you know, the way we get treated. You know, for instance, they might, we might go to medical for a. We might not get the prescribed medication that we supposed to for the, for the, uh, staff infection. We might not get it for like three days later. By then the, the infection done spread it, it done got worse. They charge us$6 to go to medical$6, you know. And what happens? What happens if you don't have the six? Well, we do, they do still give it to us, but the moment that we get funds on our account, they take it from us. I got you. I got you. So, you know, no matter what, like they still take it from us. They still give it to us, but, you know, but still, like, you know, still not good. It's not good at all. I mean, I, I just find that to be insane that you have to pay to go to medical, but yet out you're on the street, you could file for Medicaid for free. Yes. They charge us$4 to go to medical and$2 for medication. So in order, in order for us to get medication, we. I mean that, that's sad. That's sad. That just, that really just goes to show how broken the system really is. I don't, we don't even have time to touch on rehabilitation that they claim that they do with the inmates inside the prison, but they're there to help rehabilitate the inmates there. Yeah. And yeah, that's, no, that's no rehabilitation in this prison and no prison. Talk about rehabilitation. Like, you know, they got in. Until we like maybe like a year or nine months left on our cents. Until then, we just go in time. Until we reach that year or nine months. We're not gonna get no programs. We're not gonna get the help that we need. You know, the only thing that we getting is good time. That's it. Yeah. You know, and they don't wanna give you the good time that it's, that they give you extra for the program because, you know, when you do the programs, you know, they give you extra good time for completing the program and stuff like that. It's all about money. It's all about keeping you in this prison as long as you can for them to get paid. It keeps them with a job. Absolutely. I, I read online again, let's go back to online because. And it says now in 2025, it's costing taxpayers$92,000 a year per inmate. Yes, that's what we call it.$92,000 a year. So if it costs the$92,000 a year per inmate, where's the$92,000 a year going? Oh, you know where that's going too. You know? Exactly. Exactly. But you gotta pay. You gotta pay$6 to go to medical, but we paying$90,000 a year for you to be there. But you paying$6 to go to medical. Yeah, that's exactly what's going on. Listen, it's been real, man. It's always a pleasure speaking with you. We'll, you know, we're going to do this again. We're gonna get back on here and do another podcast, do another episode. But I know that your time is tight and that you gotta go. But again, goofy man. I appreciate you getting on here and talking with us. Uh, no problem. You know the pleasure's mine, so if you looking for, you know, anything that's. It's not gonna happen because in this prison it's all bad. Absolutely. All right. Well guys, until next time, again, this is Stories behind the Wall. Thank you for sharing with us. If you have a story you want to share, please reach out. Email us as stories behind theWall@gmail.com. You can find us on Instagram and TikTok. Again, this is your host Annabell with Goofy Man. It's been real.
