Delco DA candidate calls for investigation into county jail after deaths and reports of attacks on staff

A former Delaware County prosecutor running for district attorney has called for an independent investigation into conditions at George W. Hill Correctional Facility, the county’s jail.

Beth Stefanide-Miscichowski, a Republican challenging District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer in November, expressed her concerns about the jail at a newsconference in Media on Thursday. She drew parallels to Danilo Cavalcante, the convicted murderer who escaped from the Chester County Prison and led police on a two-week manhunt.

“Given what has occurred recently in the Chester County Prison, I don’t think I need to draw the lines through the dots. Mismanagement of the prison is dangerous,” Stefanide-Miscichowski said.

“I know how many millions of dollars that investigation cost,” she added. “Millions of dollars are going be passed on to all of the taxpayers and the taxpayers of Chester County. We don’t need that here.”

» READ MORE: From 2021: "Delco jail guards are considering a strike after another worker was attacked"

Stefanide-Miscichowski also voiced outrage over the death of Mustaffa Jackson, 25, an inmate at George W. Hill who died in February. Jackson was found dead, face down, in his cell at the prison, according to his autopsy report. His cause of death was urosepsis, a condition that investigators said stemmed from a 2019 gunshot wound that left him paralyzed.

A spokesperson for Stollsteimer said Thursday that county detectives investigated Jackson’s death and found no evidence of foul play. Jackson, of Upper Darby, was awaiting trial on aggravated assault and terroristic threats, court records show.

But Stefanide-Miscichowski asserted that Jackson would have survived had he received proper care.

“We should all have serious concerns about the safety within and the operations of George Hill Correctional Facility,” she said. “The county undertook responsibility to house these individuals. You must provide reasonable, good-faith medical care, and you must keep the people you’re in charge of safe.”

County officials, in response to Stefanide-Miscichowski’s comments, said many of her criticisms were political in nature. In a statement, a county spokesperson said that the jail has seen “significant improvements” since the county took over, including boosting staffing levels, making Jail Oversight Committee meetings public, and providing monthly statistics to residents.

The county has also raised salary rates for correctional officers to make their pay comparable to that in surrounding counties.

“The Warden is committed to improving staff morale. One way of accomplishing that goal was to reduce mandatory overtime and increase wages,” the statement said. “The Warden and leadership team are working to implement additional changes to continue to improve morale.”

The county took over the jail in April 2022 from the GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison corporations. The takeover came after community advocates for years warned of quality-of-life issues at the jail, including several inmate suicides, as well as chronic understaffing. GEO had overseen the facility since the 1990s, when they helped fund construction of the current jail.

The jail’s longtime warden, John Reilly, retired in 2019 after an article in The Inquirer reported allegations of racist and sexist behavior from both current and former employees.

» READ MORE: Boss of Delaware County’s private jail accused of racism, abuse of power

However, data show that since coming under county control, the jail has continued to experience issues. In 2022, there were 87 assaults on staff by inmates, five incidents of staff assaulting inmates, and 79 inmate-on-inmate assaults, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

A total of six deaths have been reported at the jail since the county took over, according to a county spokesperson. Those include Jackson’s death, three suicides, one listed as “accidental,” and one homicide that occurred shortly after the leadership transition in April 2022.

In that incident, Shad Boccella, an inmate housed in the unit for prisoners with mental-health issues, strangled his cellmate, Elliot Funkhouser, according to police.

Boccella, 27, told investigators that he did so in self-defense after Funkhouser “came at him,” according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for his arrest. Sources at the jail told The Inquirer that Boccella and Funkhouser were not intended to be housed together, but were placed together due to a shortage of open cells.

» READ MORE: An inmate at the Delaware County jail strangled his cellmate, prosecutors said

Boccella’s criminal trial for first- and third-degree murder is pending.

In December, a guard, Albert Johnson, told officials at a county council meeting that he and his colleagues faced regular abuse from the inmates, including being pelted with human waste. Johnson also warned that violence was rampant among the inmates, with fights and stabbings common.

“We are … in fear of our safety on this job,” Johnson said at the meeting, imploring the council to investigate. “We are fearful for our lives with cells that do not lock, from inmates that come out when they want.”

Stefanide-Miscichowski asserted that county officials, specifically warden Laura Williams, have been derelict in their duty to care for inmates and the correctional officers who oversee them. She specifically referenced Williams’ past position as an administrator at the Allegheny County Jail, citing media reports that former employees there left because of Williams.

Stefanide-Miscichowski said her concerns about the jail and its leadership are key facets of her campaign platform this fall.

“I’m asking the voters to make me the chief law enforcement officer of Delaware County,” she said. “As part of that, I will be responsible for helping to place inmates in that prison, and I want to make sure that it is run well.”