Joshua Wilkinson, a correctional officer held 15 hours by inmates during the Feb. 1 prison siege at Vaughn Correctional Center, still cannot comprehend why his life was spared –– and why Lt. Steven Floyd Sr. was killed.

Wilkinson told his story Monday through attorney Thomas S. Neuberger. He and attorney Thomas Crumplar are representing the family of Floyd, two corrections officers and three maintenance workers, who hid in the basement during the ordeal. Wilkinson was unable to speak directly to reporters due to the stress he continues to suffer from ongoing beatings and threats he endured while being held in a supply closet.

The 30-year-old rookie correctional officer suffered injuries from as many as 15 inmates throwing punches while his hands were bound behind his back inside Building C, Neuberger said. At times, inmates held a knife to the neck of Wilkinson, father of a 7-year-old daughter, to prove to negotiators outside prison walls that he was still alive –– and that he could be killed at any moment.

It was during those moments that Wilkinson believed inmates would kill him rather than release him, his attorney explained.

Wilkinson – along with three other correctional officers – was assigned to Building C when he started his Feb. 1 shift at 8 a.m. Floyd had assigned him to the second floor, or tier, of the unit, which housed up to 30 inmates.

As inmates returned to the building from a recreation yard at about 10:30 a.m., Neuberger said, Wilkinson stood near a tier doorway speaking with an inmate who wanted to take a shower.

"[Wilkinson] started to turn around and about 10 to 15 inmates ran up the hallway and began punching him everywhere," Neuberger recounted. "He tried to swing back."

While Wilkinson could not see other correctional officers, he could hear Floyd on the lower-level floor call a "Code One," which alerts prison staff that an officer is under attack. Wilkinson knew Floyd could not see him. And Wilkinson figured the signal for help was for another officer being attacked, Neuberger said.

For 2 to 3 minutes, Neuberger said, Wilkinson was attacked by the group of inmates before being tackled by one of them. His client didn't see any weapons, Neuberger said, but Wilkinson remembers being hit in the face by a hard object.

Wilkinson remained conscious during those first moments on the floor of the prison. He recalls having his arms pulled behind his back and being handcuffed. The officer's pepper spray, radio and keys to cells and other prison doorways were removed before inmates led him to the supply closet where he was held.

A few minutes later correctional officer Winslow Smith was also tossed into the unlit 5-foot by 7-foot closet with Wilkinson. Inmates held Floyd in an adjacent closet, but Neuberger said Wilkinson was not aware if Floyd was kept there for the duration of the standoff.

At one point Wilkinson smelled smoke. Then fire alarms blasted and water from the sprinkler system poured under the closet door.

"[Wilkinson] could feel blood pouring down his face," Neuberger said. At times the officer, who had been on the job less than 30 days, suffered severe panic attacks in the dark and began hyperventilating. He was calmed by 35-year-old Smith, whose hands also were cuffed, but in front of him.

Before entering the closet, inmates warned the correctional officers to turn and face the wall, vowing to kill the officers should they glimpse faces of the hostage takers. Both men complied. Smith even pulled his jacket over his head to shield his eyes, Neuberger said.

A few minutes after the death threat was made, a lit towel was thrown onto Wilkinson who, with hands cuffed behind his back, was unable to remove the flaming fabric. Smith, who had better use of his hands because they were bound in front of him, pulled the blanket off Wilkinson and used water spilled underneath the door to douse the flames.

At that point, Neuberger said, Wilkinson "was afraid he wasn't going to make it out alive."

Wilkinson could hear Floyd being beaten next door. He knew it was Floyd because the fourth officer assigned to the building that day had been outside in the recreation yard, and was not pulled into the scuffle inside Building C, Neuberger said.

About four hours into the siege, inmates put a pillowcase over Wilkinson's head before releasing Smith from the prison building –– instructing him to deliver to authorities a list of five DOC staff members. Smith pleaded with inmates to release Wilkinson. Inmates refused, despite requests for Wilkinson's medical care.

Wilkinson remained in the closet, passing in and out of consciousness as blood oozed down his face, Neuberger said. He worried that he would bleed out on the closet floor.

At one point, Wilkinson asked his captors if he could use the restroom. He was told no, forcing him to relieve himself in the closet. As the hours rolled on and Wilkinson could no longer stand, he sank to the floor covered in urine and water.

Neuberger said inmates used Wilkinson as a pawn with negotiators, proving to authorities that the rookie officer was alive so authorities would turn on water and restore phone lines to Building C.

"Inmates told [Wilkinson] 'this wasn't personal, but things are going to change here as far as how we're being treated here,' " Neuberger told The News Journal.

Wilkinson even asked to speak with Floyd but was told, "Sgt. Floyd would not be speaking with him," Neuberger recalled.

"He inferred from this that Sgt. Floyd wasn't going to make it."

It would ultimately be the medical needs of inmates, some of whom claimed they needed insulin shots and other medication, that prompted hostage-takers to release Wilkinson and another group of prisoners around 8 p.m. That move came after water and phone services were restored.

Neuberger said some inmates tried to help Wilkinson walk, but the officer was able to stand on his own.

The leader among the uprising, according to Neuberger, instructed inmates to make sure Wilkinson did not fall with the pillowcase still over his head. After tactical teams verified his identity by taking his name and employee number, he was loaded onto a stretcher and rushed to Christiana Hospital for his injuries. Outside, fellow employees and Wilkinson's fiancé waited for him.

Wilkinson's injuries included a broken nose, four fractures in his left eye socket and a puncture wound that reached from his left jaw into his neck, Neuberger said. Wilkinson underwent surgery and had two plates inserted above and below his eye to repair the socket. He also was diagnosed with a concussion and got stitches for his busted lip before he was released from the hospital the following morning.

Wilkinson didn't know Floyd had died until the following day. Floyd was found dead after authorities broke through a building wall with a backhoe, ending the siege.

STORY: Delaware prisoners denied medical care after siege

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COMPLETE COVERAGE: Prison hostage crisis

Neuberger, along with the law firm of Jacobs & Crumplar, are considering a civil rights violation lawsuit against former Govs. Ruth Ann Minner, Jack Markell and senior prison staff. The lawyers contend state officials failed to implement changes recommended by two reports commissioned after a 2004 incident, in which a prison counselor was abducted and raped by an inmate at Vaughn.

Maintenance workers represented by Neuberger were cleaning a boiler in Building C at 10:18 a.m. Feb. 1 when they heard Floyd’s screams, the attorney told the paper. The maintenance workers rushed to help Floyd but were confronted by masked inmates who threatened to kill them. The workers threatened to spray toxic chemicals on the inmates, providing enough space to retreat to the basement. There, the maintenance workers kept officials outside the facility abreast of what they knew was going on.

The day before Vaughn Warden David Pierce was placed on administrative leave with pay on Feb. 20, The News Journal published a story detailing long-standing issues at the prison and hints of a deadly takeover long before the standoff occurred. DOC officials would not say what prompted the warden's leave, citing personnel records as private information.

Last week, The News Journal reported that, despite assurances from DOC officials that inmates statewide had "access to medical treatment" in the first weeks following the standoff, the treatment provided amounted to dispensing prescribed medication, infirmary care and to respond to medical emergencies for the 5,575 inmates statewide, leaving some prisoners with chronic conditions and broken bones no access to doctors or nurses.


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