Ms. Diana Thomas

Ms. Diana Thomas is a retired school bus driver, a mom, a grandmother, and the parent of a former resident of the George W. Hill Correctional Facility. Diana's daughter, Amy Gray, spent 108 days at George W. Hill in 2018 due to a probation violation. During this period, she visited Amy once each week on Wednesdays.

Diana is disabled due to lung cancer and has had surgery to address her condition. Despite her condition and the fact that she had a legitimate "disabled parking placard,” on at least one of her visits there she was not allowed to park in the handicapped parking area close to the jail's visiting room. Instead, she was forced to park down the hill and walk up hill to the jail.  She explained that the guards and staff from George W. Hill parked in the spots closest to the jail for their convenience. Diana has had a litany of problems with the G. W. Hill Visiting Room staff.

On one occasion, Diana attempted to visit her daughter at the facility with her 11-year-old grandson, Jason. According to Diana, Jason was wearing "lounging pants" and the guards turned them both away claiming Jason was "wearing pajamas.” She was forced to leave the facility, buy new pants for her grandson that same night, and return to the jail so Jason could visit with his mother, Amy. On another occasion, Diana was forced to wear a bra despite the fact that this caused her great pain due to her previous lung cancer surgery. She told us that the guards would bring five people at a time into a not-very-clean, small bathroom area with one chair, where they patted people down and made visitors remove their shoes and socks. Diana made it clear that in her experience the guards at George W. Hill were routinely arrogant and rude. Going even further, she indicated that she felt that many of the guards there displayed racial preferences. According to her anecdotal survey, approximately 90% of George W. Hill's visiting room staff are African Americans - as she put it, "in all the times I've been there I've only seen a handful of white guards.”

Ms. Thomas's daughter, Amy, has been hearing impaired since she was three months old. Amy does not have a hearing aid but instead relies on lip reading and the kindness of others to help her communicate effectively. She had many problems at George W. Hill with security staff because they made no accommodations whatsoever for her disability. According to Diana, Amy was often penalized and sometimes locked down because she did not hear the guards calling her name or "buzzing her door open.” Apparently, Amy was made fun of and was referred to as "The Deaf Girl" by some guards. When Diana was informed about the problems her daughter was encountering at the facility, she contacted the office of John McBlain, President of Delaware County Council, who then contacted John Reilly, Superintendent of G. W. Hill Correctional Facility. According to Diana, rather than address Amy's issues, Superintendent Reilly visited her cell and berated her because her mother chose to contact someone on County Council, threatening Amy with retaliation (going to the "Hole") if her family members continued going to outside authorities to complain.

Diana also detailed circumstances where her daughter turned her clothing in to the facility laundry workers for cleaning and they “lost" her clothes, whereupon the jail authorities charged her $18.00 for replacements. She also reports that Amy was issued pants with "a large hole in the crotch area" and told to "wear them anyway.”  Rounding out the clothing issues, Amy's sneakers were stolen while she was there and, according to her mother, she was discharged from the facility barefoot during cold weather.

Amy has no history of violent crime on her record and according to her mother, "she has never hurt anyone other than herself and her family.” During her one and only residence at George W. Hill, Amy participated in several programs, including “Maker's Class” (for mothers) and Prep I Class (for re-entry). Ironically, Amy did not participate in any drug & alcohol classes, mental health treatment, or academic/educational classes. Because of her issues, Amy tried to commit suicide twice approximately two years ago. Amy had a heroin addiction at one point in time and was at a variety of treatment facilities, including the Crozer Psych Unit. Diana speaks very poorly of the Crozer Community Hospital where she claims to have seen drug sales in their parking lot and at least three overdoses. At each facility Amy was given a different diagnosis and a different medication (including Methadone). At one point, Diana explains that Amy was on nine different medications (sixteen total doses daily). Per Diana, this extreme over-medication put Amy into a "zombie-like" state in which she could not function. Diana possesses videographic evidence of her over-medicated state. According to Ms. Thomas, at this time, Amy was told by her Probation Officer, Ms. Kate Flynn, "If you go to a rehab, I will come and put you in jail!"  Per Diana, this illustrates a mindset which indicates there exists a conspiracy between the medical community (particularly drug & alcohol treatment facilities and mental health treatment providers) and correctional institutions to keep people, especially poor people, over-medicated. Because of these circumstances, Amy fled to a friend's house in Bucks County where she self-detoxed from all of her medications. During this 4-5 month period, she was declared an "Absconder" by County Probation (an office that she worked for at one time), which ultimately led to her lock up in George W. Hill.

Diana feels strongly that there is a double standard in our criminal justice system and that rich people receive better legal representation than poor people. She also feels that "public defenders roll over for district attorneys.” Ms. Thomas describes the George W. Hill Correctional Facility as "a money grab" and points to the $100.00 inmate processing fee and the institution's ability to withdraw money from a resident's Commissary Account until the balance of this fee is paid off. Sadly, based on her daughter's experience, Ms. Thomas believes this "money grab" extends to the medical community as well, particularly the drug & alcohol treatment providers. Diana told us that she “wanted [her] daughter to be treated with respect, like a human being,” both in George W. Hill Correctional Facility and in the other facilities where she received treatment and services. Unfortunately, this did not happen for Amy. To her credit and the credit of her family support, Amy has made steps toward achieving a happy ending for herself and her son, Jason.  She has been heroin-free for two years and is currently employed at a local supermarket. She will complete her County Probation obligations in 2020.

Diana’s "take aways" on the George W. Hill Correctional Facility are far from positive. According to her, "The George W. Hill facility has been a sh*t show since day one and it still is, and as long as John Reilly is running things nothing will change.”

Note: pseudonyms have been used to protect the privacy of the individuals who shared their story with us.