Should NC prisoners be released? The state is now considering options

The N.C. Department of Public Safety is considering options for reducing the state’s prison population, after the first state prison employee tested positive for COVID-19, a spokesperson says.

The consideration follows a March 27 letter to Gov. Roy Cooper from public heath experts at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill who cautioned that youth facilities, jails and prisons where people are confined in close quarters can become breeding grounds for transmission of the coronavirus.

“There are multiple statutes involved,” spokesperson Pamela Walker stated in an email. “The Department of Public Safety is considering what options, if any, are available for reducing the prison population while maintaining public safety.”

In general, jails are run by county sheriffs and mostly house people awaiting trial after being arrested. State and federal prisons are typically for those who have been convicted of a crime in state or federal court.

Prison employee tests positive

A staff member at North Carolina’s Maury Correctional Institution in Greene County reported testing positive Monday. The medium-security prison has about 1,500 beds.

The employee was exposed to a family member who tested positive and is believed to have had “limited, brief interactions” with prisoners while asymptomatic, according to information from Walker.

The Division of Prisons is following state and national guidelines on contact tracing, along with isolation and cleaning protocols.

“We do not underestimate the challenges we face to keep coronavirus from entering the prison system,” Todd Ishee, commissioner of prisons, said in a statement.

The state has already taken actions such as:

Doing medical screenings for staff entering prison.

Placing people coming from county jails in a 14-day quarantine.

Limiting staff gatherings to 10 people

Suspending the work release program, as of March 24.

Giving inmates two bars of soap and encouraging them to wash their hands frequently.

“We must do all we possibly can to deny this virus a foothold in our prisons,” Ishee stated.

As of Wednesday morning, two inmates at the federal prison in Butner have tested positive for the coronavirus, along with one staff member, The News & Observer reported. Across the nation, 29 federal inmates and 30 staff members at those facilities have tested positive, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

On Wednesday the Bureau of Prisons ordered its inmates across the nation to remain in their cells and quarters for 14 days. Inmates should still have access to mental health, education and other services “to the extent practicable” according to the bureau.

Letter to Cooper

The letter to Cooper asks him to commute criminal sentences for people who are elderly, medically vulnerable or have one year or less remaining on their sentence.

“We, as public health experts and concerned citizens, write to urge you to take immediate action to safeguard the lives of those involved in our statewide court system and the North Carolina Department of Corrections, including those who work or are detained in these facilities, their families and their communities,” the letter states.

“Unless you immediately address this threat, you are leaving North Carolinians vulnerable to a massive outbreak of COVID-19,” the letter states.

The letter is signed by Dr. Gavin Yamey, director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at Duke, and nine other public health experts.

‘Prison health is public health’

In an interview, Yamey said he is working with The Justice Collaborative, a criminal justice nonprofit, to get state and federal officials to act.

“We have an ongoing campaign with statewide administrations through multiple channels to try to make the case that jails, prisons, ICE detention centers, juvenile correction facilities, they are all tinder boxes when it comes to COVID-19,” Yamey said.

Public health experts are concerned about those who are incarcerated but also the broader community, he said.

“Prison health is public health,” he said. “An outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere.”

When asked if sending people home could result in a larger spread, Yamey said people should be sent to safe housing where they can take the same precautions that are being widely promoted, such as social distancing, monitoring symptoms, appropriate isolation and quarantine.

“You can do it in a way that is common sense that doesn’t put people at risk and that is actually going to make us safer,” he said.

The campaign is one of many, as concern about coronavirus and prisons increases across the country.

In New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex, which houses about 5,000 inmates in separate facilities, one staffer was infected March 15 and then an inmate three days later, ABC News reported. By Monday there were 167 confirmed cases by inmates, according to The New York Times.

Over a week, the Cook County jail in Chicago jumped from two diagnoses to more than 100 employees and a dozen employees testing positive for COVID-19, it reported.

In the Triangle area, some district attorneys and judges have already been reviewing cases and reducing their jail inmate populations.

From March 1 to Tuesday, the Durham County jail population fell nearly 23% to 293 detainees.

“We are also working with local law enforcement to ensure that only those few individuals who do present a danger to our community are brought to the detention facility during this emergency,” Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry said in a statement.

The Wake County jail population, which typically has a population of 1,250 during this time of year, is down to 1,120, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Eric Curry.

In Alamance County, the jail population, which typically is around 476, has fallen to 360, said Sheriff Terry Johnson.

Durham groups asks DA to help

In a March 27 letter, Durham Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods asked Deberry to “seriously consider” broader sentencing relief for an estimated 800 state prisoners whose cases originated in Durham County.

“Criteria could include, but not be limited to, individuals who are 65 or older, individuals who have served 3/4 of their sentence, or individuals serving sentences for low-level felonies or probation/post-release supervision violations,” the letter states.

The News & Observer asked the District Attorney’s Office whether Deberry was taking any action or reviewing cases in response to that letter.

“She doesn’t have a comment on that right now,” spokesperson Sarah Willets responded in an email.

Staff writer Tammy Grubb contributed to this report.

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