Coronavirus cases surge at NC women’s prison
North Carolina’s main prison for women has become the site of another major COVID-19 outbreak.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the state had reported 81 cases of COVID-19 at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. All are in the prison’s minimum-security camp known as the “Canary Unit.” That’s up from less than a dozen last week.
More than 160 inmates in the camp were tested over the weekend, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. Many tested positive, but nearly 100 tested negative. Fewer than a dozen tests results from the prison are pending, DPS said.
Inmates at the prison’s minimum-security camp said in phone interviews Thursday that others had tested positive there. They said they were fearful of catching the virus and could not protect themselves because their beds are too close for social distancing. At that time, no mass testing had taken place at the camp.
In March, the state prisons suspended their work release program to limit potential exposure to the coronavirus.
Before that, however, many of the inmates at NCCIW worked low-paying jobs throughout the city, and rode public transportation to get to them. They now worry those jobs may have brought the virus to the camp.
Inmate Pamela Humphrey, 58, said she worked at fast-food restaurants, while Brenda Garner, 49, said she did housekeeping at the Governor’s mansion.
They view their work-release assignments as evidence that they should be sent home to serve the rest of their time on probation.
“We feel like if we are trustworthy enough to go out on the work program, we should be trustworthy enough to go out on furlough,” Humphrey said.
State prison officials say they are taking several steps to curb the spread of the coronavirus inside the women’s prison. Among them:
▪ Separating inmates who have tested positive from those who’ve tested negative.
▪ Isolating all inmates who have tested positive. They are now housed inside two dorms.
▪ Quarantining inmates who have tested negative for 14 days, with close monitoring of their health and twice-daily temperature checks.
▪ Ensuring prison employees don’t travel between the dorms with infected and non-infected inmates.
Prisons spokesman John Bull said a “power breezer” is also being used disinfect large areas of the women’s prison.
NCCIW is the second state prison to suffer a major outbreak.
At Neuse Correctional Institution, 470 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the Wayne County Health Department. Located in Goldsboro, southeast of Raleigh, Neuse houses about 770 minimum- and medium-security inmates. State officials are testing every inmate there, and more results are pending.
Statewide, more than 550 North Carolina prison inmates have tested positive. That represents more than half of the prisoners tested so far.
But more than a third of the state’s prisons have yet to test a single inmate.
State prison officials say all decisions about whether to conduct large-scale testing for COVID-19 are made in consultation with the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Virtually all of North Carolina’s 16,000 prison employees will soon have a chance to get tested, under a plan announced last week by the State Health Plan and state Treasurer Dale Folwell. The costs associated with that testing will be covered by the State Health Plan.
Experts say prisons and jails are especially vulnerable to infectious diseases because inmates live so closely together. Outbreaks inside prisons also pose a danger to surrounding communities, because staff members are likely to become infected and carry the virus to others on the outside.
State prison officials say they are working quickly to curb the spread of the virus. They’ve suspended visitation. They’ve begun releasing some inmates early. And they say they are taking the temperatures of all staff members before they enter prisons each day.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 11:55 AM.
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