Third NC prison inmate dies from COVID-19 complications
A third North Carolina prison inmate has died after testing positive for COVID-19, state officials said Thursday.
The inmate, a man in his 70s who had been suffering from other health problems, had been housed at Neuse Correctional Institution, in Goldsboro, the site of one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the nation. He was the second inmate at Neuse to die from COVID-19 complications.
As of Wednesday, 470 of the prison’s roughly 770 inmates had been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the Wayne County Health Department. Twenty nine of the prison’s staff members have also tested positive.
State prison officials didn’t release the victim’s name, citing the confidentiality of prisoner records and the family’s right to privacy.
But they said the inmate tested positive for COVID-19 on April 18 and was hospitalized five days later. His condition worsened, and he died at the hospital on April 29.
The first state prison inmate to die as a result of COVID-19 complications, a man in his late 50s who also suffered from other health problems, was housed at Pender Correctional Institution, north of Wilmington. He died at the hospital on April 21.
The second inmate, a man in his 70s who also suffered other health problems, was housed at Neuse. He died on April 23.
Another COVID-19 outbreak has hit the state’s main women’s prison — the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, in Raleigh. As of Thursday, more than 80 inmates have tested positive there.
Experts say prisons and jails are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases because inmates live so closely together.
State officials have suspended visitation at the prisons. 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 30, 2020 at 12:11 PM.
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