Former Wake register of deeds has coronavirus in Raleigh prison, her husband says

Laura Riddick, the former Wake County register of deeds serving a prison sentence for embezzlement, has been sick with coronavirus for more than a month, her husband said.

Riddick, 53, remains housed at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh, where she is quarantined in a crowded dormitory, Matthew Eisley said.

In the dorm, she suffers from a fever, chest pain, headaches and fatigue, and is housed with other inmates who have COVID-19 or previously had it, Eisley said.

Social distancing is not possible there, he added, and Riddick, who has a heart condition, has not been able to see a doctor or get an electrocardiogram test.

“She has suffered, and continues to suffer, mightily, as does our family,” Eisley said. “I fear that she could die in prison, where she has been a model inmate since she arrived there two years ago. I hope she doesn’t leave in an ambulance — or a hearse.”

John Bull, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said he cannot discuss offenders’ medical conditions. But he said the department follows guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, providing separate housing for those who test positive.

“All prisons have medical isolation, medical quarantine and advanced treatment protocols in place in case they are needed,” he said in a Friday email.

Embezzlement sentence

Riddick, who ran the register of deeds office from 1997 to 2017, pleaded guilty in 2018 to six counts of embezzling.

She repaid more than $900,000, the amount she was accused of taking, and began serving a 5- to 7-year sentence.

Her attorney at the time credited her crime to a difficult childhood and ongoing anxiety that triggered an impulse to hoard money. She has since sued to recover her pension.

“Two years in the decrepit state lockup is enough to punish a physically and mentally ill woman who confessed, apologized, faced immense public scorn, and already made full financial restitution,” Eisley said. “That’s more than enough pounds of flesh.”

She should be released to home confinement, said Eisley, a former News & Observer reporter, columnist and editor.

At her sentencing in 2018, Riddick provided a medical and psychological history that described a detailed description of her anxiety and tachycardia, the medical term for a heartbeat greater than 100 per minute.

In April, she shared a letter from her Raleigh physician explaining that her cardiac arrhythmia placed her at a greater risk for COVID-19 complications.

NC prison cases

Statewide, the state health department reports 1,130 coronavirus cases and 14 deaths in correctional facilities. State officials in early May said they are providing masks and asking prisoners to sleep head-to-toe. About 700 inmates, a little more than 2% of the total, had been released early due to COVID-19 at that point.

NCCIW, North Carolina’s main prison for women, reported 81 COVID-19 cases in April, the second-largest outbreak statewide.

“I’m concerned about all the people down there who are stuck in a pretty grim environment,” Riddick’s attorney in Raleigh, Robert Orr, said. “Obviously, the staff is being exposed to it.”

Earlier this month, longtime inmate Faye Brown died of coronavirus complications at 67.

Shortly afterward, about 20 friends and former inmates gathered outside the Southeast Raleigh prison to protest conditions there, saying friends inside told them they are still sleeping 2 to 3 feet apart.

In his email, Bull said the majority of offenders who tested positive for COVID-19 are presumed to have recovered. Of the 644 individuals testing positive, 533 of them have now met criteria to be released from medical isolation.

He added 59 of 91 positive-test offenders at NCCIW have passed their isolation periods and are presumed recovered.

This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 10:03 AM with the headline "Former Wake register of deeds has coronavirus in Raleigh prison, her husband says."