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Coronavirus spreading in NC prisons

Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in at least six state prisons in North Carolina, officials said Thursday.

Posted Updated

By
Ken Smith
and
Julian Grace, WRAL anchor/reporters
RALEIGH, N.C. — Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in at least six state prisons in North Carolina, officials said Thursday.

An inmate at Johnston Correctional Institution in Smithfield and two at Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro have tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to Todd Ishee, state commissioner of prisons.

An inmate at Caledonia Correctional Institution in Halifax County on Wednesday became the first inmate in the state prison system to have a confirmed case of COVID-19.

Ishee also said that four prison staffers have tested positive: One each at Central Prison in Raleigh, at Johnston Correctional and at Maury Correctional Institution and Eastern Correctional Institution, both in Greene County.

All infected inmates and staffers are in isolation, Ishee said.

"We've prepared long and hard for this day. This is not a surprise to us," he said. We're following CDC infection protocols that have been in place ... for a number of years exactly to address this type of situation."

Prison officials may have been expecting virus cases behind bars, but inmates apparently weren't too pleased to learn of them.

The state's Prison Emergency Response Team has been activated at Neuse Correctional in the wake of the announcement about the two infected inmates there, a source told WRAL News.

Prison officials put the entire minimum-custody unit at the prison under quarantine, and the housing unit where the two inmates were assigned was placed on lockdown, with no movement by any inmates there aside from regulated recreational time. Masks will be given to all inmates and staff there, officials said.

John Bull, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said inmates had "a negative reaction" to the announcement.

Inmates from different dormitories at the prison went outside Thursday afternoon and refused to go back inside, despite orders from Warden Morris Reid and others, DPS officials said in a news release.

"The appropriate security measures and appropriate levels of force were used to restore order in what can be best characterized as an organized offender protest," the news release said.

No serious injuries were reported.

The two Neuse Correctional inmates, both in their 40s, reported to the medical staff with symptoms of a viral infection last Friday, officials said. They were immediately quarantined from the rest of the prison population and tested for the coronavirus.

An inmate who spoke with WRAL on Thursday said there's been no "social distancing" inside the prison.

"It’s crazy," he said. "The officers are not getting screened. The officers themselves say they are not getting screened when they come in. It’s just crazy.”

Bull said the inmate was wrong.

"Everyone is getting screened before they go inside. It includes temperature checks," he said. "Anyone who has a known or possible exposure, they're not allowed either."

"As far as social distancing, the prisons are doing the best they can," he added. "Prisons are pretty confined. We are doing the best we can."

At Central Prison, the staffer there became ill on March 20 and was at work for a brief period of time that day, according to a memo from the warden. The staffer has been off the job since then.

The employee told supervisors that he or she had been exposed to a family member who had traveled recently to New York, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.

Prison officials said they are taking steps to help protect inmates and staff from the spread of COVID-19:

  • Medical screenings for all staff entering a prison, including temperature checks. Anyone with a fever of 100 degrees or more, who has symptoms of respiratory illness or has been exposed in the last 14 days to anyone suspected of having COVID-19 will not be allowed inside.
  • A 14-day quarantine, in addition the medical screening, for all new inmates
  • Staff gatherings have been limited to groups of 10 or fewer. Social distancing is required.
  • The prison's work-release program was suspended statewide on March 24. Prison visits have stopped, and prisoners are transported between facilities only in emergencies.
  • All offenders were provided two bars of soap instead of one to encourage frequent hand washing. Ample supplies of disinfectant and hand lotion have been delivered to every prison.

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