Former inmate says Butner officials 'slow-rolling' prisoner releases during pandemic

The federal prison complex at Butner has the largest outbreak of coronavirus cases in the U.S. prison system, and a former inmate said Tuesday that Butner administrators aren't releasing enough prisoners to help curb the spread of the virus.

Sixty-seven inmates and 25 Butner workers have tested positive for the virus, and four inmates have died, according to Bureau of Prisons statistics. Nearly 600 inmates and staff at federal institutions nationwide have been infected.

"There are people there that have questions. They’re scared," said K.C. Gleaton, who was released from Butner last Thursday after completing his sentence for criminal conspiracy related to a kickback scheme on a New Jersey public works project.

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"Everyone there was concerned. There’s no question about the concern people had, just that there’s very little you can do about it," Gleaton said, noting one minimum-security inmate walked away from the complex two weeks ago because he was so afraid.

Butner administrators were slow to tell inmates about what was happening during the pandemic, he said, and because of the crowded conditions in the dorms, there was no way for inmates to distance themselves from others. A week ago, the inmates were given masks.

"That was all we had – no gloves, no soap to wash our hands," he said.

"They have to create some policy to make sure there is some method of getting prisoners to socially distance, but in order to do that, you have to remove people from the camp, from the prisons," he said. "The sick, the infirm, the old, those people who are the most vulnerable, those are the ones who need to leave. Those who have non-violent histories and are eligible to be able to leave, they need to get them out of there."

U.S. Attorney General William Barr has urged federal prison officials to move such inmates to home confinement so they can complete their sentences outside of prison and allow those remaining behind bars more room for "social distancing."

The decision on releasing inmates is up to those in charge at each prison.

"They’ve had conversations about trying to get people out, but it really seems that they’re trying to wait this thing out before they let people out. That’s what it seems like," Gleaton said.

A longtime corrections officer at Butner agreed that inmates at high risk for the virus who are near the end of their sentences need to be removed from the prison.

"We didn’t sign up to get COVID-19," said the officer, who didn't want to be named.

Although the prison has stepped up its precautions, including adding staff and distributing more personal protective gear to them, the officer said the measures are "weeks too late."

"We put our lives on the line every day to protect the public and the inmates. I feel like the agency didn’t take proper precautions to protect us," he said.

Other staff have distanced themselves from their families, even refusing to hug their children, for fear of infecting them, he said.

Bureau of Prisons officials didn't respond to a request for more detailed information about what is happening at Butner.

"They should stop slow-rolling this whole thing and get [eligible prisoners] out of there as quickly as possible so they can do the best they can to maintain the social distancing and make sure this doesn’t spread throughout the prison and ultimately kill more people," Gleaton said.