Local News

NC prison officials: Woman fighting cancer too young to be released for COVID-19 concerns

To limit the spread of coronavirus behind bars, state prison officials have started allowing some inmates at higher risk from the virus to complete their sentences at home with supervision. But not everyone meets the requirements for the program.

Posted Updated

By
Amanda Lamb
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — UPDATE: Officials said Shuvon Mitchell was released from prison on Friday (Sept. 25, 2020)

=====

To limit the spread of coronavirus behind bars, state prison officials have started allowing some inmates at higher risk from the virus to complete their sentences at home with supervision. But not everyone meets the requirements for the program.

Shuvon Mitchell, 42, was convicted in July 2019 of embezzling state property after failing to pay $102,000 in state taxes for her business. She's scheduled to be released from the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women next January, but her family fears she might die in prison because of the pandemic.

Mitchell was diagnosed in April with breast cancer for the third time. She also has lupus, an autoimmune disorder.

"The doctors at UNC stated that, if she catches COVID or anything else close to that, she's gone because she has no ability to fight a cold," said her father, Claude Gray.

"She needed aggressive treatment," Gray said of Mitchell's chemotherapy and radiation therapies at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. "Everybody at the facility says she needs to get out of prison. She really needs to get out of prison. This is during the blowup of the coronavirus."

Nearly 250 inmates at the women's prison in Raleigh have tested positive for the coronavirus, or about 17 percent of the prison's population, according to state Department of Public Safety figures. The prison has the second-largest virus outbreak in the state prison system, where about 1,550 inmates have tested positive since April.

Mitchell's attorney, Hart Miles, wrote a letter to DPS asking that she be released on probation and included a letter from her oncologists, who say she likely will need surgery.

"It's clear from what the doctors say that, if she contracts COVID, she will die," Miles said. "Allow her to fight this cancer on her terms – at home with her family."

The state's Extending the Limits of Confinement program, dubbed ELC, allows nonviolent inmates to be released to home confinement under specific guidelines, such as being pregnant or already having work release or home leave privileges. So far, 442 inmates statewide have been granted ELC status.

One of the ELC guidelines is that an inmate is between the ages of 50 and 64 and has an underlying health condition. Because Mitchell is only 42, prison officials rejected her release request, saying doesn't meet ELC criteria.

"It seems like the age is a really harsh line to draw right here," Miles said.

"The goal is to identify the most at-risk offenders, based upon CDC guidelines, as well as those who pose the least safety risk to the community based upon their release dates and the fact that they have already been working or visiting in the community," DPS spokesman Greg Thomas said in an email. "The department continues to review and update the eligibility criteria needed to qualify for this program."

Miles said he has reached out to Gov. Roy Cooper about Mitchell's case and hopes the state will reconsider its position.

"We’re not asking the governor to give her a complete pass. She can be on probation," Miles said. "It seems like an easy, clear decision for a government official to make. They just haven't made it yet."

"Please, please find some humanity in your soul and let my daughter live. She's the only one I have," Gray said.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.