Families, ACLU press for inmate releases amid virus outbreaks behind bars
Coronavirus cases continue to mount in state and federal prisons in North Carolina, making relatives of inmates increasingly anxious.
Posted — UpdatedNearly 600 inmates are infected at 11 North Carolina prisons, with Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro accounting for more than three-quarters of the cases. The North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women spiked in recent days, reporting 81 cases for the second-largest outbreak in the state prison system.
The federal prison complex in Butner has one of the largest outbreaks in the federal system, with 121 inmates and 20 staff members infected. Six Butner inmates have died of COVID-19, the illness associated with the virus.
A Waldorf, Md., woman who identified herself only as Jolie said her husband was convicted on a federal firearms charge and was sent to Butner because of the prison's medical facilities. He has Crohn's disease, she said.
But the medical facility has been turned upside-down by coronavirus.
"They don’t have the equipment or the facilities to take care of these prisoners, who are human as well," Jolie said. "Everybody is being exposed."
"The combination of the size of that outbreak, the vulnerability of that population and, really, the crowding in that particular facility are all very concerning," said Maria Morris, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.
"They need to be finding ways to get people out of these facilities, where they’re really just sitting ducks for this disease," she said.
Like the virus, inmate petitions for release keep spreading. Handwritten court filings cite debilitating medical conditions that make it even more urgent to remove prisoners from Butner.
Jolie said she feels for all of the prisoners.
"They can’t control the virus in such close quarters, so I would think they would let them out [to] go home to their families," she said.
The federal Bureau of Prisons is trying to determine the best candidates to release on home confiment, a spokesman said. He added that the agency has followed guidelines on the best way to protect prisoners, including the following steps:
- Initially, every inmate was given a surgical mask, and they're now being provided cloth masks on a weekly basis.
- Inmate visitations are on hold, and inmate transfers have been dramatically reduced.
- All staff and incoming inmates are screened for fever and other COVID-19 symptoms.
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