Federal officials say it will release some prisoners soon, families of inmates worry it will be too late

"Everyday he is calling me, he cries sometimes." she said "He wants to get out of there."

Demetrios McNeill, an inmate at the Federal Correction Complex in Butner told Conway that every day someone is passing out or being taken out of the prison in wheelchairs and stretchers.

McNeill and Conway have a family together, and McNeill is worried he might not return home to see his kids.

At the complex, authorities say 340 prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 20 staff members have also tested positive.

Out of the 340, six inmates have died.

Right now McNeill is not sick, but he told Conway the prison is not set up to guard against the virus since it is not easy to distance from other inmates and guards.

Conway is calling for non-violent offenders like McNeill to be release to home confinement.

A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said it is trying to determine the best possible candidates for release.

Activist Kerwin Pittman wants to see more inmate releases in state correctional facilities. More than 1,000, as of Sunday afternoon, are infected in those facilities and nine have died.

"People who are in prisons, they don't have a voice," Pittman said. As an activist, Pittman is their voice.

Pittman said the decision-making process on who is released and who isn't is taking so long that "everybody in the North Carolina state prison system is going to have it by the time they start to make some kind of change and see a big push to let people go."

On Friday, a state judge demanded information from the prison system on their attempts to stop the virus spread and more pandemic-related information.