North Carolina Closes 3 Prisons, Moves Inmates Due to Surge in COVID-19 Cases

North Carolina closed three state prisons, with hundreds of inmates being transferred to other facilities across the state. The COVID-19 cases continue to spike within the prison system in the state.

Surging COVID-19

The inmates at Randolph Correctional Center in Randolph County, the unit at Southern Correctional Institution in Montgomery County, and the minimum custody unit at Piedmont Correctional Institution in Rowan County have all been moved.

On November 25, state prison leaders outline the moves in a briefing to the staff. In the said briefing, leaders said that the move was because of the increased COVID-19 cases among inmates and the number of staff that have been out of work at some facilities.

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North Carolina has also maxed out on hospital bed capacity for inmates, according to the briefing. As a result, the state has contracted with Kindred Hospital in Greensboro to use a 20-bed wing to treat inmates.

The Southern Correctional Institution will be used to house inmates who need healthcare needs. The staff from Randolph Correctional Center will then be assigned to work at Kindred Hospital.

The staff from the minimum units at Southern Correctional Institution and Piedmont Correctional Institution will be reassigned to the other, higher-custody units at their facility, according to Forbes.

For the staff at Piedmont Correctional Institution, the move means from working on a unit with a lesser spread of coronavirus to one where coronavirus is widespread.

The unit at Piedmont Correctional Institution is on red status because of the high number of COVID-19 cases. The moves had not previously been announced, according to WUSA 9.

Stopping large scale transfers

The ACLU brought a court case that questioned the prison system's treatment of inmates during the pandemic. It had previously led a judge to order prison leaders to stop the massive transfer of inmates between prisons.

According to the briefing, at least 86 inmates were moved from Randolph Correctional Center. However, the briefing does not give the number of inmates from the minimum units at Southern Correctional Institution and Piedmont Correctional Institution.

Leah Kang, an ACLU attorney, who is involved in the lawsuit against the prison system, was not informed of the inmate transfers by prison officials.

Kang said on November 25 that if they are not testing or quarantining each of the incarcerated people they have moved around, they will violate the court's order.

Kang stated that even if they are testing and quarantining, closing down prisons and packing more people into those that are not closed and moving massive groups of people around like this is very dangerous and invites more outbreaks.

John Bull, a prison spokesman, also responded about the move but admitted that he was not aware of it. Bull sent a press release hours after WBTV first inquired about the moves.

The release said that stringent COVID-19 medical transportation protocols were used in transferring the offenders to their new prison assignments.

The release added that the offenders were transported in groups that did not mix and were placed in medical quarantine on arrival to their new prison assignments without contact with the general prison populations at those particular prisons.