Wary of coronavirus, North Carolina to suspend all visits to prisons
Hoping to prevent the introduction of the new coronavirus to a population where infectious diseases spread rapidly, North Carolina officials are suspending all visits to state prisons starting Monday.
The state Department of Public Safety announced that it will also suspend all visits from prison volunteers. After 30 days, the prison system will reevaluate those emergency moves, DPS officials say.
None of the state’s 35,000 inmates have tested positive for the virus, officials say. But prisons and jails are especially vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks, experts say, because inmates live so closely together and use toilets just feet from their beds.
“We have made this difficult decision ...to reduce the risk of this disease getting into prisons and spreading,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “This was a difficult decision. I know this will not be good news to offenders and their families, but this is being done with everyone’s health and safety in mind.”
More than two dozen other states — including South Carolina, Florida, California and Ohio — have also suspended visitation to their prisons.
North Carolina prison officials say they are stepping up their medical screening in response to the health threat. If new inmates show signs of respiratory illness or have fevers of 100 degrees or more, they’ll be treated and isolated until medical staff can determine whether they are infected with COVID-19.
Inmates will also be screened before they are transported to other prisons or court hearings.
Officials say they are also increasing their efforts to keep the prisons clean, and that they will keep all buildings well stocked with disinfectants and hand sanitizers.
County jails prepare
County jails are also taking precautions.
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office suspended visits to the county jail starting Monday, saying all visitation would be conducted remotely. It plans to use video conferencing for first-appearance hearings, and video kiosks for attorneys and bail-bond agents to talk to their clients.
The Durham jail plans additional medical screenings as well.
At Mecklenburg County’s jails, health care staffers are asking every new inmate additional screening questions to find out whether they’ve recently traveled in virus-prone parts of the world.
“In a local confinement facility, you never know who you’re going to encounter,” said Mecklenburg Sheriff Chief Deputy Rodney Collins.
Maintenance workers are increasing efforts to clean and sanitize the jail, Collins said. They’ve also put up additional stations for hand sanitizers and are making sure they have on hand the necessary protective gear for inmates and workers.
“We’re just making sure we’re ready,” Collins said.
None of the more than 1,500 inmates at Jail Central and Jail North have tested positive for the virus, Collins said.
Seventeen coronavirus cases, including one in Mecklenburg County and one in Cabarrus County, had been reported statewide through Thursday.
At the eight-year-old Wake County Detention Center, in Raleigh, four air-tight “zero-pressure rooms” are designed to house inmates with illnesses that can be spread by air.
Those cells are not connected to the central air system for the rest of the building, according to Eric Curry, a spokesman for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. Each of those rooms vents the air that inmates breathe out directly to the outdoors.
Jail staff members are now extra vigilant about wiping down all door knobs that inmates touch, and all surfaces in cells that are being vacated.“We’re not taking any chances,” Curry said.
The detention center on Hammond Road houses about 1,200 inmates. There’s no indication any of them have contracted the virus, Curry said.
“Not right now,” he said.”I’m knocking on every piece of wood I can find.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Wary of coronavirus, North Carolina to suspend all visits to prisons."
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