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@NCEmergency @NCDOT @NCNationalGuard @NC_Governor Q: will #HurricaneIsaias2020 delay/ affect decisions about Phase 2 reopenings? A: looking at indicators that have been around for a while, all of @SecMandyCohen's numbers. We'll make announcement this week likely Wednesday

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Prison Health

Jail suicides are on the rise in North Carolina

ICE transfers — and NC jail partnerships — have continued amid the pandemic

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ICE transfers — and NC jail partnerships — have continued amid the pandemic - North Carolina Health News

Advocates worry it will increase North Carolina immigrants' risk of contracting COVID-19.

By Hannah Critchfield The call came after a period of relative silence. “ICE is at my door,” the man told Stefania Arteaga, immigrants’ rights organizer at the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. “They’ve been to six other houses in my neighborhood already,” the man said. On that day in May, Arteaga was volunteering […]

We see several pumpkins with decorated with googley eyes, stickers and multicolored acrylic paint. In the center, the heart-laden face of an orange pumpkin wearing a pink yarn hat with feathers and rainbow pipecleaners looks back at us. The pumpkins were made at the October 2019 Parent Day at Orange County Correctional Center.

A year without visits: COVID-19’s impact on children with incarcerated parents

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A year without visits: COVID-19’s impact on children with incarcerated parents - North Carolina Health News

Correctional facilities throughout the state have shut down in-person visitations to help quell the spread of COVID-19, creating one more roadblock for kids trying to navigate the criminal justice system to stay connected with a parent.

By Hannah Critchfield In any other year, on Father’s Day, 11-year-old Marley Bennett and her grandmother would pack up their pre-made lunches and drive to Orange Correctional Center for a visit with Marley’s father. They’d sit at the picnic tables outside, and she and her dad would chat about the news and school friends over […]

We see a gated entrance to Neuse Correctional Institution located in Goldsboro. The facility has had hundreds of inmates test positive for COVID-19, including several who have died.

Judge: NC prisons out of compliance with court orders

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Judge: NC prisons out of compliance with court orders - North Carolina Health News

Prisons not providing court with information and not complying with several parts of order to prevent further COVID-19 spread, judge says

Jordan Wilkie Carolina Public Press North Carolina prisons are out of compliance with a court order, a judge said Friday afternoon. A month ago, Wake County Superior Court Judge Vinston Rozier Jr. ruled that conditions in state prisons were likely unconstitutional in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In that June hearing, Rozier ordered the state to take several […]

shows health care workers in full protective gear testing someone sitting in their car for COVID

Coronavirus Today – July 7 – Streamlining COVID testing access; Tough being a contact tracer; NC gets F for inmate care

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Coronavirus Today – July 7 – Streamlining COVID testing access; Tough being a contact tracer; NC gets F for inmate care - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina tries to knock down barriers to COVID-19 testing as coronavirus metrics and trends continue in the wrong direction.

By North Carolina Health News staff Won’t need a doc’s note to get tested Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, the state health director, just issued a statewide order which means you no longer need a doctor’s referral to get tested for COVID-19. Essentially, she has provided a sweeping referral that has often been the barrier to testing […]

beyond a fence two fences, one topped with razor wire, about a dozen men play on a bleak basketball court. Many people with mental illness end up in the prison system

COVID-19 puts pressure on already fractured prison health system

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COVID-19 puts pressure on already fractured prison health system - North Carolina Health News

COVID-19 has hit North Carolina’s prisons hard. But the system was already struggling under the weight of staffing issues, budget cuts, management changes and a surge of mental health patients for more than a decade.

By Taylor Knopf The North Carolina prison system has been under heightened scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic after outbreaks of the virus occurred in several facilities across the state. Five inmates and one prison nurse have died from the virus. Hundreds have been infected. Inmates were being moved freely between facilities with outbreaks and those […]

trailers with barb wire around them

All NC inmates to be tested for COVID-19, hospitalization rate largely unknown

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All NC inmates to be tested for COVID-19, hospitalization rate largely unknown - North Carolina Health News

The NC prison system had been reluctant to test prison inmates for COVID-19 before a judge got involved. Meanwhile, prison officials have refused to release the number of inmates who have been hospitalized with the virus.

By Taylor Knopf UPDATE: On June 24, DPS reached out to NC Health News to say that currently, their outside hospitalization rate for offenders is zero and that the greatest number hospitalized was 11 inmates, in mid-to-late-April. Department of Public Safety spokesman John Bull also said the department was working to provide more information on […]

shows a woman who is demonstrating how to wear a mask for COVID prevention. A man behind her looks on.

Coronavirus Today – June 18 – Campaigning for the face mask; $3.3 million prison testing plan; Tar River floods

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Coronavirus Today – June 18 – Campaigning for the face mask; $3.3 million prison testing plan; Tar River floods - North Carolina Health News

Gov. Roy Cooper hints at a statewide mask mandate, but North Carolinians won’t know for sure until next week.

By North Carolina Health News staff In this campaign year, governor stumps for the face mask Gov. Roy Cooper has not ruled out the possibility of reinstating social distancing restrictions if the state’s hospitals look as if they will be overwhelmed with patients battling severe COVID-19 infections as admissions continue to steadily climb. What he […]

NC Correctional Institution for Women entrance

Pregnant NC prisoners hopes of release fading

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Pregnant NC prisoners hopes of release fading - North Carolina Health News

The state wants to release pregnant prisoners to protect them from COVID outbreaks. So what’s the hold up?

By Hannah Critchfield The call Beth had been waiting for came unceremoniously in late April. “Your daughter’s being released,” the Carteret County probation officer told her. Beth breathed a sigh of relief, for both for her child and grandchild – her daughter Michele was serving a five-month sentence inside the coronavirus outbreak-riddled state women’s prison, […]

NC Correctional Institution for Women entrance

Former Wake County Register of Deeds Laura Riddick went to prison after embezzling nearly a million dollars. Then she contracted COVID.

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Former Wake County Register of Deeds Laura Riddick went to prison after embezzling nearly a million dollars. Then she contracted COVID. - North Carolina Health News

Riddick describes what it’s like for her, and the women around her, to fall ill from the deadly virus while in prison.

By Thomas Goldsmith Laura Riddick did the crime and knows she has to do the time. As it’s turned out, the former Wake County register of deeds’ 2018 guilty plea — to charges of embezzling nearly $1 million in public funds — means that she’s housed in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women at […]

shows men working out in a crowded gym with many freeweights.

Coronavirus Today – June 4 – Racial equity task force; nursing home, prison numbers; Phase 2.5 for gyms, bars?

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Coronavirus Today – June 4 – Racial equity task force; nursing home, prison numbers; Phase 2.5 for gyms, bars? - North Carolina Health News

As George Floyd’s death renews outrage over institutional racism and long-standing inequities, Gov. Roy Cooper creates a new task force.

By North Carolina Health News staff Task force created to address COVID-19 impact on communities of color As the death of George Floyd under a Minneapolis police officer’s knee highlights systemic racism and inequities for people of color at all levels of society, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order on Thursday to begin addressing […]

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