Handout from Department of Corrections
Early in January, Angelo Romero sat in his cell at SCI-Smithfield and thought that there would be no way people incarcerated, like himself, would get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The inmates don’t stand a chance on being vaccinated if it’s going to cost the [Department of Corrections] money,” he wrote in a letter to Spotlight PA.
But to Romero’s surprise along with prisoners’ rights advocates, public health experts, and even other inmates the opposite has happened.
Three out of the state’s 23 prisons have so far offered vaccines to inmates and staff, and the number of inmates who have gotten the vaccine at two of those facilities is upwards of 70% no small feat for a department that, on average, vaccinates just over a quarter of its population for the flu.
. HARRISBURG Early in January, Angelo Romero sat in his cell at SCI-Smithfield and thought there would be no way people incarcerated, like himself, would get the COVID-19 vaccine. “The inmates don’t stand a chance on being vaccinated if it’s going to cost the [Department of Corrections] money,” he wrote in a letter to Spotlight PA. But to Romero’s surprise along with prisoners’ rights advocates, public health experts, and even other inmates the opposite has happened. Three out of the state’s 23 prisons have so far offered vaccines to inmates and staff, and the number of inmates who have gotten the vaccine at two of those facilities is upwards of 70% no small feat for a department that, on average, vaccinates just over a quarter of its population for the flu.
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Female offender escapes from ELC location in Concord The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice is actively seeking a female offender who absconded from a residential location in Concord, N.C. on Monday. (Source: WECT) By WECT Staff | March 15, 2021 at 9:24 PM EDT - Updated March 15 at 9:26 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WECT) - The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice is actively seeking a female offender who absconded from a residential location in Concord, N.C. on Monday.
The offender was participating in the Extending the Limits of Confinement (ELC) initiative so she was serving the remainder of her active sentence outside of prison. She had a projected release date of September 23, 2021.
Even prior to the pandemic, the existing model of providing incarcerated individuals with healthcare faced many challenges concerning cost and care effectiveness. According to a 2018 state report, North Carolina spent approximately $322 million on care for incarcerated individuals and paid significantly higher than the national median per inmate on healthcare. This report also highlighted how facilities had to spend $25 million on contractor-provided care due to an inability to fill permanent healthcare staff positions, highlighting the challenges our state prison system faces.
These challenges in North Carolina were exacerbated as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on in 2020. Not only were the outbreaks in correctional facilities concerning, but a Wake County Judge ruled that the state needed to make moves to protect the incarcerated in the prison system and reduce the population in the state carceral system. In addition, between September 7th and October 7th more than a third of all