LUMBERTON — The Robeson County Detention Center will continue normal operations in the face of a directive to stop the transfer of inmates to state prisons and decrease prison inmate transfers over the next two weeks starting Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The N.C. Department of Public Safety on Monday announced the change, supported by the N.C. Sheriff’s Association, describing it as “a stay-at-home order for the vast majority of the 34,400 offenders in the state prison system.”
Seven inmates housed in Johnston Correctional Institution, Caledonia Correctional Complex and Neuse Correctional Institution tested positive for COVID-19 over the past week, according to the Department of Public Safety. Face masks were distributed to staff and inmates in those locations over the weekend.
Inmates will continue to be transferred over the next two weeks to comply with court orders, for medical or mental health reasons, for security purposes or for release at the completion of their prison sentences, according to NCDPS. In the next two weeks, inmates who are to be released will be transferred to locations closer to their homes. New inmates, without COVID-19 symptoms, will be transferred to their assigned prisons.
The local need to transfer inmates is not immediate, and there is still space to house more, Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said. The jail, which has more than 300 inmates, has space for about 100 more if needed.
In a survey administered Sunday by the N.C. Sheriff’s Association, more than 2/3 of sheriffs in the state said their institutions would not be affected by the change, Wilkins said. He is among them.
The Robeson County Detention Center has put measures in place to prevent officers, staff, inmates and members of the public from contracting the virus, he said.
The jail has installed kiosks in each cell that allow inmates to video chat with visitors, Wilkins said. The kiosks will be a permanent measure and the jail will no longer allow in-person visits. Inmates will remain in cells unless they are attending recreational activities or visiting the nurse’s station, which limits contact between detention officers and inmates.
“We have a full-time medical staff here,” he said.
Daily health checks that include checking the temperatures of inmates and staff also are being conducted, Wilkins said.
A new surveillance system was installed this past week at the Sheriff’s Office and Detention Center, which allows staff members to speak to visitors and unlock doors remotely at the touch of a button. There is also a limit of one person at a time in the lobby and the magistrate’s office.
The surveillance system also will help secure the premises if a lockdown occurs, Wilkins said.
“We had it installed just for future use,” he said.
Inmates across the state have been screened before transfers over the past month, according to the Department of Public Safety. Inmate transportation movements also have been limited to new offenders in the prison system and to court-ordered movements that are considered high priority or related to health.
“We must deny this virus the opportunity to spread,” said Todd Ishee, commissioner of Prisons. “It has gotten into three of our prisons and we must contain it there to the greatest degree possible. This is imperative for the health and safety of our staff, and the men and women who are in our care.”
Correction Enterprises is manufacturing face shields, hospital-style gowns, washable face masks, hand sanitizer and lotion to be used by inmates and staff, according to the state Department of Public Safety. In the past month, inmates showing signs of respiratory illness or fevers have been isolated from other inmates.
New inmates in the state prison system also have been quarantined for 14 days after initial medical screening for COVID-19 to prevent any spread of the virus in the facility, according to state DPS.
