After a year of pandemic, prison efforts were rewarded during COVID-19

Note: This is a guest column by North Carolina Prison Secretary Todd Ishee on his work there during a coronavirus pandemic.

Raleigh, NC — It’s been a year since the pandemic first struck the state prison system.

Since the launch of the polio vaccine in the 1950s, we have endured a terrible year of grief, surprise, adaptation, patience, and the most logistically complex mass vaccination initiative.

Great efforts have been rewarded. Vaccines make a big difference. They are working

A year ago, the first handful of COVID-19 cases appeared in criminal populations and realized the impact of this terrible virus on our prison system, our community, and our country.

In the face of the first outbreak of the virus, a year ago today, April 15-16, we provided a mass test of all criminals at Neuse Correctional in Goldsboro.

I was shocked to learn that more than 450 criminals were infected. Most criminals (about 98%) showed no symptoms at all and did not develop any symptoms.
Until then, we didn’t fully understand what hit us. No one did.

Some have questioned the potential for such a widespread virus to spread from asymptomatic criminals, but there was no doubt. Instead, we prepared.

Our Correction Enterprises plant has begun producing hundreds of thousands of face masks and thousands of gallons of disinfectant and has ordered large quantities of medical grade PPE.

Created medical quarantine and quarantine protocols, housing unit cohorts, criminal transport requirements, and COVID-19 inspection procedures.

We closed the prison to everyone except prison personnel. The work release of the offender has been stopped. And we did much more.

Over the past year, we have been resilient. I adapted. We didn’t give up. I didn’t give up. I worked hard. It was hard for everyone.

There were dark days, incredibly dark days, but we didn’t despair. We stuck to 3 Ws. We have adhered to virus prevention and mitigation strategies. We worked closely with a partner in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

When it was the darkest day of autumn and winter last year, we doubled and worked harder.

Enhanced COVID-19 testing for criminals (currently completing 127,000 tests and counts). We conducted tests on all prison personnel every two weeks (currently with 114,000 tests and counts). The protocol has been further strengthened.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were terrible for the prison system. It was the darkest time we faced in this pandemic.
How bad was it?

For Christmas:
• 36 prisons (more than half) were designated as either red or orange for outbreaks
• One prison has been designated as a hotspot
• 430 criminals had active cases of COVID-19
• 7 people were hospitalized
• 577 staff absent from work due to COVID-19

At some point in January, more than 700 staff were absent from work due to COVID-19.

We began receiving weekly vaccine assignments from DHHS on January 20th. Because those first shots were armed that day:

• Half of our prisons (28 of them) were in red or orange
• 465 criminals had active cases of COVID-19
• 33 new criminal cases were discovered that morning
• 566 staff were absent from work due to the virus.

Today, three months later, we are in a significantly improved position. This is due to our efforts, safety protocols, and vaccines.

So far, more than half of the criminals have been partially vaccinated and almost half of their staff have been partially vaccinated.

This is where we are today, April 15, 2021.

• After spending a day with over 550 tests against criminals, there are no new positives!
• 21 criminals have active cases of COVID-19
• One criminal is in the hospital
• There are no red prisons
• Only 9 prisons are designated orange
• Approximately 130 staff are absent from work due to the virus

That’s an amazing improvement!

In the process, the terrible virus lost 12 staff and more than 50 criminals in serious underlying health.

In the meantime, we were worried about our health, our family’s health, and the health of our colleagues every day.

This is not the end. The pandemic is not defeated. But I’m cautiously optimistic now.

This significant improvement since the vaccine arrived in mid-January is no coincidence.

This is the result of the hard work of the staff, the meticulous attention to detail, and their commitment and resilience over the past year. They are heroes.

And this improvement is also the result of this simple fact: the vaccine works. They help protect people from potentially deadly or even debilitating viruses.
The vaccines used in our prisons are safe. They are effective. They will be tested.

We have all participated in this together. We need to get out of this together.

Everyone should at least talk to their doctor about getting a shot and then roll up their sleeves.
They should do it for their families. They should do it for the people they work with and for everyone around them.
They should do it themselves, if nothing else.

Vaccines are the way out of this pandemic. It’s working!