Butner stepping up early release of inmates as coronavirus cases spike

The Federal Correctional Complex at Butner is moving to the top of the list of prisons for early release of inmates after the number of coronavirus cases jumped dramatically over the weekend, a federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The complex had the highest number of cases among the roughly 35 federal prisons that had reported staff or inmates who had tested positive as of Tuesday. Lisa Macon Harrison, the public health director for Vance and Granville counties, said early Tuesday afternoon the number of people who have tested positive at Butner increased by one to 60. By day’s end the department had reported 62.

At one of Butner’s medium-security facilities, the number of positive cases per 1,000 inmates is 61, the highest in the country and much higher than the second-highest per-capita rate of 39 at a prison facility in Oakdale, Louisiana.

On its website Tuesday, the bureau reported that only one staff member at the medium-security facility had tested positive; the rest were inmates.

The slowing down of additional positive test results reinforced to Harrison that the 47 new cases that surfaced over the weekend were the result of more aggressive testing of inmates after an employee was reported as testing positive on March 26.

“They did the right thing by doing a large number of tests so they could identify and isolate,” Harrison said. “And that’s what we’d like to see them do.”

Last week, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced that early releases of inmates would be a priority at three federal prisons dealing with outbreaks, The New York Times reported. They are in Oakdale, Danbury, Connecticut, and Elkton, Ohio.

Sue Allison, a bureau spokeswoman, said Tuesday that Butner has joined their ranks.

“We are looking at everybody who is vulnerable, but particularly at those four prisons, or anywhere else where they might have a sustained transmission,” Allison said. “Butner is definitely one of those prisons at this point.”

She said since March 26, federal prisons have released 615 inmates to home confinement. She did not have figures on how many per prison. She also did not know how soon Butner would step up releasing eligible inmates.

Families and friends of inmates have been reaching out to The News & Observer since it first reported the outbreak at Butner. Details on timing differ, but they say things got heated in recent days when correctional officers at the minimum-security prison camp showed up in heavy gear as plans developed to move inmates out of their dormitory to create isolation space for inmates who have tested positive.

“It’s usually a pretty relaxed situation for inmates, but it’s not anymore,” said Kristin Holmes, who lives near Atlanta. She said her boyfriend is at Butner.

Theresa Jordan, whose son is at a low-security facility at Butner, said inmates are being housed three to a room instead of two, which she fears increases the likelihood of transmission.

“He don’t like it,” said Jordan, who lives in Baltimore. “Why are they putting three in a cell? Who knows what who’s got.”

Allison said the prisons are moving inmates to create isolation space, but she couldn’t confirm specifics at Butner. She said she had seen no reports showing officers had used force to move inmates.

The prisons are trying to deploy social distancing as much as possible, she said, and that has led to changes such as limiting inmates moving about the facilities for dining, laundry, the commissary and other places to small groups. She said inmates still have access to email and phones.

On Sunday, she said the bureau began issuing surgical masks to inmates and staff at all prisons. Since March 26, all inmates coming into the prisons have been placed in 14-day quarantine before being moved into the general population, unless they show symptoms and in those cases they are isolated until they test negative for the virus.

Some families of inmates say the phone and email opportunities have been harder to come by. The prisons closed off visits roughly a month ago.

The Butner complex has roughly 4,700 inmates combined at the low- and minimum-security facilities, two medium-security facilities, and a medical center. No inmate deaths have been reported there. Allison said she did not know if any have been hospitalized as result of the virus.

This story has been updated to reflect two additional positive test reports for the virus at Butner that the Vance Granville Public Health Department reported late Tuesday. It also has been updated to reflect differing accounts as to when correctional officers showed up in heavy gear as the facility grappled with the outbreak.

Database editor David Raynor contributed.