All posts tagged: COVID

NCDHHS still silent on lockdown at Durham County Jail

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By Monica Chen The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services released its new inspection report on Durham County Jail on Thursday. The report is three months late, and still does not mention the ongoing COVID lockdown in place at the jail. Instead, it scolds the Durham County Sheriff’s Office for minor problems — such as graffiti. “All cells throughout the facility had graffiti onthe walls and ceilings,” the new report stated. “This inspection found deficiencies whereby corrections are required,” Charles Brown, the DHHS inspector, wrote to Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, and required a plan to correct the problems to be submitted to DHHS by June 7. That’s a change from NCDHHS’ last report on the jail in September, when it found “no deficiencies.” The agency conducts inspections of all county jails in the state on a semi-annual basis. Activists in Durham have been sounding the alarm since December on the lockdown at the jail, which has resulted in inmates being held in conditions equal to solitary confinement for the past three years. Marcia Owen and …

Sheriff’s 180: No lockdown at jail, claims spokeswoman

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By Monica Chen The Sheriff’s Office claimed last week there is no lockdown at the Durham County Jail, and there is no solitary confinement. That’s contrary to Sheriff Clarence Birkhead and spokeswoman AnnMarie Breen’s previous statements to the media since January, when news of the jail’s conditions broke. After numerous attempts to reach the Sheriff’s Office for comment over the past two weeks, Breen responded last Wednesday over e-mail: “You are misinformed. The facility is not now nor has it ever been on ‘COVID lockdown.’ Additionally, the Durham County Detention Facility does not utilize ‘solitary confinement’ as that is a form of punishment. I believe that you are referring to the fact that at our current occupancy each detainee is assigned a private cell and does not have to share,” she said. “As COVID cases develop at the facility, procedures are in place that help prevent the spread of the virus. This changes day to day and does not typically impact the entire facility,” she added. When it was pointed out to her that Sheriff Birkhead has …

What’s going on at the Durham County Jail?

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By Monica Chen The Durham County Sheriff’s Office is still using COVID lockdown protocols at the jail, and activists are sounding the alarm about the conditions amounting to solitary confinement for the hundreds of inmates. In fact, for some of the inmates at the Durham County Jail who were incarcerated on or before March 2020, that means their solitary confinement has lasted now three years. Activists Marcia Owen and Andrea “Muffin” Hudson sent an open letter in December to local officials, including Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, District Attorney Satana Deberry, Chief District Court Judge Clayton Jones and Police Chief Patrice Andrews. They called for the urgent need to alleviate conditions at the jail. The letter has been signed by hundreds of people and organizations. Owen and Hudson also have met with Birkhead and others to discuss their concerns. “Muffin and I understand from our meeting with the sheriff on Nov. 16 that the jail has sustained the 21-23 [hours] alone in cell for every incarcerated person since late March 2020,” Owen said in an e-mail this …