NC orders county jail to depopulate, citing 'serious risks'
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North Carolina's state health department has ordered the Vance County jail to drastically reduce the number of inmates it houses — from more than 140 to just 20.
Why it matters: The order, detailed in a letter sent to county officials April 1, comes after the department found what it described as dozens of serious risks and deficiencies that jeopardize the health and safety of inmates.
- The department said it has repeatedly urged Vance County to fix the problems at the jail, but many still remain.
- This year alone, the letter said, an inmate assaulted a staff member at the jail, and the state's Department of Health and Human Services found evidence that contraband had been smuggled in with the help of detention staff members.
The big picture: Municipal jails are chronically overcrowded and understaffed. Many fail their twice-a-year inspections conducted by the state health department's Division of Health Service Regulation.
- Nearly 38% of jails also failed every single inspection between 2017 and 2019, according to an analysis by Disability Rights NC.
- It's rare, however, for the state health department secretary to go as far as ordering a jail to take corrective correction, as it did with the Vance County Detention Center last week.
- The department hasn't issued a letter like it in at least a decade, it said.
Driving the news: The move came after a year and a half of back-and-forth between state and county officials over as many as 88 deficiencies, including broken cell doors, inadequate staffing and poor supervision, according to the health department's April 1 letter.
- The health department also noted that only nine positions are filled at the detention center. In the past, it's had as many as 30 officers.
Reality check: It takes time and money to solve problems like those identified in Vance County's jail.
- "Those inmates could take over the facility any time they want to," Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame told county commissioners in April 2024, according to a local radio station that has extensively covered the detention center's problems.
- The county has advertised its open detention officer positions, and it recently filed a Request for Quote with a contractor to repair the jail and build a new one and it began efforts to depopulate, which could cost some $2.5 million to house inmates at other facilities, per WIZS.
- County officials, including the sheriff, did not return a request from Axios for comment.
Zoom in: After an inspection last June, when the health department identified 66 deficiencies at the jail, the county "failed to submit a timely or acceptable plan of correction" until November, when state health authorities received an illegible handwritten plan, the department said.
- Vance County later resubmitted a typed plan, but the department deemed it unacceptable and conducted another inspection in December. Regulators identified an additional 33 problems, along with 55 continuing deficiencies, and requested a plan of correction.
- In January, regulators responding to a report of a security breach at the center found an 8-by-12-inch hole in a cinderblock cell that "extended completely through the outer brick wall," along with a hole in a security perimeter fence, the letter said.
The latest: In an inspection last month, regulators found that only 26 of 62 cell doors could lock. They also found exposed wires and determined that the staff had failed to conduct required supervision rounds, according to the department's letter.
What's next: The detention center has until Thursday to reduce its population to 20 inmates, with some temporary flexibility on weekends, and must submit a comprehensive written plan of correction by April 15.
- The county can appeal the order, however.