RALEIGH, NC (AP) — Advocates for the mentally ill are calling on North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to authorize emergency funding to fill large numbers of vacant staffing positions in the state prison system.
Disability Rights North Carolina Executive Director Vicki Smith said Friday that the prison must fill vacancies among mental health, medical and correctional workers to address deficiencies that contribute to poor treatment. Federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation of the March 12 death of inmate Michael Anthony Kerr, a 54-year-old with schizophrenia who died of thirst after being held in solitary confinement for 35 days.
Smith said there has been no improvement since state consultant reported in 2012 that the chronic understaffing has a “very negative impact” on the system’s ability to properly care for inmates with serious mental illnesses.
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