First youth tests positive for COVID-19 in state Juvenile Justice facility

Raleigh -- PRESS RELEASE North Carolina Department of Public Safety Jul 24, 2020 

Juvenile tested upon entry to Pitt Juvenile Detention Center in Greenville; had been quarantined pending test results

An offender housed at Albemarle Correctional Institution who tested positive for COVID-19 has died at the hospital as a result of pre-existing conditions complicated by COVID-19.

This is the eighth coronavirus death of an individual in custody at a North Carolina state prison.

"His death is a tragedy, and we are working hard to manage the impact of COVID-19 in our prisons,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “The health and safety of the staff and the offenders in our custody remains our top priority.”

The offender tested positive when he was hospitalized on July 2, 2020. His condition worsened, and the offender died at the hospital on July 24, 2020.

The offender was a male in his early seventies who had underlying health conditions. Given his family’s right to privacy and the confidentiality of prison offender records, the Department of Public Safety will not further identify the individual.

Prisons leadership has taken a substantial number of actions throughout the North Carolina prison system to try to prevent transmission of the virus. Those actions, along with offender testing information that is updated daily, are found here: https://www.ncdps.gov/our-organization/adult-correction/prisons/prisons-...