NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY NORTH CAROLINA SENATE May 22, 2020 Commissioner Todd Ishee N.C. Department of Public Safety 512 North Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC 27604 VIA ELECTRONIC DELIVERY Dear Commissioner Ishee, I write with grave concerns about yesterday’s report, published by a six-newsroom collaborative, involving the death of a nurse at Caswell Correctional Center, which is in my Senate district. The report points to a systemic failure of accountability, competence, and execution, and I want answers. It has been widely reported for some time that COVID-19 most acutely impacts congregate care facilities like prisons. Given that widely circulated fact, the Executive Branch should be very sensitive to protecting prison employees and prioritizing tests, but that does not appear to be the case. Please respond, in writing, to the following questions. Please provide specific answers to each question rather than catch-all responses that will ignore some questions. • Do you dispute the accuracy of the report by the six-newsroom collaborative? If so, which points do you dispute, why do you dispute those points, and what evidence supports your position? • When were you first made aware of Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart’s illness? • When were you first made aware of illnesses among other nurses at Caswell Correctional Center? • Is it now the policy of the Executive Branch and the Division of Prisons to provide prison nurses with personal protective equipment, including face masks? • Was it the policy of the Executive Branch and the Division of Prisons to provide prison nurses with personal protective equipment, including face masks, in late March of this year? o If yes, why did Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart not have access to such equipment? o If no, why did the Executive Branch and Division of Prisons not prioritize such equipment for health staff in a congregate living setting like a prison? • • • • • • • • • If the Executive Branch and Division of Prisons has a policy regarding personal protective equipment for prison nurses, when did the Executive Branch create and implement the policy? Did you or your designee reject Caswell County Health Director Jennifer Eastwood’s offer for on-site testing of prison staff, as indicated in the sixnewsroom collaborative report? o If so, on what grounds did your agency reject this offer, which is reported to have been extended weeks after Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart was diagnosed with COVID-19? The six-newsroom collaborative reported that Caswell Correctional Center Warden Doris Daye “took the [on-site testing] proposal to prison leadership in Raleigh.” With whom specifically did Warden Daye share the proposal? In general, is it the Executive Branch’s and Division of Prisons’s position that off-site testing for prison employees will produce the same level of participation as on-site testing for prison employees? o If yes, please explain why that is so. o If no, please explain why the Executive Branch and Division of Prisons did not approve on-site testing at Caswell Correctional Center despite believing that it would be more effective than off-site testing. Is it just a coincidence that off-site testing began the day after Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart’s death? The six-newsroom collaborative reported that off-site testing for Caswell Correctional Center employees was approved on April 21, 2020 but did not begin until May 8, 2020. Why did it take so long to execute the testing plan? The six-newsroom collaborative reported that you will only make testing available to prison staff for two weeks. If that is true, why such a narrow window? Is it the position of the Executive Branch and Division of Prisons not to report COVID-19 prison staff deaths? o If yes, why does this policy differ from the Executive Branch’s reporting of staff killed in the line of duty? Have you approved line-of-duty death benefits for Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart? o If no, why? o Do you believe that Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart contracted COVID-19 at work? G.S. 120-19 grants the legislature broad authority to access Executive Branch records. The statute says, “All officers, agents, agencies and departments of the State are required to give…upon request, all information and all data within their possession, or ascertainable from their records. This requirement is mandatory and shall include requests made by any individual member of the General Assembly.” Pursuant to G.S. 120-19, please produce the following records: • All records to or from Caswell Correctional Center Warden Doris Daye between March 1, 2020 and May 22, 2020, including but not limited to emails, draft emails, text messages, letters, voicemails, and written notes, regarding: o Personal protective equipment for prison staff, including but not limited to nurses; o Testing for COVID-19, including but not limited to any plans, discussions, requests, or any other type of communication involving COVID-19 testing; o Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart, including but not limited to any records naming her specifically or any records making reference to her without naming her specifically; o COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 illnesses among any prison staff. • All records to or from you between March 1, 2020 and May 22, 2020, including but not limited to emails, draft emails, text messages, letters, voicemails, and written notes, regarding: o Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart; o COVID-19 testing at Caswell Correctional Center; o Any message regarding or referencing Caswell County Health Director Jennifer Eastwood’s offer to conduct on-site testing for prison staff. • All records to or from Mr. John Bull between March 1, 2020 and May 22, 2020, including but not limited to emails, draft emails, text messages, letters, voicemails, and written notes, regarding Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart. • All records within the N.C. Department of Public Safety between March 1, 2020 and May 22, 2020, including emails, draft emails, letters, voicemails, and written notes, regarding or referencing: o Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart, including press inquiries regarding Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart’s death; o COVID-19 testing at Caswell Correctional Center, including but not limited to any requests within the referenced time period to conduct testing for prison staff; o Personal protective equipment for prison nurses; o Line-of-duty death benefits for Mrs. Barbara Anne Stewart. If you or anyone in your agency has deleted records that would fall within this request, please immediately notify me in writing, instruct your technology team to restore the records, and then provide them to me. I understand that some records may take longer to produce. Please provide me with responsive records on a rolling basis as they become available. Please respond to my written questions no later than Friday, May 29, 2020, and to the request for records by that date as well. Sincerely, Senator Phil Berger Cc: Governor Roy Cooper Secretary Erik Hooks Ms. Ardis Watkins