There weren’t any new COVID-19 positives reported at Augusta Correctional Center on Friday, and maybe we just noticed this today, but the Virginia Department of Corrections dashboard is now showing one inmate COVID-19 death.
The family of one inmate reported to us that the facility was placed on lockdown, and that staffing issues have impacted food service – inmates, according to this family member, were fed three boiled eggs with a slice of bread yesterday.
“VADOC has an obligation to care for our family members. it’s their job to protect the public, but also to protect our family inside those walls,” the family member said.
We also had our first communication today from the family member of a staff person at ACC.
The report there: because of issues with staffing, at least in part due to the fact that 62 staff have now tested positive for COVID-19, workers are being mandated to stay over to cover additional shifts, resulting in many working 16- to 20-hour days.
Staffers are also being called in on scheduled off-days as “mandatory,” according to this family member, and all scheduled vacation has been revoked.
“There have always been issues with the way staff is treated at Augusta Correctional Center,” the family member told us. “This is why they are also so short staffed. The only people that stay are people that have their time in with the state and can’t afford to lose those benefits. Many new people do not stay because they are treated so poorly. It is very hard to work for an agency that doesn’t appreciate the staff and the sacrifices they make the staff make, such as a loss of earned time, a loss of family time, a loss of earned and paid for vacations.”
Story by Chris Graham
Share
Contributors
