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North Carolina Sees Record Number Of Jail Deaths In 2018

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

The number of jail deaths in North Carolina hit a record level in 2018. 

Forty-four inmates died in prison or at a medical facility after becoming ill in jail last year, according to numbers provided by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

The state has been tracking prison deaths since 1997.

While investigators did find some serious supervision problems in some of the deaths, the percentage of cases in which inmates were not properly overseen may actually be going down.

Officials tell The News and Observer that one potential reason for the higher numbers is better reporting by prison facilities.  

And jails are grappling with a growing number of inmates with mental illness, drug addictions, or both.

Some disability rights activists say the DHHS unit responsible for inmate supervision and safety needs more funding. 

The state is currently considering new rules that will tighten inmate supervision and require suicide prevention programs in prisons.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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