Latest news with #Dismukes
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
As NC budget writers get down to brass tacks, a crisis in corrections looms large
NC Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Dismukes tells members of the Senate Judiciary Committee the state is now faced with 40% vacancy rate for correctional officers. (Photo: NCGA video stream) When North Carolina House and Senate budget writers begin hammering out a compromise between their two proposed budgets, one of the more pressing problems will be how to address the crisis in North Carolina's prisons. During a confirmation hearing this month, Department of Adult Correction Secretary Leslie Dismukes told lawmakers the state is now faced with 40% vacancy rate for correctional officers. Three prisons currently have a vacancy rate over 60%, and at another 10 the vacancy rate hovers at over 50%. 'The General Assembly has been our partner and has dedicated resources to help us address this issue. But I'll be honest, it's still a struggle,' Dismukes told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Department of Adult Correction (DAC) has almost 32,000 people in physical custody and another 77,000 under community supervision. State employees in the department are working 12-hour shifts and mandatory overtime to meet minimum staffing levels in the prisons. Flanked by law enforcement officers, Dismukes said she has workers who are dealing with exhaustion and child care needs, that many cannot afford. 'What is the department doing now to recruit new employees and what do you think needs to be changed to do to increase your recruitment?' Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Burke, McDowell, Buncombe) asked. Dismukes said recent raises have been helpful, but North Carolina lags its neighbors. 'We are for correctional officers in the bottom three in the country, and certainly in all of our surrounding states, we are at lowest,' she said. DAC urgently needs to keep qualified staff on board to train the new staff that are being recruited. 'Right now, we're in great danger of losing a lot of our talented staff who know how to do the job because we cannot pay them equivalent to other states or other industries within North Carolina,' Dismukes added. Rep. Phil Rubin (D-Wake) agrees with that concern. 'If you want to be a prison guard, you've got a lot of reasons not to do it here,' Rubin said in an interview this week with NC Newsline. Rubin said the House budget proposal offers a meager 2.5% raise for state workers and proposes getting rid of many positions that have been vacant for months. For DAC that would mean the loss of 400 correctional officer positions that are unfilled. 'We can't fill the spots. So, then we get rid of them, and we have too few prison guards, which endangers the ones that are there, and it drives them out of the job because their job just got harder and worse and they're still not getting paid better,' Rubin explained. 'Meanwhile, we're hearing about doubling the premiums and the deductibles on the State Health Plan.' Beyond just a modest pay increase, the state needs to make a commitment to ensuring the correction officers have a safe workplace. NCDAC has recorded more than $1 billion in deferred maintenance for the aging infrastructure in prisons. 'It's $1.4 billion of maintenance that needs to be done right now,' Dismukes stressed. 'Our fire suppression systems are outdated or completely inoperable in 23 prisons and several prisons don't have air conditioning.' Correction officials say it's not a matter of comfort. The lack of cooling systems in close conditions in an institutional setting can increase the risk of violence. A 2015 Columbia Law School report noted that the rise in older, sicker prisoners may also be more vulnerable to the heat. North Carolina has been working on a long-term project to cool its prisons since 2021. As of last summer, DAC was installing air conditioning systems in buildings containing the remaining one-third of the beds its staff supervises. Indoor environmental conditions aside, the agency learned during Hurricane Helene that it does not have the redundancies and system resilience to meet natural disasters. The storm forced the transfer of nearly 2,200 prisoners from five facilities in the western part of the state. Civil rights groups warned at the time that the emergency transfers exacerbated overcrowded conditions and the workload on correctional officers. 'We must make critical decisions about our prison locations to maximize staffing and return on investment for our infrastructure repairs,' Dismukes told senators. Another ever-present worry for DAC is medical costs. In fiscal year 2024, the department spent $400 million on health care. This fiscal year, that number is projected to rise to $425 million. 'These costs, we cannot avoid given the aging prison population and our duty of care to them,' warned Dismukes. 'We must take a look at our overall medical infrastructure and build the best prison medical system we can and create savings wherever possible.' Getting medical personnel to work in the correction system remains a challenge. The persistent and high vacancy rates for nurses have resulted in the use of contract or traveling nurses, a more expensive option for the state. Dismukes is expected to win confirmation from the Judiciary Committee at its next meeting. Sen. Danny Britt (R-Robeson) said the secretary deserves credit for her willingness to take on the challenge. 'It is probably one of the most challenging budget areas that we have to deal with, both on scale and funding,' he acknowledged. Britt said the Senate has done its best with salaries, earmarking an additional 5.25% raise for correctional officers combined with step increases. Probation and parole officers could get an additional 2% raise in the Senate budget. 'There's no real silver bullet, so hopefully if confirmed, you can come up with those answers outside of salaries that can fill these positions. We're willing to do whatever we can to assist. Hope you're willing to reach out.'
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Former McDowell County hospital once the largest privately owned African American hospital in US
KIMBALL, WV (WVNS) – The town of Kimball was once home to the nation's largest privately owned African American hospital. Why is Black History Month the shortest of the year? After taking over a different hospital in Kimball, Dr. Henry Dismukes was tasked with building an even bigger hospital. This led to the opening of the Henrietta Dismukes Hospital in 1929, after he made a deal with the Bluefield Sanitorium. In the deal, the Sanitorium was meant to pay $3.50 a day for each African American patient Dr. Dismukes treated. This piece of history was lost for nearly a century, until a lady named Kristin Overstreet did some digging. 'This hospital was very remarkable for its time. It had 50 beds, had radios and private rooms. It had state of the art equipment. So, this black doctor devoted his career and his life to making this a great hospital for this community,' said Overstreet, who is also the Appalachian Program Director for the Mennonite Central Committee. Tylah Cline is the Dismukes Project Coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee or the MCC. She explained that the original deal to open this hospital led to its eventual downfall. Timelessness Through the Decades highlights creativity and unity as Black History Month begins 'Throughout the following years, 1930 [and] 1931, they failed to pay him adequately. They promised $3.50 per patient. So, with all of that – being asked to build this hospital and not being paid, he ultimately took them to court for breach of contract and this made him the first black man to take a white corporation court for breach of contract in U.S. history,' said Cline. Dr. Dismukes asked for $150,000 from the Sanitorium in this lawsuit, but only received $4,070. This was not enough for this hospital to keep its doors open, so they closed for good in 1932. 'I think in his mind, he thought that they would pay him. When they did not pay him, you know, he had done all that he could to keep it going,' added Overstreet. 'He filed that lawsuit with the hopes of recovering financially what he put into the hospital and then also for the patients that he provided care for, that he did not get paid for.' What remains of this hospital is the Nurse's Home. Cline and the MCC purchased the land to renovate it and preserve its history. 'We are renovating it to make it into a learning center for the community. We are looking to have programing related to literacy classes, knitting classes, [and] canning classes,' said Cline. Cline said they hope to have renovations completed by the end of 2025. Black History Month: Attucks Theatre in Norfolk stands the test of time Overstreet's findings sparked a new tradition at the World War I Memorial in Kimball. This tradition is called 'Lost Stories' – where folks from the black community have a place to share their stories, so that stories like this one will not be lost again. This community event takes place on the first Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
