February 2018 Scoop

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Friday, February 2, 2018

BROOME, COOPER DISCUSS

PRISON REFORM SEANC Executive Director Rob Broome met with Governor Roy Cooper on Wednesday to discuss a variety of issues facing state employees and retirees in the upcoming year and beyond.

Broome and Cooper discussed the ongoing efforts to reform our prisons. This week, two administrators at Pasquotank Correctional Institution were placed on paid leave after the National Institute of Corrections released its findings on an investigation of practices at that prison and Nash Correctional.

Also, the prosecutor in the case against Craig Wissick, the inmate charged with murdering Sgt. Meggan Callahan at Bertie Correctional in April, formally told the court that she planned to seek the death penalty.

SEANC President Stanley Drewery has appointed a Select Committee on Prison Reform to sort through recommendations from members on how to improve prison safety. If you have suggestions, please click here to tell us! You can provide as little or as much information about yourself as you want, and SEANC will keep all identification confidential.

Other topics in the wide-ranging discussion included pay and benefits, the state budget and SEANC’s access to agencies. Broome characterized the meeting as productive, and he looks forward to working with the Cooper administration and leaders in the legislature on bipartisan solutions.

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Friday, February 9, 2018

Calls continue for meaningful prison reform The calls for prison reform continue from all over the state. This week, The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City called on legislators to “meet this challenge head on and not scrimp on the funding needed to make our prisons safer” in an editorial. The newspaper serves the area where five workers died last year in separate incidents at Pasquotank and Bertie Correctional Institutions.

That followed a similar call from the Greensboro News & Record. That editorial called on leaders to cooperate, not only in setting more effective policies, but in paying for improvements, particularly personnel costs.

"The state has been saving money through short staffing. That’s not acceptable.

But, as the job market tightens, it will take better pay, benefits and working conditions to attract more and better-qualified applicants," the editorial board wrote.

The Asheville Citizen-Times also weighed in, giving our prisons an "F" grade.

SEANC is committed to making sure correctional officers and prison staff have a voice in this reform effort. President Stanley Drewery has created a Select Committee on Prison Reform, made up of members who work at prisons across the state, to come up with real solutions. You can help by submitting your own thoughts here. No identifying information will be given out, and you can submit the form anonymously.

Submit your thoughts

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Friday, February 16, 2018

Folwell, SEANC seek answers in UNC Health Care merger State Treasurer Dale Folwell stopped by the SEANC office Wednesday to meet with the SEANC Retiree Council. He discussed the health of the retirement system, the State Health Plan and other topics with the council, which consists of retired state employees from all over the state. Folwell made news this week when he asked UNC Health Care to put up a $1 billion performance bond to back up its claim that a merger with Charlo e’s Atrium Health would result in cost savings for customers. The State Health Plan is UNC Health Care’s largest customer.

SEANC Executive Director Robert Broome and SEANC Director of Government Relations Ardis Watkins joined Folwell in a meeting with UNC Health Care CEO Dr. William Roper last week. Both Broome and Folwell left the meeting with unanswered questions. Broome told the News & Observer he was particularly concerned with the fate of 14,000 state employees who work for UNC Health Care.

Roper said those employees would retain their status under the deal.

“While it was great to get those verbal assurances, there are key provisions of decision-making authority of the joint operating company that still are not spelled

out yet,” Broome said. “I would have thought by now they would be able to articulate the details of how the joint operating commi ee would operate.”

UNC did not take Folwell up on his bond proposal. Folwell said he hopes the idea will be considered by the UNC Board of Governors.

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email : Webview : SEANC Scoop: Members offer solutions on prison reform

February 23, 2018

MEMBERS OFFER SOLUTIONS ON PRISON REFORM SEANC’s Select Committee on Prison Reform began sorting through member suggestions on how to make a safer work environment this week. More than 150 SEANC members who work in corrections submitted responses online, and SEANC President Stanley Drewery and other SEANC leaders met with dozens more workers in person.

The committee is developing a list of practical solutions suggested by correctional officers and staff, giving them a voice in the ongoing discussion. These solutions will provide a framework for SEANC’s legislative efforts in the coming year, and will be used by Drewery as he serves on the Gov. Roy Cooper’s task force.

Also this week: SEANC Executive Director Robert Broome weighed in on a proposal from two lawmakers to call in the National Guard to secure prisons. "We applaud the fact that concerned lawmakers are looking for innovative methods to improve safety, but calling in the National Guard is not a long-term solution to the problems at our prisons," he said. "The only workable option is for the General Assembly to immediately allocate enough money to pay competitive salaries so we can fill positions and solve the crisis of understaffing. If we don't do this, the chance is higher than not that more officers will be murdered on the job."

The mother of Sgt. Meggan Callahan, Wendy Callahan, was

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interviewed by WBTV in Charlotte. Wendy said, Meggan, who was brutally murdered at Bertie Correctional in April, told her mother about understaffing at prisons and the dangers of working there.

Reuben Young, the state’s Interim Chief Deputy Secretary of the N.C. Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, told the Charlotte Observer that he will ask lawmakers for legislation that ensures stiffer punishments for inmates who attack officers.

The Division of Adult Correction introduced a new Security Accountability Unit that will train prison staff on safety policies and audit facilities.

There are new ID requirements for traveling and accessing federal facilities in North Carolina. Learn about the requirements and how you can meet them at NCREALID.gov.

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