Advocates for the mentally ill are calling on North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to authorize emergency funding to fill large numbers of vacant staffing positions in the state prison system.
The news comes after federal authorities opened a criminal investigation into the death of Michael Anthony Kerr, a mentally ill inmate, who died of thirst after being held in solitary confinement for 35 days.
Disability Rights North Carolina Executive Director Vicki Smith says that the prison must fill vacancies among mental health, medical and correctional workers to address deficiencies that contribute to poor treatment. Records show Kerr was twice cited for flooding his cell in the weeks before his death. State officials have refused to say if guards responded by cutting off the water.
Smith says there has been no improvement since state consultants reported in 2012 that the chronic under-staffing has a "very negative impact" on the system's ability to properly care for inmates with serious mental illnesses.
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