RALEIGH, N.C. — Two top leaders at the North Carolina state prison that has recorded the most COVID-19 cases among offenders died this month, a state prison official confirmed Wednesday.
Brad Perritt, the warden at Tabor Correctional Institution in Columbus County, died Dec. 15, while associate warden Julian Priest died on Dec. 24, according to John Bull, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety.
Bull said the department had no information on their cause of deaths, saying it can't disclose the medical details of employees.
Priest's son, Jeremiah, told The Charlotte Observer that his father died of complications from the coronavirus.
Priest, a 29-year veteran of the state prison system, hoped to retire in 2021. He tested positive on Dec. 22 and was hospitalized the next day, Jeremiah Priest said.
"He went downhill very fast," his son told the newspaper, which first reported both deaths. Priest's family doesn't know how he specifically contracted the virus. Another associate warden is now the acting warden.
Tabor Correctional Institution has recorded 562 positive cases during the pandemic among its offenders, but only three are considered active cases, according to Department of Public Safety data. Tabor houses about 1,400 inmates. Almost 500 offenders in the statewide system of 30,000 prisoners have active cases.
The numbers don't include cases among staff. Of the 510 staff members at Tabor, 110 have reported testing positive, Bull told the Observer. Almost 50 remained off the job as of Tuesday, Bull said.
A Superior Court judge this month ordered prison leaders to test all workers inside prisons every two weeks.
Thirty-three offenders, including two from Tabor, have died COVID-related deaths, the department said. Bull said seven staff members statewide have died after testing positive for the virus.
