BRIDGETON — A Cumberland County freeholder on Wednesday called for reforms to the county’s Department of Corrections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as hazard pay for corrections officers.
“More than a dozen county corrections officers have tested positive for COVID-19,” Freeholder Jack Surrency said in a news release. “When going to work is a hazard to your health, receiving hazard pay shouldn’t even be a question. We need to act now.”
Theodore Baker, county solicitor, said in an email he does not have data about how many corrections officers have tested positive for the new coronavirus, but “I do have a safety concern about that type of information being public because of related decisions as to staffing.”
A number of inmates are set to be released this week from South Jersey jails after an order was signed by a state judge aimed at mitigating the risk of COVID-19 spreading through the facilities statewide.
Cumberland County has recorded 680 cases of the new coronavirus and 12 deaths. As of Wednesday morning, there were no positive cases in the jail, county Deputy Administrator Jody Hirata said.
Surrency, a Democrat, is up for re-election, running with Donna M. Pearson, a former freeholder director, and Tracy Wells-Huggins.
“The infection rate of officers at the county jail is five times the national average, and it’s unacceptable,” Pearson said.
In addition to the hazard pay, they are calling for weekly testing for the new coronavirus and reporting for officers, staff and inmates, and strict enforcement of state protocols, according to the joint news release.
“We need to have an audit system in place to ensure that the attorney general’s guidelines are being properly enforced,” said Wells-Huggins, a registered nurse. “Lives are literally on the line.”
BRIDGETON — Cumberland County jail officials failed to develop policies and provide necessary equipment for corrections officers ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, a civil lawsuit filed last week by the officers union alleges.
“Leadership starts at the top,” Surrency said. “The warden and deputy warden are on notice.”
Last week, PBA Local 231, the union that represents corrections officers, filed a civil lawsuit against the county and other officials alleging they failed to develop policies and provide necessary equipment ahead of the pandemic.
Baker said in an email Wednesday the allegations in the lawsuit are “baseless, unsubstantiated and completely lacking both factually and legally.”
