News Roundup

As ABC 11 reports, four inmates at Butner Correctional Institution have died in recent days from COVID-19.  Over last weekend, Charles Richard Rootes, Gary Edward Nixon, and Andre Williams died from complications caused by the virus.  On Monday, another inmate died but his name had not been released publicly at the time of writing.  All of the Butner inmates were being treated in hospitals when they passed away.  On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that 66 inmates and 25 staff members at the prison had tested positive for the virus. Escape.  The News & Observer published a story yesterday that includes a FaceTime interview with an inmate who escaped from Butner Correctional after becoming concerned that he would contract the coronavirus in the facility.  Richard R. Cephas contacted the News & Observer from an undisclosed location in Durham after escaping from Butner on April 2.  Explaining that he has neutropenia, a medical condition that affects his ability to combat infections, and that “[i]f it wasn’t for COVID [he] never would have left,” Cephas told the N&O that he would like to turn himself in if he could be assured that he could complete his sentence without being exposed to the virus. Coronavirus Checkpoints.  Some counties around the state have implemented traffic checkpoints as part of strategies to limit travel into the counties by non-residents.  The Outer Banks Voice reports that one such checkpoint in Dare County resulted in drug trafficking charges when a man was discovered to be in [...]