Buckingham Correctional Center (BKCC)
Updated daily at 5:00PM: https://vadoc.virginia.gov/news-press-releases/2020/covid-19-updates/
C-Ville News
May 25, 2020
“When we found out he had it, we was pretty sure he was going to die,” says a sibling of a man incarcerated in Buckingham Correctional Center.
Buckingham is home to the fourth-worst coronavirus outbreak of any correctional facility in Virginia—112 inmates have tested positive. Dillwyn Correctional Center, a lower-security facility across the street, has the state’s worst outbreak, with 122 active cases and 321 total positives. Families of inmates say that the prison administration has failed to adequately communicate with family members, failed to set up safe quarantine zones inside the facilities, and dragged their heels to release prisoners who should be eligible.
“Everything that’s going on at Dillwyn is a total disaster,” says Monet Anderson, whose son, Antonio Funn, is being held in Dillwyn and has contracted coronavirus. Anderson says Funn, 30, has lost his senses of taste and smell. In Virginia, more than 1100 people have contracted the disease while incarcerated in the state prison system. Six people have died while incarcerated; one of those deaths occurred at Dillwyn and two at Buckingham.
Families of the incarcerated say administrators have been AWOL. “The [Dillwyn] warden has been gone, they don’t even see her,” Anderson says. “She doesn’t want to catch the virus.”
C-VILLE called Dillwyn Correctional Center Warden Dana Ratliffe-Walker on Wednesday afternoon, and found that her voicemail inbox was full. Staff at both Dillwyn and Buckingham referred inquiries about the situation to Department of Corrections spokesperson Lisa Kinney, who declined to respond to the suggestion that the warden had been absent.
Read the full article HERE.
Buckingham Correctional Center Cases Increase
Monday, June 1, 2020
Two additional Buckingham County prison inmates died from complications of COVID-19 in the last week. On Thusday, \may 28, a Buckinghma Correctional Center (BKCC) inmate, the third since the prison's initial outbreak, passed away due to the virus.
Saturday, \may 30, marked nearby Dillwyn Correctional Center's (DCC) second inmate death due to COVID 19. Five of the nine inmate deaths related to the corona virus in Virginia have occurred at prisons in Buckingham County. Despite the jump, the Virginia Department of Corrections said no testing was conducted at BKCC in the past week.
BKCC was listed as having eight active staff-related corona virus cases.
Full story HERE.
https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2020/06/buckingham-correctional-center-cases-increase/
April 28, 2020
BUCKINGHAM (WINA) – The state corrections department is reporting COVID-19 outbreaks are happening at two Buckingham County correctional facilities with 51 inmates and staff testing positive for the virus. The Farmville Herald says the latest overall Buckingham County coronavirus count was 55 Tuesday… up from 45 reported Monday, and 35 Sunday.
The Virginia Department of Corrections reports 37 alleged offenders and 5 staffers have tested positive at Dillwyn. At Buckingham, VDOC says 7 alleged offenders and 2 staffers have positive tests.
County emergency services director Cody Davis tells the Herald while the health department the correctional centers comprise 94% of the total number of county cases on the state health department website, he says that lags well behind what he believes the real count is and will reflect in those numbers in coming days.
Click here to read the entire article.