By Sarah Calams
LANSING, Kan. — A veteran corrections officer quit his job after claiming the lack of PPE for officers and inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic was the final straw.
KMBC.com reported that David Carter, a 15-year veteran who worked at Lansing Correctional Facility, submitted his resignation letter, effective immediately, on April 29. In the letter, he said the facility’s atmosphere puts officers in danger.
“It’s not a great choice that I have to have, of I have to choose between that level of risk, and no income,” Carter said. “I guess that’s the choice I have to make, right? But the inmates have even less control than that because they can’t even choose that for themselves. They’re stuck.”
Carter said the facility’s response to COVID-19 was “slow and ineffective,” according to WWLP.com. “They just pretended nothing would happen and hoped it would go away, I suppose,” he said.
At the beginning of the pandmeic, Carter said PPE was distributed but quickly ran out. “We were given cloth masks handmade by inmates and sewing machines,” he said.
Carter has not tested positive for COVID-19, but did quarantine recently due to exposure.
Additional Kansas National Guard members have been sent to the facility to help provide medical relief. KDOC recently ousted the state prison system’s medical provider, claiming they were responsible for a one-week doubling of the number of infected officers and inmates at the facility.
Of 415 total prison staff, at least 75 have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Due to staffing shortages, members from across the state have been brought into Lansing to work extra shifts.
Last month, dozens of inmates at the facility rampaged through offices, breaking windows and setting small fires for several hours. The riot, according to Carter, started due to the lack of PPE for inmates. On Thursday, KDOC announced they would start testing all inmates for COVID-19 at the facility.