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While you were sleeping: North Carolina legislators restrict access to public records of people who die in state custody https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article243837792.html
North Carolina Chief Medical Examiner Michelle Aurelius said the provision will help make law enforcement feel more comfortable giving her office information.
Aurelius said law enforcement officials have been more hesitant to share the death records needed to determine cause of death with medical examiners.
Why are law enforcement officials—public servants paid with public money—hesitant to share their public records of people who died in the custody of a public agency?
Michael Kerr a mentally ill prisoner, died of dehydration in March 2014 after lying handcuffed in his own feces and urine for five days. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article27958282.html
Even before this new secrecy law passed in the middle of the night, public officials made it almost impossible to get information on Kerr's death. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article10122629.html
The public deserves to know that a mentally ill veteran spent his last week on earth unresponsive, cuffed and lying in his own waste. Guards had to cut off the handcuffs because the lock was crusted with feces.
It's unclear if @NC_Governor will sign this bill as hundreds of prisoners and detainees are infected with COVID-19 and thousands more go untested.
