The dire state of our prisons continues with no end in sight. State employees continue to go to work each day in fear of being assaulted – or worse – and there are no easy fixes.

The Governor’s Prison Reform Advisory Board met this week for the first time. SEANC President Stanley Drewery, a retired corrections officer, serves on the board. He spoke out on the need to tackle understaffing issues and increase training efforts, saying new officers often feel they “get thrown to the wolves.” Watch the whole meeting here.

His comments came after a correctional officer at Foothills Correctional in Burke County was stabbed five times on Saturday night. Subsequent reporting from WBTV in Charlotte showed that the officer had just started on the job in January and finished basic training just weeks ago. His attacker is serving two consecutive sentences for second-degree murder.

Also this week:

• WBTV also reported this week that staff at Piedmont Correctional in Salisbury received prior notice of a coming safety audit recently even though the state promised that practice would end.
• The Charlotte Observer reported this week that the understaffing problems continue to worsen.  At Lanesboro, a maximum-security prison, one in three positions was vacant in January. One officer said that it’s common for two officers to oversee more than 200 inmates at a time.
• SEANC Government Relations Director Ardis Watkins appeared on WRAL-TV’s “On the Record” to discuss reforms with DPS officials.
• State Treasurer Dale Folwell continued to speak out on problems with the proposed merger between ECU Physicians and Vidant Health, which has put 1,321 state employees at risk and threatens to increase costs of medical care for the eastern part of the state.
• An article on Forbes.com applauded SEANC’s efforts to shine a light on extravagant fees paid with the state retirement fund to Wall Street money managers.