CHALLENGERS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE REFORMS

AT COUNTY DOC

 Want Hazard Pay, Daily Testing & Reporting,

PPE Disclosure, AG Protocols

(BRIDGETON, NJ) – Cumberland County Freeholder Jack Surrency, and running mates Donna M. Pearson and Tracy Wells-Huggins today called for immediate reforms at the county department of corrections, including “hazard pay” for corrections officers.

“More than a dozen county corrections officers have tested positive for COVID-19,” said Freeholder Jack Surrency (D-Bridgeton). “When going to work is a hazard to your health, receiving hazard pay shouldn’t even be a question. We need to act now.”

Surrency and his running mates, Donna M. Pearson and Tracy Wells-Huggins, are calling for the following reforms at the county department of corrections:

• Hazard pay for corrections officers, utilizing the Morris County model

• Weekly COVID-19 testing and reporting for officers, staff and inmates

• Strict enforcement of Attorney General protocols, including AG Directives 2020-1 (Rev. 4.11.20), 2020-2, 2020-3, in addition to Guidance to Law Enforcement to Protect Public and Meet Challenges of COVID-19 Pandemic COVID LE Guidance A, COVID LE Guidance B and COVID LE Guidance Final

“The infection rate of officers at the county jail is five-times the national average, and it’s unacceptable,” said Donna M. Pearson, a former freeholder director.

“We need to have an audit system in-place to ensure that the attorney general’s guidelines are being properly enforced,” said Tracy Wells-Huggins, a Registered Nurse. “Lives are literally on the line.”

“Leadership starts at the top,” said Surrency. “The warden and deputy warden are on notice.”

Surrency, Pearson and Wells-Huggins are running under the slogan “Cumberland County Democrats 2020” in column F.