Last June, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) signed a contract with a Quality Inn and Suites hotel in Durham to establish an emergency pilot program to quarantine men who may have been exposed to COVID-19 before being released from prison and did not yet have housing.
In August, the first returning citizens arrived. They received rooms with sheets and clothing, meals, daily COVID health screenings, peer counseling, and assistance with developing a plan to leave the hotel in 14 days. The services are free of charge to the men so long as they follow program rules. It’s a re-entry program that sounds promising, but according to one person with experience of the inner workings of the facility, the new arrivals soon find out that people are miserable.
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