Inmate Died of Coronavirus, But Pa. Corrections Never Told Family
By Joseph Darius Jaafari of Spotlight PA |
December 18, 2020
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HARRISBURG — Yvonne Newkirk would talk to her 60-year-old brother Edward Ball on the phone almost every day. He was serving time at a state prison in Luzerne County, where he would also write to her every week. Then, in mid-November, all contact ended.
After three weeks of silence, Newkirk was desperate, and asked prison officials where he was housed, SCI-Dallas, for help. But staff there refused to give her answers, citing a federal act meant to protect a person’s private medical information.