The killing of Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte has put North Carolina in the national and international spotlight—for all the wrong reasons. This tragedy was not inevitable. It was the predictable outcome of years of deliberate choices by the General Assembly to defund mental health care while prioritizing corporate interests and tax cuts.
North Carolina’s public mental health system is collapsing. State psychiatric hospital beds have been slashed from 892 to 453 in just seven years1. Many of the remaining beds cannot even be used because there are not enough staff to keep them open1. Unlike private hospitals, which often refuse patients who are uninsured or considered “too acutely ill,” our state hospitals are legally required to accept everyone2. Yet because lawmakers refuse to fund staffing, those doors are closed to far too many.
State hospitals treat the sickest of the sick. Low bed capacity means that referrals from jails are often prioritized, while patients in hospitals or community care are forced onto even longer waitlists and often released before they get a bed and sufficient treatment1. This leaves workers—in both the mental health and criminal justice systems—overextended and at risk of increased injury. And it leaves people in crisis to languish untreated, often leading to heartbreaking consequences.
For hospital workers, the situation is untenable. Staffing shortages mean mandatory overtime and dangerously high patient-to-staff ratios, creating unsafe conditions and increasing burnout. Pay lags far behind comparable health care jobs, making recruitment and retention nearly impossible. In addition, the General Assembly codified a step-based pay schedule for correctional officers, guaranteeing them raises based on years of experience[13]. State mental health workers, however, have not been granted this, leaving workers underpaid. These conditions drive turnover, decrease bed capacity, and make our communities less safe.
The case of Decarlos Brown Jr., the man accused of killing Ms. Zarutska, painfully demonstrates this. His family says they tried repeatedly to get him help. He was taken to a hospital but turned away because there was no room or because he was not considered an immediate danger[10]. Months before the killing, he told police he believed a “man-made substance” was controlling him, but it took more than six months for a court to even order a mental health evaluation—and it was never completed[11]. After the homicide, however, he was immediately ordered for an expedited evaluation at a state psychiatric hospital[12]. Wouldn’t it have been better to provide that access before someone died?
Instead of fixing this crisis, the legislature’s “mini-budget” cut $18.5 million from local mental health services and raided another $41 million from a reserve fund3. At the same time, they forced higher healthcare premiums, deductibles, and copays onto state employees45. And while workers and families carry these burdens, corporate tax rates are being driven toward zero—even as federal support declines6.
What do we hear from Raleigh in response to Ms. Zarutska’s death? Platitudes that call for more police, harsher bail laws, and bringing back the death penalty789. More cages, more tragedies, more cost to taxpayers—while our existing hospital system disintegrates, intentionally starved by the decisions of the General Assembly.
UE 150 represents the front-line staff who hold this broken system together every day, and we know what must be done:
- Raise wages and benefits so hospitals can recruit and keep staff.
- Hire enough permanent staff to operate the beds we already have.
- Restore and expand capacity instead of cutting it.
- End the corporate tax giveaways that starve our communities of revenue.
We have met with legislators for years, sharing the data and our stories. We have urged leaders to invest in prevention and care. We have asked leaders to sustain the public hospital system that already exists. But our warnings have been ignored.
Without proper staffing, safe workloads, and competitive pay, state hospitals cannot operate at full capacity—and the burden is shifted to jails, courts, and law enforcement. But we cannot police our way out of a mental health crisis. Every budget is a moral document. The General Assembly’s makes their priorities clear: corporate wealth over public health.
Respectfully,
UE Local 150, The North Carolina Public Service Workers Union
NC Environmental Justice Coalition
Black Workers for Justice
Richmond County Coalition For Justice & Black Empowerment
National Nurses United
Down Home NC
Carolina Jews for Justice – Community Safety Team
Fruit of Labor Cultural Center
United for a Fair Economy
Please add your organization’s name to this statement by emailing us at organizeUE150@ueunion.org
Footnotes / Sources
- Disability Rights North Carolina v. N.C. DHHS, Case No. 1:24-cv-335 (2024), Complaint, pp. 2-4
→ Justia Court Document - NC Health News, “Big changes are needed to turn the tide of NC’s mental health crisis,” Aug. 23, 2022
→ North Carolina Health News - NC Health News, “General Assembly mini-budget carves chunks out of health and human services spending,” Aug. 1, 2025
→ North Carolina Health News - EdNC, “State Health Plan Board of Trustees approves salary-based premium increases,” Aug. 15, 2025
→ EdNC - Daily Tar Heel, “UNC employees face rising health care premiums, deductibles, and copays,” Aug. 2025
→ Daily Tar Heel - NC Budget & Tax Center, “North Carolina’s corporate tax cuts threaten long-term revenues,” 2023–2025 summaries
→ NC Budget & Tax Center - Charlotte Observer, “Josh Stein calls for more cops after Charlotte murder,” Sept. 10, 2025
→ Charlotte Observer - WUNC, “Berger, Hall say General Assembly will take up criminal justice bill,” Sept. 11, 2025
→ WUNC - WRAL, “Democratic NC lawmakers call for more law enforcement and mental health funding,” Sept. 16, 2025
→ WRAL - ABC News, “Mother, sister of Charlotte stabbing suspect describe his history of mental illness,” Sept. 9, 2025
→ ABC News - AP News, “Previous charges, delayed mental health evaluation were missed opportunities in Charlotte stabbing,” Sept. 10, 2025
→ AP News - WBTV, “What happens in North Carolina during a capacity to proceed evaluation?” Sept. 10, 2025
→ WBTV - NC Department of Adult Correction, “Correctional Officer Careers – Step Pay Plan,” 2024-25
→ NC DAC