3/24/2020
March 24th, 2020
A male in his 60’s at the minimum custody unit of the Caledonia Correctional Complex in Tillery, NC started exhibiting symptoms and was immediately quarantined, according to state officials.
Image Source: www.ncdps.gov
3/26/2020
March 26th, 2020
Forward Justice partnered with Color of Change to launch a petition calling for Governor Cooper and Secretary Hooks to take immediate action to stop the spread of covid 19 in NC jails and prisons. To date, nearly 1,400 people have signed.
3/30/2020
March 30th, 2020
Forward justice leads a Twitter storm calling on Gov. Cooper to take immediate action to stop the spread of COVID-19 in NC jails and prisons.
4/3/2020
April 3rd, 2020
Forward Justice launched our ‘Voices from the Inside’ storytelling campaign focused on uplifting the voices, stories and experiences of people who are incarcerated during this pandemic.
4/8/2020
April 8th, 2020
Forward Justice, ACLU of North Carolina, Disability Rights North Carolina, Emancipate NC, and the National Juvenile Justice Network filed a lawsuit seeking emergency action to prevent the deadly spread of COVID-19 in the state’s prisons by reducing the number of people who are incarcerated in state facilities.
4/12/2020
April 12th, 2020
The first incarcerated person dies during a COVID-19 outbreak at the Butner federal prison in NC.
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Image Source: Gerry Broome/Associated Press
4/16/2020-2
April 16th, 2020
Forward Justice Co-Director, Daryl Atkinson, and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II penned a joint op-ed on the Moral and Legal Case for Emptying NC Prisons.
Read the op-ed here
4/22/2020
April 22nd, 2020
We held a mass calling action for people to contact Governor Cooper and other NC officials and urge them to take immediate action to stop the spread of covid 19 in jails and prisons.
4/24/2020
April 24th, 2020
Forward Justice and our community partners started the “Free Our Neighbors Car Rally” A socially-distanced, rolling car protest in front of the Durham, NC jail encouraging Sheriff Birkhead to take immediate action to stop the spread of covid in their facility. The protests persisted for 6 weeks.
4/27/2020
April 27th, 2020
Forward Justice launched the #FreeThemAll Art Activism Campaign encouraging people to use their creativity to create a work of art telling NC Gov Roy Cooper to #StopCOVID19inPrisons and share their art on social media.
4/28/2020
April 28th, 2020
Forward justice and co-counsel had a requested hearing with Judge Rozier seeking a Temporary Restraining Order against the state ordering a more robust plan with a faster release schedule to reduce the incarcerated population in North Carolina.
As of this date, 596 incarcerated people had tested positive for COVID-19, and 1,143 tests had been performed, a 52% positivity rate, and there had been two reported deaths of incarcerated people related to the virus.
7/2/2020
July 2nd, 2020
Judge Rozier ruled that NC prisons are out of compliance with his previous court orders saying that the “state has failed to comply with the Court’s directions in several meaningful ways,” and that the court “is extremely concerned by the apparent indifference with which Defendants have treated the Court’s Orders.” He further found that The state “willfully failed” to provide certain information to the court, and that what the state did provide was inconsistent, incomplete and potentially incorrect.
Rozier ordered the state to provide evidence to show it is following the court’s order, due by July 27, including a detailed plan on preventing the spread of COVID-19, the state’s plan for early release from prison and protecting new intakes to the prison system. Judge Rozier also announced he would appoint a court liaison to monitor the accuracy of information submitted to the court, to be paid for by the state.
11/4/2020
November 4th, 2020
The North Carolina Vigil for Freedom and Racial Justice (‘Decarcerate Now’) started. Each day, from sunrise to sunset, a small, regularly-rotating group of people and organizations stood vigil at the Governor’s mansion, making the primary demand that he use his clemency power and all other means to decarcerate immediately to protect against the spread of COVID-19 inside NC prisons.
Learn more about the movement here
Image Source: NC Vigil for Freedom and Racial Justice (@DecarcerateNowNC)
12/11/2020
December 11, 2020
Tom Maher, the former executive director of Duke Law’s Wilson Center for Science & Justice, was appointed as Special Master for the case to oversee parts of the NC prison system’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and make sure it is in compliance with court orders.
12/15/2020
December 15th, 2020
The Warden of Tabor Correctional died due to Covid-19. The Associate Warden of the facility died on December 24th due to complications from COVID-19.
Image Source: WECT News 6
12/31/2020
December 31, 2020
A man incarcerated at Alexander Correctional in Taylorsville, NC died from “complications from Covid-19”.
Image Source: NC DPS
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