After 11 months of litigation, the North Carolina prison system will fast-track the release of at least 3,500 people over the next six months as part of a legal settlement over prison conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is one of the largest — and likely the largest and most specific — releases of people from prison as a result of a court action during a pandemic, according to Aaron Littman, the deputy director of the COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project led by the UCLA law school. In other cases around the country where judges have ruled for the release of significant numbers of people, higher courts overturned the rulings. Since this is a settlement, or agreement between the parties, this will not be overruled.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Vinston Rozier Jr. ruled last June that prison conditions were likely unconstitutional and that the state had to take several measures to protect incarcerated people from COVID-19. Now, he has signed a this settlement that preserves those measures, as well as sets a benchmark for the number of people who need to be released to reduce the prison population…
