Gov. Beverly Perdue says she will not release 20 inmates who received life sentences in the 1970s.
Court decisions have said that one of those inmates, Bobby Bowden, appears eligible for release because when he was convicted of a double murder, state law defined a "life" sentence as 80 years. The court said that Bowden appeared to have earned enough credit to qualify for release.
The N.C. Department of Correction identified 20 inmates who would also appear to qualify for release because of their credit for good behavior. Perdue said in a statement that new questions about how the inmates were awarded credit off their sentences will mean the inmates won't get out of prison soon.
Since that ruling, my staff and I have been doing everything we can to stop the release of these rapists and murderers. These are people who have been denied parole repeatedly, and many who have numerous infractions during their prison stay. I do not believe they are ready for release onto the streets of our communities.
Perdue said the good behavior credits that reduced the life sentences may have been incorrectly applied to the inmates, an issue that Republicans have also raised.
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Perdue said that Thursday morning, legal counsel and Department of Correction staff met with officials who oversaw the application of good behavior credits during the 1980s.
At the time, the DOC gave inmates day-for-day credits under the authority of the then-secretary. There is a real question whether the General Assembly intended for the DOC to have that kind of authority. I do not believe they did, and my legal counsel agrees. This raises the very real question that these inmates should not be eligible for early release.
Sen. Majority Leader Tony Rand said the inmates should not qualify for release.
Our first responsibility is to public safety. We join Governor Perdue in working to see that these violent criminals stay in prison and that the state does anything and everything in its power to prevent their release. We have had legislative counsel researching this situation for over a week. Based on our review and as an attorney myself, I am confident that the Department of Correction is under no obligation to release these prisoners next week. We have shared our findings with the Attorney General and trust that as the chief law enforcement officer of this state, he will ensure that no one is released until every legal avenue is exhausted.
Attorney General Roy Cooper also released a statement.
In the interest of public safety and to ensure that sentences and release dates are properly calculated according to law, we have advised the Department of Correction that no prisoners have to be released until further direction from the courts. We continue to believe that these prisoners need to remain behind bars as we have argued for more than two years to the courts.
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Re: Perdue says no release
Percy advocates lynch mobs rather than trial by jury and the rule of law. Way to go, pal, you sound like a real rational person.
Melted thinks Tony Rand should put state employees' well-being ahead of BCBS's profits. I agree. However, Tony Rand's primary responsibility is to the citizens of his district, NOT to state employees. There's a big difference.