Releasing the Prisoners: Unpleasant task is only valid option

Gov. Bev Perdue's decision last week to prevent the Department of Corrections from releasing inmates was terribly misguided and ignored the rule of law. While it is certainly understandable why the governor would want to protect the victims and the public from inmates who were convicted of such violent crimes, ignoring the law is not a solution. It undermines confidence in our legal system, not to mention that it costs taxpayers more in the long run.

At the center of this controversy is State v. Bowden, which was decided by the N.C. Court of Appeals -- not the N.C. Supreme Court, since it declined discretionary review -- that applied the law set down in 1974, which states that a sentence of life must be treated as an 80-year term of incarceration. Already in existence at this time were statutes providing the Secretary of Correction with authority to assign good-time credit for good behavior, and meritorious-conduct credit for work or study, and for participation in rehabilitation programs to inmates who meet the eligibility criteria.

Clearly, the statute was designed to provide much-needed authority to regulate the conduct of violent inmates and to assist with their rehabilitation and re-entry back into society, which are worthwhile objectives. Apparently, the legislature realized that these statutes could lead to unintended consequences and, in 1977, repealed the 1974 law and passed legislation that truly requires that "a sentence of life imprisonment means a sentence of life without parole," which is the law today.

In the meantime, we must accept the rule of law as it applies to this small group of inmates, for better or for worse. The truth is, things could be worse. What most people may not realize is that for each day these inmates are illegally imprisoned by the state, it increases the amount of money that the inmates can sue the state for in court. Since many of the inmates are in their 60s or older, the risk that one could suffer a serious life-threatening illness while illegally incarcerated could result in a very costly wrongful-death action that will be paid for by our tax dollars.

Moreover, if the governor truly plans to litigate each of these inmate's cases in order to delay their release, the litigation costs will be very expensive, since the state will bear both the expense of representing these inmates with attorneys from Prisoner Legal Services, Inc., and be required to respond to the lawsuits with attorneys from the attorney general's office.

There must be a better use for our taxpayer dollars than litigating these cases, given these difficult economic times.

As the co-director of the Innocence and Justice Clinic at Wake Forest University School of Law, I'm not surprised that the public is angry about these issues. Too often my clinic students who investigate claims of actual innocence from inmates are appalled at how the criminal-justice system created the circumstances which led to the wrongful convictions. What most surprised them is that when they met Darryl Hunt, Kirk Bloodsworth (the first death-row exoneree as a result of DNA testing, who visited Wake Forest last week) and Joseph Abbitt (Winston-Salem's most recent exoneree), how lacking in bitterness and anger these men are, given the serious nature of the injustices they suffered. Will we be as fortunate in how these violent inmates will react when they are released from custody?

As an adviser to the Wake Innocence Project (a volunteer student organization) who works with the Darryl Hunt Project to assist inmates' re-entry into society, I realize the importance of giving former inmates assistance in acclimating them back into society.

If we could put our energies toward that end we would most certainly have safer neighborhoods, which the governor is trying to ensure, and we would be upholding the rule of law while keeping the costs to taxpayers down.

Carol A. Turowski is a law professor and co-director of the Innocence and Justice Clinic at the Wake Forest University School of Law.

The Journal welcomes original submissions for North Carolina Voices on local, regional and statewide topics. Essay length should not exceed 750 words. The writer should have some authority for writing about his or her subject. Our e-mail address is: Letters@wsjournal.com. You may also mail a typed essay to: Letters to the Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. Please include your name and address and a daytime telephone number.