RALEIGH
The potential release of 27 prisoners convicted of violent crimes may come down to a simple question: During the course of their long prison terms, have these inmates been awarded time off for good behavior?
The question seems odd because the inmates were originally given life sentences, which, under current law, means no chance of ever being released.
But for a few years in the 1970s, before legislators changed it, a state law defined a life sentence as 80 years in prison. The issue came into the public eye last month, when the N.C. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a prisoner serving such a life sentence.
The prisoner, Bobby Bowden, argued that he was eligible for release because he has accrued enough good-behavior and work-program credits to reduce his sentence.
After the Supreme Court ruling, state leaders including the governor expressed outrage at the prospect of having to release life prisoners, though initially no one disputed the premise that the inmates in question had accrued enough credits to qualify for release.
The N.C. Department of Correction released a list of 27 eligible inmates -- including men convicted of murder and rape -- and prison officials began making preparations to release them back into communities all over North Carolina.
The state's argument shifted last week. Prison officials and Gov. Bev Perdue now say that, contrary to what most people had believed, the inmates in question never actually received any sentence-shortening credits.
"I have determined that such life prisoners will not receive good-behavior credits for purposes of reducing the amount of time required to be served before unconditional release from prison," Alvin Keller, the state's secretary of correction, wrote in a memo last week to prison supervisors.
Just as the life-sentence issue wound up in court, the good-behavior credit issue is headed there. Hearings for two of the inmates are scheduled for early December.
Advocates for the inmates say that, by claiming the inmates never got time off their sentences for good behavior, Perdue and other state leaders are blatantly disregarding the rule of law.
They say that, despite how one feels about releasing the inmates, the 1970s law -- combined with the policies of the Department of Correction -- make it abundantly clear that the state can no longer legally keep those inmates locked up.
Staples Hughes, North Carolina's appellate defender, said he believes that Perdue is using the issue for political purposes.
"This long ago ceased to be a legal issue," Hughes said. "This is pure politics. This is pure Willie Horton. This is pure pandering. This is pure fear-mongering. It is despicable."
Hughes's office represented Bowden. At first, the state's attempt to keep Bowden and the other inmates in prison -- as well as even more who could become eligible -- rested on the argument that the 1970s law should not be interpreted that way. But the language in the law is explicit, and that argument failed.
Now the state has shifted to the argument over good-behavior credits. The state acknowledges that the inmates have accumulated credits for good behavior. But the state says that, unlike other inmates, the inmates who were given "life" sentences (even though life meant 80 years) cannot use those credits to shorten their sentences.
Perdue said last week that she intends to take any legal means necessary to prevent the inmates from being released.
The state said last week that the inmates in question can use their credits for purposes such as getting moved to a better prison, but not to move forward their "unconditional release" date -- the date on which they are released from prison and not monitored by the state.
"We've never been forced to calculate an absolute release date for a life-sentence prisoner," said Keith Acree, a spokesman for the Department of Correction.
jromoser@wsjournal.com
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