North Carolina is paying $10,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by an "urban fiction" writer who says officials destroyed a book manuscript that he wrote behind bars, according to court documents filed yesterday.
A settlement agreement says that the Department of Correction will overturn disciplinary actions against the man and establish new policies allowing inmates to prepare manuscripts. A federal lawsuit filed last year accused prison officials of destroying a 310-page handwritten manuscript that Victor L. Martin wrote during his incarceration.
"It's heartbreaking to think about losing 310 handwritten pages," said Katherine Lewis Parker, the legal director for the ACLU-NC Legal Foundation. "We just couldn't believe it was gone."
Parker said that the book was Martin's life story and that he is currently rewriting it.
Martin began writing his first novel before going to prison in 2000 and has since completed four books.
Martin's books detail a narrative of sex, crime and life on the streets. His attorneys say that the genre is popular with those who have never read books before and describes urban scenes in a readable way.
Martin, 34, is currently being held as a habitual felon, with previous convictions for vehicle larceny, escape from prison and possession of stolen goods. He is scheduled to be released in 2018.
A Department of Correction spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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