Lessons from the Alamance County Bail Litigation

A federal court Consent Order has been entered in the Alamance County bail litigation. The relief granted in that order and the county’s new local bail and first appearance policies hold important lessons for other North Carolina jurisdictions about the constitutional requirements for local bail systems. Put another way, because the agreed-upon relief and procedures in the Alamance case were deemed sufficient to address the constitutional violations alleged, they offer a model for other local bail systems. In this post, I discuss the key changes to the Alamance system. The Lawsuit & The Consent Order On November 12, 2019, plaintiffs filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina alleging that Alamance County’s bail system violates the plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process and their Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Named as defendants were the Senior Resident Superior Court Judge, the Chief District Court Judge, all county magistrates, and the Sheriff. The parties subsequently agreed to a Consent Order of Preliminary Injunction, which was entered by the court on May 8, 2020. Among other things, the Consent Order required the judicial defendants to adopt certain procedures, which they did effective July 1, 2020. The judicial defendants also were required to train local officials on the new procedures. I was retained to provide that training, and that work informs this blog post. New Rules & Process for Determining Conditions of Release in Alamance County The Consent order entered in [...]