New Criminal Offenses and New Credit Policies for Prisoners

Last year was a difficult one for North Carolina’s prison system. One correctional officer was killed by an inmate at Bertie Correctional Institution. Four staff members were killed during an attempted escape at Pasquotank. Today’s post summarizes some of the statutory and regulatory changes made in response to those incidents. Revised criminal offenses. Each of the changes below is effective for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2018. Malicious conduct by prisoner under G.S. 14-258.4(a), a Class F felony, is broadened to cover any prisoner who throws, emits, or uses as a projectile an unknown substance at an employee. Previously, that law only applied to bodily fluids and excrement. S.L. 2018-67. The same legislation also creates a new version of the offense: a prisoner knowingly and willfully exposing genitalia to an employee while the employee is in the performance of his or her duties. That is a Class I felony under new G.S. 14-258.4(b). A final new provision is added to the malicious conduct by prisoner statute saying that “[s]entences imposed under this Article shall run consecutively to and shall commence at the expiration of any sentence being served by the person sentenced under this section.” G.S. 14-258.4(d). I have to think that the intention was for the sentence for any malicious conduct committed by a prisoner to run consecutively to the sentence the defendant was serving when the malicious conduct occurred. But, as John Rubin pointed out in his 2018 legislative summary, the new provision doesn’t exactly say that. [...]