Remote Hearings for Prisoners

During the pandemic, we got accustomed to doing certain court proceedings virtually—initially under authority of the Chief Justice’s emergency orders (which Shea discussed here), and later by statute, under G.S. 7A-49.6. That law allows “proceedings of all types” (with some exceptions and caveats) to be conducted using an audio and video transmission. The Department of Adult Correction (DAC) has issued new guidance on its process for scheduling virtual proceedings. Their General Counsel’s Office asked me to help spread the word about it to court officials. The full DAC memo is available here. The crux of the memo is a request for court officials to send all requests for virtual proceedings to a centralized email address, rather than contacting the particular DAC facility at which an inmate is housed. That email address is SVC.DAC_Writ_Office@dac.nc.gov. Email is strongly preferred, but the memo includes a fax number and U.S. mail address if needed, along with a point of contact for additional assistance. Remote hearings can be useful in many circumstances, but they can often be particularly beneficial for inmates. As I drove to Boone this morning for the quarterly meeting of the Sheriffs’ Education and Training Standards Commission, I passed several DAC inmate transfer buses on I-40. I couldn’t help but think of the time, risk, and expense involved in moving inmates around our large state. A remote proceeding won’t be appropriate in every situation, but the broad authorization of G.S. 7A-49.6 could, for example, help make shorter work of a straightforward sentencing or [...]