An Update on Prisons and Jails as the Courts Expand Operations

As the court system expands operations this week, people have questions about the current status of the correctional system. Today’s post covers some of the things we know. Today, the prison population stands at 31,672 inmates—down almost 10 percent from the start of the pandemic in North Carolina.   A portion of that decline, though, is the result of an increased number of inmates held in backlog status in the county jails. That was to be expected in light of the continuing moratorium on most inmate transfers from jail to prison, initiated on April 6. As of last week there were over 1,600 backlog inmates in the county jails. The prison system, in cooperation with the county sheriffs, plans to resume transfers soon (using half-full buses to accommodate safe distancing requirements), with a goal of reducing the backlog by 700 inmates by the end of June. An issue associated with an increased jail backlog is that some sentenced inmates stuck in a holding pattern in the jails wind up serving more time than they would if they were promptly transferred into a state prison. It’s a legitimate concern. Each day spent in jail is a missed opportunity to accrue Earned Time and other sentence credits. That’s one of the reasons it has long been the case that low-level felons wind up serving a greater percentage of their minimum sentence than serious felons, as discussed here back in 2015. And here in 2010. To give an example, a defendant who receives a [...]