Gov. Beverly Perdue drew a line Thursday, forbidding prison officials from freeing 20 inmates who have spent more than half their lives in prison for rape, murder or assault.
It's been 13 days since the state Supreme Court upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that during much of the 1970s life sentences were limited by law to 80 years.
The larger consequence: A Cumberland County man and dozens of his fellow lifers were due their freedom once prison officials applied credits used to cut sentences for good behavior, educational pursuits and work release. Essentially, these credits halved the 80-year life terms; other good behavior chiseled them further.
Thursday, just over a week after Perdue said she had no choice but to release the inmates, she said she would stop the releases by correcting what amounted to a math problem. Prison officials applied the wrong formula to award credits, the state's top lawyers argue.
"Like most of my fellow North Carolinians, I believe life should mean life, and even if a life sentence is defined as 80 years, getting out after only 35 is simply unacceptable," Perdue said in a statement while traveling in Beijing.
The debate has prompted tough talking and hand wringing about offenders characterized as so dangerous they should never walk free. The discourse amped up even more Thursday morning when Perdue said she would risk being thrown in jail before she authorized the inmates' release.
Prison officials in Perdue's administration along with staff members at the Attorney General's Office decided that the court opinion compelled them to release 20 inmates Oct. 29 and dozens more in coming years.
The alarm from state officials has been louder than the voices of advocates who argued the inmates have served enough time for crimes committed years ago and ought to spend their waning years free.
State defenders to fight
Staples Hughes, the state appellate defender, whose office won the court rulings on behalf of inmate Bobby E. Bowden, said Thursday that his office would fight Perdue's stance. He said he was not surprised that Perdue would block their release, given the tone of the recent debate.
"It would be well for every public official who has offered an opinion on this to retake high school civics," Hughes said. "It is unfortunate that people have not acquainted themselves with a very clear constitutional issue here."
State leaders tried Thursday to point out flaws in the prison system's application of credits for good behavior.
A 1981 overhaul of sentencing laws granted a day of credit for every day served without trouble. Lawmakers, however, excluded those convicted of the most serious felonies, including murder and rape, from collecting these credits. But the law did not speak to the situation of people convicted before 1981.
In 1983, the state Department of Correction adopted a policy under which it granted the day-for-a-day good behavior credit to inmates sentenced before that 1981 law. The department did not exclude any criminals.
Perdue and Attorney General Roy Cooper said Thursday that the prison policy overstepped what lawmakers intended in the 1981 sentencing overhaul. Perdue said no prisoner will go home until the courts provide clarity.
Bowden might go free
Only one of the 20 inmates stands a chance at freedom in the near term: Bowden, the Cumberland County man who brought the issue to the court's attention. Bowden, who was initially sentenced to death for a 1975 convenience store robbery and murder of two people, launched his fight for freedom four years ago.
In a handwritten plea to a Cumberland County judge, Bowden pointed to the 1970s law that limited his sentence to 80 years. He ticked off all the days off he'd earned for good behavior, work release and educational certificates. For years, his calculations met opposition with local judges.
Last year, the Court of Appeals sided with Bowden, agreeing that legislators had, in fact, limited life sentences in the 1970s to 80 years. But on the question of credits, the Court of Appeals judges ordered Bowden to return to his native county and let a judge there approve them.
When he does, lawyers for the state will be there, too, arguing that nearly 30 years ago prison employees overstepped.
