Lifer asks Wake judge for release

tool name

tool name

Judging 'life'

Governor, we get it. You really, really don't like the idea of life-sentence inmates being released by the courts. You're not buying the argument that some of these prisoners have served all the time the law requires. To you and most North Carolinians, "life" means life, etc.

But how about tempering some of the intemperate rhetoric?

On Monday, Gov. Bev Perdue declared "I've been in politics a long time, and I've never been this disgusted with the system in my life." For the record, she's also "furious." Earlier this fall, when the lifers' case became a concern, Perdue was "appalled."

Inmates' release zigzags in court

At 8:15 a.m. Monday, prison inmates Alford Jones and Faye Brown won a homecoming come dusk. By 3:45 p.m., a trio of Court of Appeals judges ordered that they stay put.

Now, their fate and that of dozens like them sentenced to life in prison in the 1970s is once again in limbo, as it has been for more than two months. The pendulum swings nearly every week between poles of politics and decades-old laws. For state leaders like Gov. Bev Perdue, a life sentence should keep someone locked up for all his living days. For lifers from the 1970s and their advocates, their sentences, with good behavior credits, amount to no more than about 35 years.

The Court of Appeals could hold a hearing on the state's request to withhold credits that could cut a prisoner's sentence; if the court declines, the state could ask the Supreme Court to review the matter. Either way, another round of exhaustive court hearings is assured.

Perdue rethinks life terms

Gov. Beverly Perdue's third take: Prison officials never doled out credits for good behavior to those sentenced to life in the 1970s.

It's the latest position Perdue's administration has taken on the question of freedom for dozens of inmates convicted of murder, rape and robbery more than three decades ago. The inmates have argued in court that state law and prison policies entitle them to immediate release.

Perdue said Thursday that she and prison officials will be happy to release them in 2054, when the youngest and healthiest among them will be approaching 100.

State parole board rejected 17 of 20

This year, state parole commissioners decided that 17 of the 20 inmates who were set to be released next week thanks to a court order were not fit to go home.

The commission deemed the other three ready to rejoin society and put them on track to be turned loose next year.

Until 1994, those sentenced to spend the rest of their days in prison had a chance at freedom. If they could convince the parole commissioners that they had learned their lesson and picked up skills and education to succeed, they could rejoin the free world.

E-mail shows state planned to release lifers

In December, Department of Correction officials and a lawyer for the state's attorney general said in court that prison officials never authorized the release of inmates sentenced to life in the 1970s and never promised them they were going home.

E-mail messages and memos exchanged within the department show that his staff considered the releases certain.

Dozens of communications between Oct. 9 and Oct. 22 show that Correction officials planned to release the inmates by month's end and began prepping them for life outside. Staff officials talked with their families, assigned them parole officers to ease the transition and told the sex offenders to register with the sheriffs of their home counties.