Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) is co-chair of a new subcommittee investigating the release of thousands of violent inmates under former Gov. Roy Cooper.
Sen. Buck Newton (R-Wilson) and Jones will lead the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations: Subcommittee on Prisons. The subcommittee was announced Monday by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell).
At issue is former Gov. Roy Cooper’s release of more than 4,200 criminals early after settling a COVID-era lawsuit brought by the ACLU and NAACP and others. The list of released inmates was kept secret until January. Decarlos Brown, who allegedly killed a Ukranian refugee on a Charlotte metro train last year, was reportedly released as part of the program.
The subcommittee will look into each early release as well as their parole agreements. The subcommittee will investigate Gov. Josh Stein’s involvement since he was Attorney General over the N.C. Department of Justice, and represented the state in the lawsuit and subsequent settlement.
“Roy Cooper opened the floodgates and then did the bare minimum to inform the public about the criminals being released into their communities,” Berger said in a statement. “He made every effort to hide what he did, and Republicans in the General Assembly are going to hold him and Gov. Stein accountable for releasing violent, repeat offenders and endangering our citizens.”
N.C. House Speaker Destin Hall said, “Public safety is the most important responsibility of our government. If Roy Cooper or any other official failed at this most basic responsibility, the people of this state deserve to know about it. The release of violent, repeat offenders back onto our streets is a serious miscarriage of justice. This committee will investigate exactly how these early release decisions were made, who was responsible, and whether proper safeguards were followed.”
The subcommittee includes
- Lisa Barnes (R-Nash)
- Woodson Bradley (D-Mecklenburg)
- Danny Earl Britt, Jr. (R-Robeson)
- Warren Daniel (R-Burke)
- Terence Everitt (D-Wake)
- Amy Galey (R-Alamance)
- Amber Baker (D-Forsyth)
- Celeste Cairnes (R-Carteret)
- Grant Campbell (R-Cabarrus)
- Allen Chesser (R-Nash)
- Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe)
- Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake)
The committee will also look into state prison staffing, healthcare, facility locations, consolidation, programming, re-entry, recidivism, the Justice Reinvestment Act, and community support.
(Note: this article includes some information from Medium.com).
