N.C. COURT APPOINTS SPECIAL MASTER TO OVERSEE PROTECTIONS FOR PEOPLE INCARCERATED DURING THE PANDEMIC
BY ACLU OF NORTH CAROLINA | DECEMBER 04, 2020
RALEIGH, N.C. - After a hearing in Wake County Superior Court today, citing concern over the rising cases of COVID-19 in the state prisons, Judge Vince Rozier, Jr. modified previous orders in N.C. NAACP v. Cooper, a lawsuit brought to protect people incarcerated in state prisons during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The court appointed Thomas Maher, Executive Director of Center for Science and Justice at Duke University, as a Special Master in the case. The Special Master will review the state’s “Extended Limits of Confinement” program (ELC), which permits incarcerated people to serve their sentences on home or community confinement, provide recommendations for releasing eligible incarcerated people for release, and ensure compliance with the court’s previous orders.
In addition to oversight of the processing and reviewing incarcerated people eligible for ELC, with assistance from North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services. The Special Master will monitor the State’s compliance with the court’s orders in the case, including its orders to engage in regular, monthly sample testing of the prison population, practice safe transfer practices, and ensure that medical isolation does not resemble punitive solitary confinement.
