THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 7, 1994 TAG: 9411070042
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: GREENVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
A Superior Court judge has joined the chorus of those contending North Carolina is protected from some inmate lawsuits by a portion of the federal crime bill inserted by U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.
Judge W. Russell Duke Jr. of Pitt County has written a letter to Attorney General Mike Easley urging the state to eliminate a court-approved limit on total prison population. The prison cap has forced the state to release thousands of prisoners after they served only a fraction of their sentences.
``It is absolutely necessary for the preservation of the integrity and authority of our courts that the prison capacity be immediately increased,'' Duke wrote.
Duke contends a provision in the recently enacted crime bill bars federal judges from placing a ceiling on inmate populations unless it is shown that overcrowding is inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on specific prisoners.
Lawyers for the city of Philadelphia appeared in federal court last week in an effort to have the city's 8-year-old jail cap lifted, citing the Helms amendment.
North Carolina plans to use the Helms amendment in upcoming court action on the prison cap, said Deputy Attorney General James P. Smith, who supervises corrections matters. But he said the new law does not simply allow states to ignore the Constitution's Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and cram prisons full of inmates.
``The crowding has to result in the deprivation of the basic needs of an individual,'' Smith said. ``The courts have simply made the assumption that when it's crowded in the past, it (deprivation) must happen.
``I think the point of that amendment is to free the states from the shackles of ancient decree,'' Smith said.
A settlement to an inmate lawsuit established the prison cap in North Carolina in 1989. The agreement, approved in federal court, provides for each prisoner in the state's Correction Department to have at least 50 square feet of living space.
The Helms amendment could be used to challenge the 50-square-foot minimum, a figure that came from a recommendation by the American Correctional Association, Smith said.
A federal judge modified the space requirement in June. U.S. District Court Judge Earl Britt ruled that inmates in North Carolina's new prison dormitories can be given 35 square feet of living space, but prisoners in older dorms must get 50 square feet.
Britt also said the design of newer prisons will allow the state to safely house inmates at 125 percent of their capacities.
North Carolina has responded to the problem of early paroles forced by the prison cap by passing a new structured sentencing law. It abolishes parole and increases the average length of time an inmate serves for a crime, while reducing the sentences that a judge can impose.
KEYWORDS: CRIME BILL PRISONS
by CNB