On Friday, an important court ruling in the case of dozens of North Carolina inmates scheduled for early release for good behavior even though they were sentenced to life in prison in the 1970s. Judge Genty Caudill of Cleveland County ruled to deny release to one of those inmates, Wilbur Folston.
In a statement released by Governor Perdue's office, Judge Caudill ruled that " no Secretary of Correction has ever directed good-behavior credits to be applied to calculate an unconditional release date for a life sentence." Governor Perdue blocked the release of these inmates back in October for additional court reviews.
Earlier in the week another judge ruled n favor of two of the inmates. Judge Ripley Ran ruled to allow Faye Brown and Alford Jones be released early.
The state Supreme Court stopped the early release of Brown and Jones on Friday afternoon to allow additional reviews of the cases. A potential hearing date by the Supreme Court is expected within the next ten days.
The Governor's office expressed their opinion in the statement they released, "inmates sentenced to life should not be allowed to walk out the prison door without a parole review and appropriate post-release supervision." This is the feeling by many North Carolina citizens and the victims and their families.
Written by Denise Clay
For Huliq
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