Criminal Legal Issues
In North Carolina, people with disabilities are overrepresented and face discrimination all throughout the criminal legal process. They are at greater risk of violent encounters with law enforcement. Many disabilities are not visible, and there is inadequate screening for these disabilities in the criminal legal system, especially in jails and prisons. This leads to a lack of proper healthcare. These carceral facilities often fail to provide necessary treatment and accommodations.
The failure to properly identify and accommodate or treat these individuals in carceral settings results in harsh conditions such as the use of solitary confinement and a lack of access to programs available to others. Those who are found incompetent to proceed to trial are spending far too long in jails waiting for admission to psychiatric facilities for services to try to restore competency. Prisons and jails struggle with high rates of suicide and deaths, including preventable deaths from withdrawal. Additionally, people with disabilities do not receive adequate support when returning to their communities after being released.
Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) is actively working to address these issues by advocating for systemic reforms. We advocate for compliance with the ADA and other legal protections, improved reentry services, and better conditions within prisons and jails. DRNC employs a range of strategies, including systemic litigation and collaborations with other agencies to promote fair treatment and necessary accommodations for people with disabilities in the criminal legal system.
Current campaigns
Reports
- Saving Lives: Ensuring Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in NC Jails
- Suffering in Limbo: Systemic Flaws Force Hundreds of People to Languish in NC County Jails
- DRNC and Pitt County Sheriff’s Office Presentation on ITP/IVC Issues
- A Slap on the Wrist and a Rubber Stamp: NC Lets Sheriffs Break All the Rules
- DRNC’s 2020 Deaths in Jails Report
- State Jail Program Tied to Overcrowding
- Suicide Rates at Record High in 2019 (June 2020)
- UPDATE to 2013-16 report: Suicides in NC Jails October 2019
- Study: Restrictive Housing During Incarceration Associated With Mortality After Release
- Suicides in NC Jails August 2017
Records
DHSR inspection records from 2017-2023
This table outlines DHSR inspection records from 2017-2019, and facility deaths organized by county from 2017-2020. This table will be updated as DRNC receives and reviews inspection reports and reports of deaths. For definitions of terms used in the chart, please consult our recent report(link) on DHSR inspections statewide. If you would like access to the reports themselves or any other public record information relating to jail deaths or inspections, please contact Luke Woollard at luke.woollard@disabilityrightsnc.org with the subject line “Jail Public Record Request”, or call 919-446-3725
- 2021 Jail Populations and Capacity
- 2022 Jail Population and Capacity Jan-Aug
- 2023 Jail Population and Capacity (Full)
This data set shows monthly average jail populations as reported by the jail administrators. DRNC has compared these averages to the known design capacities to show these average monthly populations as a percentage of design capacity for each facility. Any facility operating at above 100% design capacity is in violation of the Jail Rules. Per advocates and corrections experts, jails get increasingly dangerous for both staff and those in custody as jail populations exceed 80% of total design capacity.
