On May 6th, UNC Chapel Hill law students Nikolai Wise and John Schengber, joined by Elizabeth Simpson, argued on behalf of Emancipate NC for the immediate release of an unredacted Durham County Jail policy manual. Emancipate NC has been requesting these public records–which other counties, such as Orange, Mecklenburg, and Buncombe, provide in their entirety–for over 13 months.
While the judge denied Emancipate NC’s motion for injunctive relief, he also denied the Jail’s motion to dismiss. He ordered the Jail to answer Emancipate NC’s complaint by June 6. This litigation will continue throughout the summer, with expected mediation.
The local NPR station covered the case:
The Sheriff’s Office is in violation of the North Carolina Public Records Act, said Elizabeth Simpson, an Emancipate NC attorney and UNC law professor.
“The judge will really need to take a look at the policies in an unredacted form to be able to form an opinion about whether the redactions that the Sheriff’s Office made are authorized under law or not,” Simpson said.
The lawsuit alleges that some detainees have been confined for up to 21 to 23 hours a day — a complaint also echoed in a 2023 open letter to Durham law enforcementleaders, which more than 350 people signed.
Part of their argument is that Mecklenburg and Buncombe counties released the same jail policies without redactions.