Emancipate NC has joined forces with the ACLU of North Carolina and a broad coalition of partners to demand greater transparency from the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. The focus: public access to jail policies, especially those governing the use of solitary confinement and restraint chairs.
In 2023, Emancipate NC filed a public records request seeking copies of the Durham County Jail’s internal policies. What came back were heavily redacted documents—so obscured they were nearly unreadable.
In response, Emancipate NC filed a lawsuit to compel the Sheriff’s Office to disclose the complete records. The Sheriff’s Office has asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming it has no legal obligation to share the requested materials. That question is now pending before the court.
“Concealing jail policies from public inspection undermines the purpose of the Public Records Act, which champions transparency and accountability in government,” said Dan Siegel of the ACLU of North Carolina. “Transparency is particularly important in the context of jails and prisons, where the government takes on enormous responsibility for the tens of thousands of North Carolinians in its custody.”
More than a dozen organizations and individuals—ranging from civil rights advocates to legal and faith-based groups, including two UNC law professors—have signed a letter urging Sheriff Clarence Birkhead to release the unredacted records voluntarily. Together, they argue that the public has a right to know how incarcerated people are being treated—and that accountability starts with transparency.