Emancipate NC Community Organizer Kerwin Pittman is the justice-impacted member of the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC) established by Governor Roy Cooper. This week, NCDPS officials shared at a TREC subcommittee meeting that they will be introducing tablets, including legal research resources, for all people incarcerated in North Carolina prisons within two years.
While Emancipate NC seeks to end mass incarceration and structural racism in the criminal legal system, we do acknowledge that access to tablets, video visitation via tablet, legal research resources, and educational programming is an improvement to prison conditions. These features will assist incarcerated people to stay connected to family and friends, to litigate their cases, and to keep their minds occupied and learning.
We ask NCDPS to provide these tablet-based resources to incarcerated people free of charge and in an unlimited manner. We ask NCDPS to refrain from imposing infractions on jailhouse lawyers who assist others in legal matters.