The UNC Law student members of the North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review will hold a virtual conference on “Public Health & Structural Inequity” on Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2. Registration is free via Zoom, and CLE credit is available to attorneys.
Emancipate NC associate director Elizabeth Simpson will speak on a panel about COVID and Incarceration on April 1 at 3:45 p.m. Elizabeth will share what she learned about conditions in North Carolina prisons during the peak of the pandemic in 2020-2021 from her experiences speaking with scores of incarcerated people and their families, as she worked on the NAACP v. Cooper lawsuit. In January 2021, Elizabeth was infected with COVID-19 during prison inspections as a result of interviewing infected people living in crowded, unventilated quarantine dorms.
Ultimately, the NAACP v. Cooper case, which was a coalition effort between Emancipate NC, the ACLU of North Carolina, Disability Rights North Carolina, Forward Justice, and the National Juvenile Justice Network, resulted in the early release of over 4,500 individuals from state prison.