RALEIGH – As part of the Department of Public Safety’s continuing efforts to make prisons safer, revisions have been made to the Offender Disciplinary Procedures. These changes, which take effect Jan. 3, 2018, strengthen the policy and will hold inmates more accountable for rules violations, as well as upgrade certain charges to a higher level.
“We have continually heard from employees that changes needed to be made to the offender disciplinary policy,” Secretary Erik A. Hooks said. “Offenders need to be held accountable for their actions while in prison, and these changes will not only aid in managing inmate behavior, but will also help enhance safety within prisons. Ultimately, the intent is to enhance prison safety, which also makes communities safer through rehabilitating offenders who will be leaving prison and setting them on a path to become productive members of society.”
This is the latest adjustment to policy Secretary Hooks and his senior administrative staff have implemented in recent months to improve safety in prisons. Based on the input from prison administrators and correctional employees at all levels, certain offenses were upgraded to a more severe level (Class B to Class A or Class C to Class B). Class A offenses are the most serious, followed by Class B and Class C. The Class D offense category has been eliminated. and those offenses have been upgraded to Class C.
Some of the changes include:
- Upgrading the Class B1 offense (Possess or have under control any weapon or instrument to aid in an assault, insurrection or riot) to a Class A offense.
- Upgrading the Class C2 (using profane language) and Class C3 (disobeying a prison official or employee) offenses to Class B.
- Loss of sentence credit days from up to 30 to 60 for Class A offenses, and from 20 up to 30 for Class B offenses. Per policy, sentence credit days are time credits applied to the court-ordered term-of-years sentence of any inmate to reduce the amount of time served based on good behavior or participation in work programs.
- Elimination of any decreased sanctions when the offender pleads guilty.
A copy of the revised policy will be available on the prison’s Policy & Procedure Manual webpage.
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