Message From The Executive Director
Welcome to the NCPLS Web Site! Designed, created, and maintained by NCPLS staff, this technology allows public access to information about our program and publications concerning the rights and responsibilities of people incarcerated in North Carolina. Through this site, it is also possible for you to e-mail our staff with your feedback. We welcome your inquiries and suggestions, and we thank you for your interest.
North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services is a non-profit, public service organization whose mission is to provide legal advice and assistance to people who are incarcerated in this state. Much of our work involves explaining to our clients Department of Correction rules of conduct and regulations, the protections afforded by State and Federal law, and the way to resolve problems that arise in the correctional setting through administrative channels. When our clients have been unlawfully convicted or sentenced, when inmates are subjected to inhumane conditions of confinement, or when their limited legal rights have been infringed, we advocate on their behalf with governmental officials, and when necessary, in State and Federal courts.
There is a common misconception that prisoners have too many rights. In fact, upon conviction and incarceration, practically all of the rights of citizenship are extinguished. In general, the law requires only that the basic human needs of prisoners be met. That means that prisoners must be provided food, shelter, clothing, basic medical services for serious health problems, and the means to petition the government for redress of grievances. These modest requirements satisfy only the bare minimum necessities of life. As our State Supreme Court observed, "[I]t is but just that the public be required to care for the prisoner, who cannot by reason of the deprivation of his liberty, care for himself." Spicer v. Williamson , 191 N.C. 487, 490, 132 S.E. 291, 293 (1926).
As Dostoevski observed, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." That is true because broad societal notions of justice and morality define the conditions that will be permitted to prevail in prison. But it is also true because more than 90% of the people in prison will eventually be returned to free society and will mirror the lessons of justice and morality that prison instilled in them. Given the state of our correctional facilities, that should concern all North Carolinians.
The mission of NCPLS is to ensure that our clients are treated humanely, and in accordance with generally accepted notions of decency. Through helping prisoners to understand that the law which punishes them, also protects them, dawns the realization that everyone has a stake in our system of justice. We believe this work is as much a service to the citizens of North Carolina as it is to our clients.
Michael Hamden
Executive Director, North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services
