Concern over resources to help hundreds of NC inmates who will be released

By Michael Hyland, WNCN News
Published: October 31, 2015, 10:50 pm



RALEIGH (WNCN) Thousands of federal inmates are in the process of being released from prison.

More than 6,000 of them are getting out, the largest one-time release of inmates ever. They include 108 in the Eastern District of North Carolina, according to the U.S. Probation Office. This process started when the U.S. Sentencing Commission decided last year to lower the maximum sentences for non-violent drug offenders and retroactively apply those standards to people already in prison.

Now, there are concerns about whether the resources are there to help these people.

Drew Doll knows what it’s like to go from life locked up to life on the outside. He left prison in 2010 after being convicted of embezzlement.

“I had a friend who called me and said, ‘Hey, the auditors are here. They’re looking for your paperwork.’ And, I remember just going and sitting down and crying, saying ‘Thank you, god, that you stopped me’ because I would not stop,” recalls Doll.

Now he works with the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham. Part of that work involves helping recently released inmates transition back into society.

“This many people getting out at one time is going to overwhelm that system,” says Doll.

The federal inmates being released this weekend are the first wave of prisoners whose sentences are being reduced.

That includes 227 inmates in North Carolina, the fifth highest number in the country.

About a quarter of the inmates being released nationwide are undocumented immigrants. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says they’ll be taken into custody and likely deported.

In the coming years more than 40,000 federal inmates could be released from prison early.

“You’re going to have people come out that need services, need housing, and that’s just not going to be available,” says Doll.

That’s why some police chiefs and sheriffs have raised concerns about these people getting out and committing crimes again. They’re also concerned the probation system won’t be able to keep up.

Lynn Burke served two-and-a-half years in prison after writing bad checks.

“You shut your emotions down, so you can live through it because you’d be a mess,” Burke says.
Now: she’s a lawyer in Durham, after getting her law degree from North Carolina Central University. Even after that, she struggled to get anyone to hire her.

She says the people getting out now will face significant hurdles, but says it’s not hopeless.

“No matter what you’ve been through, you can still be somebody. It’s all up to you,” says Burke.

http://wncn.com/2015/10/31/concern-o...l-be-released/