Jones v. Keller

• Decision Date: 27 August 2010
• Docket Number: No. 518PA09.,518PA09.
• Citation: 698 S.E.2d 49,364 N.C. 249
• Parties: Alford JONES, Petitionerv.Alvin KELLER, Secretary of the Department of Correction, and Susan R. White, Administrator of New Hanover Correctional Center, Respondents.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

364 N.C. 249

698 S.E.2d 49

Alford JONES, Petitionerv.Alvin KELLER, Secretary of the Department of Correction, and Susan R. White, Administrator of New Hanover Correctional Center, Respondents.

No. 518PA09.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Aug. 27, 2010.

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On writ of certiorari pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-32(b) to review an opinion and order entered 14 December 2009 by Judge Ripley E. Rand in Superior Court, Wayne County, allowing petitioner's application for writ of habeas corpus and ordering his unconditional release from prison. Heard in the Supreme Court 16 February 2010.

Notes from the Official Reporter

1. Prisons and Prisoners-sentence reduction credits-authority of Department of Correction

In a decision with a three-justice majority opinion and two justices concurring, it was held that the Department of Correction (DOC) acted within its statutory authority in limiting the application of good time, gain time, and merit time credits to the life sentence of an inmate convicted of first-degree murder between 8 April 1974 and 30 June 1978. Implicit in DOC's power to allow time for good behavior is the authority to determine the purposes for which that time is allowed; its application of its own regulations to accomplish the goal of releasing only those who are prepared and who can safely return to society is strictly administrative and outside the purview of the courts. An award of time by DOC need not be an all or nothing award for unlimited uses.

2. Constitutional Law-due process-calculation of inmate's sentence reduction credits

In a decision with a three-justice majority opinion and two justices concurring, there was no violation of the due process rights of an inmate (Jones) sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder between 1974 and 1978 where the Department of Correction (DOC) withheld application of good time, gain time, and merit time from the calculation of the date for an unconditional release. When a liberty interest is created by a State, it follows that the State can control the contours of that interest within reasonable and constitutional limits. DOC's determination that Jones's immediate unconditional release would endanger public safety is a compelling State interest outweighing any limited due process liberty interest Jones may have.

3. Constitutional Law-ex post facto-calculation of inmate's sentence reduction credits-no violation

In a decision with a three-justice majority opinion and two justices concurring, the trial court correctly found that an inmate (Jones) had not suffered an ex post facto violation in the Department of Correction's (DOC's) refusal to grant sentence reduction credits where Jones did not allege that any legislation or regulation altered the award of sentence reduction credits, nor did DOC change its interpretation of its applicable regulations.

4. Constitutional Law-equal protection-inmate's sentence reduction credits

In a decision with a three-justice majority opinion and two justices concurring, there was no equal protection violation in the Department of Correction's (DOC's) refusal to apply sentence reduction credits to a life sentence imposed for a first-degree murder between 1974 and 1978. The fact that the inmate (Jones) is serving a sentence for first-degree murder reasonably suggests that he presents a greater threat to society than prisoners convicted of other offenses, and DOC had a rational basis for denying good time, gain time, and merit time for the purposes of unconditional release, even though these same credits have been awarded for that purpose to other prisoners with determinate sentences.

Staples S. Hughes, Appellate Defender, and Katherine Jane Allen, Benjamin Dowling-Sendor, Daniel R. Pollitt, and Daniel K. Shatz, Assistant Appellate Defenders, for petitioner-appellee.

Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Tiare B. Smiley and Robert C. Montgomery, Special Deputy Attorneys General, for respondent-appellants State of North Carolina and North Carolina Department of Correction.

Elliot Pishko Morgan, P.A., Winston Salem, by David Pishko, and Abrams & Abrams, P.A., Raleigh, by Margaret Abrams, for North Carolina Advocates for Justice, amicus curiae.

EDMUNDS, Justice.

In this case we determine whether petitioner Alford Jones is entitled to habeas corpus relief from incarceration on the grounds that he has accumulated various credits against his sentence. Because we conclude that he is lawfully incarcerated, we reverse the decision of the superior court.

The record indicates that Jones was charged with the 6 January 1975 murder of William B. Turner, Sr. Jones was convicted on 19 March 1975 in Superior Court, Lenoir County, and sentenced to death. In an opinion dated 17 June 1976, this Court found no error in Jones's conviction and sentence. State v. Jones, 290 N.C. 292, 225 S.E.2d 549 (1976). On 1 September 1976, this Court entered an order vacating Jones's sentence of death, pursuant to the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 96 S.Ct. 2978, 49 L.Ed.2d 944 (1976). Upon remand to the superior court, Jones was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment on 27 September 1976. As of 30 November 2009, Jones had accrued good time totaling 14,041 days, gain time totaling 2,146 days, and merit time totaling 1,745 days.

On 18 November 2009, Jones filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in Superior Court, Wayne County. Jones's contention is that, when his good time, gain time, and merit time are credited to his life sentence, which is statutorily defined as a sentence of eighty years, he is entitled to unconditional release. After careful consideration, and relying on the opinion of the Court of Appeals in State v. Bowden, 193 N.C.App. 597, 668 S.E.2d 107 (2008) disc. rev. improvidently allowed, 363 N.C. 621, 683 S.E.2d 208 (2009), the superior court concluded that Jones was entitled to be awarded good time, gain time, and merit time by the Department of Correction (DOC) for all purposes, including calculation of Jones's date of unconditional release; that Jones had served the entirety of the sentence imposed in his case; and that Jones was entitled to relief. Accordingly, the trial court allowed Jones's petition for habeas corpus and ordered that Jones be released. This Court allowed DOC's motion for temporary stay and granted its petition for writ of certiorari.¹

“Every person restrained of his liberty is entitled to a remedy to inquire into the lawfulness thereof, and to remove the restraint, if unlawful....” N.C. Const. art. I, § 21 (codified at N.C.G.S. § 17-1 (2009)). Before this court, Jones again contends that he is unlawfully imprisoned because the life sentence imposed on him for first-degree murder committed in 1975 was defined as a term of eighty years and he has earned sufficient credits to have completed the sentence. Accordingly, Jones argues that he is entitled to immediate unconditional release. However, the record discloses that DOC allowed credits to Jones's sentence only for limited purposes that did not include calculating an unconditional release date. We conclude that the limitations imposed by DOC on those credits are statutorily and constitutionally permissible. Therefore, his detention is lawful.

Jones is one of a group of prisoners, each of whom committed first-degree murder between 8 April 1974 and 30 June 1978 and were sentenced to life imprisonment, and it is this limited group that we consider in this opinion. At the time of petitioner's offense, the controlling statute provided that “[a] sentence of life imprisonment shall be considered as a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 80 years in the State's prison.” N.C.G.S. § 14-2 (Cum.Supp.1974). Although DOC interpreted a life sentence imposed under that statute to be an indeterminate sentence that would expire only upon an inmate's death, this statute unambiguously defined Jones's sentence as a determinate term of imprisonment for eighty years. See Diaz v. Div. Of Soc. Servs., 360 N.C. 384, 387, 628 S.E.2d 1, 3 (2006) (“When the language of a statute is clear and without ambiguity, it is the duty of this Court to give effect to the plain meaning of the statute, and judicial construction of legislative intent is not required.”).

However, while section 14-2 sets the term of imprisonment, that statute is silent as to the administration of the sentence. Instead, the General Assembly delegated that responsibility to DOC. N.C.G.S. § 148-11 (Cum.Supp.1974) ( “The Secretary [of Correction] shall propose rules and regulations for the government of the State prison system, which shall become effective when approved by the Department of Correction.”). The statutes further provide that “[t]he Secretary of Correction shall have control and custody of all prisoners serving sentence in the State prison system, and such prisoners shall be subject to all the rules and regulations legally adopted for the government thereof.” Id. § 148-4 (Cum.Supp.1974). Specifically, “[t]he rules and regulations for the government of the State prison system may contain provisions relating to grades of prisoners, rewards and privileges applicable to the several classifications of prisoners as an inducement to good conduct, allowances of time for good behavior the amount of cash, clothing, etc., to be awarded prisoners after their discharge or parole.” Id. § 148-13 (1974).

Therefore, we must next consider the legality of the pertinent DOC regulations as they apply to petitioner. DOC is an arm of the executive branch of government. Id. § 143B-262(a) (2009). Under the doctrine of separation of powers, this Court has long held that when an agency of another branch of government is authorized to exercise regulatory power over the administration of prison sentences, we will defer to that authority to the extent the delegation is constitutional. See Jernigan v. State, 279 N.C. 556, 563, 184 S.E.2d...