Iryna’s Law and the familiar N.C. prison-capacity problem

For 50 years, this state has too often asked how many inmates the system can handle before asking what public safety actually requires.

Iryna’s Law has now reached a familiar stage in North Carolina criminal justice policy.

The cycle usually goes like this: First, the state passes a law meant to keep more dangerous people behind bars. Then everyone starts warning about overcrowding and thin staffing. Then the pressure builds to soften the law, loosen the rules or find some workaround to move people out.

We’re back at that last part right now.

The Charlotte Observer ran a piece this week about overcrowding in urban county jails, including Wake County’s surge in defendants being held without bond. WRAL quoted Wake DA Lorrin Freeman saying Iryna’s Law might be an “overcorrection” that needs tweaking.