Legislative Leaders Establish Committee to Investigate Roy Cooper’s Secret ‘Reentry’ Settlement List
Raleigh, N.C. — Today, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) announced the formation of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations (Gov Ops): Subcommittee on Prisons.
The subcommittee is tasked with investigating former Gov. Roy Cooper’s decision to release more than 4,200 criminals early after settling a COVID-era lawsuit with his liberal allies, including the ACLU and NAACP. The individuals on Cooper’s early release list were kept secret until earlier this year, when Gov Ops obtained and released it.
Now, the subcommittee will investigate the Cooper administration’s early prisoner releases and the conditions of their release and parole. The subcommittee will also dive into Gov. Josh Stein’s involvement since the N.C. Department of Justice, when he was attorney general, represented Cooper in the lawsuit and subsequent settlement.
“Roy Cooper opened the floodgates and then did the bare minimum to inform the public about the criminals being released into their communities,” Sen. Berger said. “He made every effort to hide what he did, and Republicans in the General Assembly are going to hold him and Gov. Stein accountable for releasing violent, repeat offenders and endangering our citizens.”
N.C. House Speaker Destin Hall said, “Public safety is the most important responsibility of our government. If Roy Cooper or any other official failed at this most basic responsibility, the people of this state deserve to know about it. The release of violent, repeat offenders back onto our streets is a serious miscarriage of justice. This committee will investigate exactly how these early release decisions were made, who was responsible, and whether proper safeguards were followed."
The subcommittee will be chaired by Sen. Buck Newton (R-Wilson) and Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus).
Other members of the subcommittee are:
Sen. Lisa Barnes (R-Nash)
Sen. Woodson Bradley (D-Mecklenburg)
Sen. Danny Earl Britt, Jr. (R-Robeson)
Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Burke)
Sen. Terence Everitt (D-Wake)
Sen. Amy Galey (R-Alamance)
Rep. Amber Baker (D-Forsyth)
Rep. Celeste Cairnes (R-Carteret)
Rep. Grant Campbell (R-Cabarrus)
Rep. Allen Chesser (R-Nash)
Rep. Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe)
Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake)
The committee is also charged with reviewing our state’s prison system and justice-related topics, including, but not limited to, staffing, healthcare, facility locations, consolidation, programming, re-entry, recidivism, the Justice Reinvestment Act, and community support.
