ACLU of North Carolina Presses Durham County Sheriff for Public Records
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2025
Contact: Keisha Williams, communications@acluofnc.org
DURHAM, N.C. - The ACLU of North Carolina, with statewide and local partners, has sent a letter to Durham County Sheriff Clarence F. Birkhead demanding the release of requested public records regarding the Durham County Jail’s policies.
In 2023, EmancipateNC submitted a public records request seeking copies of the Jail’s written policies, particularly those concerning the use of solitary confinement and restraint chairs. The Sheriff’s office provided only heavily redacted copies of those policies.
EmancipateNC filed a lawsuit in Durham County Superior Court to compel the Sheriff’s office to release the policies. The Sheriff’s office moved to dismiss the suit, arguing that they do not have a legal responsibility to release the records. That motion is currently pending with the court.
“Concealing jail policies from public inspection undermines the purpose of the Public Records Act, which champions transparency and accountability in government,” said Dan Siegel, deputy legal director for the ACLU of North Carolina. “Transparency is particularly important in the context of jails and prisons, where the government takes on enormous responsibility for the tens of thousands of North Carolinians in its custody.”
The letter urges the Sheriff to reconsider his position and release the records.
Signatories include Southern Coalition for Social Justice, North Carolina Justice Center, the North Carolina Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Democracy NC, Democracy Out Loud, Durham Beyond Policing, NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Durham Cares, Raleigh PACT, Carolina Jews for Justice, Tharrington Smith, LLP, and Daybreak Oneness Ministries, as well as two UNC Law Professors, Barbara Fedders and Deborah M. Weissman, signing in their personal capacities.
You can read a copy of the letter here.
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