the Safe and Humane Jails Project
The mission of The Safe and Humane Jails Project is to support the health, safety, and legal rights of jail inmates and to assist inmates with other legal concerns arising in North Carolina jails. With funding from North Carolina IOLTA, we serve all of North Carolina's 100 counties and assist inmates in all of North Carolina's 93 jails. NC jails can hold over 20,000 individuals at any given time. Because most people stay in jail for only a short time, the actual number of citizens who spend time in a county jail during the course of a year is likely many times that number. We are here to assist people in jail by working on a cooperative basis with jail officials to address concerning health, safety, and other legal issues and by providing general legal advice and information to incarcerated people and their family and friends. If you have questions or concerns about a family member or friend in jail, feel free contact us here.
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advocating for clients
While we are not presently able to represent individuals in lawsuits against county jails, we communicate regularly with jail administrators and staff to further the health, safety, and legal rights of our clients. Our clients include individuals charged with crimes who are in county jails and individuals serving active sentences in county jails. The majority of our clients have not been convicted of the crimes with which they are charged, but are awaiting trial.
All individuals awaiting trial have a right to an attorney. However, some people may have legal questions about their health, safety, or legal rights in county jails that their trial attorney cannot answer. We are not able to assist with pending charges, but we seek to bridge the gap in legal knowledge by providing jail inmates and their family and friends with legal guidance on those issues. We educate clients and their families about difficult and complex legal issues.