Cooper Says Some Were ‘Frustrated’ Not More Prisoners Were Released Under COVID-Era Settlement

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, now the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a CNN interview that some people were “very frustrated” that his administration did not release even more inmates under a court-ordered settlement reached during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CNN’s Manu Raju asked Cooper whether he had regrets about how his administration handled the settlement, which resulted in roughly 3,500 prisoners being released early. “The centerpiece of the Republican campaign against you is this settlement deal that you reached about the prisoner release, roughly 3,500 prisoners were released early. When you look back at the way that was handled by you and your administration, do you have any regrets by the way you handled that?” Raju asked.

“This is something that the state had to do, because the court ordered it,” Cooper responded. “And, I think a lot of people believe, if you ask the plaintiffs, they were very frustrated that more weren’t released.”

Cooper’s Republican opponent in the Senate race, Michael Whatley, has made Cooper’s handling of crime and the settlement a central theme of his campaign, and has said the total number of convicts released could exceed 4,200.

The 2021 settlement was reached between Cooper’s administration and civil rights groups amid pressure to reduce prison populations during the pandemic. When the agreement was first announced, prison officials said only inmates whose sentences were ending in 2021 would be released, but that account was later corrected for a state legislative committee, which was told that violent offenders would also be freed.

The full list of people released was not made public until it was confirmed that DeCarlos Brown, the man charged with murdering Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system, had been among those released under the settlement.

Cooper defended the arrangement in the CNN interview, saying, “This was something that we wanted to do to make sure we worked to protect the public. Public safety officers made decisions about this — they followed the lead of President Trump’s team. President Trump released 13,000 prisoners, at least, during this COVID-era. He signed a bill to do that.”

Cooper also accused Republicans of “lying about all of these cases that they’re trying to connect to this” and said he was “the one who has actually prosecuted violent criminals and put them behind bars.”

During an August campaign appearance, Cooper made a similar claim, saying, “Independent fact checks show most of what they’re saying is simply not true. I’m the only one in this race who’s actually prosecuted violent criminals and worked to keep them behind bars.”

Court and public records show Cooper settled a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups that required North Carolina to release a minimum of 3,500 convicted criminals from prison; the eventual total reached 4,200. As governor, Cooper also vetoed legislation that would have required state cooperation with federal ICE detainers, increased penalties for rioting, and moved more juvenile offenses into the adult justice system.