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The revelation that some prison inmates who are serving “life sentences” for murder, rape and the like could get out of jail due to a quirk in the law has been the subject of much consternation over the past couple months. (Background here.) Update: Click here for the AP story on this.

Today, Gov. Bev Perdue announced that all of those prisoner’s sentences had now been recalculated and that the earliest unconditional release date would come in 2054. I’m pretty sure that’s not what the prisoners’ lawyers had in mind when they filed their particular lawsuits.

From Perdue’s release:

RALEIGH – Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that the Department of Correction is putting in place a plan to comply with the decisions of the appellate courts in the State v. Bowden case. The Department has calculated unconditional release dates for the affected inmates. According to these calculations, the earliest unconditional release date is scheduled for 2054. 

“I will continue to pursue all legal means of preventing the release of these inmates without any review by the parole board or any post-release supervision,” said Gov. Perdue. “I have asked Sec. Keller to review all records to ensure that the inmates are not awarded any credits for which they are not eligible.”

 Pursuant to the court decision, DOC has calculated unconditional release dates for those prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes committed between April 8, 1974 and June 30, 1978. For this group of offenders, records had previously shown release dates of “LIFE,” reflecting that no unconditional release was thought to be available to them. These sentences must now be treated as statutory life sentences of 80 years.

 DOC Secretary Alvin Keller has directed that for each life sentence imposed for crimes during this time period, the unconditional release date shall be calculated as 80 years minus applicable jail credit earned while the prisoner awaited conviction and sentencing.

 As has been the practice of the DOC for at least 50 years, Secretary Keller will continue awarding good behavior credits for prisoners with life sentences only for purposes of earning a more favorable custody grade, for becoming eligible for parole or when the Governor commutes a prisoner’s sentence. Such credits will not be awarded for purposes of calculating an unconditional release date. This has been the procedure of the Department of Correction since at least 1955, during which time the head of the corrections agency has held statutory authority to establish rules and regulations as to grades of prisoners, rewards and privileges applicable to the classification of prisoners and allowances of time for good behavior.

 The Fair Sentencing Act passed in 1981 excluded Class A and B felons from receiving good behavior credits for purposes of unconditional release from prison [15A-1340.1 (a)].

 “I cannot see any meaningful difference between prisoners with statutory life sentences of 80 years and Class A and B felons under the Fair Sentencing Act in that their crimes are similarly heinous,” said Keller.

 The DOC has filed an affidavit from Secretary Keller explaining this release date calculation in Cleveland Superior Court for the State v. Wilbur William Folston case. Similar affidavits will be filed in the Bowden case and others where judges have ordered release dates to be calculated for similarly situated inmates.