Roy Cooper Accused of Misleading Press Over Prisoner Release Deal

North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper was said to have lied to reporters about his record on releasing inmates after a settlement required the state to free thousands of prisoners.

At a recent campaign appearance, Senate hopeful Roy Cooper asserted that fact-checks refuted claims of a soft-on-crime record, but documentation confirms he settled a lawsuit that obligated North Carolina to free a minimum of 3,500 convicted offenders, a number that later rose to 4,200. This agreement made him the only governor to sign a binding deal mandating prisoner releases. Cooper’s team has attempted to dismiss coverage linking murder suspect DeCarlos Brown to the early-release roster, though his offender ID appears on a list the administration kept hidden until a news outlet reported it.

A review of the released individuals found that roughly half committed additional crimes, including numerous felonies and murders. The state's Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission reported a 48 percent recidivism rate for those freed under the settlement, higher than the rate for a larger group released in fiscal year 2021. Critics also note Cooper’s broader criminal-justice policies, such as vetoes on ICE cooperation and tougher rioting penalties, and his earlier tenure as attorney general saw a massive backlog of untested rape kits.