North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc.

North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc. (NCPLS) provides legal services to North Carolina prisoners and handles a variety of legal matters involving prison conditions and criminal convictions. Services range from advice about prisoners’ legal rights to representation in all state and federal courts. These services include the provision of legal representation (without cost to the inmate) in cases alleging that prison officials failed to protect a prisoner from harm.

NCPLS has established priorities for case acceptance so that they can address the most serious problems of incarcerated persons. The most important considerations affecting acceptance of any case are the extent of injury to the client, the strength of the evidence supporting a recognized legal theory of liability, and the importance of the issue to prisoners in general. Top priority is given to the following types of cases: excessive force by an officer resulting in personal injury to a prisoner; failure to protect a prisoner from other prisoners, resulting in personal injury; inhumane or overcrowded conditions of life in jails and prisons; indifference to, or neglect of, the serious medical and mental health needs of prisoners; and criminal convictions obtained in violation of the defendant’s constitutional rights.

If you need advice or representation, you should write a letter describing your problem and send it to NCPLS. Your letter should explain as clearly as possible what happened and what you want NCPLS to do for you. Please include enough details for NCPLS to understand and investigate your complaint, including, names of the officers and inmates who were involved or who were witnesses, addresses, dates, places (such as the name of the unit and cell block), and file numbers. Often there is nothing that NCPLS can do until after the prisoner has filed a grievance, so you should include a copy of your grievance and the response of the DOC. Please be sure to include your full name, prison ID number, and address of your unit. (Include your home address if you expect to be released soon).