RALEIGH - The North Carolina Department of Public Safety is working to identify inmates to "serve their sentence outside of a DPS facility," secretary Erik Hooks announced April 13.

"This authority (granted to the DPS secretary) is very limited and has to be exercised responsibly," Hooks said.

Hooks listed three priorities the DPS is weighing as it determines who is eligible for "community custody."

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Public safety. Offenders who have been convicted of a "violent crime against a person" are ineligible, Hooks said. Time served. Offenders must have release date in 2020, Hooks said. Health risks. Older offenders with underlying health conditions will be given priority. (Hooks noted that the "majority" of offenders over 65 are incarcerated for serious crimes against a person.)

Offenders must fall within one of the following categories to be eligible, he added.

Female offenders age 50 and older with underlying health conditions

Offenders age 65 and older

Offenders already on home leave

Offenders on work release

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There are 500 offenders currently being reviewed for eligibility for the program, Hooks said. According to the NCDPS website, there are 34,657 prison inmates statewide as of April 13.

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Juvenile justice facilities

Hooks said DPS is working to transfer "as many nonviolent juveniles as possible from juvenile detention."

Since the beginning of March, the daily juvenile detention population statewide has decreased 25% from 202 to 151 juveniles detained as of April 13.

This decrease was made possible by an "extensive increase in the use of electronic monitoring," Hooks said, as well as asking the courts to consider release to community-based services and alternatives to detention.

DPS is also working to return juveniles committed to long term youth development centers to their home communities — provided that staff can ensure the "home and community environments are safe and supportive of the juvenile's continued growth," Hooks said. Since March 1, 16 juveniles (representing 9% of the total statewide) have been released from YDCs back to their home or a community-based step-down program.

Elizabeth Anne Brown is the trending news reporter for the Citizen Times. Reach her at eabrown@citizentimes.com, or follow her on Twitter @eabrown18.

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