North Carolina’s “Iryna’s Law” Leads to Jail Overcrowding
by Michael Dean Thompson
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ryna’s Law was passed in 2025 after the brutal murder of Iryna Karutska, a Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte, North Carolina light rail train. The law, HB 307, restricts pretrial release of violent offenders and eliminates written promises to appear in court altogether. As a predictable result, jail populations are pulsing upwards with little opportunity for relief.
The Robeson County jail held 501 detainees in May of this year. It was designed to hold just 410. Records from the state Department of Health and Human Services indicate overcrowding has been a problem for months. Sheriff Burnis Wilkins told The Assembly he has had to buy cots and blankets to deal with the overflow. The Carteret County jail bounced up from 73 detainees in May 2025 to 146 one year later, 29 people over its listed maximum capacity. Wake County’s jail has also exceeded its capacity of 1,094 by 76 this May.
Exceeding capacity is about more than cots and blankets. Overcrowding puts prisoners and guards at risk of the increased violence it brings. In addition, it strains resources like medical and mental health care. Yet, the law offers no provision for assistance. Meanwhile, Wake and Mecklenburg counties have begun reopening closed facilities to handle the overflow.
Mecklenburg County has increased funding by $5.3 million to cover expenses, $1 million of which is for the surge in food costs alone. In Robeson County, Sheriff Wilkins wants the state to help pay to expand his struggling jail capacity. “There was no funding to help us with anything,” he told The Assembly. “We had to continue to work with what we have.”
The state’s Republican-dominated legislature passed Iryna’s Law as a way to keep people suspected of violent crimes off the street as they exploit the murder to portray Democrats as “soft on crime.” The alleged murderer, DeCarlos Brown, had been jailed beforehand for misusing the 911 system, which is not a violent crime. The magistrate released him on a written promise to appear.
Nevertheless, had he stayed in jail, the 45-day maximum penalty would have passed and he still would have been free on the day of Iryna’s murder. The new law would not have stopped the crime.
Source: The Assembly
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