Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead can keep some jail policies hidden from the public, a judge ruled Thursday. That includes the jail’s search, restraint and housing assignment policies.
Emancipate NC, an anti-mass incarceration nonprofit, has pushed for the release of the jail’s full policy manual since 2023 after starting to investigate the conditions inside.
But sections of that document contain sensitive information exempted under the state’s Public Records Act, Special Superior Court Judge Hoyt G. Tessener said in court on Thursday during a hearing on a lawsuit the nonprofit filed…