A state program designed to protect North Carolinians from people charged with sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and other crimes needs more funding to continue operations, its leader told legislators Thursday.
LaVonda Fowler, the executive director of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Information Network — which monitors alleged perpetrators in most of the state’s 100 counties — told members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety that the program is an effective way to keep victims safe, and that it could shut down without recurring annual state funding.
Other WRAL Top Stories
“We know that we save lives every single day,” Fowler told the committee. “Since its implementation, there has not been a single domestic violence homicide for anyone that has been placed on the program.”
The quasi-governmental group, known as CJIN, uses ankle monitors tied into the Global Positioning System to determine how close a defendant is to a victim or another person who has accused them of abuse.
Judges use the GPS program to enforce court-mandated “no-contact” orders for defendants accused of crimes such as stalking, sexual assault, domestic abuse, or violations of a domestic violence protective order. The ankle monitors alert plaintiffs if defendants violate court orders. In addition to providing protection to potential victims, it also offers defendants a level of freedom they might not get otherwise, enabling them to return to work as they await trial.
Fowler's request comes as legislative leaders are at odds over state spending. The Republican-controlled state Senate and state House of Representatives proposed competing budget plans for the current fiscal year and have yet to strike a deal on long-term spending.
During Thursday’s hearing, legislators mostly asked questions about the GPS program.
State Rep. Buck Newton said his constituents in Greene, Wayne and Wilson counties offered positive comments on the program. “Hopefully we’ll be able to work on improving things, securing things in the future,” said Newton, a Republican.
The future of the program came into question last year as officials sought permanent funding for CJIN to continue operations. Emails obtained by WRAL indicated that CJIN was prepared to suspend the GPS program before it ultimately received emergency financial assistance from the state Department of Public Safety. State law doesn’t guarantee CJIN continued funding from DPS, and department officials told WRAL News that CJIN would be responsible for securing funding into the future.
CJIN says it needs about $11.5 million in annual recurring funds to maintain and expand the program in the state, and to hire more people to operate it, according to a presentation released in advance of Thursday's hearing. Without funding, CJIN says, it would have to reduce the number of monitors it operates or possibly cease to operate.
As of last week, about 1,400 monitors were in use across 63 counties, according to the presentation. About one-quarter of those cases are considered “high risk enrollees.” Domestic violence cases account for about 45% of the system’s use last year, according to the report.
'Heaven's eyes'
Prayla Mills, a domestic violence victim, says program saved her life, referring to it as “heaven’s eyes.”
"I got the alert,” Mills told WRAL. “At that point, I located a safe spot [and] was able to call law enforcement [while] the company themselves stayed monitoring me the whole time."
District Court Judge Galen Braddy of Pitt County, a member of CJIN’s governing board, told legislators that he’s seen few government programs as effective as the GPS program. Braddy said restraining orders aren’t strong enough on their own to ensure the safety of domestic violence victims.
Braddy said the lack of a defendant-tracking system leaves defendants living in constant fear for their lives. Braddy said he has seen “my own family members suffer severe, extreme emotional stress to the point they lose their hair, when they walk around this corner [wondering] are they going to become victimized and potentially killed?”
Ahead of Thursday’s hearing, several current and former judges wrote to committee members to praise the program and urge lawmakers to fund it.
“Ensuring the safety of victims while holding offenders accountable is more crucial than ever,” Toni S. King, a district court judge in Fayetteville, told committee members in a Jan. 9 letter. King called the program “a lifeline for victims, empowering them to take proactive steps to protect themselves.”
“Cessation of funding will lead to a significant gap in the system,” King wrote. “... Ensuring that all defendants, regardless of their financial status, have access to this critical monitoring system is essential for enhancing public safety and supporting victims.”
District judges in Alamance County said the program allows a less restrictive alternative to incarceration, which saves the county money and allows defendants to get back to work or go home.
“We cannot imagine not having this vital tool, to both keep defendants out of jail while assuring that alleged victims are protected, available for use in our court system,” the Alamance judges wrote.
Jeff Nieman, the district attorney for Chatham and Orange counties, said his office has suggested tweaks to the program over the years and that CJIN has been responsive. Nieman hopes lawmakers replenish the program’s funding.
“What would be unfortunate at the least and tragic at the most, would be to simply just defund it without at the very least having an alternative plan or process in place,” Nieman told WRAL Thursday.
The GPS monitoring program was initially launched as part of a nonprofit known as Caitlyn’s Courage, named after Caitlyn Whitehurst, whose ex-boyfriend killed her in 2019. The following year, state lawmakers granted Caitlyn’s Courage $3.5 million in federal Covid-19 pandemic relief funds to launch the GPS tracking program in nine judicial districts.
The GPS program transitioned from the nonprofit to CJIN in 2021. The network is run by a board, which is appointed by state lawmakers and includes law enforcement leaders, magistrates, county commissioners and judges. The network operated into last year with funds from the 2023-24 state budget.
The organization had been operating under the impression that lawmakers intended to provide the funds on an annual basis beyond the 2023-24 budget.
Corrections challenges
Committee members also heard from corrections officials, who are seeking more funding to improve infrastructure and to address staffing shortages.
As the prison population has grown, the number of corrections officers has decreased. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction reported a 24% retention rate for correctional officers in 2025.
The shortages are creating additional strain on remaining employees, Leslie Cooley Dismukes, the department secretary, told lawmakers Thursday. The use of overtime pay for custody staff has proven costly, totaling $73.5 million in 2025, Dismukes said.
"To put it plainly, our separate staffing situation is dire and it is dangerous: dangerous to my staff, dangerous to the people in my custody, and dangerous to the people of North Carolina," Dismukes said.
"Our vacancy rates have grown higher and remain at unsustainable levels, leading us with fewer staff to run safe prisons," she said, adding: "This problem has compounded year over year, as salaries of our employees have not kept up with the cost of living, much less market rate."
Corrections leaders also said they need an additional $100 million in funds for renovations and repairs, including fire safety improvements at more than a dozen facilities.