Governor Bev Perdue says she hopes for a speedy resolution to the prisoner release issue that became public two and a half weeks ago.

She says state lawyers tell her there's a possibility the courts will take up the issue in the late Fall or perhaps by early January.

Perdue says she feels confident she's doing the right thing in trying to stop the releases, despite any legal repercussions that may occur as a result of her efforts.

After meeting with lawyers on Monday, she believes the state will have a compelling argument against release.

"I feel very comfortable the attorney general is moving forward to aggressively prepare a case," she said. "I hope that we can present a different set of circumstances for them to consider."

After the state Supreme Court upheld an appellate court ruling saying a 1974 law defined a life sentence as only 80 years and that former death row inmates could be set free when the courts added in good behavior credits, many were outraged.

"The state is poised to release a group of offenders who are a threat to every man, woman and child in North Carolina," said Thomas Bennett of the North Carolina Victim Assistance Network when word of the impending releases became public back on Oct. 15th.

But some of those inmates are already on the outside.

Inmate Faye Brown is a convicted murderer who is out on work release and Governor Perdue says she is OK with that.

"I've always been a big fan of work release because it's a supervised program and at night they go back to the unit," she said.

It's that concept of control and punishment for bad behavior that makes work release and parole acceptable to Governor Perdue.

"I believe folks who are on parole, who are monitored and supervised, can indeed participate in the community because there's always a set of rule and parameters," she maintained. "Nobody is just out there as a free agent. It's totally different from what we're talking about now."