NC Settles With Imprisoned Urban Fiction Author

North Carolina is paying $10,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by an "urban fiction" author who says officials destroyed a book manuscript that he wrote behind bars, according to court documents filed Monday.

A settlement agreement says the Department of Correction will overturn disciplinary actions against the man and establish new policies allowing inmates to prepare manuscripts. A federal lawsuit filed last year accused prison officials of destroying a 310-page handwritten manuscript that author Victor L. Martin wrote during his incarceration.

"It's heartbreaking to think about losing 310 handwritten pages," said Katherine Lewis Parker, legal director for the ACLU-NC Legal Foundation. "We just couldn't believe it was gone."

Parker said the book was Martin's life story and that he is currently rewriting it. He began writing his first novel before going to prison in 2000 and has since completed four books.

Martin's books detail a narrative of sex, crime and life on the streets. His attorneys said the genre is popular with those who have never read books before and describes urban scenes in a way in which those readers can relate.

The 34-year-old is currently being held as a habitual felon, with previous convictions for vehicle larceny, escape from prison and possession of stolen goods. He's due for release in 2018.

Department of Corrections spokesman Keith Acree said the agency settled to avoid the costs of a federal trial.

"There's no evidence that a manuscript was destroyed," he said. "We believe it was returned to Martin, and believe Martin then mailed it out of prison."