FOR RELEASE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 1995

RALEIGH - Correction Secretary Franklin Freeman presented the department's Employee of the Year Award to Lynn C. Phillips, director of the division of prisons, in ceremonies September 14th.

"As deputy director and director of the Division of Prisons during the past eight years, Mr. Phillips has devoted extensive time and energies to leading the division through a huge growth in prison capacity, compliance with federal court orders, skyrocketing health care costs, and a variety of hot political topics," Secretary Freeman said. "Mr. Phillips has done this in addition to managing an increasingly violent and dangerous prison population."

Phillips is a tireless manager, Freeman said, who routinely works a 10-hour day. He has accumulated hundreds of hours of compensatory time because of his devotion and duty to the Division of Prisons.

Secretary Freeman congratulated 18 other employees from around the state for their contributions to the department including Roy Edward Allen, intensive surveillance officer in the Division of Adult Probation and Parole; Larry W. Barefoot, chief probation and parole officer in Rockingham County; William Timothy Poole, judicial district manager for Randolph and Montgomery counties; Lattie Baker, assistant secretary for substance abuse programs; Phyllis Banner, physician assistant, and Margaret Browning, nurse supervisor at Western Youth Institution; Lynn E. Carrowon, personnel assistant at Central Prison; Pat Chavis, superintendent at Lumberton Correctional Institution; Ken Core, staff psychologist at Johnston Correctional Center; Robert Dawkins, chaplain at Southern Correctional Institution; LaVee Hamer, general counsel for the Department of Correction; William K. Jones, superintendent at Wake Correctional Center; D.G. Luther, administrator for South Central Area; Sarah Lynn Morris, program assistant at Franklin Correctional Center; Montie George Pinion, captain at Pender Correctional institution; Albert K. Pruitt, superintendent at Blanch Youth Institution; Shirley Searcy Gore, assistant superintendent at Forsyth Correctional Center; and Charles S. Walters, lieutenant at Caswell Correctional Center.