N.C. Department of
Correction--Correction News--December 1997
Longtime Vance
Superintendent J.J. Hayes Retires
| Oxford - J.J. Hayes,
superintendent of Umstead Correctional Center, retired
Oct. 1. He began his career at Granville Correctional
Center March 1, 1964 as a correctional officer. "At the time, this was about as
good a job as you could get around here," Hayes
said. He had been a salesman for Pine State Creamery, but
wanted a more stable job.
The job may have been stable,
but he met with several close-calls. One was when he was
searching for an Orange County escapee. At midnight,
Major Burnice Turner left Hayes and another officer to
continue the search. As he was driving along, a bullet
hit the windshield where the rear-view mirror was. He was
unhurt even though he wound up with his truck in a ditch.
No one could ever pin down who had fired the shot, but an
ex-inmate who lived in the area was suspected.
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Another time, Hayes had gone to Durham
to pick up five inmates, two being felons. Hayes wanted to take
them in separate trips down the elevator to the car, but the
jailer insisted he knew them all and it would be all right to
take them in one trip. Hayes was uncomfortable with having two
officers with weapons and five inmates in the elevator together.
As soon as the elevator door opened, one ran for freedom. Hayes
ran after him, but tripped on a chain, causing him to fire his
gun accidentally. The escapee later said the bullet whizzed by
his head.
Learning to use his own good judgment
from then on, Hayes moved up through the ranks and is best known
for being the superintendent for 11 years of Vance Correctional
Center until the prison closed last year.
Hayes said the Department of Correction
has come a long way over the years and today we are dealing with
a more intelligent inmate and a more intelligent staff. He says
that the state will always need small prisons because some
inmates just don’t function well in big institutions. He
said large institutions would send Hayes problem inmates and they
settled right in and were never disruptive at the small field
unit in Vance County.
"Like many of those who made
corrections a life-long career, J.J. Hayes was dedicated to doing
a good job and I appreciate the solid contribution he made to
this department," Correction Secretary Mack Jarvis said.
NC DOC Correction News-
December 1997
NC Department of Correction News
NC
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