The new lab opened May 1. Since then Optical Lab Manager Phil Driver, Optician Karen Moore and staff have trained the inmates to use the high-tech Gerber/Coburn equipment to manufacture quality eyeglasses.

The optical lab will have two major customers. It will manufacture approximately 6,000 eyeglasses a year for the Department of Correction. Under contract with the North Carolina Division of Medical Assistance, the lab will also manufacture approximately 120,000 eyeglasses a year for state Medicaid recipients. At that rate, the optical lab would make 500 pairs of glasses a day.

The lab will employ nine Correction Enterprise staff and 45 prisoners. u