North Carolina Department of Correction

December 23, 1998

1998 in the North Carolina Department of Correction

Prisoner work squads from western North Carolina prisons cleaned up communities that suffered damage from severe flooding and later were blanketed by a winter storm in January.

Correction Secretary Mack Jarvis dedicated Tyrrell Prison Work Farm Jan 28 and the state's first female boot camp June 2nd. Both facilities were built by the department’s inmate construction program.

Three prisoners were executed in 1998, the most in one year since 1953 when there were five executions. The executions included Ricky Lee Sanderson Jan. 30, Zane Hill August 14 and John Noland Nov 20.

Dan River Prison Work Farm work squads helped clean up Stoneville and Mayodan after the Rockingham County communities were struck by a tornado March 20.

The first group of 17 young men completed SARGE, the State Alliance for Recovery and General Education of Chemically Dependent Youth program at Morrison Youth Institution in March. The 17 completed 600 hours of substance abuse treatment in six months.

Correction Enterprises opened a new optical plant in May at Nash Correctional Institution putting inmates to work making eyeglasses for other inmates and state Medicaid recipients.

The Division of Prisons eliminated a layer of management by closing area offices as it moved from a command to a region management system. In May, western North Carolina prisons became the first to report to a Region Commander. By the end of the year, the change from command to region management was completed for the entire state prison system.

The Division of Community Corrections was created in July with the merger of the Division of Adult Probation and Parole, IMPACT boot camps and Criminal Justice Partnership Programs.

The Office of Staff Development and Training established a new management-training program with 24 employees entering the pilot program in July.

More than a thousand prisoners went to work in coastal NC in late August to clean up damage caused by Hurricane Bonnie. They helped clean thousands of tires that washed up along a stretch of beach, helped upright fallen tobacco so that it could be harvested and help communities clear debris.

The department’s Office of Research and Planning devoted a week in August to holding a series of meetings across the state encouraging staff to look at the future of corrections and the impact it will have on their jobs.

In the legislative session that ended in October, the General Assembly eliminated lethal gas as a means of execution and closed four prisons: Alexander, Martin, Mecklenburg and Sandy Ridge correctional centers.

The department opened a new Office of Citizen Services in November with a toll free phone line of 1-800-368-1985 to answer citizens’ questions about the agency and provide information to crime victims and the family of offenders.

Two state prisons are under construction. Avery/Mitchell and Stanly counties are the latest prison construction sites. Both prisons will hold 624 inmates, both are medium custody, both cost $28 million to build, and both will bring jobs and an annual operating budget of $13 million to local communities. The state sent the first prisoners to the Pamlico Correctional Institution, the first private prison to be built and opened by the Correctional Corporation of America in North Carolina. Construction nears completion on their second prison, Mountain View Correctional Institution.

1998 Personnel Changes

Secretary Mack Jarvis retired in September 1998. Deputy Secretary Joe Hamilton was named Acting Secretary.

Correctional Officer Michael Anthony was killed Oct 27 in a tragic accident while supervising a medium security road squad.

For efforts that helped convict two killers who were sentenced to death, Acting Correction Secretary Joe Hamilton named James A. Gribble of Morganton the department’s Employee of the Year during a reception Oct. 21.

Secretary Jarvis named 15 DOC officers Officers of the Year in June. They included Robert Scott Bauer, Jackie Grey Bullard, Anita Culbreth, Sandy Epperson, Henry Oxendine, James Ronald Bigsby, Richard Brewer, Jr., Richard K. Brown, Nathan Wayne Bullock, Becky Parham Connor, Allison Henry, Lavanda Hopper, Edmond C. Lamm, Willie R. Marsh and Robbie Exum Millard.

Alan Carpenter, chaplain of the Gaston Correctional Center was selected as the 1997 Volunteer of the Year for the Division of Prisons in April.

Jennifer Heath was named Judicial District 8-B Manager in January. Duncan Daughtry was named superintendent of Carteret Correctional Center in January. Gary Miller was named superintendent of Morrison Youth Institution in January. Philip Sykes was named manager of the state prison farm in April. Judy Sills was named manager of Combined Records in April. Marcus Hughes was named superintendent of the new Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution in April. Doug Pardue was named Judicial District 10 Manager in May. James Thornton was named the Judicial District 4-A Manager in May. John Lee was named the Judicial district 9-A Manager in May. Mike Bell was named superintendent of Pender Correctional Institution in July. Carla O’Konek was named superintendent of Wayne Correctional Center in July. Will Anderson was named superintendent of Craggy Correctional Center in August. Bonnie Boyette was named superintendent at Wake Correctional Center in August. John Crawford was named superintendent of Duplin correctional Center in Sept. Brenda Jarra was named superintendent of North Piedmont Correctional Center for Women in Sept. Keith Osteen was named superintendent of Henderson Correctional Center in Nov. Jerry Moore was named superintendent of Catawba Correctional Center in Nov. John Bryant was named superintendent of Umstead Correctional Center in Dec.

Lloyd Parker retired as Division of Prisons Eastern Area Administrator in Feb.Yancey superintendent Philip Styles retired in March. Accounting Chief Hilda Painter in July. Community Correction administrators George Pettigrew, Larry Harris, Evelyn Wooten and Charles White retired in June. Duplin superintendent William Barker retired in Nov. Catawba superintendent Boyce Lambert retired in Nov. JDM Ed Hendrix of Murphy retired in Nov. James Brown retired as Division of Prisons North Piedmont Area Administrator in Nov.


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