North Carolina Department of Correction news release
Prisons prepared for the storm
AUGUST 26, 1998
RALEIGH — As Hurricane Bonnie approaches North Carolina, prison superintendents along the coast say they are prepared to ride out the storm and are ready to assist with the clean-up effort after the storm subsides.
"We have emergency guidelines to follow, and they are all in place," said Larry Sneed, superintendent of New Hanover Correctional Center in Wilmington, this morning as heavy rain and tropical-force winds were bending trees outside his prison at 45-degree angles. "We’ve made arrangements for food and doubled up on security and management personnel. We’ll make it through, and after the storm comes and goes, we’ll assess our own damage and then send out community work squads to help clean up."
In response to Gov. Hunt declaring a State of Emergency, Correction Secretary Mack Jarvis said the Department of Correction is prepared to use inmates in the Governor’s Community Work Program to help communities clean up after the storm.
"The governor has asked us to do everything we can to help keep our citizens safe and to make preparations for a speedy recovery should Hurricane Bonnie strike the coast," he said. "All communities have to do is ask, and we’ll do what we can to get inmates where they're needed to clear downed trees and debris from neighborhoods and roadways."
Over the past few days, prison superintendents have been busy preparing for Bonnie’s arrival by securing their facilities, making emergency preparations for food and water, fueling vehicles and staffing their facilities with extra security personnel.
Duncan Daughtry, superintendent at Carteret Correctional Center in Newport, said that although his prison had yet to see any effects of the hurricane as of this morning, he is prepared for the worst.
"Everything’s lovely right now, but it looks like we could take a real battering out of this yet," he said. "We’ve been prepared for the past two days with staff working 12-hour shifts. We have all of our Community Work Program crews on standby. Now all we can do is wait."
James Horton, assistant superintendent at the Tyrrell Prison Work Farm near the eastern North Carolina town of Columbia, said the prison work farm has 13 work squads on standby ready to help clean up any damage caused by Hurricane Bonnie.
"If the hurricane does hit and doesn’t do too much damage to our facility, we’ll probably be used as a staging area for work squads coming in from other areas across the state, since we have room available to house the extra inmates," he said. "We’re basically as prepared as we can be."
-cjh-