North Carolina Department of Correction News - July 1999

Sutton named head of Pasquotank Correctional Institution

Elizabeth City — Department of Correction Secretary Theodis Beck appointed a new superintendent of Pasquotank Correctional Institution, Ernest Sutton, effective June 14. Sutton has been the superintendent of Currituck Correctional Center since 1987.

"Mr. Sutton has been a stalwart of the Department of Correction, serving as a prison superintendent for 20 years," Beck said. "He has done excellent work throughout his career, and he is well respected by his peers."

Sutton is a native of Pasquotank County. He graduated from P.W. Moore High School in 1965. After attending college for a year and a half at Elizabeth State University, Sutton joined the U.S. Air Force where he worked in the Security Police Squadron. His tour of duty took him to Korea, Panama and North Dakota. While in the service, Sutton continued his studies, choosing a criminal justice major.

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He returned to Elizabeth City when he was honorably discharged from the Air Force, and later graduated with a B.S. degree in Political Science from Elizabeth State University.

In 1971, Sutton began working for the Department as a program assistant for the regional office covering Gates, Washington and Currituck counties.

When the regional offices were eliminated in 1973, he went to work for Washington Correctional Center, becoming a program supervisor, then superintendent of the prison in 1978. He worked there until his move to superintendent at Currituck in 1987.

Sutton and his wife, Valeria, a French teacher, have ten children, Nikita, Joel, Nava, Ernest, Lloyd, Sandra, John, Abel, Michael, and the youngest, Jonathan who is 12 years old.


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