North Carolina Department of Correction - Prisons

County: Forsyth

Inmate capacity:

Inmate gender: Male

Custody level: Minimum

Staff size:

Occupancy:

Administrator: Benita J. Witherspoon

Forsyth Correctional Center

Mailing address:
307 Craft Drive
Winston-Salem NC 27105

Street address:
307 Craft Drive
Winston-Salem NC 27105

Phone: 336-896-7041
Fax: 336-896-7045

Facility #4430
Courier 13-11-01

NC State Seal

Forsyth Correctional Center in Winston Salem is a minimum security prison for adult males.

Forsyth was one of 51 county prisons for which the state assumed responsibility with the passage of the Conner bill in 1931. It was one of 61 field unit prisons renovated or built during the late 1930's to house inmates who worked building roads.

Inmates at the prison primarily worked on state road construction crews, until 1968 when the prison became an advancement center, a prison designated to provide pre-release training for inmates. Inmates from the prison were first assigned to work release at this time. A modular dormitory erected in 1978 was expected to last 5-10 years. It remained in operation until 1998 when it was replaced by a new modular unit.

Lawmakers provided a 100 bed dormitory addition at Forsyth as part of the $28.5 million emergency Prison Facilities Development program authorized in 1987.

One-fourth of the prison's inmates are assigned to work release jobs. Twenty work on community work squads and another 51 inmates work on 11 Department of Transportation road squads. Inmates take education courses through study release opportunities. Various on-unit jobs as janitors, maintenance workers and kitchen help are also available.

Surry Community College works with inmates from Forsyth Correctional center to provide vocational training, as well as educational courses at Dobson Educational Center in Dobson, NC. Forsyth has 51 inmates assigned there. Various on-unit programs include Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, the department's Drug Alcohol Recovery Treatment (DART) program, DART 24, DART pre-release, Think Smart, Character Education and Project Re-Entry.

A chapel, dedicated in 1987, was built with funds donated by 100 churches in the community. Area churches also provide three full-time chaplains who work with inmates and lead Sunday religious services that are open to inmates and their families. The prison has religious programming which includes two Bible study classes, Yokefellow, Gideons, and Muslim Services.

Visitation: For visitation procedures, please click here to view or print the standard brochure that is handed out at the facility. The brochure is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format so you will need Adobe Reader to view.

DIRECTIONS: Take Business-40 to downtown Winston-Salem. Take Cherry Street North. The prison is located at Cherry Street and Craft Drive (next to the Department of Transportation).