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Central Prison

Central Prison
1300 Western Boulevard
Raleigh, North Carolina 27606
(919) 733-0800

Central Prison, completed in December 1884 for $1.25 million, was the first prison built in North Carolina. Over the years, the prison has seen many additions and renovations. Major construction in the 1980s added a maximum-security housing building with 384 single cells, a custody control and administration building and a working resident building with 192 single cells for inmates who are assigned jobs within the prison.

The prison serves many functions. It houses the state's execution chamber, death watch area and men's death row. The 80-bed acute-care hospital and a 144-bed mental health center serve the needs of prison inmates from around the state. Central Prison also houses a diagnostic center, the point of entry into the prison system for male felons, age 22 years or older, with sentences greater than 10 years. Central Prison also houses approximately 100 safekeepers, inmates awaiting trial who are held by the state prison system for security or medical reasons.

While security requires that certain inmates remain in their cells, there are approximately 195 inmate job assignments, including making license plates, working in the kitchen, laundry, and canteens. Inmates also work as janitors, barbers and clerks.

The state's license tag manufacturing plant will be moved from Central Prison to the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh in mid-2001. A new building for housing the male death row population at Central Prison is scheduled to open in Spring 2001. A new diagnostic center is also currently under construction.

Central Prison Facts at a Glance

Warden - Robey C. Lee
Deputy Warden - Marvin Polk

3 Dining Halls
Kitchen
Bakery
Laundry
Chapel

Approximately 1020 inmates
707 full-time employees
Daily cost per inmate: $62.64

36 dayrooms for 16 inmates each
24 visiting stations
4 exercise yards
Barber Shop
Canteens

Hospital with emergency room, operating rooms, dental clinic, laboratory, pharmacy and palliative care ward for terminally ill inmates

Central Prison

January 2001


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