Blood drive collects 43 pints

Thank you to all Yonkers Road - Raleigh DOC employees who donated blood today.  Forty-three pints were collected by the American Red Cross. Your gift will be used to help other people who really need our help.

We exceeded our goal of 40 by three pints.  Excellent.
Our next blood drive is scheduled for Tuesday August 17th.

New warden named at state's largest prison for women

RALEIGH - Bianca Harris is the new warden at the state's largest prison for female inmates, N.C. Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW).
She succeeds Annie Harvey, who earlier was promoted to Female Command manager in the Division of Prisons.

NCCIW - commonly known as women's prison - houses 1,300 offenders, the largest population of female inmates in the state. It manages all custody levels and control statuses, including death row, maximum, close, medium, minimum and safekeepers. Also, primary medical, mental and alcohol and chemical dependency treatment are provided.

Women's prison is also the diagnostic center that serves as the point of entry into the prison system for all women sentenced as felons.

In addition to being responsible for the facilities and operations, Harris will oversee the management of more than 650 correctional officers and administrative staff members.

Harris had been NCCIW deputy warden since 2008. Her entire corrections career has been at Women's Prison, beginning in 1993 as a correctional officer.

A 1991 UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, Harris has bachelor of science degree in criminal justice administration. She is an American Correctional Association accreditation manager.

Research office releases annual statistical report

This week the NCDOC Office of Research and Planning released its annual statistical report for fiscal year 2008-2009.

This year's report includes updated narratives and statistics on the Division of Prisons, Division of Community Corrections, the Criminal Justice Partnership Program, the Division of Alcoholism and Chemical Dependency Programs, and Correction Enterprises.

In addition, this report includes updated maps depicting Department of Correction populations by county of conviction, an updated listing of prisons and probation offices.

You can download the document from the Research and Planning website.

Program graduates future DOC leaders

Twenty-four employees graduated today from the tenth class of the NCDOC Correctional Leadership Development Program (CLDP).    It's a intensive year-long leadership training program for DOC employees.  

For many years, DOC executive managers have realized the importance of training those who will lead the agency in the future.   The Department of Correction saw 400 employees retire in the past year and knows that by 2015 - 30% of its workforce will be at retirement age. It's clear that training future leaders is a significant need. 

Since it's inception eleven years ago, 155 employees have graduated from CLDP and 126 of those are still working as managers within the agency.   In the years since, other agencies have developed their own leadership training programs modeling them after CLDP - including the Indiana DOC, the North Carolina Department of Revenue and the North Carolina Justice Academy.

Congratulations to today's graduates:

Jesse Andrews - Division of Alcoholism and Chemical Dependency Programs

Mary Barnhardt - Division of Community Corrections

Ladonna Browning - Division of Prisons - Foothills CI

William Carroll - Division of Prisons - Odom CI

Tom Corley - Division of Prisons - West Region Maintenance

Faye Daniels - Division of Prisons - Craven CI 

George Dudley - Secretary's Office - Public Affairs
Stephanie Freeman - Office of Staff Development and Training
Max Gerald - Division of Community Corrections
Johnny Hawkins - Division of Prisons - Warren CI
Joel Herron - Division of Prisons - Scotland CI
Joyce James - Division of Community Corrections
Tass Jansen - Correction Enterprises
Mike Jenkins - Correction Enterprises
Jay Lynn - Division of Community Corrections
William Mann - Management Information Systems
Tom Meister - Division of Alcoholism and Chemical Dependency Programs
Katy Poole - Division of Prisons - Morrison CI
Barbara Revels - Human Resources
Jeff Sipes - Division of Community Corrections
Richard Terry - Division of Prisons - Buncombe CC
Kevin Wallace - Division of Community Corrections
Nelson White - Internal Audit
Randy Willey - Central Engineering

Recruiting probation officers

The Division of Community Corrections has been working in overdrive for the past several months to recruit probation officers and fill a large number of vacant positions.  As of this week, the number of vacant positions is down to 16 - with 98.9% of positions filled.  Eleven job offers have been extened for the remaining postions - leaving only 5 vacant positons to recruit.

 In February, there were more than 115 vacant probation officer positions - out of a fully staffed workforce of 1,453.  Almost 100 vacancies have been eliminated since February.   In that time, we've hired more than 126 new officers, and at least 56 have left the department, promoted or transferred - creating new vacancies. 

You can follow the week-by-week recruiting numbers online and you can also learn more about a career in probation and parole.

Governor Perdue visits Greene County probation office

This week Governor Perdue made an unanounced visit to the Greene County probation office in Snow Hill.  She spoke to probation officers and community corrections staff about their work and asked plenty of questions.  She also visited the county sheriff and and dropped in on a session of superior court.

You can read the Governor's office news release about her visit.

Commission terminates parole agreement for inmate Alford Jones

RALEIGH – The Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission has terminated the Mutual Agreement Parole Program (MAPP) for inmate Alford Jones (#0214013). Jones was scheduled to be paroled June 27, 2010, upon successful completion of the MAPP. However, the Commission determined that Jones was not complying with the MAPP conditions.

The Commission concluded that the inmate is a moderate to high risk for release. In addition, Jones willfully failed to participate in an assigned treatment program; made inappropriate comments to a prison employee; and on two occasions failed to maintain his work release job, which was a condition of the MAPP.

Jones was sentenced to life for first degree murder. He was convicted in Lenoir County on March 19, 1975, and has been parole eligible since 1986. His next review for parole consideration is scheduled for May 2013.

MAPP is designed to prepare selected inmates for release through structured activities, scheduled progression in custody levels, participation in community based programs and established parole dates. It is a three-way agreement between the Division of Prisons, the Commission and the offender.

The Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission is an independent agency that is responsible for releasing offenders who meet eligibility requirements established in North Carolina General Statutes.

Piedmont region has new prisons director

KERNERSVILLE - A new director has been named for the Division of Prisons’ Piedmont Region, which covers 15 correctional facilities in 12 counties.

George Solomon, a 26-year corrections veteran, was named to oversee the operations of the prisons, which house more than 7,800 inmates and employee nearly 2,750 officers and staff members. He was previously superintendent of Dan River Prison Work Farm in Yanceyville.
He succeeds the retired Jim Pierce.

Beginning his career in 1984 as a correctional officer at the now-closed Blanch Youth Institution, Solomon steadily rose through the ranks. He was deputy warden of N.C. Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh from 2000 to 2003, when he was promoted to superintendent at Dan River Prison Work Farm.

Solomon received a Governor’s Award For Excellence in 2000, and completed the department’s Correctional Leadership Development Program in 1999.

Inmates clean state’s roadways during spring Litter Sweep

RALEIGH – The results are in and they show that North Carolina’s inmates cleaned thousands of miles of roadway this spring. In total, the inmates collected 49,832 bags of litter along 4,891 miles of roadway during the Spring Litter Sweep 2010 from April 17 to May 1.State prison facilities contributed 66,570 inmate man hours to the litter reduction efforts, Division of Prisons Director Bob Lewis announced today.

“Comments received by this agency and by the Department of Transportation clearly reflect the appreciation of the citizens of North Carolina for this effort,” Lewis said. “The results of the Spring Litter Sweep are yet another example of the excellent cooperation and dedication we continually see from our employees when faced with important challenges.”

Each year, the Litter Sweep is conducted during the fall and spring. Adopt-a-Highway volunteers, local governments, schools, churches, businesses, concerned citizens and inmates conduct community cleanups in all 100 counties across the state.