DOC works with Charlotte police to monitor high-risk offenders

Secretary Alvin Keller and Chief Rodney Monroe address reporters. 

SEPT 30 - Department of Correction Secretary Alvin Keller joined Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe at a news conference announcing plans to enhance monitoring of high-risk probationers. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) uses global positioning system equipment to deter criminal activity by offenders who have been identified as high-risk.

The technology tracks the movements of offenders who have been court-ordered to wear the tracking equipment. CMPD, with its Priority Offender Strategy Team (POST), is a pioneer in monitoring serious offenders who have committed numerous crimes while awaiting trail on other charges.

Probation officers in Charlotte will work with CMPD to identify and work with high-risk probationers through POST.

State employees fill Food Bank shelves

Sept. 13 -- Gov. Bev Perdue and employees of the N.C. Department of Correction presented hundreds of pounds of donated food to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC as part of a statewide food drive for the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.
Sec. Alvin Keller had called on all employees statewide to donate 9 to ll items to a food bank during the drive conducted Sept. 10-12. The secretary had also challenged his executive team to each donate a number of food times equal to their age.

Governor Perdue participated as the food bank picked up donations at the DOC headquarters on Monday morning, Sept. 13. A truck from the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina arrived to transport food donations that had been collected from DOC locations in Wake County.

Employee food drive leaders from the DOC central office, the Division of Prisons, Correction Enterprises, Community Corrections and the Office of Staff Development and Training were present for the governor’s visit.

More photos are available on our Flickr photostream.

Inmates gather tires beached by Hurricane Earl

CARTERET COUNTY - A crew of 40 inmates from Carteret Correctional Center worked Friday to clean up hundreds of tires that Hurricane Earl washed onto the Bogue Banks beaches.   The inmates collected tires from beaches in Emerald Isle, Pine Knoll Shores, Indian Beach and Salter Path in order to clear the sand before beachgoers arrive for the long Labor Day weekend.

Thousands of car and truck tires were sunk offshore in the 1970s to create artificial reefs as a habitat for marine life.  The tires are occasionally stirred up by storms and tossed ashore.

More photos are available on our Flickr photostream.

Bringing about change: Evidence-based practices

Two things will make or break procedural change in any organization: Whether the change is truly for the better, and the attitude of the organization’s leaders.
Probation supervision is changing, and the officers are being trained in the changes in a series of presentations across the state. The training details how certain procedures will be different in the future.

The changes are not experiments. They are not “Let’s do this a different way and see if it works.” The changes come from practices that have already been tried, and more importantly have been proven to work. They are known in many professions, including corrections, as Evidence-Based Practices (EBP).

The evidence is clear, so to speak, that the EBP way of doing probation is better than what had been in place in North Carolina. The training sessions make that clear.

But change being what it is, is still understandably difficult to accept for many people. Change requires extra effort: Learning and using something new can shake people’s confidence until they get the hang of it. It seems to be easier to stay in the old mode.

Getting past that requires assurances from leaders: Repeated demonstrations of their belief that the changes will truly be for the better; openness to questions and opinions; and being on the frontline instead of in the front office while the changes are introduced and implemented.

Case-in-point: Community Corrections Director Tim Moose was present and interactive during the Aug. 11 training session in Williamston. Frequently, he rose to help answer questions, demonstrating that the department’s senior management is committed to being leaders, not just supervisors and policy makers.

In fact, an open and honest discussion arose regarding a policy on drug-testing new probationers. Many of the officers made persuasive arguments about how the new policy could be improved. Director Moose was actively involved, and he and the presenters listened carefully.

A bit later in the session, one of the presenters announced that their director had to decided to change the questioned drug-testing policy as requested by the officers in that training session.

These are good signs that EBP will be good, for all of us.

Barber school graduates first class

Two years after its opening, the Central Carolina Community College barber school at Harnett Correctional Institution is ready to graduate its first class.

Last week, thirteen inmate barbers passed their exam administered by the NC Board of Barber Examiners. Each has completed more than 1,500 hours of classroom work and practical instruction and a full year working as an apprentice under the guidance of a licensed barber at Harnett CI.

The inmate barbers have received their Provisional Registered Barber License. After a graduation event on Sept. 10, they will be assigned to work until their release at a licensed prison barber shop.   After release, they will be ready to receive their full barber license from the board and work as a professional barber.

Congratulations to the barber graduates!

One Tree Hill films at New Hanover Correctional Center

The production crew from "One Tree Hill," the Wilmington-based TV drama that airs on the CW network, filmed scenes at New Hanover Correctional Center on Friday.

Look for these scenes in episode four of the upcoming season of "One Tree Hill". 

Excellent Security Work

Kudos are due for some excellent security work by a Nash Correctional Institution gatehouse lobby officer. A staff member was caught trying to bring this frozen lasagna dinner into the facility. That might have been okay, except the box was concealing about 40 ounces of tobacco and rolling papers intended for delivery to an inmate. The employee has been arrested and charged on a criminal warrant. This might serve as a good reminder to all prison staff to be aware of Division of Prisons entrance/exit policies on bringing contraband into the facilities and to be vigilant about possible creative methods that might be used to smuggle items into the prisons. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor to provide tobacco or cell phones to inmates.

Probation, Parole and Community Superivision Officers' Week

If you see a probation officer this week, be sure to thank them.   

Governor Perdue has proclaimed this week (July 18-24) as Probation, Parole and Community Supervision Officers Week to recognize the work of more than 1400 probation/parole officers who supervise offenders across North Carolina.   Read the Governor's proclamation. 

NCCE Janitorial Plant works toward cleaning and greening our world

Since 2008, Correction Enterprises (NCCE) Janitorial Plant has partnered with Mission PACT, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving hygiene to curtail the threat of disease in third world countries, to produce soap products.


In early spring 2010, Mission PACT contacted Correction Enterprises and explained that they had seen pictures of women in third world countries washing clothes in the river using Mission PACT bath soap manufactured by Correction Enterprises. They asked if NCCE could develop a more versatile bar soap that could be used for multiple purposes – washing clothes, washing dishes and bathing.  READ MORE

Warren Correctional Institution has new leader

Joyce Kornegay is the new superintendent of Warren Correctional Institution, a prison that has approximately 975 inmates and a staff of 395.

Previously superintendent at Durham Correctional Center, Kornegay succeeds the retired George “J” Haynes.

Beginning her corrections career as an accountant in 1983 at the N.C. Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh, Kornegay advanced to superintendent at Umstead Correctional Center in Butner in 2006. Kornegay had been superintendent at Durham Correctional Center since December 2009.

An education major, Kornegay graduated from St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh. She has completed the department’s Correctional Leadership Development Program and Warden Training.