Marion Correctional Institution

Marion Correctional Institution operates as a combination close/minimum custody facility with 96 segregation beds. This facility houses adult male felons and is operated under the Unit Management concept. Offenders are assigned based on classification, reassignment, demotion in custody, administrative transfer from another close custody prison or segregation housing needs, and program needs.

The computer training center for the Western Region is on site. McDowell Technical Community College provides academic and vocational classes. Courses include adult education and preparation for the GED, and horticulture. Offenders may also participate in the Outreach Program through the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and earn college credits.

In an effort to assist offenders in bettering themselves, Cognitive Behavior Intervention classes are offered. Offenders may participate in courses such as Character Education, Reasoning and Rehabilitation, and Thinking for a Change. These courses offer offenders a different way of thinking their way through problems and offer them alternative thought processes to moral dilemmas.

Minimum custody offenders at can participate in the Father Accountability Program. This program lets offenders see how important the role of a father is to children and in the family. Offenders completing this course should return to their families as a better and more responsible fathers.

Offenders are afforded the opportunity to work on site or back in the community, where they provide needed services surrounding our prisons. Labor contracts are provided for governmental agencies to secure inmate labor and enhance services for the public. Offenders on work release have the opportunity to earn a wage working at a business in the local community. This allows offenders to develop job skills prior to release while paying any court-mandated fines and providing for their families.

The New Leash on Life Program rescues dogs from the animal shelter that otherwise would be euthanized and puts them through an extensive eight-week obedience training program provided by trained offenders. Once the dogs have “graduated,” they are adopted by families.

Many of the programs are offered with the assistance of community volunteers. These programs include structured recreational activities, Prison Fellowship, Yokefellows, substance abuse counseling, anger management, religions programs/activities, and self-improvement programs. Volunteers undergo training prior to being allowed to work with offenders. 

Marion CI was established as a result of a $200 million prison construction bond referendum approved by voters in 1990. In 1991, the McDowell County Commissioners purchased 125 acres formerly known as the Carl Holland Farm in the Rocky Pass community and donated the property to the state for construction of the prison.

Grading of the site began in March 1992 and construction was completed in January 1995. Offender housing assignments began in June 1995. Marion was originally designed as a 660-bed medium security adult male prison, but was redesigned as a close and medium security prison with a capacity for 930 offenders because the state needed more high-security prison cells.