The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice has named Bruce Hodges as the new warden of the Tyrrell Prison Work Farm in Columbia.
Hodges had been Prisons’ Program Development Coordinator and Project Manager in Raleigh since 2019.
“Warden Hodges is a thoughtful, firm, even-keeled leader with years of experience and a lifetime of service to our country and the Department of Public Safety,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “He is an outstanding professional who understands the value of hard work and the benefits of rehabilitation.”
In his new position, Hodges is responsible for all operations at the work farm, a sprawling male, minimum-security facility on 200 acres in rural northeast North Carolina.
Opened in 1998, the work farm was designed to emphasize offender work. Offenders participate in the work release program and in contract labor jobs with towns and government agencies.
A variety of self-improvement programs historically are offered to improve the chances of success for offenders when they finish their sentences and return to their communities. These programs include preparation and testing for high school equivalency, career readiness, Think Smart, Thinking for a Change, Breaking the Cycle, Getting It Right, and anger management classes.
Hodge’s goals as the warden are to support programs to provide quality information and services to assist offenders to grow, improve and build their skills, increasing the quality of life in communities when they are released back into society.
A veteran employee to state government, Hodges began his career with the Department of Public Safety in 2004 as a probation/parole officer for Community Corrections, after 21 years of honorable service in the U.S. Air Force. The U.S. Air Force filled a great part of his life where he served in law enforcement, investigation, security, as an instructor, and as a manager.
Hodges was promoted to chief probation/parole officer in 2009. He was named assistant director of the Robeson Confinement in Response to Violation Center (CRV) in Lumberton in 2015 and was promoted to director of that facility in 2018.
The CRV centers house and provide intensive behavior modification programs for those who have committed technical violations of probation. CRV centers incarcerate violators for 90-day periods in response to violations of probation, parole or post-release supervision as provided in the Justice Reinvestment Act of 2011.
A Georgia native, Hodges holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Mount Olive College and master’s degree in criminal justice from New Mexico State University.
He is a general instructor with a specialty in firearms and is a graduate of both of the Correctional Leadership Development Program and the North Carolina Justice Academy Law Enforcement Leadership Course.
In addition, he completed the Warden Peer Interaction Program and holds an Advanced Certificate in Corrections from the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission.
Hodges is a member of the North American Association of Warden and Superintendents, the American Correctional Association, and the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation.
He enjoys married life, collecting Invicta watches, and occasionally flies drones.