The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice has named Stephen Jacobs as the new warden of Tabor Correctional Institution in Tabor City.
Jacobs, 53, had been the warden at Lumberton Correctional Institution in Lumberton since 2020.
“Warden Jacobs is an exceptional professional who has agreed to take on the challenge of leading his fourth prison facility,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “His experienced gained from decades working in our prisons is invaluable. He is a remarkable leader who challenges and inspires and will be a great addition to the Tabor team.”
In his new position, Jacobs is responsible for all operations at the Tabor Correctional Institution, which houses close, medium and minimum custody male offenders.
The original portion of the prison is a 1,000-cell close-custody facility. Later additions included a 504-bed medium-custody unit and a 252-bed minimum-custody unit. The facility employs more than 500 custody, food service, medical, dental, administration, programs, maintenance and psychological staff.
A veteran employee to state government, Jacobs began his career in 1993 as a correctional officer at the former Cabarrus Correctional Center.
In 1995, Jacobs became a case analyst at Craven Correctional Institution and was promoted two years later to senior case analyst at the facility. In 2007, he was tapped to be the director of the facility’s diagnostic center. He was named the assistant superintendent of programs at both Craven and Wayne Correctional Institutions in 2010.
He then served four years, from 2014 to 2018, as the Director of the Robeson Confinement in Response to Violation Center, which houses and provides intensive behavior modification programs for those who have committed technical violations of probation, parole or post-release supervision.
From 2018 to 2020, he served as warden at Columbus Correctional Institution.
Jacobs earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, with a minor in English, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s in criminal justice from East Carolina University.
During his 27-year career, he graduated from the year-long Correctional Leadership Development Program as well as specialized training in Equal Employment Opportunities, Interaction Management and Cognitive Behavior Intervention. He also served as a training instructor in Cognitive Behavior Intervention.
He was born in Laurinburg and was raised in Raeford. His hobbies include hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities.