The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice has named Michael Roach as warden of the Granville Correctional Institution in Butner.
He had been the warden at the Dan River Prison Work Farm in Blanch since 2020.
“Warden Roach is a proven leader with exceptional organizational and communication abilities,” said Commissioner of Prisons Todd Ishee. “His decades of experience managing maximum security offender populations will serve him well in this challenging new assignment. He is an outstanding member of our team of wardens who work so hard, with care and compassion, to protect the public.”
As warden, Roach is responsible for all operations, including diagnostic/intake processes at the male, close custody facility that houses roughly 1,000 offenders. The prison was formerly known as Polk Correctional Institution. It was renamed in 2021.
A veteran employee to state government, Roach began his career in 1990 as a correctional officer at the now-closed Blanch Correctional Institution.
He progressed through the ranks as a sergeant and lieutenant at Blanch Correctional, and on to captain at Polk Correctional before his promotion to associate warden at Dan River Prison Work Farm in 2015. He was named warden of that facility in March of 2020.
Roach is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, serving on active duty from 1986-1990.
He holds intermediate and advanced criminal justice certifications from the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission.
During his lengthy career, he was a certified general instructor for the Department of Public Safety and served on the Prison Emergency Response Team and as a Facility Intelligence Officer. He also served as an investigator for the Office of Special Investigations.
He was named Correctional Officer of the Year in 1993.
He is active in the American Legion and within his community. He is also a member of the American Correctional Association, the Correctional Peace Officer Foundation and the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents.
His hobbies include golf and fishing when he has a chance, and spending time with his five grandchildren.
One of Roach’s top priorities as warden at Granville Correctional is to hire and retain high-quality staff members.
“We have good jobs for dedicated people who want a career in public service, to help to protect their families and communities and to be part of a mission bigger than themselves,” he said. “These are important jobs with good benefits.”
Granville Correctional Institution houses offenders in both single cells and dormitories. When the facility opened in 1997, its main mission was to process newly-admitted youthful offenders between the ages of 19 and 21.
The prison now is a close-custody prison, but it is also designated to house offenders assigned to maximum control, intensive control, and safekeeping status.
The prison's high-security maximum control unit (HCON) opened in October 1998. This high-security concept in correctional design is intended for the state's most violent and assaultive offenders. The "Supermax" (HCON) unit at the prison was the first of its kind in North Carolina.