The Division of Adult Correction has named Cathy Judge as the new warden at the Harnett Correctional Institution in Lillington.
She had been the associate warden of programs at the prison since 2020.
“Warden Judge has vast experience and a deep commitment to rehabilitating offenders to better prepare them for successful lives on the completion of their prison sentences,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “She is a very welcome addition to the men and women who run our prison facilities with care and compassion.”
In her new position, Judge is responsible for all operations at Harnett Correctional, a male facility that houses medium custody offenders.
A veteran employee to state government, Judge began her career as a correctional officer at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in 1995.
A year later, she transferred to Central Prison and transferred again in 1998 to the former Polk Youth Institution, which is now the Granville Correctional Institution.
In 2001, she returned to Central Prison and was promoted to assistant programs director and was named program director/classification coordinator at the prison in 2013. She was promoted again in 2017 to be the program director at Harnett Correctional, where she was named associate warden of programs in January 2020.
She is a graduate from Elizabeth City State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice and is a member of the university’s Wake/Durham alumni chapter. She also is a member of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, the North Carolina Correctional Association, and participates in Women Working in Corrections and Juvenile Justice.
One of her top priorities is to hire and retain high-quality staff.
“We have good jobs for people who want to help protect their communities, who want careers in public safety,” he said. “These are important, meaningful jobs.”
In her spare time, she enjoys softball, flag football, ziplining, reading a good book and enjoying trips at the beach.
Harnett Correctional Institution has grown from a one-dormitory prison built when the State Highway Department ran the state prisons to a 30-acre prison compound sitting on a 198-acre site.The prison also has a dining hall, recreation building, education building, two vocational buildings, a chapel, six modular buildings, and a medical building for dental and nursing staff.
Central Carolina Community College works with the prison to provide vocational programs such as barbering, carpentry, electrical wiring, food services, masonry, welding, and facility maintenance. Classes in adult education and for preparing to take the high school equivalency test are also available.
Correction Enterprises moved its meat processing plant to Harnett Correctional in 1994. Offenders help process millions of pounds of frozen foods and meats for use in state prisons.
In 1991, the Prisons Mental Health Services began the Sex Offender Accountability and Responsibility Program at Harnett. The mental health program provides treatment for up to 46 offenders for each 20-week program cycle. The prison also offers a substance abuse treatment program.