Press Releases

North Carolina is one of only eight states nationwide selected to participate in a learning lab to find better ways to fight opioid addiction among prison inmates, Governor Roy Cooper announced today.

On April 26, at approximately 5:30 p.m., Correctional Sgt. Meggan Lee Callahan, 29, responded to a trash can fire in a dormitory of Bertie Correctional Institution, Windsor. Sgt. Callahan got a fire extinguisher and attempted to put out the fire.

The Department of Public Safety today during an open house offered community leaders and elected officials their first view of the renovated Lenoir Youth Development Center in Kinston.

Department of Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks has named Caroline C. Valand as the next executive director of the Governor’s Crime Commission.

A sergeant at Bertie Correctional Institution has died following an assault by an inmate at approximately 5:30 Wednesday evening. Sergeant Meggan Lee Callahan, 29, died at approximately 6:20 p.m. despite life saving measures conducted by Bertie CI medical staff and local first responders.

Through an open house on Thursday, April 27, Secretary Erik A. Hooks of the Department of Public Safety, along with W. David Guice, Chief Deputy Secretary of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, will introduce elected officials and community leaders to the renovated Lenoir Youth Development Center in Kinston.

Secretary Erik A. Hooks of the Department of Public Safety today named Kenneth Lassiter as the new Director of Prisons, effective May 1.

Secretary Erik A. Hooks of the Department of Public Safety today named Tracy Lee as the new Director of Community Corrections, effective May 1.

 Inmate Adam Tipton died this morning at a Winston Salem hospital, several days after an apparent suicide attempt. Tipton was found unresponsive in his cell at Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury at about 10 p.m. on April 13.

Alcohol Law Enforcement agents charged nine under-aged youths with alcohol and drug violations at an April 9 prom party held at a private residence with no adult supervision.