Press Releases
Sgt. Meggan Callahan Funeral Service; Service begins at Noon, Thursday, May 4
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. Inmate Craig Wissink immediately attacked the sergeant and a struggle ensued. Wissink managed to get the fire extinguisher away from Sgt. Callahan and used it in the assault. Sgt. Callahan sustained injuries from the attack, which ultimately led to her death.
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. Officials with the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice will open the new center on May 15 to provide safer, more secure and more efficient care for committed youth in North Carolina.
Department of Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks has named Caroline C. Valand as the next executive director of the Governor’s Crime Commission. She begins her new duties May 1.
“Caroline is a strategic thinker and consensus builder and will work well managing the Governor’s Crime Commission staff,” said Hooks. “She has worked with CEOs and elected officials, and we look forward to her high-energy, results-oriented leadership.”
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.
Inmate Craig Wissink (#0629617) is being investigated in connection with the sergeant's death.
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.
Lassiter will replace George Solomon, who is retiring after 33 years of service. Lassiter will oversee 55 state prisons that house more than 36,500 inmates. The state prison system has a budget of approximately $1.2 billion and more than 17,000 employees.
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. Prison medical staff, local paramedics and firefighters responded and worked to resuscitate the inmate. He was transported first to Rowan Medical Center and later to Forsyth Medical Center.