North Carolina

North Carolina’s prisons are run by the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NC DAC), a cabinet department created on January 1, 2023, when adult prisons were separated from the Department of Public Safety. The system has roughly 54 facilities, ranging from large close- and medium-security prisons to many smaller minimum-custody centers and prison work farms. People in custody are identified by an OPUS number (a seven-digit ID) and located through the NC DAC offender search.

This section details NC DAC’s 34 major institutions — the close- and medium-security prisons, the reception centers, the medical and mental-health complexes, and all three women’s prisons. The roughly 20 small minimum-custody “correctional centers” and prison work farms are a separate, lower-custody tier and are not individually covered here.

Where a newly sentenced person starts depends on sex. All women enter through the diagnostic center at the NC Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) in Raleigh, the state’s only women’s reception point. Men are received through several prisons rather than one — Craven Correctional Institution (Vanceboro) is a large processing center, Piedmont Correctional Institution (Salisbury) receives many men from western North Carolina, and Central Prison (Raleigh) runs a diagnostic unit for special-population cases.

North Carolina has an active death penalty, though it has carried out no executions since 2006. Men under a death sentence and the state execution chamber are at Central Prison in Raleigh; women under a death sentence are at NCCIW.

A few features shape how families stay in touch. Incoming personal mail does not go to the prison — North Carolina routes it to an off-site vendor, TextBehind, which scans letters and photos and delivers digital copies to the person’s tablet (legal mail still goes to the facility, and books must come from a publisher or retailer). Phones, tablets, messaging, and video visits run through ViaPath (GTL); video visits use the GettingOut app. Health care is provided in-house by NC DAC Health Services (a $5 sick-call co-pay applies), and the grievance system is overseen by the Inmate Grievance Resolution Board — North Carolina has no independent corrections ombudsman.

Visits are by appointment only and arranged with each prison — there is no statewide online scheduler, and every visitor must first be approved on the incarcerated person’s list. Use the guides below for the statewide rules, or go straight to a specific facility.