Polk Correctional Institution
Mailing Address: Box 2500, Butner, NC 27509
Street Address: 1001 Veazey Road, Butner, NC 27509
Phone: 919-575-3070
County: Granville
Offender capacity: 904
Facility type: Male, Close Custody
LIMITED VISITATION RESUMES OCT. 1, 2020
The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice will resume limited visitation at all state’s prisons effective Oct. 1, 2020 with significant restrictions due to the pandemic. Visitation was suspended in all state prisons on March 16, 2020, with the exception of legal and pastoral visits, to help prevent the potential spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
The health and safety of employees and offenders in our care are the top priorities of the Department of Public Safety. For information on coronavirus and how to protect yourself, please go the NC Department of Health and Human Services website.
To learn what else Prisons is doing to combat coronavirus, click here.
For more information on visitation, click here.
Directions
From Raleigh (Crabtree Valley Mall): Take NC 50 North to Creedmoor. Go through Main Street until you see a Southern States on the left. Turn left at Southern States. Go through the stop light onto NC 56. Keep straight and go through four stop lights. At the fifth stop light, turn right onto Central Avenue (passing the Post Office, State Employees Credit Union, Butner Fire Department and Police Station) to Westbrook Road (at water tower). Turn left onto Westbrook and take an immediate right onto Veazey Road. Follow Veazey Road until you see the entrance to Polk Youth Institution on the left.
From Durham: Take I-85 north exit 189 (Butner). This will lead to Central Avenue. Continue straight on Central Avenue and follow the directions above.
SENDING MAIL TO OFFENDERS
Until Oct. 18, letters to an offender must be addressed to the prison where they are currently assigned. Addresses must include the offender’s prison ID number, which is often referred to as the OPUS number.
The letter should be addressed in this format:
Offender Name and OPUS Number
Prison Name
Prison Street Address or Post Office Box number
City, State and zip code of the prison location
Example:
John Smith #1234567
Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution
600 Amity Park Road
Spruce Pine, NC 28777
Beginning Oct. 18, the N.C. Department of Public Safety has changed the way offenders receive mail. To help keep contraband out of prisons, all mail to offenders must be sent through a private company, TextBehind.
You must address mail to offenders in this way, or it will be returned:
Offender Name and OPUS Number
Prison Name
P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, MD 21131
Examples:
John Doe #1234567 Jane Doe #7654321
Polk Correctional Institution N.C. Correctional Institution for Women
P.O. Box 247 P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, MD 21131 Phoenix, MD 21131
The state’s prisons for women have been using TextBehind since February 2020.
Here’s how it works:
- Offender mail is addressed and delivered to TextBehind.
- TextBehind will make digital copies of the contents.
- TextBehind will forward the digital files to the prison.
- The prison will print acceptable pages and deliver them to the offender.
You may also download the TextBehind app to send mail by a smartphone or computer, avoiding paper mail sent via the U.S. Postal Service.
Offenders will continue to receive all acceptable contents of the mail you send — letters, photos, cards, artwork, etc. For more information about TextBehind, including a short video, click here.
Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.
TextBehind will not accept packages or legal mail. For more information on sending packages or legal mail, see the FAQs. You can also contact the prison where the offender is currently assigned.
All Prison facilities encourage family and friends to write to offenders. For security reasons, all incoming mail is checked to see if it contains any illegal or unauthorized items. Outgoing mail from offenders may also be checked.
Personal letters will not be read unless the officer-in-charge or designee has reason to believe the letter contains threats of harm or criminal activity, escape plans or plans to violate prison rules. If the officer-in-charge decides to delay or not deliver the letter to the offender, the offender will be told in writing the reason for this action.
Incoming mail from lawyers, any legal aid service assisting offenders, or state and federal court officials must be opened in the presence of the offender before it is checked for illegal or unauthorized items.
For information regarding sending money to offenders, ordering packages for offenders or about the offender telephone system, please click the links.
Overview
Polk Correctional Institution houses offenders in both single cells and dormitories. When Polk opened in 1997, its main mission was to process newly-admitted youthful offenders between the ages of 19 and 21. The prison also houses offenders that participate in job assignments and other programs. It is a close-custody prison, but it is also approved to house offenders assigned to maximum control, intensive control, disciplinary segregation and safekeeping status.
Polk'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 in Butner was the first of its kind in North Carolina.
Due to the demand of prison space, in 2003, Polk's age criteria for offenders changed from 18-21 to 19-25. In October 2005, the facility changed its name from Polk Youth Institution to Polk Correctional Institution to reflect this older population, including the HCON unit.
Polk Correctional Institution officially opened November 15, 1997 when offenders were transferred to the new facility. The new prison in Butner replaced an old unit on Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. The original Polk facility acquired its name in 1920 from Col. William Polk, a decorated officer in the Revolutionary War. It was built on the grounds of Camp Polk, a U.S. Army tank base during World War I. Initially, inmates farmed the site.
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