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

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, and state and federal court officials must be opened in the presence of the offender before it is checked for illegal or unauthorized items. 

Letters to an offender 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
Polk Correctional Institution
Box 2500
Butner, NC 27509

For information regarding sending money to offenders, ordering packages for offenders and the offender telephone system, please click here. 
 

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.