Press Releases

WHAT: Correction Enterprises Manager Veronica Darden and Correctional Officer Justin Smith’s Memorial Services

Death row inmate Terry Ball, 59, died this morning of natural causes at Central Prison.

Correctional Officer George Midgett, who was injured in the Oct. 12 failed inmate escape attempt at Pasquotank Correctional Institution, was released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital Tuesday night.

Pasquotank Correctional Institution remains on lockdown after prison staff stopped an inmate escape attempt on Oct. 12 that resulted in the deaths of two employees.

The Department of Public Safety is taking immediate steps to make prisons safer following a violent attack at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City that claimed the lives of two prison employees this week.

The Department of Public Safety is releasing the names of employees who died today at Pasquotank Correctional Institution.

Gov. Roy Cooper shared the following statement on the deaths of employees at Pasquotank Correctional Institution:  

STATEMENT FROM PUBLIC SAFETY SECRETARY ERIK A. HOOKS

Two prison employees were killed and several others injured in an incident this afternoon at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City.

As Hurricane Nate made landfall on the Gulf Coast and moved northward through western North Carolina as a Tropical Depression, many counties, including Ashe, Burke and Caldwell counties, saw damaging effects.

North Carolina is sending more help to Puerto Rico as the island continues to recover and rebuild from devastation caused after Hurricane Maria struck September 20.

Department of Information Technology Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Eric Boyette and Department of Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks delivered school supplies today to D.S. Johnson Elementary School in Rocky Mount as part of a drive organized by Governor Roy Cooper.

Governor Roy Cooper today welcomed dozens of members of swift water rescue teams from across North Carolina to the Executive Mansion and thanked them for their service during Hurricane Matthew.

North Carolina Emergency Management Director Michael Sprayberry was installed this week as the president of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), beginning a one-year term leading the professional organization of emergency managers.    

State and local law enforcement officials have apprehended a juvenile who escaped from the Cabarrus Juvenile Detention Center this morning.