Press Releases

A line of strong storms moved across North Carolina Monday afternoon and evening devastating a regional airport, damaging dozens of homes, toppling trees, closing roads and leaving several western North Carolina communities without power.

W. David Guice, Chief Deputy Secretary for Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, is stepping down at the end of the month, the Department of Public Safety announced today. An acting Chief Deputy Secretary will be named in the coming days.

The Department of Public Safety is taking more action to make prisons safer following a violent attack at Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City that claimed the lives of two prison employees on Thursday, Oct. 12.

WHAT: Correction Enterprises Manager Veronica Darden and Correctional Officer Justin Smith’s Memorial Services WHERE: Floyd L. Robinson Auditorium               Burnim Fine Arts Center

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.