The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice has named Melanie Shelton as the new warden of the Sanford Correctional Center in Sanford.
Shelton had been the assistant warden at Harnett Correctional Institution in Lillington.
In her new position, Shelton is responsible for all operations at the Sanford Correctional Center, which opened in the 1930s and houses minimum custody adult male offenders.
A veteran employee to state government, Shelton began her career in 1997 as a correctional officer at Wayne Correctional Center, which closed in 2013.
In 2000, she transferred to Johnston Correctional Institution to be a case manager. Three years later she was promoted to programs supervisor at Eastern Correctional Institution before transferring back to Johnston Correctional Institution as a program supervisor in 2004.
In 2006, she was promoted to program director at Central Prison, the state’s largest prison.
She did a four-year stint as a correctional training officer at the Office of Staff Development and Training before returning to Central Prison as a program manager in 2014. She was promoted to assistant warden at Harnett CI in 2016.
Shelton is an Air Force veteran who served 12 years from 1982 to 1994 as in-flight air refueling specialist. She is a member of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation and the American Legion.