NCDPS - North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW)

NCDPS - North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 919-733-4340

The inmates housed at NCCIW located at 1034 Bragg St in Raleigh, NC are placed according to their custody level (determined by a number of factors including the past criminal history and the length of their sentence). There are ample educational and vocational training programs for all inmates, especially ones that show a willingness to learn new things that will prepare them for a better life when they are released. The mission is to promote and prepare the offender to leave in better shape than when they arrived, giving them the best chance to never come back and thus lower the state's recidivism rate.

The North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh, part of Wake County is the state's primary correctional facility for women. It houses the largest inmate population in the state and serves as the support facility for the state's other female prisons. The campus-style facility sits on 30 acres of a 190-acre tract of state land in southeast Raleigh. NCCIW houses inmates of all custody levels and control statuses, including death row, maximum, close, medium, minimum and safe keepers.

It is the largest correctional facility for women in the state of North Carolina and has a current capacity of 1,288 inmates. This is the facility that female inmates on Death Row are held. All offenders are given necessary medical, dental, mental, alcohol and substance abuse treatment. North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women also serves as an intake facility for all women who have been committed of felonies. The intake process consists of multiple physical and mental evaluations and will determine the programs, treatment, and housing location of the offender. North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women operates two Correctional Enterprise programs, a license plate manufacturing facility, and a duplicating and quick copy plant. Additionally, inmates can work in an upholstery shop and in various support services within the prison including custodial and food services. Offenders can also receive educational training to earn a GED while incarcerated and participate in vocational training in culinary arts, cosmetology, office technology, and horticulture.

The facility operates a diagnostic center that serves as the point of entry into the prison system for women. Upon arrival, inmates undergo a series of diagnostic evaluations that will determine future prison assignments.

Some of the programs available to NCCIW inmates include:

Correction Enterprises license tag plant
Correction Enterprises duplicating and quick copy plant
Dental lab
N.C. Travel and Tourism Information Call Center
High School Equivalency Testing
Office technology
Cosmetology
Horticulture
Job Start
Job for Life (Reentry)
Mothers and Their Children (MATCH)
Alcohol/Chemical Dependency Program
MotherREAD

Prisoners may attend worship services in the Chapel of the Nameless Woman and participate in Bible studies or other religious programs offered by prison chaplains, Prison Fellowship and other religious volunteers and organizations.

HISTORY - The prison originally served as a road camp for male inmates who worked on highway projects. Women inmates were transferred to the Bragg Street site in 1933, while women's living quarters at Central Prison were under renovation. Inmates were initially housed in two large double-tier, barrack-style cell blocks. Each building was designed to accommodate 160 inmates. Other buildings on the site were a dining hall, converted infirmary, auditorium and administration building.

Rather than return women inmates to Central Prison, the State Highway and Public Works Commission announced plans in the mid-1930s to begin the construction of a women's prison on the cottage plan in the immediate future. The project never got beyond the planning stage. The prison eventually supported a farming and canning operation that continued through the 1950s.

Central Prison administrators managed the prison until 1938 when the women's prison became a wholly separate and individual institution. In 1942, Edna B. Strickland was named superintendent of the women's prison, becoming the state's first female prison superintendent. In 1996, the superintendent's position was elevated to that of the warden, and Carol Caldwell became the state's first female warden.

The first improvements to the old road camp prison were made in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A $1 million construction program added four cottage-style dormitories, an auditorium, segregation unit, sewing plant, cannery, laundry, kitchen and dining hall, and administration building.

In 1986, an aggressive construction and renovation plan began with the funding for a 28-bed infirmary and outpatient medical services building. Over the next seven years, lawmakers funded approximately $25 million to replace or renovate deteriorated buildings and, as part of the prison's master plan, add buildings and support services necessitated by inmate population growth. Construction at the prison continued into the 1990s. The funded master plan included six new dormitories, mental health facility, 48-cell maximum security building, operations building and gatehouse, security perimeter fence and lighting, as well as other infrastructure and support services construction and renovations.

In June 1975, there was an inmate riot at the prison because of a work stoppage in the laundry. After four days, the prison was returned to routine operation, but the laundry was permanently closed.

NCDPS - North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) - Inmate Rule Book
NCDPS - North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) - Offender Family Services
NCDPS - North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW) - Inmate Programs

Local calls will be a flat rate of $1.25
All long distance calls will be a flat rate of $3.40

The facility operates a diagnostic center that serves as the point of entry into the prison system for women. Upon arrival, inmates undergo a series of diagnostic evaluations that will determine future prison assignments.

Programs

Prisoners may attend worship services in the Chapel of the Nameless Woman and participate in Bible studies or other religious programs offered by prison chaplains, Prison Fellowship and other religious volunteers and organizations.