The Tabor Correctional Institution, also known as Tabor City Prison, is a prison within the North Carolina Department of Public Safety located in Tabor City, North Carolina. It houses over 1700 mixed classification inmates. The prison opened in 2008. The prison is located at 4600 West Swamp Fox Highway.
Construction
Due to a backlog in counties jails and crowding in other North Carolina state prisons, the state of North Carolina began construction on Tabor Correctional Institution (TCI) in May 2006 and was completed in April 2008. Backlog refers to the housing of inmates in county jails as the prison system has insufficient space to house the inmates. The state must pay a fee to the counties to house these inmates. "After the decision was made to locate the prisons in Tabor City, the town had to fight the battle of paying for the land (and giving the land to the state) and we (Tabor City) had to fight the battle of raising the millions of dollars in grants that it took to service the prisons with water and sewer"
The design of Tabor Correctional is the same as six other North Carolina prisons. Sundland Fire also participated in the construction of the prison, as did Bergelectric
TCI is located two miles (3 km) northwest from the center of Tabor City, although it is considered a part of the city limits. A double fence surrounds the prison.
The prison is a mixed classification facility, resulting in inmates classified, originally, from medium to maximum control levels being housed within, with minimum custody inmates added in the 2014 addition.
The cost to build the prison was approximately $94 million, although the use of inmate labor greatly reduced what this amount would have been if private contractors had been used. .
Early in 2014, an addition housing 252 minimum inmates opened, rasing the maximum number of inmates housed at Tabor Prison to 1,752.
Operation
Before its official opening, the prison was used in various training exercises. Drills included escaped inmates and staff being taken hostage.
It cost approximately $28 million to operate this prison each year TCI is maintained by contract maintenance, TKC Management Services.
As a part of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety Division of Prisons, it opened in 2008, and housed, as of January 2016, a maximum of 1,402 inmates, providing over 500 jobs to the economically depressed area. The original maximum number of inmates housed at the prison was 1,500. In June 2014, a separate facility was added to the prison complex, housing an additional 252 minimum custody level inmates making it one of the largest prisons in the state.
North Carolina Prison guards are paid at the lower end of the national scale, although North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory proposed in April 2015 significant increases in officer pay, although the raise may be partially based on the custody level of the prison.
In May 2014 TCI was visited by high ranking Panama officials to review the operation of the prison. The visit was also covered by the Tabor-Loris Tribune.
History
George Kenworthy era (2008-2012)
The Tabor City Prison officially opened on August 18, 2008, with George Kenworthy serving as administrator of the prison. Kenworthy had been named as Administrator prior to the prison's opening on June 29, 2007.
Inmates were charged with assaulting officers on more than one occasion. Inmates were found guilty of additional charges due to these assaults.
During this time. a case of possible exposure of tuberculosis was reported, although later testing proved negative. When this possible health issue was reported, Mr. Kenworthy stated, "If something of that nature did occur and it was determined that some of our other population was exposed, necessary actions would be taken to provide those inmates with the appropriate testing and/or medical treatment that would ensure their well-being as well as the staff here."
Some negative publicity was reported during this period by officers during this period were charged with committing theft, and, in an unrelated case, a different officer was charged with dealing drugs, although not in the prison.
Patsy Chavis era (February 22, 2012 - June 30, 2015)