By Joe Marusak
The Charlotte Observer
SWANNANOA, N.C. — Buses and some vans evacuated at least 2,000 inmates this week from five prisons in the North Carolina mountains, after Hurricane Helene damaged community water and electrical utility systems that serve the prisons, state prison officials said.
On Monday, about 400 women were bused from Western Correctional Center for Women in Swannanoa and the Black Mountain Substance Abuse Treatment Center for Women in Black Mountain to other correctional facilities for women, according to the N.C. Department of Adult Correction.
On Tuesday, 841 men incarcerated at Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine were taken to seven other prisons across the state on Department of Adult Correction buses, department officials said.
And more than 800 men were bused Wednesday from Mountain View Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine and Craggy Correctional Center in Asheville, officials said.
The 248 men in Craggy Correctional were taken to Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville, while the 557 men in Mountain View were bused to six prisons in central and eastern parts of the state,according to the department.
The six prisons are Granville Correctional Institution in Butner; Maury Correctional Institution in Maury; Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro; Pender Correctional Institution in Burgaw; Warren Correctional Institution in Manson; and Pamlico Correctional Institution in Bayboro.
“All offenders are safe, and (the department) is taking appropriate steps to ensure continued health and safety of staff and offenders,” officials said in a news release.
Family and friends should not call the prisons where people were moved, officials said. Inmates were able to make phone calls after they arrived.
Check the department’s online Offender Locator site to confirm your loved one’s new temporary location, prison officials said. The site will be updated with a person’s new location within 24 hours of their move.
Video from the North Carolina Division of Aviation UAS Response Team shows devastation near Sylva, N.C., following Hurricane Helene.
Officials decided Sunday to evacuate the facilities based on the damage, according to the announcement.
Some of the 360 minimum-custody inmates at Western Correctional Center for Women were moved to Anson Correctional Institution in Polkton, and others to North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh.
The 45 people receiving in-patient alcohol and drug treatment at the Black Mountain treatment center are now at the North Piedmont Confinement in Response to Violation facility in Lexington.
Inmates at Avery-Mitchell Correctional Institution were taken to Scotland Correctional Institution in Laurinburg; Tabor Correctional Institution in Tabor City; Nash Correctional Institution in Nashville; Eastern Correctional Institution in Maury; Southern Correctional Institution in Troy; Maury Correctional Institution in Maury; and Harnett Correctional Institution in Lillington.
It’s unknown how long repairs to the prisons will take.
“There’s a very long time frame for those repairs – particularly for water,” Keith Acree, spokesman for the Department of Adult Correction, told The Charlotte Observer on Thursday. “Our understanding is that Spruce Pine, Asheville and Swannanoa are not expected to have water restored for weeks.”
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