North Carolina Prison Closing Due to Short Staffing
Economic inequality has paved the way to a prison closure in Asheville. North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) officials announced on May 14, 2026, that the agency would be permanently shuttering the century-old Craggy Correctional Center due to short staffing. When the facility closes later this summer, the 250 prisoners held at the lockup will be transferred to other state prisons, according to the Asheville Citizen Times.
NCDAC officials blamed Asheville’s exorbitant cost of living for the closure, noting that the prison was only able to successfully hire three guards over two years. Of the 77 employees at Craggy, only 20 are guards—and their starting salary was $38,859. The maximum a guard could make at Craggy was $50,563, which is $10,000 less than what guards at the nearby Buncombe County Detention Center earn as a starting salary.
Craggy, built in 1989, has been steadily downsizing since 2019, when NCDAC began transitioning it from a medium to minimum-security facility; it has operated for the last several years with reduced staff and less than half of its full prisoner population.
“People need to get paid a living wage. People need to get paid, so they don’t have to drive an hour to get to work,” state House Rep. Brian Turner (D), who represents a district in Buncombe County, went on. “I’ve toured Craggy Correctional Facility. I’ve toured central prison down in Raleigh. These are dangerous places to work, and on top of that, people aren’t getting paid.”
Source: Asheville Citizen Times
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