RALEIGH, N.C (AP) — North Carolina is renaming four state prisons and a drug addiction treatment facility for probationers because their current names are connected to racism or slavery.
The Department of Public Safety announced the changes on Thursday. They go into effect next week.
Two of the locations — in Hoffman and Goldsboro — have been named for 20th century Governors Cameron Morrison and Gregg Cherry. Prisons in Tillery, Butner and Black Mountain also are getting renamed. State prison Commissioner Todd Ishee said it's unacceptable today to maintain names with "negative historical connotations.”
Workers at the five facilities had input on the renaming.
“It was important to me that the staff have a say in the names of the places they work, and they preferred names with local community significance,” said Ishee. “I strongly believe they should not have to work in facilities named to honor those who may have oppressed their ancestors.”
In its research, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) looked into the historical context for the names of 1,893 buildings that are part of 240 complexes owned or operated by DPS.
The Polk, Morrison and DART Cherry facilities were flagged when research indicated they were named for historical figures whose race-related actions do not represent DPS's values. Officials say the facilities were originally named after the following people:
- Polk Correctional was named for William Polk, a Revolutionary War officer who owned slaves
- Morrison Correctional was named for former Gov. Cameron Morrison, who was a leader of the "Red Shirts," a violent, post-Civil War organization that promoted white supremacy
- The DART Cherry facility was named for former Gov. Gregg Cherry, who advocated to drop civil rights from the Democratic party platform in the 1940s
- Caledonia Correctional stems from the property’s use as an antebellum plantation, where crops were grown and harvested with slave labor
- Swannanoa Correctional’s name was tied to the construction of the Swannanoa Tunnel in Asheville, which appears to have resulted in the deaths of numerous Black offender-laborers in the late 1800s