Oversees the state prison system and related programs.

As head of the N.C. Department of Correction, the governor-appointed secretary supervises the state's prisons as well as probation, parole and community supervision programs.

It is one of 10 Cabinet-level positions appointed by the governor to head state agencies. The annual salary in 2008-09 was $120,363.

The department employs more than 19,000 people, making it the largest in the Cabinet or the Council of State. With annual spending of more than $1 billion in state and federal money, it has one of the three largest budgets in the Cabinet.

It was created in 1925 during the administration of Gov. Cameron Morrison.

Aaron Johnson, who seved from 1985 to 1992, was the first black secretary of the department. Theodis Beck, who served from 1999 to the end of Gov. Mike Easley's administration, was the second. Current Secretary Al Keller, appointed in 2009, is the third.

No woman has ever headed the department. 

The department was given its current name in 1974.

The department is outlined in general statutes under Article 6 of G.S. 143B.