* A black or Native American child visiting the state Capitol on a school field trip can wander among the statues, monuments and plaques without seeing an image of someone of the same skin color.

Eddie Davis, a former teacher and former head of the state's largest teachers union, calls it "segregated history in the 21st century." He is proposing that the state Capitol in downtown Raleigh, built with the help of slave labor, reflect and represent all of its people, including those who aren't white, about a quarter to one-third of the population.

He asked members of the state Historical Commission last week to add a "Hall of Inclusion" on the second floor of the Capitol, with plaques recognizing historical contributions by racial and ethnic minorities. (N&O)

* Jam-packed Wake County classrooms with up to 40 or more students have sparked a blame game between leaders of North Carolina's largest school district and state officials and educators.

* As a result of tough-on-crime sentencing laws approved by legislators 15 years ago, North Carolina's inmate population is booming and will soon outpace the number of prison beds.

Despite this, the state budget signed by Perdue this month orders seven small prisons closed, eliminates 972 corrections jobs and cuts programs aimed at keeping juvenile offenders from becoming hardened criminals.

Administrators say the state Department of Correction can safely absorb the cuts in the short-term by increasing the number of inmates at other facilities. But judges, legislators and others with a stake in the criminal justice system worry that the growth, if unchecked, will soon result in prisons so crowded as to be unsafe for inmates and staff. (N&O)

* The SBI says that 11 witnesses watched guards at a Greene County prison beat a shackled and helpless inmate. Three guards have been charged with felony assault.

* A bill meant to reform annexation now includes a provision that would allow a referendum under certain conditions. The current proposal leaves all sides of the contentious debate unhappy.

* Officials are keeping quiet, but the signs are pointing to the Catawba County town of Maiden as the site of Apple's new $1 billion data center.

Correction: Post now includes a better description of what the annexation changes would do.

Eddie Hatcher, an American Indian activist, who was convicted of murder and attracted worldwide attention when he and an accomplice took hostages at The Robesonian newspaper, died of natural causes in prison. He was 51.

Hatcher was serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of Brian McMillian, 19, who Hatcher believed had something to do with a break-in at his mobile home.

McMillian was killed and a 17-year-old girl was wounded as she lay on the floor watching television.

Hatcher died Friday morning in Central Prison, according to a news release from the Department of Correction.

Hatcher brought national attention to charges of corruption in Robeson when Hatcher and a friend stormed the office of the local newspaper brandishing sawed-off shotguns and claiming to have a bomb. They chained the doors and held up to 14 people hostage for 10 hours, with Hatcher in near hysterics claiming his life was in danger because of what he knew of local law enforcement's involvement in cocaine trafficking. Taking over the newspaper building, he said, was the only way to draw attention to the corruption and save his own life.

He surrendered without injuring anyone when then-Gov. James G. Martin agreed to have a task force investigate the claims. Hatcher was acquitted on federal hostage-taking charges but was later found guilty of state kidnapping and weapons charges. He served five years of an 18-year sentence.

In the last six years, 22 members of the Robeson County sheriff's office, including the Sheriff have been hauled into court to face corruption charges, including allegations of drug dealing.

Newly appointed Correction Secretary Al Keller said today that an escape attempt at a maximum-security prison in Laurinburg exposed sloppy security practices that he is determined to fix.

"During the investigation that has followed, it has become apparent that internal procedures for routine inmate counts were not being properly followed," Keller said in a statement. "The first job of this department is public safety and this kind of lapse in protocol is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

The escape attempt happened last week at the Scotland Correctional Institution. Correction officers caught the inmate without incident before he could leave the compound, Correction spokesman Keith Acree said.

Keller said the prison's administrator has been reassigned while the department investigates the security issues. Acree said other employees would likely be disciplined, but it's unclear at this point where the breakdown originated. Prisons are supposed to perform multiple inmate counts each day to prevent escapes.

The announcement is a break from Keller's predecessor, Theodis Beck, who did not broadly publicize problems within the department. Acree said Keller's statement reflects newly-elected Gov. Beverly Perdue's policy of "early disclosure and accountability to the public."

Perdue, who is on vacation, quickly followed Keller's announcement with a statement.

"I will not tolerate public safety being put at risk because procedures were not followed by some prison personnel," she said. "I have directed Secretary Keller to take swift action based on his investigation and to take action system wide to ensure strict adherence to policies that protect the public.”  

The state Department of Correction has a new ethics policy.

Written by a leadership training team over the past ten months, the policy will help the state prison system meet the accreditation requirements for the American Correctional Association.

The policy is short but far-reaching, said spokesman Keith Acree:

It is the policy of the North Carolina Department of Correction that no person connected with the Department of Correction will use his or her official position to secure real or perceived special privileges or advantages.

The policy comes with a list of goals, such as "be committed to excellence" and "be accountable to the citizens of North Carolina," for each employee.

All 20,000 employees must sign a copy for their personnel files. There is no penalty for violations, although many of the "special privileges or advantages" would be against existing policy anyway, Acree said.

"It's designed to be a standard of performance and conduct that we want our employees to aspire to," he said.

A Superior Court judge ruled that the N.C. Medical Board does not have the right to discipline doctors who participate in executions.

In a six-page ruling, Judge Donald Stephens said the state's obligation to have a doctor present to give advice trumps the board's authority to ensure doctors are acting ethically, Titan Barksdale reports.

The board had said the doctors could be disciplined because executions violate their oath to preserve life. That decision led to a de facto moratorium that legislators declined to intervene in.

The N.C. Department of Correction and the medical board are adversaries in a lawsuit over the board's ethics policy that Stephens ruled on.

It's not clear at this point whether the ruling means executions can start up. But it was the first definitive word from a judge on the complex legal matters that put executions at a standstill for most of this year.

Central Prison in Raleigh has a new warden.

Gerald J. Branker will replace Marvin Polk, who recently retired as warden, state prison officials announced today. Branker was the prison's deputy warden.

Branker will head a prison that houses 1,000 adult male inmates and has a staff of 700. The prison plays several roles, including as the site of the state’s executions.

Branker began his career as a correctional officer at Central Prison in 1979.

North Carolina’s death penalty stalemate just got a 30-day extension.

One of the key lawsuits that has stalled the state’s executions will take a bit longer to resolve since the N.C. Medical Board got another 30 days to respond to the lawsuit filed against it by the N.C. Department of Correction, Andrea Weigl reports.

Instead of next week, the medical board will have until the first week in July to respond to the litigation.

Earlier this year, state prison officials sued to prohibit the N.C. Medical Board from disciplining doctors under the board’s new mandate that they may only observe, not monitor, executions.

Officials at the state Department of Correction have resolved their dispute with gunmaker Smith & Wesson over faulty revolvers that didn't fire or fell apart when fired at the range, Dan Kane reports.The company agreed to replace them with a semiautomatic pistol at a reduced cost.

According to a settlement agreement reached last year, Smith & Wesson took back 5,700 of the revolvers and credited the department $130 for each of them, to be used toward the purchase of the pistols. The first 500 of the pistols were priced at $130 — an even swap — while the department paid an additional $240 each for the rest. That comes to a $1.2 million bill for the department.

Department spokesman Keith Acree said the new pistols have tested well. All should be in service by June.