Staff vacancies persist in North Carolina justice system facilities

CBS 17 learned about issues with staffing vacancies at the time. Recent data shows this is still an issue for juvenile and adult centers, which are filling vacancies, but slowly.

Las September, a teenage murder suspect escaped from a facility in Butner, prompting an investigation to determine how he escaped.

“We did a full analysis of our facility and made some physical improvements to the facility,” Deputy Secretary of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention William Lassiter said on Wednesday. “I can’t go into the details about that for security purposes, but we have made physical improvements to that facility to make sure that the vulnerability that was found in that in that incident can no longer be used as an escape route for juveniles in the future.”

According to the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the vacancy rate for the division on Sept. 3, 2024, was 27%. The rate on June 30, 2025, was 23%, marking a slight decrease.

“Two years ago, the General Assembly passed a step pay plan for our employees, which allows for experience-based pay to be put in place,” Lassiter said. “That increases the pay each year that they work with us. That’s helped a whole lot with us retaining staff and getting new staff into the door.”

But the vacancy rate on June 30, 2025, for juvenile facilities operations jobs, such as behavioral specialists and counselors, was still at 32% from Sept. 3, 2024.

“Facilities is the toughest one to hire, but we’ve opened three new facilities,” Lassiter said. “Because we’ve increased the pool of staff we need now, I think that’s why that vacancy rate has remained the same.”

According to the division, key positions on the team are known as “direct care staff”. These include youth counselors, which had a 47% vacancy on June 30, 2025, youth counselor technicians, which had a 30% vacancy, and youth services behavior specialists, which had a 41% vacancy.

The division has advertised positions through social media, held hiring events, and offered signing and retention bonuses, according to Lassiter.

Asked if the division has spoke with Gov. Josh Stein about the vacancies, Lassiter said, “We have. He’s very committed to trying to figure out if there’s additional ways we can work on hiring people across the state.

“There was a bill he signed yesterday that changes the some of the requirements about getting jobs,” Lassiter continued. “The four-year degree requirement for a lot of our facility positions [was removed]. We think that’s going to help by creating a trainee position. Those were all things going to be helped with that new legislation that he signed yesterday.

“He’s also helping us look at other incentives that we can put in place. He’s reached out to a lot of the federal employees that were cut through the DOGE process. That has been done on the federal level. We’re reaching out to those federal employees to try to recruit them to state government jobs here in North Carolina.”

The division is seeking to maintain a ratio of one staff member per eight children in every facility.

Asked if that ratio is currently being maintained, Lassiter said, “It’s touch and go on a number of days. We’ve also brough in temporary staff to try to help with that ratio.”

Anyone interested in a career in juvenile justice may visit the North Carolina Department of Public Safety website.

Vacancies aren’t an issue exclusive to juvenile facilities in North Carolina. According to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, the vacancy rate for positions was about 23% as of May 2025, down by about 3% from the same point last year. The vacancy rate for correctional officer positions is just under 36% compared to the 40% rate last year.

As of March 2025, the starting pay for a correctional officer in North Carolina is the third-lowest in the country.

A NCDAC spokesperson said the department is working to fill the vacancies. Recruiters hold hiring events each month and each of the 55 facilities has a weekly interview and application day.

The department has also hired a marketing firm and runs ads statewide, in addition to offering retention and sign-on bonuses for positions considered high-vacancy.

Anyone interested in a career in adult correction may visit the NCDAC website.