Violence at a North Carolina Prison Exposes Deadly Indifference Inside NCI

Brian Jones describes violence at an NC prison that escalated through deliberate indifference by custody and medical staff, resulting in a preventable death.

Violence in some American prisons is a fact of life, as common as waiting in line to eat, exchange clothes, or visit the commissary. Waiting is ubiquitous in prison, and likewise, most prisoners live with the possibility of violence daily. When incarcerated people, many with violent histories, are confined in small areas, violence is inevitable. At one North Carolina prison, deliberate indifference by custody and medical staff exacerbated injuries one man received during an attack, which ultimately led to his death.

Nash Correctional Institution’s Reputation and Rising Violence

Nash Correctional Institution (NCI) in Nashville, NC, is considered the NC Department of Corrections’ flagship penitentiary. NCI has a reputation as the most progressive and safest prison in NC. NCI is home to three programs many incarcerated individuals desire: assignment to the NC Correction Enterprises’ print or optical plants or the NC Field Minister Program, which provides an opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree and deploy into prisons across the state to counsel and uplift other incarcerated people. Because of NCI’s reputation, violence was rare for many years, although under the current administration, violence is becoming more common.

The increase in violence isn’t only prisoners assaulting one another, however, but staff who assault prisoners at will. While the administration claims assaults by staff are justifiable, use of force should never be an officer’s standard response to disturbances.

Overcrowding, Staffing Shortages, and Systemic Risk

Designed to house 532 prisoners, NCI houses nearly 800 incarcerated individuals. Most days, a housing unit has one correctional officer (CO) in the control booth, and one working the two housing blocks. Although the unit sergeant assists periodically, one CO usually oversees more than 200 prisoners for safety, security, and disciplinary purposes. Officers are often required to work beyond their scheduled 12-hour shifts due to a significant shortage of COs across the state. To say an officer’s job is challenging greatly understates the dedication most employees exhibit each day. Despite the difficulties, many COs persevere, hoping to remind incarcerated people that their lives have meaning. Unfortunately, the actions of a few can reflect negatively on the whole.

Ignored Warnings Before a Violent Incident

On August 18, 2025, inmate Cory Sutphin was kneeling on the Unit 3 recreation yard, throwing dust on himself; he appeared to be praying. According to witnesses, a CO was patrolling the yard and spoke to Sutphin. After the interaction, the sergeant spoke to Sutphin. While no one overheard the conversation, the sergeant allegedly said Sutphin requested help from mental health or that he be moved from Unit 3. The sergeant denied Sutphin’s request and a later one as well.

During the 5:00 p.m. institutional count, Sutphin approached a different sergeant, again requesting mental health assistance or to be moved from Unit 3. The sergeant laughed at Sutphin, told him to stop getting high (although Sutphin hadn’t used drugs in several days) and to “get your ass on your bed.” Sutphin had obvious bruising on his neck and face, yet neither the CO nor the sergeants inquired as to why.

The sergeant’s hateful response to Sutphin wasn’t out of character. While he has never mistreated me, I have witnessed him tase a prisoner in the back after escalating the situation with abusive language.

When Requests for Help Are Ignored

When an incarcerated person requests to be moved for mental health purposes, staff are tasked to take steps that ensure the safety of that individual, his peers, and staff. Sergeants chose to ignore Sutphin’s repeated requests for help instead of informing unit management or the officer in charge. Their lack of action had dire consequences. At approximately 10:40 p.m., a CO was getting coffee from his locker when he was punched from behind by Sutphin. The CO fell into his locker before striking his head on the concrete floor and losing consciousness. Witnesses know of no reason why the CO was assaulted. He hadn’t spoken to his assailant. We do know that Sutphin was experiencing withdrawal from synthetic cannabinoid (K2). Whatever the reason, Sutphin will probably ponder his decision in prison for most of his life.

After COs were informed that the CO was unconscious, prisoners helped get him into a wheelchair. He was pushed to medical by a prisoner and escorted by staff. Medical either wasn’t called or never responded, but the CO didn’t reach medical until nearly 11:00 p.m. He returned to the block at 11:25 p.m. with two ice packs; he had been told he had a concussion.

The CO’s condition quickly deteriorated. COs were notified that his speech was slurred and he was disoriented. He didn’t know what had happened or where he was. Despite his obviously serious condition, staff couldn’t take him back to medical until 12:00 a.m. after institutional count had cleared. The CO was also pushed to inmate receiving to await transport to the local hospital. He finally arrived at Nash-UNC Health Care around 1:20 a.m., then was air-lifted to ECU Health Medical Center, where doctors performed neurosurgery for a brain bleed. The CO died from his injuries on August 24, 2025.

Health Care Failures Inside NCI

The medical care the CO received at NCI is an example of health care in NC prisons. Prisoners sometimes abuse medical services, and medical staff are understandably burdened by such behavior. The CO’s care, however, brings to light a glaring example of inadequacy and indifference at NCI.

Nurses at NCI change medications without physician approval, dispense incorrect medications, and appear bothered when mistakes are brought to their attention. Instead of responding to emergencies with urgency, nurses walk into the block laughing and talking, taking their time to reach a patient. Examinations often consist of a few questions before a diagnosis is made. Of course, there are nurses who go above and beyond the call to help NC’s incarcerated, but they are unfortunately the minority.

How Indifference Turned Violence Fatal

On the night of August 18, 2025, NCI medical staff allowed indifference to interfere with objective decision making. A concussion diagnosis requires a very specific protocol. Observation by medical professions, not untrained officers or incarcerated people, is the standard of care. Of the mistakes made on August 8, the decisions made in medical are the most perplexing. Had nurses monitored the CO, they would have witnessed his decline. He may still be alive if nurses hadn’t treated a medical emergency as a nuisance.

After the CO’s death, I discovered that the sergeant was the investigating officer of the assault, a clear violation of NCDOC policy and an obvious conflict of interest. No NCDOC employee may investigate matters which they are directly involved in or an event occurring in their assigned work area. This ensures that familiarity with the situation or bias toward prisoners doesn’t affect the outcome of the investigation. The sergeant being named investigating officer after being partially responsible for events leading to the CO’s death, and then being named Employee of the Month, is a travesty and indicative of how broken NCI is. At NCI, employees who violate their oaths to protect NC citizens are rewarded for their indiscretions.

Remembering the Man Lost to Violence

The CO who died came to prison at 17 years old. The people who knew him know that he wasn’t the same person he was nearly 30 years ago. He matured into a caring human being who shared ideas, tools, and strategies with others, including me, to help them change. He wasn’t perfect, but he never quit trying to be a better person. He achieved his goal; he was a genuinely good person.

The NCDOC’s flagship is sinking. Criminal assaults by custody staff, and the warden’s failure to hold NCI employees responsible for unethical and indifferent behavior, surpassed misconduct on August 18 and entered the realm of criminal corruption. Although they didn’t throw the punch that led to the victim’s death, the sergeants, medical staff, officer in charge, and administration are responsible because they willfully failed and continue to fail to protect the incarcerated individuals in their care.

Incarcerated people in NC prisons can’t hold the NCDOC and its employees accountable for deliberate indifference and violent behavior alone. Unless NC citizens and legislators get involved, NC prisons may continue to create more violent individuals who will be released in the future. In the current environment, incarcerated individuals in NCDOC custody change despite a prison sentence, not because of one.

Publication of this article will result in swift retaliation, but I am willing to accept the risk to finally do something right.

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The post Violence at a North Carolina Prison Exposes Deadly Indifference Inside NCI first appeared on Prison Writers.