Money to buy former Goldsboro prison can be used to improve other prisons, secretary says

Correction: The proceeds from the sale of the Wayne Correctional Center will be used to make improvements at other prisons operated by the state, not for improvements at the prison Kerwin Pittman purchased, as this story previously reported. NC Newsline regrets the error.

Kerwin Pittman, the formerly incarcerated man who bought the Wayne Correctional Center in Goldsboro, created a buzz Wednesday during a N.C. Joint Reentry Council meeting. 

Pittman, who says he’s the first formerly incarcerated person to purchase a prison, also learned that the money he spent to buy it will be put back into other prison facilities.

Leslie Cooley Dismukes, secretary of the NC Department of Adult Correction, shared the news about the proceeds from the sale. Dismukes said state law allows the department to use the proceeds to improve prison facilities.

“I think that is a pretty awesome, whole-circle moment,” Dismukes said.

Pittman did not know that was a possibility until Dismukes shared the news with the reentry council and dozens of visitors who attended the council’s first meeting of 2026. 

Pittman is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services, Inc. (RREPS). He committed to helping others leaving prison after serving 11 years, six months in prison for conspiracy to commit murder.

He bought the prison to create re-entry housing and a workforce campus where formerly incarcerated people can attain job skills or industry certifications. Pittman envisions residents training to become electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, construction workers or other trades that are in high demand.

Pittman estimates it will take up to two years to get the former prison ready for as many as 300 residents who would live on the campus until they complete a six-month program. Another class of up to 300 would replace the previous residents each six months, he said.  

Pittman envisions residents studying and training to become electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, construction workers and other trades that are in high demand.

“North Carolina is leading the way in recidivist reduction and reentry and we’re the first organization to do this in the country,” Pittman said.

Pittman paid $275,000 for the abandoned prison, according to the state Department of Corrections. He told NC Newsline that it will take as much as $2 million to refurbish the prison. He said he plans to rely on private donations and to pursue federal, state and local grants.