Central Prison

Central Prison is a prison operated by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in Raleigh, North Carolina. The prison, west of Downtown Raleigh, is on 29 acres of land and is bounded by a double wire fence with a razor ribbon on top. The Department of Public Safety website describes the original building as "castle-like."

Funding for the Central Prison was authorized during the Reconstruction era by the North Carolina General Assembly of 1868–1869. Inmates built the prison for 14 years, and granite quarried from an area outside of what would become the east wall of the prison was used to build the facility. The prison's construction was completed in December 1884; the prison, built for $1.25 million, was the first prison in North Carolina.