World Prisons
All prisons

United States · North Carolina · Raleigh

Central Prison

State prisonCloseOvercrowded (147%)LowHigh
Verified
Aging · 5mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

For families

How to send mail, money, and visit Central Prison

Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Open toolkit
Photograph of Central Prison

Gallery

From Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA where not otherwise stated).

  • Aeolus (Duke Chronicle) 1981-02-18 page 1.jpg

    Photo by The Chronicle via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Aeolus (Duke Chronicle) 1981-02-18 page 6.jpg

    Photo by The Chronicle via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  • Central Prison, Raleigh.jpg

    Photo by -ted from Raleigh, NC, USA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Central Prison is a state prison located in Wake County, North Carolina. Rated capacity: 752. Reported population: 1,104. Security level: Close. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.

Background

Central Prison is a prison operated by the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction in Raleigh, North Carolina. The prison, west of Downtown Raleigh, is on 29 acres (12 ha) of land and is bounded by a double wire fence with a razor ribbon on top.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

752

Current population

1,104

Occupancy

147%

Year opened

—

Operational

Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

—

Region

North Carolina

Security level

Close

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

No major issues documented in our database.

Notable inmates

  • Henry Louis Wallace
    1965 · serial killer

    Henry Louis Wallace (born November 4, 1965), also known as the "Taco Bell Strangler", is an American serial killer who killed eleven women in South Carolina and North Carolina from March 1990 to March 1994.

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Contact & address

1300 Western Blvd, Raleigh 27606

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

12/100
Low concern12/100
Overcrowding
12/30
Oversight reports
0/30
Structural flags
0/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

What the score is responding to:

  • · Operating at 147% of design capacity

This facility scores 12. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 10 points above national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Occupancythis: 147% · peers avg: 93% (+58%)
Capacity (beds)this: 752 · peers avg: 547 (+37%)

Data completeness

74%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Central Prison. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/central-prison
Chicago
"Central Prison." World Prisons. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/central-prison.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-central-prison,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Central Prison},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/central-prison},
  urldate = {2026-10-24}
}