Volunteer eligibility
To be a volunteer in NCDAC prison facilities you must be 21 or older and have active state-issued identification, such as a driver’s license.
You should expect to undergo a criminal background check. If you have previously been convicted of a crime, in many cases you can still serve as a volunteer. In fact, your experiences on the inside and outside will be valuable and welcome. You must have completed your sentence, including community supervision, at least one year prior to volunteering and received no new criminal charges during that time.
We cannot accept as a volunteer anyone convicted of a sex offense, or who is required to register as a sex offender or as a sexually violent predator in North Carolina or any other state.
NCDAC also restricts who can volunteer to work directly with people in custody who participate in outside-the-facility programs such as Community Leave or Transition & Reentry activities. Male volunteers cannot sponsor female offenders outside the prison, and female volunteers cannot sponsor male offenders in community programs.
To become a Community Leave sponsor or a Transitional & Reentry volunteer, you must volunteer inside the prison at least once a week for one month. Volunteering in the capacity of a Community Leave sponsor or a Transitional & Reentry volunteer requires you to request and receive approval. Reach out to the facility Community Volunteer Coordinator with questions.
NCDAC employees, former employees and their families can serve as volunteers, but there are restrictions. They cannot volunteer in the facility where the employee works. They also cannot sponsor an offender for Community Leave. Disciplinary and investigatory exclusions would also apply. An employee’s chain of command must be notified of volunteer service in another NCDAC facility.
We are grateful for what volunteers do on behalf of our offenders. But our primary responsibility is to maintain safety and security. If you behave in a way that jeopardizes secure operations, or if you misrepresent yourself or your prior or existing relations with a person in custody at the facility where you volunteer, then we may suspend or permanently ban you as a volunteer. Depending on the action, we may also involve law enforcement and prosecute.
No Personal Relationships
NCDAC cannot permit anyone to volunteer inside a facility where they have a personal relationship with someone in custody. That means a volunteer can’t be family, nor can they have had an intimate, romantic or other close relationship with a resident of that facility before their incarceration.
A volunteer cannot be on the visitor list of anyone in the facility where they volunteer, nor can they be the clergy of record for anyone there. A volunteer also cannot be in communication with a resident of the facility where they volunteer — whether that’s by mail, telephone or tablet.