RALEIGH -- A nursing supervisor at Southern Correctional Institution in Troy, Rebecca Greene has won Prisons Health Services Award for her efforts to transfer offenders with high medical needs out of two facilities as a pandemic contingency plan.

It was hard work, and detail-oriented, but with her compassion and genuine care for staff and offenders, she made the transition process seem seamless and effortless as hundreds of offenders were transferred under stringent pandemic-safety protocols.

“That was quite an accomplishment,” said Gary Junker, Prisons director of health and wellness. “Nurse Greene orchestrated all that.”

Announced at the first in-person (but socially distant and masked) gathering of the state’s wardens in a year on May 6, Greene’s award coincided with national Correctional Officers and Correctional Employees Week.

“She represents the best of our best from across the state,” said Todd Ishee, Commissioner of Prisons. “Our award winners are hard-working, innovative and deeply committed to their jobs, their colleagues and to the care of the men and women in our custody.”

Even during the challenges of a year of a pandemic, Greene exceeded the expectations of her job duties. She leads by example and inspires those she supervises to be proactive in the performance of their duties, Junker said.

Before being reassigned to Southern Correctional earlier this year, Greene was the nursing supervisor at Randolph Correctional Institution. She worked to transfer those offenders, as well as offenders at the minimum custody unit at Southern Correctional, into the single-cell part of the prison at Southern.

Housing offenders with acute medical needs in single cells was a health and safety initiative to better protect them from potential spread of COVID-19 and to house them in a location where their medical needs could be better met.

She was hired as a licensed practical nurse in 2002.

The prison system houses more than 28,000 offenders in 55 facilities with a staff of around 13,500.

Click for information on other Prisons 2021 award winners and for images of award winners.

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