The Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice has named new administrators at three state prisons.
Ken Beaver will serve as the administrator at Alexander Correctional Institution in Taylorsville. Beaver is a long-time assistant superintendent for custody and operations at Lanesboro Correctional Institution in Polkton, who served under the past four Lanesboro administrators. He replaces Susan White, who retired.
Beaver began his career in 1991 as a correctional officer at Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury. He advanced to the rank of captain there before transferring to Lanesboro as an assistant superintendent. He serves as a DPS general instructor and is a graduate of the NCDPS Correctional Leadership Development Program. Lanesboro Correctional Institution houses about 1,800 inmates in close, medium and minimum custody.
John Sapper is appointed as the new administrator at Bertie Correctional Institution in Windsor. For the past nine years, Sapper has served as the operations manager for the Coastal Region, overseeing 12 prisons in eastern North Carolina. During that time, he also served as interim administrator at both Bertie and Maury Correctional Institutions.
Sapper started his corrections career in 1989 as an officer at Yadkin Correctional Center before advancing through the ranks. He is a U.S. Army veteran, a graduate of High Point University and a graduate of the NCDPS Correctional Leadership Development Program.
Bertie Correctional Institution currently houses about 1,000 inmates in close and medium custody.
Mike Ditta is the new superintendent at New Hanover Correctional Center in Wilmington. New Hanover is a minimum-security prison housing about 400 inmates, many of whom are on work release. He replaces James Holmes, who died unexpectedly last year.
Ditta began his corrections career in western North Carolina in 2000, serving at Marion and Craggy Correctional Institutions, before moving east to work at Pender CI and New Hanover CC. He was promoted to lieutenant and then assistant superintendent at New Hanover. He has been serving as acting superintendent since October 2016.