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Kerwin Pittman, a social justice activist, has purchased the former Wayne County Correctional Center in Goldsboro, making him the first formerly incarcerated person in U.S. history to purchase a prison.
Pittman served 11½ years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder and was incarcerated from 2007-2018.
After he was released, he founded and became the executive director of the Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services Inc, (RREPS).
Pittman plans to transform the property into a reentry and workforce campus for people who have just been released from jail or prison. It will be called Recidivism Reduction Campus.
The campus will include transitional housing, mental health support, workforce training, necessary life skills and more.
“This effort is not about continuing incarceration,” Pittman said. “It is a blueprint for transformation, led by those who have lived it. It represents a powerful redefinition of justice in America, from incarceration to ownership, from punishment to purpose.”
The Wayne Correctional Center received its first inmates in 1979 and closed in 2013. It has been vacant ever since.
According to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, the purchase price was $275,000 and the sale was approved at the November 2025 Council of State meeting.
The campus is mostly in a designated flood plain near the Neuse River. This area has had a history of flooding during major hurricanes. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said that is why the purchase price was so low.
A timeline for construction for the campus has not been given yet.
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