NC jail inmates staged a revolt, took hostages. Officials won’t say much
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- More than 80 inmates overpowered three guards and gained control of portions of the jail.
- Inspections in 2022–2023 found missed rounds, a broken lock, and nonworking cameras.
- Inmates were transferred to state custody, mostly to Bertie CI and the NC Correctional.
When inmates at the Bertie-Martin Regional Detention Center overpowered correctional officers early Monday morning — taking three guards and a number of other inmates hostage — they had the numbers on their side.
More than 80 inmates overtook just three guards inside the facility, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The inmates “assaulted on-duty guards and gained control of portions of the building,” state officials said in a Monday press release.
The incident started around 5 a.m. and by 9:30, law enforcement agencies had negotiated the release of 18 inmates and some correctional officers. A short while after that, more were released, according to SBI officials.
But few details have surfaced about why there were only three guards in the jail and what compelled the inmates to stage the early Monday morning uprising.
The N&O tried for two days to get some of those details from Lydra Freeman, the Bertie-Martin Jail administrator. After telling a reporter twice that she would respond to the questions, Freeman said she couldn’t give the paper answers on Thursday morning.
What is known is that jail inspectors found many violations of state law dating back to 2022, according to documents reviewed by The N&O. That includes gaps in correctional officers’ patrols — sometimes up to 45 minutes — broken locks in cell blocks and busted security cameras.
Other public records show that county officials were sounding the alarm on staffing levels at the facility as far back as 2018. Freeman did not say how many job vacancies there are at the jail.
Deficiencies and staffing concerns
Inspection reports from 2022 to 2025 obtained by The N&O show that state officials noted many deficiencies inside the Bertie-Martin jail.
Correctional officers “missed rounds at most locations at various times, with gaps between rounds being as much as 45 minutes since the previous round had been conducted,” a September 2022 state inspection of the facility found.
State law dictates correctional officers check in on inmates “at least two times within a 60 minute time period on an irregular basis with not more than 40 minutes between rounds,” according to the report.
During the same inspection, officials also found that the lockset in C Block “was not operational,” a violation of state law.
The next year, state inspectors found two security cameras — one in the visitation dorm and one in the main corridor — were not working, according to the 2023 report reviewed by The N&O.
Freeman did not immediately respond to questions about how many inmates participated in the revolt versus how many were taken hostage. The jail’s capacity is 90 people, according to the facility’s 2026 state confinement report.
In addition, county officials had raised concerns around recruiting correctional officers for years.
Terrence Whitehurst, then the Bertie County jail administrator, “provided a detailed history of staffing concerns and challenges” to county officials during a March 26, 2018, joint special meeting of the Martin County and Bertie County boards of commissioners and the Bertie-Martin Jail Commission.
The officials agreed that “time was of the essence” and there were “certain liabilities for not addressing this matter in a proactive manner,” according to minutes from the meeting.
The state’s investigation
The State Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies are investigating what happened earlier this week. SBI Public Information Director Chad Flowers told The N&O the agency won’t release that information, adding that he thought it would become public soon “but by another agency.”
The Bertie-County jail inmates have been removed from the facility, according to a Tuesday update from SBI officials. The inmates were transferred to the custody of the NC Department of Adult Corrections.
“Most male inmates are currently housed at Bertie Correctional Institution, while female inmates are being held at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh,” the update said. “Inmates are currently being processed at these facilities and will have access to communication with their families later this week.”
This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 2:13 PM with the headline "NC jail inmates staged a revolt, took hostages. Officials won’t say much."
