NCDAC was formed as a cabinet level agency at the start of 2023, after corrections had been part of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety since 2012.

State law 379, enacted in 1885, provided for the allowance of good time as an incentive for inmate cooperation.

The same year, North Carolina became the first state to allow inmates employed in work-release programs to work outside the prison during the day.

All prison facilities for state inmates are operated and controlled by the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, Division of Institutions.

Rivers Correctional Institution, in unincorporated Hertford County, North Carolina, is operated by GEO Group under contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.