If Monica Wood’s “How to Read a Book” were a painting rather than a novel, it would be a triptych, one of those three-paneled works of art often hinged together so that it can be closed or displayed open.

With several critical deadlines approaching and the cost of construction only going up, Haywood County commissioners spent more than two hours on Feb. 26 meeting with administrators, architects, builders and sheriff’s office personnel — going over every detail of the long-suffering jail expansion project, its growing price tag and its ultimate future. 

Swain County Detention Center became a place of reunions and redemption during the last few weeks as inmates had their first chance in over two years to see their family members face to face. 

CJ Deering sat at her desk inside the Haywood County Detention Center when she got a surprise phone call from a woman who had been sentenced to prison nine months ago. 

The recent death of a Jackson County Detention Center inmate has spurred a probe from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. 

Being incarcerated and not knowing what your future may hold is a terrifying experience, but being released from jail and having no resources to get back on your feet can be even scarier.

It takes a lot of work throughout the year to produce the Folkmoot festival; much of that work goes on behind the scenes and much of it is done by volunteers, without whom the festival simply couldn’t sustain itself.

Women make up the fastest growing segment of inmates in the U.S. correctional system.

According to a 2016 study conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice, the number of women in jail grew from under 8,000 in 1970 to over 110,000 in 2014 and nearly half of them are in small county jails. 

The Folkmoot Friendship Center on Virginia Avenue in Hazelwood is central to the festival’s operation.

Robert Edward Branning of Canton — the escaped inmate who was shot on Main Street in downtown Waynesville two weeks ago — has now been charged with multiple felonies.