After 35 years of public service, Joe Prater retired in 2018 as the Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice. In that position, he was responsible for representing and supporting the Chief Deputy Secretary’s Office in budget and fiscal operations, operational technology improvement considerations and legislative matters. Also, while in that position, Mr. Prater had direct oversight responsibility for various operations, including the division’s office of staff development and training, corrections industries, inmate grievance resolution board, engineering, correctional rehabilitative programs and services, and inmate healthcare operations. In 1997, Mr. Prater began his career with the North Carolina Department of Correction, initially as a correctional planner. Afterwards, he moved through the department, serving as Assistant Director of the Division of Community Corrections, and later, as Assistant Director of the Division of Prisons. He was appointed as Acting Director of Prisons for a short, transitional period before being appointed in March, 2013 as Deputy Secretary of the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice.Among other activities, Mr. Prater served as a member of the North Carolina Opioid and Prescription Drug Abuse Advisory Committee and served as chairman of the North Carolina state team selected with seven other states by the National Governors’ Association that participated in evaluating ways to expand access to opioid use disorder treatment for justice-involved populations. He also served as a member of the State Reentry Council Collaborative.Since 2018, Mr. Prater has provided various contractual consulting services.