KERNERSVILLE — Todd Pinion, a 32-year corrections veteran, is the new director for the Department of Public Safety’s Piedmont Region for prisons, which covers 15 correctional facilities in 12 counties.
Pinion will oversee the operations of the prisons, which house more than 7,800 inmates and employ nearly 2,750 officers and staff members. He was previously superintendent of Piedmont Correctional Institution in Salisbury.
He succeeds George Solomon, who was named Central Region director.
Pinion started out as a correctional officer at Piedmont Correctional and moved on to several different prisons in a variety of roles, returning as assistant superintendent of custody and operations in 1993.
The N.C. State University graduate has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and criminal justice.
He is a member of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, is active in China Grove’s New Hope Presbyterian Church, and is an active supporter of his sons’ high school band. Pinion also enjoys racquetball, reading and family time.