LOUISBURG â Two inmates of the Franklin Correctional Center near Bunn died on March 12 after testing positive for COVID-19 the month before, N.C. Department of Public Safety officials said. The deaths are the first of state prison inmates linked to the virus in the region, though 30 have died in the Butner federal prison. There are three state prisons controlled by the N.C. Department of Public Safety in the area, in or near Butner in Granville County, Warrenton in Warren County and Bunn in Franklin county. The one in Butner, the Polk Correctional Institution, had 36 active cases of COVID-19 among its inmates as of Monday. The Franklin prison had two and the Warren Correctional Institution none.