Butner is a town in Granville County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,792 at the 2000 census. Butner was managed by the state of North Carolina from 1947 through 2007. A bill passed by the North Carolina General Assembly incorporating the town was signed by Gov. Mike Easley on July 27, 2007. It is the former site of the U.S. Army's Camp Butner, which was named for Major General Henry W. Butner (1875–1937), a North Carolina native. Butner is the home of the Butner Federal Correctional Institution (3 units and a Hospital): Umstead Correctional Center, Murdock Mental Retardation Center, John Umstead Hospital, and C.A. Dillon School, Polk Correctional Institute and Central Regional Hospital.