TV station gets bed bugs from prison (via mail)
Two inmates at South Central Correctional Center, a prison in Wayne County operated by CoreCivic under contract with the state of Tennessee, mailed WSMV TV a letter containing dead bed bugs said to be collected inside the facility.
From the Nashville station’s report:
News 4 took them to Belmont University professor and entomologist Dr. Steven Murphree.
“I can tell it’s a bed bug. I just haven’t seen one that is so large like that,” Murphree said.
The letters sent to our newsroom said the bed bug problem in the mental health building has been going on for a year. They say while employees do spray once in a while, the spray doesn’t work.
…The inmates say when a former staff member alerted CoreCivic to the issue, they said he was unqualified to identify a bed bug.
…Jonathan Burns, the spokesperson for CoreCivic sent News 4 this statement:
The health and safety of our employees and the individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority. CoreCivic received a report concerning the possible presence of bedbugs at South Central Correctional Center in August 2017. Facility leadership moved aggressively to address the issue.
Within 24 hours of receiving the initial report, the facility was professionally inspected and treated for bedbugs.
TN judge reducing sentences of jail inmates who get vasectomies or anti-pregnancy implants
General Sessions Judge Sam Benningfield of Sparta has authorized 30-day sentence reductions for male inmates at the White County Jail who agree to free vasectomies in White County and women who agree to receive free Nexplanon implants, which prevent pregnancies for up to four years.
WTVF TV in Nashville, which first reported on the judge’s order, signed in May, says 32 women and 38 men have since signed up for the procedures and the accompanying sentence reduction.
“I understand it won’t be entirely successful but if you reach two or three people, maybe that’s two or three kids not being born under the influence of drugs. I see it as a win, win,” (Benningfield) added.
Inmates in the White County jail were also given two days credit toward their jail sentence if they complete a State of Tennessee, Department of Health Neonatal Syndrome Education Program. The class aimed to educate those who are incarcerated about the dangers of having children while under the influence of drugs.
Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Tennessee, says the “coerced contraception” program is unconstitutional.
Second state prison inmate pleads guilty to running tax refund scheme behind bars
A second Tennessee prison inmate has pleaded guilty to filing bogus federal income tax returns using the names of other prisoners and collecting tax refunds that, for the two men combined, total more than $310,000, reports the News Sentinel.
Larry Steven Covington Jr., 38, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to conspiring to defraud the IRS while serving time in a Tennessee penitentiary and using fellow inmates’ Social Security numbers he apparently purloined…. Career criminal James Glenn Collins pleaded guilty in December 2014 to a similar scam, and court records suggest he may have taught Covington the ropes in deceiving the IRS.
TDEC fines TDOC for pollution by two prisons
In a case of one state agency penalizing another, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation recently fined the Tennessee Department of Correction for stream pollution near the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Lauderdale County and the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex north of Chattanooga, according to the Commercial Appeal.
Potential fines in the TDEC order total $457,806. That can be reduced or eliminated the TDOC restores the streams – the Hatchie River in West Tennessee and a tributary of the Caney Fork River in Bledsoe County — and wetlands damaged by the pollution and outlines other environmental-restoration projects.
State sells 119-acre Nashville prison site for $12.1M
Rogers Group Inc. has paid the State of Tennessee $12.1 million for the 119-acre vacant former Charles Bass Correctional Complex property in West Nashville, reports The Tennessean.
The Nashville-based provider of crushed stone, sand and gravel, asphalt and highway construction declined to comment on its purchase of for the site, which sits across Richland Creek from its REOStone quarry on Robertson Avenue.
…A new quarry is among possibilities for the property, which could also be used for offices and warehouse, maintenance and/or river transportation-related activities.
Earlier this year, Rogers Group made the highest offer of $12.5 million among six suitors for the site at 7177 Cockrill Bend Blvd. The 119-acre location includes the shuttered 162,700-square-foot former medium-security correctional complex.
The property borders the Cumberland River and a pair of industrial buildings. It is a half-mile from the John C. Tune Airport in an area with many warehouses and light industrial businesses.
Sheriff pleads guilty to sex with women inmates, beating man
Fentress County Sheriff Chucky Cravens has pleaded guilty to bribing female inmates for sex and beating a male prisoner, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.
Cravens, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday after an investigation that began barely more than a week before. The official charges were three counts of honest services fraud and one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The charges stem back from July to as recently as March 1.
Democrats denounce scuttling of prison oversight bill; Republicans denounce Democrats
The Sunday assault on guards at the state’s Turney Center shows the need for legislative oversight of the prison system, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart declared at a news conference Monday.
Bills to re-establish a Corrections Oversight Committee, abolished in 2011, have all died quietly this session. One with Republican sponsors (SB1145) was sent to “general sub” in the Senate Health Committee Monday, dead for the year since the panel is now closed. That measure would also have recreated an abolished oversight committees on TennCare and childrens’ services.
Stewart called the failure to re-establish a corrections oversight panel “totally ridiculous,” reports The Tennessean.
An update on officers stabbed in prison uprising
News release from Department of Corrections
NASHVILLE – One of the three officers assaulted during (Sunday’s) disturbance at Turney Center Industrial Complex has been released from the hospital. Officer Lester Ball was treated and released overnight. Officers Jesse Shockley and Paul Nielsen remain hospitalized in stable condition.
The Department continues to work closely with other law enforcement agencies including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which we have asked to conduct its own independent investigation into the events.
Three guards injured in TN prison inmate uprising
Three corrections officers were injured, including one held hostage for about three hours, in a Sunday inmate uprising at Turney Center state prison, located about 60 miles west of Nashville in Hickman County.
Three state correction officer suicides reported in one month
Three officers with the Tennessee Department of Correction have died by suicide in just this past month, according to an internal memo sent to employees and reported by the Nashville Scene.
The department is not releasing the names of the individuals “out of respect and deference to the families,” according to TDOC spokesperson Alison Randgaard.
“We are devastated by the loss of our colleagues which is reflected in Commissioner [Tony] Parker’s letter to staff,” Randgaard wrote in an email.
…In the memo sent Wednesday from Parker, he urges employees to take an account of their personal stress level. The department has struggled in recent years to fully staff its prisons, causing safety issues. It faced an exodus of correctional officers two years ago after drastically changing scheduling.
