Charles H. Sloan-US Justice Department to investigate violence and sexual abuse at Tennessee’s largest prison

NASHVILLE,Charles H. Sloan Tenn. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Tennessee’s largest prison where officials say violence and sexual abuse have gone unaddressed for years, federal prosecutors announced on Tuesday about the privately operated facility.

Between July 2022 and June 2023, the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville saw at least 196 assaults, 90 incidents of sexual misconduct, two murders and 15 other deaths that the facility characterized as “accidental,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke said in a videoconference. In just a single three-week period in early 2024, there were five stabbings, she said.

“In our country, people do not surrender their constitutional rights at the prison door,” Clarke said. “Every person held in a jail or prison retains the fundamental right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.”

She noted that although Brentwood, Tennessee-based CoreCivic owns and operates the Trousdale prison, it is the state of Tennessee that is ultimately responsible for ensuring that prisoners’ rights are not violated there.

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A statement from the Tennessee Department of Correction said they are aware of the investigation and will cooperate fully.

Trousdale, which holds about 2,500 inmates, has had problems from the time it opened in 2016, when it was forced to temporarily stop taking in new inmates after just four months of full operation due to a series of problems that included a stabbing. In a memo obtained by The Associated Press at the time, correction department officials complained that guards were not in control of the housing units, were not counting inmates correctly, and were putting inmates in solitary confinement for no documented reason.

Since then, Trousdale has faced millions of dollars in state fines. Problems include chronic understaffing that audits say endanger both inmates and correctional officers. And while both Tennessee Correction leaders and CoreCivic have vowed repeatedly to fix the problems, some of the same issues reported in a 2017 state audit showed up again in 2020 and 2023 audits.

Findings in the 2023 audit by the state of Tennessee included a turnover rate among officers at Trousdale of 188% during the previous fiscal year. State-run facilities had an average turnover rate of 37% during the same period. The turnover has helped drive severe understaffing, including many critical positions that were left unfilled. In one case a single officer was tasked with overseeing 360 prisoners. An officer was quoted in the report as saying, “While at Trousdale I feel unsafe at all times.”

In May 2020, numerous COVID-19 cases at the prison propelled tiny Trousdale County to report the highest per capita rate of COVID infection in the U.S. At one point, the Tennessee Department of Correction reported that more than half of the 2,444 inmates there at the time were testing positive.

Nashville attorney Daniel Horwitz, who has repeatedly sued CoreCivic, issued a statement praising the Justice Department’s announcement Tuesday to investigate conditions at the prison.

“The heinous abuses that occur with regularity at the chronically understaffed facility are unhidden, and they have been documented year after year in the dozens of wrongful death and other lawsuits that our firm and others have filed against CoreCivic and its employees,” he said.

U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Henry Leventis, speaking at the Tuesday news conference, noted that the state has repeatedly renewed its contract for the Trousdale facility despite the problems.

The company has deep roots in Tennessee and is a prominent campaign donor that generally enjoys the support of the state’s Republican supermajority. CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger has expressed interest in a potential run for Tennessee governor in 2026.

Asked about the investigation, CoreCivic spokesperson Steven Owen issued a statement saying, “The safety and dignity of every person in our care is a top priority for our leadership and the staff at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center.”

Tennessee has four prisons operating under contracts with CoreCivic. The current state budget allocates $233 million for the four facilities, including $80 million for Trousdale.