SPOUSE INFORMED NEUROLOGICAL EVALUATION WILL TAKE PLACE
by Sharon Rondeau
(Jun. 7, 2016) — As an update to an interview conducted on Friday evening with Bridget Thweatt, whose husband James was a prisoner at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Trousdale County, TN until several weeks ago when he was moved to a different facility in Whiteville, Ms. Thweatt reported that at long last, her husband is scheduled to undergo a neurological evaluation.
After approximately a week at Whiteville, James was moved to the South Central Correctional Facility (SCCF) in Clifton, TN, where she visited on Saturday.
All three facilities in which James has been housed over the last few months are owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a private company operating 70 prisons across the country.
James has severe and untreated medical issues and believed that his second move was to the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville, only to learn from a cruel driver that SCCF was his destination upon arriving there.
On May 23, Ms. Thweatt told The Post & Email that she believes “the private prisons need to go.” The relatives of other CCA inmates have similarly reported that the state-run Tennessee prisons, while dangerous and volatile, are superior to those which CCA runs.
On Friday night, Ms. Thweatt told The Post & Email of her husband’s condition, “Medically, he’s not doing well.” She has granted The Post & Email permission to publish his medical history, which includes five surgeries on his neck two years ago, seizures, an inability to use one arm in which he has unexplained jerking, difficulty sleeping and swallowing, constant pain, and the fact that he has only one lung.
Ms. Thweatt reported that no follow-up medical appointments occurred following the five surgeries, leaving James in such pain that he is barely able to sleep and is forced to “move his Adam’s apple to the side to swallow.”
Recently at SCCF, James was told to take the top bunk in his cell despite a medical waiver indicating that he is restricted to the bottom bunk because of his disabilities. His wife reported that he was initially threatened with time in “the Hole” for “refusing cell assignment (RCA)” because the SCCF staffer was unable to locate the waiver in the computer system, but a sergeant fortunately asserted that the medical waiver exists.
On Monday, Ms. Thweatt provided the following update from Saturday:
It was hard for my husband to sit through the visit, so we cut it short. He jerks like he has Tourette Syndrome and the chronic pain was obvious. He called me the next morning and said, “Baby, I’m burning up with fever; I’m sick; don’t come; I’m going to go lay back down.” I totally understood.
She then reported a new development:
I did call the Commissioner over medical rehabilitation. I was advised that there is a medical case open on him, and he is being referred for a Neuro evaluation and restrictions have been placed. So now I will wait to see if anything takes place. It is my understanding it will take a few weeks.
Last week, Gov. Bill Haslam announced the resignation of TDOC Commissioner Derrick Schofield, who will depart at the end of the month. A replacement has not been named as of this writing.
The Post & Email will continue to follow this story. As the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) and CCA will not respond to our questions regarding medical care or prison conditions, we cannot obtain their comments.