BUT WILL ANYTHING BE DONE?
by Sharon Rondeau
(Oct. 4, 2016) — On Tuesday an individual from the U.S. House of Representatives was reading a story at The Post & Email written in June about the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC), a privately-run prison located in Trousdale County, TN.
Since early May, The Post & Email has received a steady stream of inmate letters describing horrendous conditions inside the facility which include poor hygiene and food, extremely limited access to the law library, short-staffing, failure to dispense prescribed medications, and gang members running the prison day-to-day.
Theft, beatings and threats of harm from gang members against others are reportedly almost-daily events and have been corroborated by relatives who visit regularly. And anecdotal report received approximately four weeks ago brings the number of inmate deaths at Trousdale to ten.The prison is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a four-profit company which is the largest provider of its type in the United States.
On August 18, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it would not be renewing its contracts with private prison operators, although the decision does not affect privately-run prisons within the purview of state governments.
Late last month, Nashville-based CCA announced between 50 and 55 layoffs in light of falling stock prices following the Justice Department’s decision.
CCA has been unwilling to respond to The Post & Email’s requests for comment regarding the numerous complaints it has received about TTCC. Similarly, Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) Communications Director Neysa Taylor insists that the accounts we have received from both inmates and their relatives are “inaccurate.”
We have sent Taylor many of the comments and links to a number of our articles containing documentation of the claims, to which she has made no response.
Approximately two months ago, The Post & Email related many of the problems experienced at TTCC to the Justice Department through its website portal but thus far has received no response.