A “CRUEL PUNISHMENT”
by Anonymous Inmate, TTCC, Trousdale County, TN
(Jun. 6, 2016) — [Editor’s Note: The following letter was received by The Post & Email on June 4, 2016 and supports other inmates’ reports over the last month of understaffing, substandard accommodations, irregular dispensing of insulin and other medications, and a facility maintained in a constant state of “lockdown” which became continuous on May 26 at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville, TN.
The prison opened on January 6 and is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), a private company whose president and CEO was compensated $3.4 million last year. The facility’s “customer base” is drawn from the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), whose commissioner resigned last week to accept a position with another private prison company, The GEO Group, Inc.
Although designated an all-male, medium-security prison, many inmates brought to TTCC were designated as minimum-security and employed at the institutions from which they came. Currently, multiple inmates state that there is no employment available at TTCC and that they are treated like maximum-security inmates, locked in their cells for the majority of the day and night.
A relative of an inmate told The Post & Email in a May 28 interview that because of the absence of basic needs and adequate staffing at the facility, “Something’s going to happen.”
Neither the warden nor CCA spokesman Jonathan Burns would respond to The Post & Email’s questions submitted several weeks ago.
CCA operates 70 institutions across the country and has its headquarters in Nashville.]
I just returned from visitation at CCA’s TTCC. The hours for Monday changed to 3-5 pm. I arrived at 3pm and was processed through, arriving in the visitation area about 3:25pm. There were a total of 22 inmates to be brought down for visitation. 12 arrived before 4pm. 8 did not arrive until 6pm. I waited until 6pm for my visit to begin. Though we got conflicting information from two different guards, we were assured that we would have our full 2 hours of visitation beginning at what ever time our inmate arrived. All well and good, however – I had to leave by 6:30 for the hour drive home to take care of other obligations (a handicapped son).
The inmate I went to visit had finally been able to go to medical after a month of requests. He told me that there have been 9, NINE, deaths at the facility due to “medical” reaasons (not murders or violence) since January when they started taking in inmates from other facilities. Keep in mind – originally there were about 300+ inmates, and over the course of 4 months that number steadily grew, but in no way are they at their capacity yet. They have stopped taking new inmates – and though they say for one reason or another – it is my belief that it is also because there have been so many deaths due to CCA’s negligence and inability to properly care for these inmates on even the most basic level required. Again I ask – when is TDOC and our Governor going to take action on this ? How many more needless death and untold suffering (ongoing) must CCA be allowed to cause? Inhumane? Unconstitutional? Human Rights violations? All of the above – and is that criminal negligence? If your CEO is being paid 3.4 million a year — it seems to me that FUNDING is the least of their excuses. CCA must be held accountable – utterly and completely. Why is TDOC allowing them to get away with this? Using the excuse that this is a new facility and takes time to work things out is utter nonsense. CCA has been running prisons for years – 70 of them ? If that doesn’t spell incompetence at TTCC, what does?
Thank you for your dedication in covering the events at TTCC; thank you for giving voice to those others try to silence.
I appreciate the handwritten documents, but would it be possible to also type their contents in the article? There is a loss of resolution at times making them difficult to read.
God bless and be with you all!