CONTRABAND REPORTEDLY SUPPLIED BY CORRECTION OFFICER WITH IMPUNITY
by Sharon Rondeau
(May 28, 2018) — Late last week a letter arrived from a source at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NWCX) in Tiptonville, TN describing a process with which this writer was not acquainted: “B and B.”
The source described the term as “when an officer will bring contraband to her crew and when they get the money then the officer will have the person busted that the contraband went to. This makes the officer look legit and the inmate has to spend more money with the crew which is more money for the officer.”
The source continued, “The dangerous thing about B-n-B is that sooner or later some inmates that have nothing to do with it will get blamed for guys getting busted and usually they will get beat up.”
The contraband policy of the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) states:
The introduction of contraband, which includes cell phones, into correctional facilities is a serious violation of state law and is not tolerated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. While this is a national problem, the Department works to intercept and recover any contraband. In addition, we work with our law enforcement partners to actively prosecute those who violate that law. Recently there have been a series of blog posts calling into question the Department’s commitment in addressing this national problem. With regard to the individuals in the blog, the Department is already actively investigating these inmates and working with the social media networks to have the pages removed.
The Department is not only committed to tackling this problem but is dedicating more resources to this issue than ever before. Earlier this year, the Department joined other DOCs throughout the nation in asking the FCC to reconsider their stance on cell phone jamming technology. In addition, the Department recently hired a Chief Interdiction Officer to lead our efforts into this issue. This position is charged with collaborating with the investigative agencies of local, State, and Federal officials to not only stop the flow of contraband but to also yield arrests in the community thus making Tennessee safer.
We encourage anyone with knowledge of any threat to the safety and security of our institutions to call 1-844-TDC-FIND. This line is manned 24/7 to receive viewer tips; each and every tip we receive is investigated. The information received is then used by the Department’s Office of Investigation and Compliance (OIC) to investigate the criminal contraband network. OIC investigations don’t stop at shutting down the illegal social media accounts. The goal of these investigations is to stem the flow of contraband into our facilities and to shut down these criminal enterprises.
Those that are visiting an offender in prison must understand that these visits are a privilege. Visitors who abuse this privilege by bringing or attempting to bring contraband inside our prisons will be prosecuted. Also, employees discovered introducing contraband into state prisons face termination and criminal prosecution for violating the laws they have sworn to uphold.
While a reported investigation of contraband entering the Riverbend Maximum Security facility in Nashville in March 2016 was attributed to inmates, prisoners from various Tennessee facilities have informed The Post & Email that corrections staff is responsible for a significant amount of contraband reaching inmates to include cell phones, drugs, money and tobacco, among others.
The NWCX source told us that the female correction officer supplying the contraband “even bragged a few times about the money she was making” and reported that she has proclaimed herself “affiliated,” meaning a member of a prison gang; in this case, the Crips.
The source also said that the officer arranged an attack on an inmate by three Crips members and has threatened “to put in work on dudes that give her trouble or that complained about her.”