AND SAYS NOTHING WAS DONE TO PROTECT HIM
by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 10, 2019) — A letter received late last week from a Tennessee state inmate indicated fear for his life following what he said were “assaults, robberies and sexual assaults” at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville.
According to scores, if not hundreds, of letters received by this publication over the last three years from TTCC inmates, it is “the worst” institution in which they have ever spent time.
In June 2017, WSMV published a four-part series on the prison featuring reports from inmates and their relatives describing a lack of medical care, insufficient staffing and constant gang violence, among other complaints. In September 2017, WSMV reported that documents it obtained showed that a TTCC correction officer was stabbed by an inmate who “admitted” being “high on meth” at the time.
Privately-run by CoreCivic but publicly-accountable to the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), the facility opened in early 2016 to staffing levels reportedly too low to reasonably maintain safety and normal protocols. Inmates’ claims to that effect were affirmed by an AP report from May 2016 and a November 2017 audit by the Comptroller of the Treasury.
The facility has been fined $2.5 million between 2017 and late 2018 for its deficiencies, The Hartsville Vidette reported.
The most recent letter, which we are withholding from publication for his safety, expresses the inmate’s sense that he is in “grave danger.” He has been extorted by gang members, he said, for either sex or money, with prison officials reportedly taking no action despite his having filed formal complaints.
He has been denied placement in the protective custody (PC) unit of the prison, he wrote.
On Wednesday morning, The Post & Email spoke with a relative of the inmate whose telephone number he provided in his letter. The relative told us that based on the communications he/she has received over the last two months, TTCC is the worst situation in which the inmate has been placed over more than a decade in prison. He has previously been housed at MCCX; BCCX; and Whiteville Correctional Facility, which is also run by CoreCivic, and “never” reported the level of danger he is experiencing currently, the relative said.
He reported death threats from other inmates in the letter, and his relative told us that his letters to him/her over the last two months have indicated a dangerous deterioration in his situation. Six months ago, he felt driven to suicide, the relative said the inmate reported, as a result of having been denied clean clothing, a shower, blanket and other standard cell amenities for “two weeks.” “He was just in a state of mind that he couldn’t go anymore,” the relative said.
Regarding how the inmate landed in prison, the relative reported that “the [grand jury] foreman knew the judge.”
My son is at Whiteville Correctional Facility he walked through a shower line and had to pay $75 to keep from getting hurt or killed. Then he got beat up by five or six different people at the same time they put my son in the hole till they could figure out what was going on. The other inmates were never punished. My son called me yesterday and told me that he was scared to death that they were going to kill him. While we were on the phone talking they went in and stoled everything my son had. The inmates and the gangs ran that prison the guards did what the inmates and gangs told them to do. He said Mom if you don’t get me out of here they’re going to kill me I’m scared to death that he’s not going to make it out of there if there’s any way that anybody knows how to get someone transferred out of that place would you please let me know I’m desperate he’s all I’ve got.
I want to start some kinda protest about this prison..my brother 35 just pastaway there.he was there on shoplifting 18 years..yeah. well the called and said he had od.the next day they said he had a heart attack and was brain dead. We really don’t know what happened. But I do know one thing the prison is saying my brother donated his body/ organs. But can’t show us nothing with his signature on it. I feel they are covering something up. I called warden a few months back about my other family member that was there being abused and till this day I have not got a email,phone call or anything. I called mayor, warden, govenor and tdoc.. NOTHING thank god he git out..but this place needs to be shut down! who’s with me on trying to get something done???? Just message me please if someone you loved has been hurt and it’s on paper we need to push this all the way to president if we have too… our love one’s matter !! Don’t let it be your family member next.. #GANGS#SHOWERCODES#RAPE#LETS
FIGHTFOROURLOVEONES!!
Patricia Aldridge | Rehabilitative Services Ombudsman
5th Floor Rachel Jackson Building
320 6th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243
p. 615-253-8198
Patricia.Aldridge@tn.gov
tn.gov/correction
This is who is helping me out for an inmate at whiteville corrections as well as Bill lee’s office (governor of Tennessee) Bill.Lee@tn.gov
You need to get ahold of the governor’s office like I did and some other people that work away from that prison to get something done as well as the warden of the prison the more people that complain that this is happening the better chance something will be done
If they know you have money or even think they do they will try to extort money don’t send it or they will just keep doing the same thing my brother is going through something similar and nothing seems to be getting done because the guards are involved with the gangs
My grandson is and has been threatened for his life, because his mother can’t afford to pay the extortioners. PRISONERS HAVE CELL PHONES THEY USE FOR THESE ACTIVITIES. SELLING DRUGS KNOWING THAT THEY CAN HARASS THE RELATIVES THREATENING TO KILL OR BRING SERIOUS HARM TO.THE PRISONERS.
The owners of the prison have been found guilty before for the same thing. TERRIORISTS ARE TREATED BETTER. WE DEMAND JUSTICE TO BE SERVED.
My son is at Whiteville prison in Whiteville,Tn. He is also afraid of getting stabbed by gang members. I have also had to send money to several people to “ keep him safe”. It is an awful corrupt prison. He has been told they would get him back in the medic area, but that hasn’t happened yet. I am so upset because they are now asking for $2900.00 for next week. I am on a fixed income and do not have it any more. Is there anything I can do?