MEDICAL CARE AND RECORDS, STAFFING SHORTAGES AMONG CHIEF CONCERNS by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 11, 2020) — A 234-page “Performance Audit Report” released Friday by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury found the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) to be deficient in carrying out the department’s mission “to operate safe and secure prisons and provide effective […]
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Posted inPolitics
Tennessee Inmate Claims Drugs “Easier to Get” in Prison than “on the Street”
AND GANG ACTIVITY RAMPANT by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 6, 2020) — A letter received Saturday alleges that the Northwest Correctional Complex (NWCX) remains a dangerous prison in which gangs dictate daily routines and extortion payments, reportedly with the knowledge and consent of correction officers. The author of the letter requested that his name be withheld […]
Posted inPolitics
CoreCivic Responds to The Post & Email on Trousdale Facility Report
“LOCKDOWN” IMPOSED FOLLOWING REPORTED INMATE ALTERCATION by Sharon Rondeau (Nov. 11, 2019) — Late Monday morning, The Post & Email received an email from an individual who stated that she received information from several inmates at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville, TN, the state’s newest prison with a track record of violence […]
Posted inEditorials
CoreCivic Abuses Prisoner
“CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT” by Robert Z. Whipple, III, ©2019 (Oct. 23, 2019) — [Editor’s Note: The following email was sent to TDOC Commissioner Tony Parker; TDOC Communications Director Neysa Taylor; CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger and other company officials; and more than a dozen members of the media, including this reporter. CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation […]
Posted inPolitics
Tennessee Inmate Reports Forced “Mental Health” Class
IS “MORE FUNDING” THE REASON? by Sharon Rondeau (Oct. 14, 2019) — Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) Grenda Ray Harmer, an inmate at the state’s Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX) who has communicated with The Post & Email for approximately three years, reported in an October 7, 2019 letter to Gov. Bill Lee that he […]
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Tennessee: Timothy Aaron Baxter Granted Parole, Then Mandated to Take Class
ANOTHER YEAR DUE TO A “CLERICAL ERROR”? by Sharon Rondeau (Oct. 10, 2019) — Since 2015, The Post & Email has followed the story of Timothy Aaron Baxter, a Tennessee resident who has been incarcerated twice by the state and was recently granted parole. Baxter expected to be released shortly after his successful parole hearing […]
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Tennessee: Harmer Blows Whistle on Prison Staff Shortages
LONG-TERM INMATE FEARS OVERWORKED STAFF INCAPABLE OF HANDLING POTENTIAL EMERGENCY by Sharon Rondeau (Aug. 12, 2019) — On Friday The Post & Email received a copy of a letter dated August 5, 2019 to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee from MCCX inmate Grenda Ray Harmer reporting “a severe staff shortage of officers” creating what Harmer sees […]
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Another Inmate Fears for His Life at Trousdale Turner
“SEE IF BY THE TIME YOU GET THIS I AM IN THE HOSPITAL OR DEAD” by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 17, 2019) — A letter received Monday from an inmate at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville warns that because of ongoing threats to his life by gang members and his cellmate, he fears […]
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Report: Assistant Warden “Working the Prison Pods”
DUE TO ALLEGED SHORT-STAFFING by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 5, 2019) — The Post & Email is in receipt of a letter from an inmate at Tennessee’s South Central Correction Facility (SCCF) reporting that short-staffing has caused the situation whereby “the Assistant warden is working the prison pods…and other various areas regularly assigned to corrections officers […]
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Report: Inmate with Breathing Problems Placed with Cellmate Who Smokes
HOW IS TOBACCO ALLOWED IN PRISON? by Sharon Rondeau (Jun. 2, 2019) — A letter received late last week from Johnny Royston Sr., an inmate from whom we have received numerous letters in the past, reports that Royston was recently relocated from the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville, TN to the Northwest Correctional […]
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Another TTCC Inmate Fears for His Life
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 […]
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TTCC Inmate Reports Failure of Staff to Respond to Emergency Calls
“THIS COULD HAVE TURNED TRAGIC” by Sharon Rondeau (Mar. 31, 2019) — On Friday The Post & Email received a six-page mailing from Tennessee state inmate Dennis W. Martin, #157498, who is housed at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville. The letter, dated March 6, 2019, was addressed to the American Correctional Association […]
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Within One Year of Release, Harmer Requests Transition Services
“I WANT TO STAY ALIVE” by Sharon Rondeau (Feb. 16, 2019) — As this writer discussed on Thursday’s “Nooganomics” show with host David Tulis, TDOC inmate Grenda Ray Harmer believes he has been relegated to protective custody (PC) for more than 18 months, rather than transferred to general population (GP) at the earliest opportunity in […]
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Tennessee: Harmer Reports GP Inmate Cuts Hair of PC Inmates, but No Legal Aides Allowed
“THIS IS EVERY MONTH” by Sharon Rondeau (Feb. 14, 2019) — A letter dated February 1, 2019 directed to Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) Commissioner Tony Parker states that protective-custody inmates at the Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX) are denied “access to the courts” in the form of a legal aide. Inmate Grenda Ray Harmer, […]
Posted inPolitics
Madison County, TN: Why is Timothy Aaron Baxter in Prison if the Jury Was Corrupted?
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IGNORED IN CASE OF MAN SENTENCED TWICE TO PRISON by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 26, 2019) — On Monday The Post & Email interviewed Lee Baxter, father of Timothy Aaron Baxter, who has been imprisoned by the State of Tennessee’s Department of Correction (TDOC) since 2011 on a Madison County jury conviction on […]
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Tennessee: Harmer Reports “Statewide Lockdown”
AMID RE-ACCREDITATION OF THREE FACILITIES BY NATIONAL CORRECTIONAL ORGANIZATION by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 22, 2019) — In two letters received last week and on Tuesday, respectively, MCCX inmate Grenda Ray Harmer, #88710, reported that on January 8, a gang member was stabbed dozens of times and all Tennessee prisons subsequently placed in “lockdown” mode, meaning […]
Posted inPolitics
Tennessee: Johnny Royston Sr. Reports Medications Restored, But Retaliation Intensifies
SAYS STAFF EXERTING “REVENGE” FOR “EXPOSING CORRUPTION” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 7, 2019) — A letter received Monday from TDOC inmate Johnny Royston Sr., #319940, reports that Royston’s two medications withheld for “more than two months,” as he reported previously, have been restored to his daily regimen but that four staff members have made specific […]
Posted inStates
TDOC Inmate Johnny Royston Sr. Fears for His Life After Reporting Denial of Medications
“MURDER” OR “INJURY” by Sharon Rondeau (Jan. 4, 2019) — A letter received Friday from Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) inmate Johnny Royston Sr., who is housed at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville, states that he is experiencing retaliation after informing this reporter last month that he had not received his prescription […]
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Harmer Reports Over-Supply of Medication in Violation of TDOC Policy
FAULTS MEDICAL STAFF’S RECORD-KEEPING by Sharon Rondeau (Dec. 27, 2018) — On Monday The Post & Email received two letters from TDOC inmate Grenda Ray Harmer, #88710, in a single envelope. The first is a handwritten copy of a letter to Dr. Edmund Lane, MD, from Harmer stating that rather than being deprived of one […]
Posted inPolitics
TTCC Inmate Claims Medications Denied for “Over Two Months”
“I AM IN A LOT OF PAIN” by Sharon Rondeau (Dec. 24, 2018) — A letter received Monday from TDOC inmate Johnny F. Royston, who is housed at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Complex (TTCC) in Hartsville, reports that medications he was taking for a heart condition and pain were discontinued “over two months” ago. “I […]