Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced the departure of Department of Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield to take a job with a publicly-traded corporation that builds and runs prisons.
Haslam praised and thanked Schofield, who has led the department since 2011 and has been criticized frequently for his handling of staffing and safety issues. Schofield, 55, will join GEO Group in Florida as an executive vice president for continuum of care.
The Associated Press reported last month that Tennessee's newest prison had halted new admissions after just four months of full operation. A memorandum from a state prison official about the privately run Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility said guards there did not have control of the housing units and that some were being sent to solitary confinement for no documented reason.
