HARTSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Within minutes of the news breaking Tuesday that the federal Department of Justice is launching a civil investigation into the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility — managed by private company CoreCivic — NewsChannel 5 got scores of emails from impacted families.
I tried to reach out to as many of them as I could. But there was one story in particular that really caught our attention. It was a young man who was an inmate at the facility for nearly six years. He's trying to get his life back in order, so with that in mind, he asked if we could conceal his identity and not share his name. We granted that request.
The former inmate feels like Trousdale Turner correctional officers know there's a near-constant flow of illegal drugs and persistent gang violence, but don't do enough to stop it.
"They need to rearrange the staff members. Like there are some people that did crooked stuff, and they’re right on back like nothing happened," he said.
"Do you feel like the general public really understands how bad of a problem it is inside?" I asked.
"No I don’t," he quickly replied.
The young man, who was arrested on robbery charges, said he had several close calls, like surviving a stabbing incident and a near deadly overdose.
"I had somebody, well, lace a cigarette I was smoking with Fentanyl and I was dead in 15 minutes, and just thank God that one nurse didn’t give up on me," he told me.
He blames most of the violence on gangs inside the prison and correction officers that allow it to happen.
"If you go to Trousdale, you’ll either gonna have to get affiliated with something or know somebody who’s got some status. If you don’t, your commissary, if you get it, you’re gonna get it took every week," he said.
The former inmate also described a moment where a corrections officer permanently mangled one of his fingers. He claims it was unprovoked.
"The brutality of the staff — like aggressiveness and stuff like that — it’s uncalled for. And then you wonder why people going around stabbing people, stabbing some of the staff too," he said.
"There are some people that will watch this and go, oh, they shouldn’t have been sent to prison. What would be your response to people who might feel that way?" I asked.
"I feel like everybody makes mistakes. You can’t judge somebody on one mistake," he replied.
He seemed hesitant to trust that this new federal investigation would change much at Trousdale Turner.
"When I was locked up, it was a couple of investigations but then it just died off. Never heard about it again," he said.
But he says, if even a few aspects of life behind bars get better at the facility, he will be grateful.
"If y’all can get these guys help, please help them. Please. Because they do need it," he said.
The former inmate says he also suffers from severe PTSD and nightmares as a result of his time at Trousdale Turner.
Gov. Bill Lee was asked about the CoreCivic controversy today. He told reporters, "We will hold them accountable."
You can read more about that here. You can also read more about the DOJ investigation from my colleague Hannah McDonald.
Do you have more information about this story? Emily.West@newschannel5.com, Hannah.McDonald@newschannel5.com, and yours truly at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.comare all following this closely.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
