Latest news with #CoreCivic-run
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee lawmakers send message to private prisons
Tim Leeper, the father of a man who was stabbed at a CoreCivic facility and later died, testifies. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout © 2025) Tennessee's legislature put the state's private-prison operator on notice to keep death rates down or face a reduction in inmates, a move that could cut its state payments. House members voted 93-0 Monday in favor of House Bill 1144 by Republican Rep. Clark Boyd of Lebanon, which would require the inmate population at each CoreCivic-run prison to be reduced 10% if the death rate there is twice as high as the rate at a comparable state-run prison. The Senate previously approved its version of the bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon. Boyd told lawmakers the bill is designed to bring 'accountability to the number of inmate deaths and violence' in Tennessee's private prisons. Inmates would be 'absorbed' by state prisons without an increased cost to the state, he said. 'Just losing 10% of their inmate population would hit them hard financially,' said Boyd, who worked with Lebanon resident Tim Leeper, whose son died of an overdose at privately-run Trousdale Turner. Tennessee levied $44.78 million in penalties against private prison operator in three years CoreCivic, a publicly-traded company that runs four state prisons, has struggled to keep its facilities staffed at the level required by state contracts. The Department of Correction penalized CoreCivic numerous times over the last few years, levying $44.78 million in liquidated damages for contractual shortfalls, mainly related to low staffing. A State Comptroller audit showed Trousdale Turner had a 146% employee turnover rate in 2023, making it harder to oversee inmates. The prison, which is under a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, had a 33.7% staff vacancy rate most recently, compared with 26% at state-run prisons, officials said. Trousdale Turner has had the highest number of deaths in a state prison for men the past few years, with 98 confirmed by death certificates from 2019 through 2022, including 30 overdoses, according to state figures. Whiteville Correctional Facility in Hardeman County had 53 deaths, 21 of those by overdose, in those four years. South Central Correctional Facility, also run by CoreCivic, reported 46 deaths, nine of them by overdose in that time frame. In comparison, Morgan County Correctional, a state-run facility, had 41 deaths, including 11 overdoses. Northwest Correctional Facility reported 44 deaths with 19 overdoses in those four years. Despite the shortcomings, the Department of Correction defends the prison company, calling it a valuable state 'partner.' The state has had trouble staffing the remaining 10 prisons, as well. CoreCivic says prisoner safety, health and well-being are 'top priority' and that each facility has an emergency response team to handle medical care. The company also says all prison deaths are reported immediately for investigation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Yahoo
Former corrections workers battle CoreCivic opening Leavenworth ICE detention center
Marcia Levering, left, on Thursday shared her story of being attacked by an inmate at a CoreCivic-run detention facility in Leavenworth, Kansas, and the resulting 16 surgeries that left her disabled. She was supported by her friend and another former detention employee Shari Rich. (Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector) LEAVENWORTH — Around the corner from a defunct for-profit prison owned by Tennessee-based CoreCivic, Marcia Levering walked carefully across a grassy field to a podium at Ray Miller Park, aided by her cane and a friend, to speak out against the company's desire to open an ICE detention facility. Levering, who now lives in Nebraska, worked at the CoreCivic's Leavenworth Detention Center for 10 months beginning in 2020 before she was stabbed four times by an inmate — once in the ear, once in the right arm, and twice in the abdomen. She shared her experience at a Thursday press conference hosted by ACLU Kansas, Cross-Border Network for Justice & Solidarity and Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, speaking out against CoreCivic's desire to reopen the prison and house immigrants. 'As usual, we were understaffed,' Levering said of the attack. 'There are two officers in Q building, when there should have been seven. I was in training for a new position. The day of my assault, on Feb. 6, 2021, I was coming out of my office. Unit Four accidentally buzzed open the wrong door, allowing an inmate to come out, throwing boiling water in my face and stab me four times.' Levering said corrections officers expect to be in danger, but a pattern of understaffing and poor working conditions made the job much more dangerous than it should have been. The CoreCivic facility closed in 2021 when its contract with the United States Marshal's Service ended. Reports by oversight agencies when the Leavenworth facility closed highlighted problems at the facility, including understaffing and the use of 'triple bunking' in cells, a practice of adding a third bunk to a cell designed for two inmates. Leavenworth citizens and others from across the state have stepped forward to protest CoreCivic's plant to reopen, speaking out through public rallies and at city meetings. City officials heard and responded. The most recent step in disagreements between the city and CoreCivic officials was a lawsuit filed March 31. The city said the company had not followed a proper permitting process to reopen. Shari Rich, who worked at the CoreCivic facility for 13 years, attended Thursday to put her voice to those urging the city of Leavenworth to keep the detention center closed. Her first years with the company were good, and she considered the facility well run. But in the last six years, it steadily deteriorated, she said. 'I worked control,' she said, explaining that was the eyes and ears of the building, keeping oversight of what was happening. 'And usually we had two to three officers up there at all times. At the end, when she (Levering) got hurt, there was only one person manning that whole place. There are 24 pods.' Using her hands, Rich counted how many doors and gates that was for one person to watch, a total that came to more than 45. 'So one person was manning that whole place,' Rich said. 'This was inevitable,' Levering interjected about the attack that left her partially paralyzed and for which she underwent 16 surgeries. 'A matter of when.' Esmie Tseng, spokeswoman for ACLU of Kansas, said the Thursday press conference was a way to keep the issue in front of the Leavenworth community. Although organizations put the event together, she said it's important that the city be the focus. 'I definitely want it to be more of a bridge for the folks that have these stories to tell, who know firsthand the impact that the facility had on them,' she said. 'I think we need to keep remembering that there are people who are at the heart of this.' Tseng said the city's officials have stepped up for those who shared their disagreement with CoreCivic reopening. 'It sort of took on its own momentum, right?' she said. 'I think it's such an issue that, like, really spoke to people. I really want to make sure that CoreCivic doesn't just get to dominate the conversation.' CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin disagreed, calling the facility's opponents 'politically extreme, out-of-touch, outsider groups that want to tell the people of Leavenworth what to do.' 'The fact is the Leavenworth community wants our facility, the 300 jobs it will create, and the $2 million in annual local revenue it will generate,' Gustin said. 'It's time for the city commission to reject outside groups from hijacking this issue for their own political gain at the expense of the Leavenworth economy. Elected leaders should tell these outside groups to stop sending the message that the public safety profession is not welcome in Leavenworth. 'CoreCivic will operate a safe, transparent, and accountable facility that will be positive for the community,' he said. William Rogers, another former employee of CoreCivic, has become a grassroots advocate, filling out Kansas Open Records Requests and tracking down building permits and emails as he fights to stop the company from reopening a facility. When speaking about holding an inmate, Dillon Reed, as he died, Rogers' voice broke and he struggled to go on. 'I still see Dillon Reed at night sometimes when I go to bed,' Rogers said. 'He was a good kid. He should have never died in there. He died because of staff negligence. People are humans in there. They're inmates, but they're humans. I think every one of us need to understand that these people have families. They have people that love them. We had a job to do, and we failed that day.' Rogers received pointed out that CoreCivic promised in emails, which he provided to Kansas Reflector, to use local contractors to do all the upgrades the facility. But when he got a copy of a building permit for the complete removal and replacement of the roof, the contractor was a Texas company, Bass Roofing and Restoration LLC. CoreCivic also offered, in emails from CoreCivic's John Malloy: 'A one-time impact fee payment of $1,000,000 An annual impact fee payment of $250,000 An annual impact fee to the police department of $150,000″ The company also said it expects to employ 300 to 350 full-time employees with a total salary and benefit package between $25 million and $30.2 million per year. Sister Jean Panisko, with the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, was the opening speaker Thursday. 'We're Catholic women, religious, devoted to the work of justice, peace and upholding the integrity of creation,' she said. 'We applaud the city commissioners for their actions, for listening to our community and protecting the city by suing CoreCivic, asking them to apply for a special-use permit with money provided by our government.' Panisko said CoreCivic is promising conditions won't be the same, but she said the facility 'wasn't closed by chance.' 'It was shut down by the previous presidential administration after serious reports and ultimately finding mismanagement, abuse conditions,' she said. 'The closure was and continues to be an indictment of a failed system, one that prioritizes progress over people, efficiency over empathy and contracts over projects.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee Senate puts restriction on private prisons with high death rate
The Tennessee legislature is considering a measure to force private prison contractor CoreCivic to lower the size of inmate populations in facilities with high death rates. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) Tennessee's Senate passed legislation Monday that would force the state's private-prison operator to lower the inmate population in facilities with high death rates. Senators voted 30-0 in favor of Senate Bill 1115 sponsored by Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon, who wants to renew the legislature's correction oversight board and take action if the private operator, CoreCivic, can't bring down death rates. The bill would require the inmate population at CoreCivic-run prisons to be reduced by 10% if the death rate there is twice as high as the rate at a comparable state-run prison. It also requires the company to resolve problems causing high death rates. The House version, HB114, backed by Republican Rep. Clark Boyd of Lebanon isn't expected to be considered until House members approve a budget, likely within two weeks. Pody said he anticipates no problems getting the House version passed. Lebanon resident Tim Leeper said after Monday's vote he believes prison privatization has no benefits, except for CoreCivic shareholders. The Senate vote sends a message that lawmakers aren't satisfied with private prisons, he added. 'It puts us on record and it puts legislators on record, now we have a problem. If we didn't have a problem, we wouldn't have legislation that has proceeded up to this point, unanimously,' said Leeper, whose son died of an overdose at Trousdale Turner prison, one of four the company runs in Tennessee. State Comptroller audits show Trousdale Turner had a 146% employee turnover rate in 2023, making it more difficult to check on prisoners and avert murders and drug overdoses. Trousdale Turner, which is under a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, has a correction officer vacancy rate of 33.7%, compared with 26% at state-run prisons, officials said earlier this year. Still, the state is seeking a $6.8 million contract increase for the private prison operator despite penalizing the company $44.78 million since 2022 for contractual shortfalls, $15 million in the last half year. CoreCivic, which is paid based on the number of inmates it houses, doesn't pay those penalties but simply forgoes state payments. A spokesperson for CoreCivic said in a recent email statement that prisoner safety, health and well-being is 'top priority' and that each facility has emergency response teams to handle medical care. All deaths are reported immediately to the state for investigation, he said. Tennessee Correction Commissioner Frank Strada has called the company an important 'partner.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stockard on the Stump: Lawmakers push private-prison operator to cut death rates
Private prison operator CoreCivic is up for a $6.8 million contract increase from the Tennessee Department of Corrections despite paying $44.78 million to the state since 2022 for failing to meet contract specifications. (Photo: John Partipilo) A Lebanon man whose son died of an overdose at Trousdale Turner prison is accusing the state's private-prison operator of 'chronic and intentional understaffing' that could have contributed to the death. 'There are not enough guards to run a safe and secure prison. Instead, it's become a haven for gangs, dealing drugs, and these drugs are killing inmates,' said Tim Leeper in testimony before the House State and Local Government Committee Wednesday. Leeper told the panel the state should take over Tennessee's four privately-run prisons and remove CoreCivic because it's putting profits ahead of prisoners. The committee followed by unanimously endorsing House Bill 1144 by Republican Rep. Clark Boyd of Lebanon, which would require the inmate population at each CoreCivic-run prison to be reduced 10% if the death rate there is twice as high as the rate at a comparable state-run prison. Tennessee levied $44.78 million in penalties against private prison operator in three years State Comptroller audits show Trousdale Turner had a 146% employee turnover rate in 2023, making it more difficult to check on prisoners and avert murders and drug overdoses. Trousdale Turner, which is under a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, has a vacancy rate of 33.7%, compared with 26% at state-run prisons, officials said earlier this year. Still, the state is seeking a $6.8 million contract increase for the private prison operator despite penalizing the company $44.78 million since 2022 for contractual shortfalls, $15 million in the last half year. CoreCivic doesn't pay those penalties but simply forgoes state payments. And Boyd told the Lookout he doesn't believe the penalties are stiff enough to make CoreCivic, a publicly-traded company, change course. The Department of Correction consistently defends the prison company, calling it a valuable state 'partner' and commending it for trying to bolster staff. The state is having its own problems keeping officers. Leeper hired a private investigator to look into the cause of son's death after the young man succumbed to a fentanyl overdose two years at age 25 while serving time for arson Trousdale Turner. 'The more I looked into how it happened the more frustrated I became, because these deaths were extremely preventable,' Leeper said to the Lookout. The young man suffered a stab wound the first day he was transferred to Trousdale Turner in May 2023 and died just six months later, his father said, adding his son suffered from anxiety because of constant fear he would be knifed again. A correction officer even told him he needed a shank or 'butcher' to protect himself, Leeper said. The elder Leeper called the state's prison system the 'catch-all' for people with mental illness, childhood trauma and substance abuse, a place where society 'warehouses people away from us because it makes us feel safe.' CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin responded to the criticism with an email statement saying prisoner safety, health and well-being is 'top priority' and that each facility has emergency response teams to handle medical care. All deaths are reported immediately to the state for investigation. 'All of our Tennessee facilities are subject to multiple layers of oversight by TDOC and independent third parties like the American Correctional Association. TDOC employs full-time, on-site contract monitors at each of our facilities who work to ensure our full compliance with prescribed policies and procedures,' Gustin said. Yet even with President Donald Trump pardoning crimes and cutting civil rights investigations, the probe into CoreCivic's Trousdale Turner continues. Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon, who is sponsoring the bill's Senate version, said Thursday he wants to renew the legislature's correction oversight board, which was removed six years ago by former House Speaker Glen Casada. Pody said statistics show more deaths occur in CoreCivic prisons than in the rest of the state's prisons. 'If it can't get under control, I think we need to do something legislatively so we don't put people at risk in the prisons,' Pody said. For a start, Pody said he wants more timely and accurate information so lawmakers can make better decisions. But any bill resurrecting prison oversight will have to wait until next year. Lawmakers are shutting down committees and trying to adjourn by mid-April so they can skedaddle before the kickback corruption trial for Casada and former staffer Cade Cothren begins. About 20 members have been subpoenaed to testify, and the trial is becoming the elephant in the room. Their priorities are set, but other than the Boyd-Pody bill, they don't appear to involve reining in CoreCivic. A week after the Senate Judiciary Committee killed a bill supported by the Tennessee Innocence Project, the measure is coming back to life. Senate Bill 256, sponsored by Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga, would set a procedure for inmates to seek post-conviction relief based on new evidence that wasn't available at the time of their conviction. It's slated to be heard – again – in committee next week. House Bill 601, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman of Nashville, is to be heard Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee. The rebirth came after Chairman Gardenhire and other committee members signed a letter this week showing their support for revival. Republican Sen. Paul Rose's support was critical after he voted against the measure initially. The Covington Republican said he was persuaded to change his stance after seeing an amendment that sends applications for post-conviction relief through district attorneys. 'This is something that needs to be fixed. We really wanted it, so we worked with the Innocence Project, the district attorneys and got to a really good place,' Rose told the Lookout. Considering most of the legislature's criminal justice bills lock people up for good, this is a reversal of sorts. Maybe they don't have tin man's disease after all. Nah, what am I thinking? In a shocking turn of events, the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee endorsed a Democrat's bill, one that would require personal liability insurance for watercraft such as jet skis. Sen. Heidi Campbell of Nashville pushed the measure through the committee when the late Roy Herron's wife, Nancy, testified about the need to insure personal watercraft because of the risks involved with riding them. A minimum age for driving them had been removed from the bill. Herron, a West Tennessee lawmaker for more than a quarter-century then a lobbyist, died from a jet ski accident on Kentucky Lake. He was enjoying a family outing with family in July 2023 when an 11-year-old boy plowed into his jet ski at a high rate of speed. Herron died a week later at Vanderbilt hospital. His son's friend, Kala McDonald, was seriously injured as well and continues to receive treatment despite returning to medical school, according to Mrs. Herron. 'This financial responsibility provision may seem to some people like a small thing. But it would have meant so much to Kala,' she said, adding insurance costs only about $100. Mrs. Herron implored the committee to take action, and shockingly, they did. Are we starting to see a new theme here? Maybe not. A heated exchange between Memphis Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson and Sevierville Republican Rep. Andrew Farmer forced the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee into recess Wednesday. Pearson, who has been absent from the hill following the death of his brother by gun suicide in December, brought a bill that would repeal permitless carry in Tennessee, calling on the legislature to act on gun violence instead of offering 'some empty thoughts and prayers.' Farmer replied it was unfair for Pearson to 'lecture (the committee) on hard work and convictions' when 'every member in this committee has been here this year … but you have not.' An incensed Pearson shouted back that hard work means passing better laws and fighting 'for a state where everybody is able to live more freely from the pain of gun violence that me and my family are experiencing.' He said if Farmer 'can't take that,' he should 'learn to shut up.' Farmer responded that he also has a family and makes sacrifices every year to participate in the legislature. 'It's very common in your party when you disagree with a comment — and I was not disrespectful to you — that you resort to yelling,' Farmer said. The two lawmakers were separated by their colleagues during the recess. Pearson issued a statement later saying he has been working on constituent service while dealing with family tragedy. Hallway talk, though, is that Republicans could be considering a way to punish Pearson for the incident, in part because he approached Farmer in the committee room and had to be restrained. Conflict between Farmer and Pearson dates back to 2023 when the Sevierville attorney helped lead expulsion hearings against Pearson, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Gloria Johnson. It wasn't pretty as House Republicans expelled Pearson and Jones for leading a gun-control rally on the floor but narrowly voted to keep Johnson. Memphis and Metro Nashville councils returned Pearson and Jones to the House the following week, and international publicity enabled them to raise nearly $1 million each. The expulsion left House Republican leaders with more than egg on their faces, and kicking Pearson out again would only come back to haunt them. The problem is this week's blow-up could have been avoided, plain and simple. The House version of Republican Sen. Brent Taylor's bill to investigate and potentially impeach Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy was taken off notice this week, for a supposed technicality. The Tennessee Journal, though, is reporting that Taylor's bill has devolved into creation of a disciplinary board to review that actions of district attorneys and court officers. Asked where the matter stands this week, Taylor promised big doings. But this appears to be an attempt to study the matter rather than go directly after Mulroy, a Democrat, which means the impeachment or expulsion is dead. Taylor kept running into opposition from Senate leaders who didn't want to micromanage district attorneys, and others say there wasn't much to the matter, except Taylor's dislike for Mulroy. Nothing like a good tempest in a teapot. Lawmakers outlawed chemtrails last year, those pesky white plumes emitted from jets, which is why we need more skyhawks to survey the heavens. But that wasn't enough. Protectors of the atmosphere and everything we breathe wanted to stiffen penalties for entities that spread those lines across the sky. The House went along with Republican Rep. Monty Fritts' bill, passing it with ease this session. But the Senate said, 'not so fast, my friends.' Republican Sen. Janice Bowling this week argued that Congress is continuing to fund geo-engineering weather modification efforts while so-called experts claim that aerosol injections into the atmosphere can help stop the 'climate crisis' by reducing the intensity of sunlight hitting the Earth. But alas, the Senate energy and ag committee killed the last chance for Tennesseans to 'breathe deep the gathering gloom.' The House voted 73-21 Thursday morning to honor the 'estimable' Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins for his efforts over the years to run elections – some say into the ground, considering the state ranks near the bottom in election participation. The resolution prepared by Republican Rep. Tim Rudd of Murfreesboro said Goins worked with the General Assembly to enact laws ensuring 'fair, secure, and free elections,' including requiring photo IDs, voting machine vendor ethics regulations and anti-election hacking. If only he'd been in charge of elections in every state five years ago, we could have avoided the 'stop the steal' campaign and the Jan. 6 insurrection. While Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor of recognizing Goins – even though it's not a great practice to congratulate someone until they retire or die – Democrats weren't as amiable. Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell of Nashville told the House chamber, if Goins had been a local school district, he would have been taken over and turned into a charter school. The Cordell Hull Building is packed these days with folks from across the state coming to lobby lawmakers or, it seems, to hang out and ride the elevators. One soul, though, apparently decided he'd had enough of the legislature's shenanigans outside the building and took it upon himself to urinate on the sacred Cordell. People on the Hill are accustomed to people raising a ruckus or sitting quietly holding 8-by-11 signs, but one wise guy said, 'This isn't peaceful protest but pee-ful protest.' 'Broken glass everywhere, people p—ing on the stairs, you know they just don't care / I can't stand the smell, can't take the noise.' – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: The Message WRITER'S NOTE: Lookout reporter Cassie Stephenson contributed to this conglomeration.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TDOC official ‘satisfied' with CoreCivic contract, says TN is ‘holding them accountable'
A Senate committee on Tuesday approved a $7 million funding boost for private prison operator CoreCivic amid an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged violations at the company's Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, and chronic state contract violations that have resulted in nearly $30 million in fines. Members of the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved the Department of Corrections' budget request – including a $91.5 million spending increase this year. Of the $91.5 million in new funding, $36.9 million will go toward boosting TDOC employee salaries, $21.7 million will go toward Hepatitis C treatments for inmates, and the remainder will go to contract inflators, including the $7 million boost for private prison operator CoreCivic. CoreCivic, a publicly traded, for-profit company, runs four state prisons through a series of contracts with the state and local county governments. CoreCivic's Trousdale facility ― the largest state prison in Tennessee ― has come under scrutiny amid an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, launched last year. While requesting the committee approve the contract increase for the private prison company, TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada touted the state's 'very strong relationship' with CoreCivic. 'We have a very good partnership with the privates. They help us with population management,' Strada said. 'When you have close to 20,000 inmates, they help us with those inmates that we can't house in the state facilities.' CoreCivic's political action committee is among the biggest spenders in Tennessee politics, donating heavily to Republican leaders. The PAC contributed more than $100,000 to candidates in the 2022 and 2018 cycles. Gov. Bill Lee's campaign directly received at least $85,300 from CoreCivic Inc. and its partner PAC during the 2018 and 2022 cycles. Advocates have called for an external oversight panel to uphold prison standards and bolster inmate and staff safety in light of the ongoing nationwide corrections staffing crisis. Strada has balked at the suggestion. Tennessee routinely fines CoreCivic millions of dollars for failing to meet the requirements of its state prison contracts, often for insufficient staffing. While corrections systems nationwide are facing a staffing crisis, vacancies and turnover are pronounced at CoreCivic-run facilities in Tennessee, audits have repeatedly found. Since 2022, the state has fined CoreCivic $29.5 million for contract violations across all four facilities, and at least $15 million since 2019 for contract violations at Trousdale alone. Chronic understaffing at Trousdale has led to prisoner assaults, overdoses, lack of medical treatment, and families forced to pay extortion payments in hopes of keeping their loved ones safe from incarcerated gang members. Former inmates, guards and families have brought lawsuits, testified in legislative hearings, and spoken publicly about how short staffing at Trousdale have led to prisoner injuries and deaths. More: Why former guard and others say CoreCivic understaffs this troubled small town prison Despite persistent contract failures, Strada said the state is successfully requiring CoreCivic to deliver on its obligations to taxpayers. 'I think we're holding them accountable, yes,' Strada said. 'I think they are doing the best that they can, and I do think they're a partner for us in the state, especially when it comes to population management.' Strada defended the state's system of fines as effectively holding CoreCivic accountable, but offered no evidence of progress the corporation has made toward fulfilling contractual staffing obligations. 'We have contract monitors at each location that enforce our contract,' Strada said. 'Where they're not meeting the contract, we do fine them.' Since opening in 2016, CoreCivic's Trousdale facility has still never been in full compliance with its state contract. The company saw more than $2 billion in revenue last year. 'Costs go up – it's not a pay raise, it's an inflator,' Strada told reporters Tuesday. 'It's built in every contract, not just in the private prison contract.' Incidentally, CoreCivic's contract inflator covers a significant portion of the cost of the state fines for contract violations. Although the Justice Department's investigation into conditions at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center centers on TDOC, CoreCivic officials have said the company would work with TDOC and the DOJ to address areas of concern. Company spokespeople have noted staffing challenges in corrections across the nation and said it is taking steps to address understaffing at the prison, including hosting recruiting events in surrounding counties and raising pay in recent years. Strada on Tuesday touted CoreCivic's work to reduce contraband and incidents over the last two years, despite persisting reports of drugs being delivered by drone into Trousdale, and at least 16 inmate deaths by overdose at Trousdale between January and November 2024, according to to Department of Health records. 'Their incidents have gone down. We've seen a reduction in contraband and other hard contraband issues,' Strada said Tuesday. Committee Chair Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, acknowledged the many challenges TDOC is facing, including the presence of contraband cell phones, and drugs being smuggled into prison facilities. "We've got a new ... problem with drones flying over and dropping contraband in. I don't think we have even good suggestions yet on that," Briggs said, adding, with a chuckle, "I was wondering if get some good old boys with shotguns might help us. But they're doing it at night, and they may be hard to see." Strada has previously told reporters that drones flying drugs and other contraband into state prison facilities is not in the department's purview. "I have no authority with the drones. There's no authority that the Department of Corrections has on taking the drone down ― that would have to be at the federal level," Strada told reporters after an October hearing. Inmates died of overdoses primarily from combinations of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and xylazine, an illicit drug made from horse tranquillizer and fentanyl. Inmate deaths occur disproportionately at CoreCivic-run facilities. Assignment between TDOC-run prisons and CoreCivic facilities is arbitrary ― essentially creating two systems of justice within Tennessee state prisons. More: Two systems of justice: Families, audits say Tennessee's CoreCivic prisons underperform Asked how he squares claims of progress reducing contraband with the overdose deaths, Strada said TDOC has been active in preventing incidents. 'We fine them. We go in there, we do a review of what happened, and we change whatever procedures we need to change to prevent that,' Strada told reporters after the hearing. TDOC officials said Tuesday the current staff vacancy rate at Trousdale is 33.7% – compared to the statewide vacancy rate of 26.6% across all facilities, including those run by CoreCivic. In 2019, the department's vacancy rate was 20.2%. When asked how many vacancies that would translate to, Strada's chief of staff Richard Muckle told Senators that vacancies would total a maximum of about 50 – 'top end.' According to CoreCivic, there are 320 current employees at Trousdale. The current vacancy rate would indicate that at least 105 staff posts are currently empty. When asked about the issue by The Tennessean after the hearing, Strada said he would "have to go back and look and see if your numbers are accurate." TDOC later clarified to The Tennessean that there are 134 total staff vacancies at Trousdale as of January, including 60 vacant corrections officer positions. Non-officer positions would include other vital staff positions such as medical care, case worker, or other security staff. 'Just like us, they're doing everything that they can to decrease their vacancy rate," Strada said. "We'd like to have it lower, but we're managing with what we have right now.' Reporter Evan Mealins contributed to this report. Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@ This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee's Frank Strada defends CoreCivic's reduction of contraband
