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| Panel: Prison officers in cahoots with inmates |
| By Nashville City Paper |
| Published: 04/18/2005 |
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Some Tennessee prison officers may be working with inmates to smuggle contraband into state prisons, and incarcerated gang members may be getting their friends jobs as prison officers - but the state has no money to stop the practices. The Senate State and Local Government Committee deferred the approval of the Department of Correction's budget for one week to give Correction Commissioner Quenton White a chance to meet with Gov. Phil Bredesen once more to see if there is any chance to set aside funding to fight contraband smuggling into prisons. The Department of Correction has terminated approximately 35 employees for introducing contraband into a correctional facility in the past year, spokeswoman Amanda Sluss said. The number includes any form of contraband such as drugs, weapons, alcohol, street clothes, foot items or cigarettes. In addition, White said, about 70 cell phones have been confiscated at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning in the last 12 months. While the West Tennessee State Penitentiary has the highest confiscation of cell phones, the Hardeman County Correctional Center has the overall highest number of detected contraband, Assistant Commissioner of Operations Roland Colson said. Colson said there are ways to jam cell phones, but they would require a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In addition, selective interception of cell phone calls would cost the state about $1 million per facility, Coslon said. Money for drug dogs was also cut from the prison program, making it hard to find drugs on visitors since they can just leave if they refuse to be searched. White said he is cautious in speaking publicly about some of the measures and suspicions the department has concerning some of its officers. But high turnover and low salary (a prison officer starts out making $11.11 an hour) are part of the problem. The department's internal affairs division has about seven staff members who are known to the prison population - a fact that prevents most undercover work. |
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