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Residents and families urge scrutiny of Trousdale Turner operations and CoreCivic contract after incident
Summary
Two speakers described safety and staffing concerns at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center run by CoreCivic and urged the county to press for a transfer to the Tennessee Department of Correction or to review contract renewals; the commission heard public comment but took no formal action.
Two speakers with ties to neighborhoods near Trousdale Turner Correctional Center described being frightened by an incident at the privately operated facility and urged county leaders to press for changes to how the prison is operated and contracted.
Melissa Shala, who lives on Starlight Road across from the prison, said she and neighbors heard a chaotic police‑scanner narrative during the incident and were not notified that night. “We live so close that any delay in the alerts could have serious consequences to us,” Shala said. She said she had spoken with state and local elected officials, the sheriff and the district attorney after the incident, and that she supports efforts to transfer the prison to the Tennessee Department of Correction and for legislative review of the facility’s population and operations.
Tim Leeper, who said his son died at Trousdale Turner in February, urged commissioners to consider the human and community costs of renewing a contract with CoreCivic. Leeper described assaults and deaths at the facility, raised concerns about understaffing, drugs and violence in the prison and noted an ongoing federal Department of Justice review he said involves Trousdale Turner. “Trousdale Turner got troubled inmates from overcrowded facilities,” Leeper said, and he told the commission the facility has experienced higher mortality and violence than national averages, in his view.
Both speakers asked the commission to evaluate the county’s relationship to the facility and to consider public‑safety and transparency implications before any contract renewals. Melissa Shala said she was filing Freedom of Information Act requests to gather more records, and Leeper urged commissioners to weigh potential community impacts when the county evaluates contracts or related policy decisions.
The commission did not take formal action on the comments during the meeting; the remarks were provided during the public‑comment period. Several speakers said they had contacted or spoken with state officials and the district attorney and pushed for either a transfer of the facility to state control or for closer oversight of CoreCivic.
