The private prison company CoreCivic operates four prisons in Tennessee, a service for which the state pays over $200 million a year. But the government can withhold some of that money if CoreCivic violates Tennessee standards for prison operation.
In a state Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Department of Correction Inspector General Kim Gulden said the state has clawed back a significant amount of its payments to CoreCivic over the last few years.
“Dating back to 2022, we have assessed a total of, (including) some pending amounts, $29,597,146.08,” she said.
The company’s biggest contract violation is severe understaffing. The federal Department of Justice is investigating Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility, a CoreCivic prison in Hartsville where three staff members were attacked and injured by a prisoner earlier this week. The DOJ says it is one of the most understaffed prisons in the country. It also has a higher homicide rate than any other U.S. prison.
Even though the state Department of Correction has repeatedly fined CoreCivic, the state legislature increased payments to the company this year by $7 million.
