CoreCivic official responds to concerns about Whiteville Correctional conditions

WHITEVILLE, Tenn. — Officials at Whiteville Correctional Facility are responding to a number of recent concerns surrounding the facility.

Earlier this year, several media outlets reported an incident involving inmates “restraining” an officer, which initiated lockdown procedures. Following that incident, multiple Tipsters reached out to us with concerns about conditions within the facility.

Additionally, Tipsters also alerted us to an inmate death that occurred on September 6.

Brian Todd, Manager of Public Affairs at CoreCivic, provided a response that addresses multiple topics, including staffing, meals, contraband, and use of lockdowns.

Todd states in part, “We take seriously our mission and obligation to provide a safe, humane, and appropriate environment for those in our care.”

CoreCivic is privately owned with facilities across the U.S., including Whiteville Correctional Facility and Hardeman County Correctional Facility. Further data and annual reports on the facilities can be found at this link.

View the full statement from Brian Todd below:

We take seriously our mission and obligation to provide a safe, humane, and appropriate environment for those in our care.  Our Whiteville Correctional Facility (WCF), and all our facilities, are subject to multiple layers of oversight and are monitored very closely by our government partners at the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) to ensure our full compliance with policies and procedures.

On Wednesday, September 6, at 10:48 a.m. CDT, a medical emergency was called at WCF. Medical responders immediately assessed an unresponsive inmate and initiated CPR. The decision was quickly made to transport the individual to an outside hospital for further medical treatment. Medical staff continued to perform CPR until EMS arrived to transport the individual. The individual was pronounced deceased by a physician at the hospital. We immediately alerted our partners at TDOC, and the death is under investigation. 

What follows are initiatives and efforts that have and will continue to be our primary focus at WCF.  

Staffing and Recruitment
Correctional agencies across the country, both public and private, have faced staffing challenges. Even as CoreCivic focuses on addressing these challenges, we work to meet or exceed our daily staffing patterns, which are designed to ensure the safety of the facility. Those staffing patterns are reviewed and approved by our partners at TDOC.

We have worked hard to strengthen our employee recruiting efforts at all of our Tennessee facilities including WCF by significantly increasing wages and bonuses. These efforts are in lock step with TDOC, and we appreciate their support as we work together to ensure safe, secure facilities system-wide. Our training managers also set teamwork goals and educate staff on other incentives and benefits such as health insurance, a 401(k) matching savings and retirement plan, paid time off, the CoreCivic University program, the CoreCivic Scholarship Fund, and more. We continue to monitor and adjust recruitment and retention efforts to ensure we remain an attractive option for job seekers.  

Meals and Nutrition
Any allegation that WCF’s kitchen has been closed or that inmates aren’t receiving meals is false.  We proudly serve three nutritious meals every day to everyone in our care at WCF. Staff and leadership at the facility also routinely eat the same meals that are served to inmates.  

Contraband
The introduction of contraband in correctional settings is a nationwide challenge that requires close and constant collaboration to prevent. CoreCivic has a zero-tolerance policy for the introduction of contraband into our facilities. We work as one team with local, state, and federal law enforcement on investigative and intervention efforts to remove, detect, and prevent the introduction of contraband at any of our facilities. At WCF, and all our other Tennessee-based facilities, we are using the new body scanner screening technologies that were recently announced by TDOC. You can read more about these full body scanners here. 

Use of Lockdowns
It is important to understand that a lockdown can be used for a variety of reasons to ensure safety, including regular precautionary facility-wide security searches. This procedure is not unique to WCF and is a commonly used safety measure in correctional settings throughout Tennessee and across the country.

In both policy and practice, CoreCivic respects the dignity of every individual entrusted to our care.  We have clear lines of communication for those in our care to make concerns known without fear of repercussions, including in-facility reporting, a company-wide hotline accessible anonymously internally and externally, and direct access to our government partners.  

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