Hamilton County prosecutors were shocked to learn that a confessed cop-killer and former fugitive is being housed in a medium security prison.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston said he was contacted Thursday about Jesse Mathews' placement at Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tenn.
State offices were closed Monday for President's Day. Pinkston said he had not received a response since he sent the letter Thursday.
Pinkston said this morning he immediately contacted the Tennessee Department of Corrections last week and then sent a detailed letter of Mathews' criminal history and a possible escape attempt while he was here in Hamilton County.
While awaiting trial Mathews told jailers he had an ice pick lodged in his rectum that he could not remove. He was transported to a local hospital but medical officials never found an ice pick. Pinkston wrote in the letter that Mathews could have been lying about the ice pick but either way his behavior presented danger to the public and law enforcement.
For more see tomorrow's Times Free Press.
Todd South covers courts, poverty, technology, military and veterans for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper since 2008 and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact ...
related articles »
Tennessee corrections officials are trying to learn how a cop-killer got put in a medium security prison despite a history ...
An admitted cop-killer has been moved from a medium security prison in Tiptonville, Tenn. to the maximum security West Tennessee ...
For a story that began with such a maelstrom of violence — police sirens, shouts and gunfire — the ending ...
Admitted cop-killer Jesse Mathews accepted a plea offer from prosecutors and will serve life without parole plus 25 years for ...
