NASHVILLE – Tennessee’s Correction Department is recommending closing a 745-bed prison in Nashville that for decades has housed lower-security inmates as part of its push to cut costs and put prisoners in the “right bed.”
Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield told Gov. Bill Haslam during his budget presentation for fiscal 2015-16 that closing the Charles B. Bass Correctional Complex will save an estimated $15.28 million annually.
Schofield said inmates would be transferred to other prisons throughout the state that often have similar “annexes” for lower-security prisoners. Some 200 or more guards and other staffers would be transferred to four other facilities in Nashville or nearby, Schofield said.
At the same time, he disclosed the state intends to contract with Trousdale County to house and manage prisoners at its new 2,552 bed prison.
Trousdale has contracted with Nashville-based Correction Corporation of America to run the prison and the move extends CCA’s reach into state prison operations.
Read the complete story in Saturday’s Times Free Press.