It’s been the routine so long that Bledsoe County Clerk and Master Greg Forgey says he doesn’t even think about it anymore.
The 971 inmates at the Southeastern Tennessee State Regional Correctional Facility produce dozens of court filings every year in the county’s Chancery and Circuit courts.
The new Bledsoe County Correctional Complex going up next door to the existing prison will add 1,444 inmates to the county when it’s finished in 2012, but officials say it’s not clear how much impact the influx will have on local courts’ caseloads.
Courts have handled the state prisoner caseload since the existing prison opened in 1980, and court officials compare notes, Forgey said.
“I’ve talked to other clerks in other counties where they have state prisons. We share ideas. We’re pretty much doing the same thing,” said Forgey, Chancery Court clerk and master for the last 20 years.