Jesse Mathews is escorted into court in this file photo.BY THE NUMBERSPrisoners in Tennessee state custody: 19,595Number by classificationMaximum: 528, or 2 percentClose: 887, or 5 percentMedium: 6,391, or 33 percentMinimum: 11,789 or 60 percentDaily cost to house an inmateMaximum: $96.75Medium: $62.55Number of Tennessee state prisons: 14Number with maximum-security inmates: 6Source: Tennessee Department of Correction
Jesse Mathews lives alone in a cell 23 hours a day at West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning, Tenn.
He’s in maximum security because he killed Chattanooga police Sgt. Tim Chapin on April 2, 2011, during a robbery on Brainerd Road.
Each week, prison officials review his conduct; soon that will change to a monthly review. If he behaves himself, Mathews eventually will move to medium security where he’ll have a cellmate, a job, education, visitors and contact with other inmates throughout the day.
A month ago fellow officers and members of Chapin’s family were outraged to learn that Mathews initially was classified as medium security. He pleaded guilty in November to killing Chapin and took a plea deal that earned him life without parole instead of facing the death penalty.