The head of the Tennessee Department of Correction is leaving to join a private prison operation company. He departs after a tumultuous period that has raised questions about safety, morale and management of the corrections system.
Commissioner Derrick Schofield will step down June 20 to join GEO Group, a for-profit prison company in Florida. Schofield has resisted pressure to step down since last fall. That’s when complaints about work hours, inmate violence and poor contracting practices came to a head.
An accrediting agency recommended changes to guard schedules and how violence was tracked. Schofield has said his department has adopted many of those practices and that progress has been made.
More recently, the Department of Correction has come under criticism for not doing more to stop an outbreak of hepatitis C in the prisons. But Governor Bill Haslam has stood by Schofield. He says the commissioner has kept the prisons safe and the critics have been unfair.
“I think running that department is real difficult,” Haslam said Wednesday. “I think Derrick has done that in a great way. I will miss having him there.”
One of Schofield’s critics, state Senator Ken Yager, R-Kingston, says he also hoped the commissioner would stay longer.
“Although we don’t agree on every issue, our relationship was such that we could talk very candidly to one another,” Yager said. “He did demonstrate the ability to compromise on some issues.”
But Schofield’s other detractors say it was time for him to go. They say only a new commissioner can get the prison system back on track.
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