Gov. Bill Haslam is urging Tennesseans to wait until a report on prison safety is released, rather than drawing conclusions from how the review is being conducted.
The Republican governor defended an audit under way from the American Correctional Association, which is inspecting three Tennessee prisons following reports of violence, staffing shortages and low morale across the system.
Critics say that’s not nearly enough. They note the ACA has close ties to prison officials, including Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield, and say the hurried review is all but guaranteed to give the state a clean bill of health.
But Haslam says they shouldn’t be too sure.
“Nobody’s seen the audit yet, so I don’t know how you criticize something you haven’t seen,” Haslam told reporters Thursday. “These are people who have run prison systems in other states. If somebody thinks you’re going to trick them, I think that they’re probably kidding themselves.”
The governor says the ACA will deliver its report directly to state lawmakers when they’re finished, without any interference from the administration.
No timetable has been set for its release, but it could come as soon as this month.
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