Ex-Warden Says He Was Forced To Cut Staffing At West Tennessee Prison

The former warden at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary says he was forced to sign a request to reduce staffing as part of a cost-saving move. That decision, he says, has put the safety of guards and inmates in jeopardy.

Jerry Lester, who has
spoken out before,  is one of several officers who’ve accused Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield and his staff of putting cost-cutting ahead safety.

Now, with the help of Democrats in the state legislature, Lester’s putting out documents. One is a 2012 memo that asks to mix inmates who represented different threat levels into the same cellblocks.

Doing so meant the prison could station just one guard in a “pod” of 128 prisoners, instead of two.

Lester says he didn’t like it but had no choice.

“I needed my job, and anybody that works for Commissioner Schofield knows him,” Lester told reporters Friday. “They know you either play ball, you go along with his game plan, or you hit the road.”

Lester also released a PowerPoint from the department that lays out the rationale. The presentation recommends changing how inmates are classified to “avoid possible criticism” from mixing less dangerous and more dangerous prisoners.

Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, arranged the release. He says federal investigators should step in.

The Department of Correction denies that the reclassification of inmates was meant to save money.

“Prior to Commissioner Schofield’s administration, some inmates were placed on the highest level of segregation for non-violent offenses,” department spokesperson Neysa Taylor writes in a statement.

In 2012, Taylor says wardens reviewed inmates based on gang affiliation and discipline history. They met with each offender to make the decision, she says.

”
This was an effective, strategic part of the Department’s management of the offender population,” Taylor says. “
It must be noted that most of these reintegrations into lower classification units were successful. More than 90% of the inmates that were stepped down were successfully reintergrated into the general population.”