Fight in Tennessee prison kills one inmate and injures 5 others

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee inmate has died and five others were injured after fights broke out at a privately run state prison, the facility’s operator said.

Fighting broke out early Saturday at the Hardeman County Correctional Facility in Whiteville, according to Brian Todd, a spokesman for CoreCivic, the company that runs the jail. Todd said the altercations were separate but likely related.

Todd said employees intervened to break up the fighting and provided emergency medical treatment until paramedics could arrive. Six inmates were taken to hospitals, where one of them was pronounced dead.

Two remained hospitalized Wednesday and three others were treated and returned to the jail, Todd said. No prison staff were injured.

The Tennessee Department of Corrections’ Bureau of Investigation and Conduct is handling the ongoing investigation, Todd said.

Another of the four prisons run by CoreCivic in Tennessee, Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, is the subject a US Department of Justice investigation after years of “reports of physical assaults, sexual assaults, murders and the uncontrolled flow of contraband and severe understaffing,” according to U.S. Attorney Henry Leventis.

It’s unclear whether the upcoming administration shift to President-elect Donald Trump will affect the completion of that investigation.

The Tennessee Corrections Agency has fined CoreCivic $37.7 million at four prisons since 2016, including for understaffing violations. Records obtained by The Associated Press also show the company has spent more than $4.4 million to settle about 80 lawsuits and out-of-court complaints alleging mistreatment — including at least 22 inmate deaths — at four Tennessee prisons and two prisons since 2016.

The Brentwood, Tenn.-based company said the corrections industry in general has had staffing issues and pointed to CoreCivic’s hiring incentives and strategies to supplement with workers from other facilities nationwide.

Last month, Department of Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada told a group of lawmakers that CoreCivic has been a “very good partner for the state” that helps “manage the population,” noting that the department has staff from CoreCivic facilities to monitor them .