Trousdale Turner prison guards to turn on body cams

Prison guards at privately-run Trousdale Turner Correctional Center will start wearing body cameras Tuesday as required by a new state law designed to improve safety at the embattled facility.

The CoreCivic prison was supposed to initiate the body cams in July, but delays with the purchase of equipment postponed operations for two months, according to Republican Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville, who sponsored the bill to start the pilot program.

CoreCivic, a Brentwood-based private company that runs four prisons in Tennessee, agreed to pay more than $300,000 for the cameras and train guards to use them. They are to be turned on at all times, Hatcher said, and the Tennessee Department of Correction will review any incidents captured on video and send them to the local district attorney to determine whether cases should be prosecuted.

“We hope with these body cams we’re going to be able to catch a lot more of any events that occur because of (cameras) being right there when it happens instead of trying to use the stationary cameras in the facilities,” Hatcher said.

Security and safety of guards and staff are the primary purposes for running body cameras, Hatcher said. And once inmates see they’re being monitored by officers’ video, incidents of assaults, false allegations against guards and contraband smuggling could be reduced, he said.

Tennessee senators push for body cameras at CoreCivic prison

CoreCivic and the Department of Correction will be required to file monthly reports with the Senate corrections subcommittee on the cameras’ effectiveness. The panel also can request to see video at any time, according to Hatcher, who chairs the subcommittee and will review the incidents. 

Yet under the measure lawmakers passed this year, video recorded by prison guards at Trousdale Turner will be exempt from the Tennessee Public Records Act because of “safety concerns,” he said.

“We don’t want to give somebody outside all of the arrangements inside … and how they go and the procedures,” Hatcher said. “That’s for safety reasons.”

The pilot program is supposed to run for one year. But because of the delay in starting, the senator said he will introduce a bill next year to keep it going through December 2027.

CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin said Monday the company supports efforts to improve safety, security and accountability at the prison.

“Body-worn cameras are one of many tools that can help provide greater transparency and documentation of staff interactions and incidents within a correctional setting,” Gustin said in a statement. 

Stopping contraband from being smuggled into the prison and other prohibited activities also requires staff training, established security procedures, the use of technology and “close coordination” with the Department of Correction, Gustin said, which the company is constantly trying to improve.

Department of Correction Correction Commissioner Frank Strada supports the legislation for the body camera pilot program, according to spokesperson Dorinda Carter.

Strada, though, disagreed early this year with the idea of putting body cameras on every prison officer in the state, which he said would cost $6 million for equipment and $2 million to handle public records requests for video that isn’t exempt from the Public Records Act. 

Strada said in January the department, instead, was putting together a central intelligence center in Nashville to monitor prisoners. Carter did not answer questions about that proposal Monday.

The U.S. Department of Justice started investigating Trousdale Turner and CoreCivic in August 2024 over alleged civil rights violations, citing a record of assaults, murders and understaffing at the facility since it opened in 2016. Strada said this spring he understood the investigation was ongoing.

In June 2025, three inmates suffered minor injuries and a staff member was stabbed when inmates commandeered an inner yard at Trousdale Turner, destroyed property and refused to take orders, according to CoreCivic. 

Strada blamed the incident on prison officers instead of the company. After the incident, CoreCivic installed a new warden, increased officer pay and adopted new procedures. The state removed some 600 inmates and limited the population to inmates 50 years and older with four years or less on their sentences.

The state has levied at least $45 million in civil penalties against CoreCivic since 2022 for failing to meet contractual requirements, mainly for staffing shortfalls.