Love-Hate Mail

Prison detailRegarding the Scene’s cover story on CCA, “Locked and Loaded” (June 19), when it comes to prisons—particularly private prisons—the devil’s in the details. While the article was informative and wide-ranging, it missed some important details, including these:

It wasn’t clear that there was a cover up of the assault on inmate James Ingram at CCA’s Hardeman County facility. The assault by Warden Turner occurred on May 17, 2007, but the Tennessee Department of Correction wasn’t notified until July 19—two months later. Nor were they notified by CCA; they learned about the incident from Ingram’s attorney. CCA staff had tried to hide the incident from state officials.

CCA employees apparently have problems following the law. From February 2003 to April 2008, at least 55 CCA employees at three prisons in Tennessee (Hardeman County, Whiteville and South Central) were charged with criminal offenses—or an average of one a month. That doesn’t include arrests of CCA staff members at the company’s 62 other facilities.

Gerald Townsend, the inmate at the CCA-Metro facility who was beaten to death by his cellmate in January, was the brother of Judy Townsend—who, ironically, was present at the same CCA-run facility in July 2004 when Estelle Richardson was found “unresponsive” in her segregation cell and later died. Four CCA guards were indicted in connection with her death, but the charges were later dropped. A $35,000 reward has been offered for information related to Estelle’s murder: See whokilledestelle.org.Alex FriedmannVice President, Private Corrections Institute (and former CCA prisoner)stein919@gmail.com (Antioch)

AmenYour article giving an overview of the SBC’s latest debacle of a decision on the establishment (or lack thereof) of a sexual offender database was excellent (“Save Yourselves,” June 19). Keep writing these very open and revealing articles and be a beacon of light for those who would otherwise not have a clue as to what the truth is. Thank you! We appreciate your hard work and persistence.JoAnne McLainjomclain@aol.com (Marietta, S.C.)

Boobaroo?The pics from Bonnaroo were stupendous (nashvillescene.com slideshows)! Thanks, but I am confused. Were there no men, only women? Otherwise, why would you have only posted women of Bonnaroo?

Thanks for putting the Scene out all these years. I have been an avid reader since 1989, happily going from print to online when I moved away from the Metro area.Margaret Andersonmanderson@columbiastate.edu (Columbia, Tenn.)