Tennessee’s County Jails Are Plagued by Overcrowding and Underfunding

Hamblen County Sheriff Esco Jarnagin

Inmates sleeping on floors, lax security, mold and more — it’s hard times at some county jails around the state, which are plagued by overcrowding and underfunding. 

According to required annual Tennessee Corrections Institute reports obtained by public records requests, local correctional facilities in Hamblen, Cocke, Pickett and Cannon counties failed their annual checkups from the state agency. 

At the Hamblen County Jail, for example, inmates and staff are subjected to “what appears to be a continuous mold/mildew problem.” Male and female inmates are not separated by sight, sound or physical contact. Neither are minimum-, medium- and maximum-security inmates. Inmates control the light switches in the cell areas, creating a security issue when “officers have to enter areas with very little lighting and direct the inmates to turn on the lights.” 

Security is further compromised, the state found, because no one is consistently documenting who has completed searches on new inmates, staffers were not running criminal history checks on new inmates, keys and shackles are not documented on a consistent basis, and inmates are not being supervised when using tools. Flammable items and other “dangerous supplies” are not locked in a secure area. Neither full head counts nor proper suicide checks were completed on a consistent basis. 

The list goes on: cockroaches, no hot water, “a strong unidentified odor.” Facility staffers use the restraint chair in more than just “extreme instances.” Staffers were apparently aware of some of the jail deficiencies, as they reportedly moved inmates from an unsecured area to an authorized housing area in the middle of the state inspection.

Neither the state nor Hamblen County Sheriff Esco Jarnagin blame the people who run the facility. Instead, it’s “inadequate staffing levels” and an “antiquated and overcrowded facility.” Jarnagin has been crusading against the county commissioners whom he accuses of ignoring the problem. 

“They were advised of the horrible conditions that the inmates and employees are exposed to daily,” Jarnagin wrote in a recent Facebook post. “Because my complaints and concerns were never acknowledged, we are now in a serious crisis.”

According to the sheriff, the state fire marshal warned that the jail could be shuttered if conditions did not improve. The Tennessee Corrections Institute has no power to close jails. (Update: The state disputes the sheriff's account. A spokesperson acknowledged the problems at the jail but said they did not threaten to close the facility.)

“The governing body was warned for more than 13 years that the serious and dangerous jail problems had to be addressed immediately, but I was ignored,” Jarnagin wrote. Neither the sheriff nor a number of commissioners could be reached for further comment. “Team HCSD will continue to work tirelessly to help solve this problem. … We will continue to do the best we can with what we have.”

Though Davidson County facilities have failed state inspections in recent years, 2019 saw issues concentrated in rural jails. (TCI does not inspect state or federal facilities.) 

Next door to Hamblen County east of Knoxville, the Cocke County Jail has similar challenges related to overcrowding, underfunding and an “outdated and antiquated facility,” the state found. As in Hamblen County, jail staff members were not completing criminal histories on inmates before placing them in the general population. Five or fewer officers were managing two Cocke County facilities, “resulting in decreased safety and security.” 

Inmates at the Cocke County Jail were placed on the floor, and the overcrowding led to a rise in inmate assaults, the state found. The TCI “strongly recommended” that the county commission fund additional staff at the jail, not to mention take steps to update the “deteriorating” buildings. 

Even with the increased scrutiny, a new Hamblen County Jail is not expected to be completed until 2022, and even that is not guaranteed. At a recent county commission meeting, some members complained of the “sticker shock” associated with a proposed 34-cent property tax increase to pay for the new facility and its operations. 

“When we vote on it, this courtroom will be packed,” county commission Chairman Howard Shipley said, according to the daily Citizen Tribune. “They may put us on a rail and ride us out of town.”

Sure enough, the Citizen Tribune reported that at a later meeting, county residents voiced angry opposition to increasing taxes to pay for the new jail. 

“If you want to keep your jobs, you better listen to us,” one said to cheers.