AP Newsbreak: Tennessee's new prison stops taking inmates

State corrections officials and the private prisons operator Corrections Corporation of America confirmed to the AP that the Trousdale Turner Correctional Facility halted new admissions two weeks ago, leaving the 2500-inmate prison about two-thirds full.

The memo — obtained by the AP through an open records request for public documents about the taxpayer-funded facility — says the guards were not in control of the housing units, were not counting inmates correctly, and were putting inmates in solitary confinement for no documented reason.

Regarding solitary confinement, Howerton writes, "We still have inmates being place in segregation with ... no explanation as to why they were ever placed in segregation."

Prison officials say segregated housing is not really solitary confinement because segregated prisoners can be housed with a roommate and have contact with staff, but critics say the conditions are similar, with inmates confined in isolated cells, often for 23 hours a day, with limited human interaction.

Nashville-based CCA is the nation's largest private prison provider, operating 84 facilities nationwide housing about 70,000 inmates.

Parker referred specific questions about staffing to CCA, but the private company refused to provide any records about staffing levels at the prison, despite being subject to Tennessee's public records law, just like a state agency.