COCKE JAIL HAS SEVERE PROBLEMS, OFFICIALS SAY

NEWPORT, Tenn. - The Cocke County Jail is overcrowded, short on funds and
riddled with allegations that inmates receive inadequate medical care and
have easy access to illegal drugs. It has also been decertified by state
inspectors and has been the target of numerous lawsuits filed by past
employees and inmates, at least one of which recently led to an
out-of-court settlement, according to officials and U.S. District Court
records.

In fact, the problems at the jail were so severe only a month ago that a
local judge shut down the county's trusty program, which had allowed
prisoners with good disciplinary records to help operate the facility and
to work outside the walls.

"In effect, illegal drugs and narcotics have found a safe haven in our
jail," according to a Dec. 13 opinion issued by Cocke County Circuit Court
Judge Ben Hooper II.

The opinion also stated that 70 percent of trustys had tested positive for
marijuana and opiates.

Roy Nixon, executive director of the Tennessee Corrections Institute, said
Wednesday that the number of trustys testing positive for drugs was "really
high."

"I would venture to say that not many jails in the state don't have a drug
problem, but that is extremely high," he said. "That's a security problem
in the jail."

Nixon's staff is responsible for inspecting each of Tennessee's 95 county
jails on an annual basis and certifying them if they meet nationally
recognized standards.

Most jails that fail their inspections suffer from a lack of funding, he said.

"A number of counties have an older jail that can't meet the criteria, and
there's just nothing they can do about it unless the county fathers build a
new facility or do drastic renovations," Nixon said.

After last year's inspection, TCI refused to certify Cocke County's jail
because of overcrowding, a complete lack of medical training for jailers
and prisoners who lacked "sheets, blankets and undergarments," according to
Nixon.

The jail has an official capacity of 72 inmates, but on the date of its
last inspection 90 inmates were housed in the facility. The jail's daily
average is 110 prisoners, Nixon said.

On the other hand, the jail has a "pretty good" level of staffing, and
improvements are being made, he said.

"If a jail is decertified, there's nothing in the law that gives us any
teeth to enforce," Nixon explained. "But a real negative to not being
certified is lawsuits. If you're trying to deal with an inmate lawsuit and
you've got a decertified jail, then you've got major problems walking
through the courtroom door."

Last week, Cocke County settled a federal lawsuit filed by an inmate who
claimed he suffered permanent damage to his right eye after being
pepper-sprayed by sheriff's deputies during his arrest on March 6, 1999.
Chad Edward Smith claimed he was denied proper medical treatment after he
was booked into the jail. He sued for $400,000 in punitive and compensatory
damages.

During a pre-trial deposition, Sheriff D.C. Ramsey testified that "he had
no idea what training the jailers had with respect to giving medical
attention to inmates of the Cocke County Jail, and further testified he had
no idea who gave the training regarding medical treatment," court records show.

The case was settled Jan. 24, but details of the settlement were
unavailable Wednesday because they had not yet been filed in court,
according to the U.S. District Court clerk's office in Greeneville.

Another lawsuit was filed in 2000 by Robert Sheldon, a former jail
administrator who claimed Ramsey, Sheriff's Department spokesman Michael
McCarter and Chief Deputy Pat Taylor had conspired to fire him "without any
just cause."

In his court filings, Sheldon contended the three defendants wished to fire
him "based upon their desire to have a less qualified, less experienced and
less competent individual working as jail administrator."

Sheldon said that unqualified prisoners were allowed to serve as trustys,
"thus having full access to the entire (jail) and, possibly, introducing
said contraband including illegal drugs."

Also, he said that a different administrator might have taken steps "to
prohibit inmates, including said unqualified trustys, from taking a female
jailer's car keys and going to a local bar in Cocke County while such
inmates should rightfully be serving their proper criminal sentence."

He also alleged that inmates' files - including medical records - had been
taken from the jail along with incident reports detailing physical abuse of
inmates.

Sheldon's lawsuit was dismissed Jan. 11 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hull,
who ruled Sheldon was an "exempt, at-will employee" not covered by civil
service regulations.

Despite repeated attempts to contact them, no Sheriff's Department
officials could be reached for comment.