In our 5th installment of the ‘Party In Prison’ investigation, we hope to provide some insight into how guards/correctional officers, who are not state of Tennessee employees, have direct access to inmates in TN State prisons, and have direct links to current inmates on social media – often even the first person that is ‘friended’ on brand new social media accounts when they are created on a newly acquired cell phone by an inmate. Let’s look at an example, and you can decide if hiring 3rd party contractors to act…
Tag: party in prison
Party In Prison IV: Friends in High Places – Guards as Friends on Social Media
When we received a tip about an inmate posting on social media from within prison, we had no idea how far reaching the issue still was, especially after WSMV’s statewide investigation that began 4 years prior, and still continues. Today, we continue the series, with Part IV – Friends in High Places. While we expected to find inmates talking to each other on social media, and friends on those accounts, what we did not expect to find was state employees and Tennessee Department of Correction prison guards and third-party contractors…
Party in Prison III: Inmate Kortavious Carwell Issues Challenge with Two New Cell Phones
Hours after we published an article last week that included TDOC Inmate Kortavious Carwell’s cell phone and social media activity from behind prison walls, he was back on social media, with a brand new account, with TWO cell phones, a live stream from NWCX, and a link to an unexpected Facebook Friend – a G4S Guard/Correctional Officer, who is a 3rd Party Contractor used to help staff prisons. We’ll cover more on that link in Part IV of our investigation where we have uncovered multiple guards are friends with multiple…
Party in Prison II: TDOC Inmates with Cellphones, Drugs, Videos & Social Media
Part II of our Party in Prison series, we travel to another TDOC facility, located in Tiptonville. While we realize this is far outside our normal Nashville coverage, we can’t ignore the things we found. Northwest Correctional Complex (NWCX) houses over 2300 of the states medium-security inmates, under Warden Mike Parris. Our initial investigation began as a tip of a East Nashville inmate who was posting from within prison, from there we were able to link to not only other inmates at Riverbend Prison in Nashville, but MGCC and NWCX,…
T.D.OC. Inmates on Social Media from Prison (Again): Meet Lance Matlock & Brandon Watson
After years of inmates in Tennessee’s prison systems using cell phones that are smuggled into the institutions to post on social media, contact people on the outside, and even other prisoners, the state has appointed a ‘Chief Interdiction Officer’ within the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), and appointed Lee Dotson to the post. He began his new role on April 1, 2017, and in the weeks since, he has launched a PR campaign that would appear he’s successful, but is he? We’ve found that cell phones have only gotten cheaper…