Rutherford County Jail Decertified

MURFREESBORO, TN — Continuing a year of bad headlines for the county's sheriff's department, the Rutherford County Jail lost its certification Wednesday morning.

The Tennessee Corrections Institute Board of Control voted to decertify the jail, which is run by the sheriff's department, after it failed two inspections.

During a September inspection by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, fire alarms in the kitchen were found to be deficient and only two officers were found to be supervising and managing around 200 female inmates. Those deficiencies were corrected by the time of a November follow-up, but one deficiency remained. The restraint chair in the booking room was not being checked within a 15-minute standard nor were suicide watches. The TCI, which certifies the state's jails, recommends 4 to 5 of the new 12 officers be assigned to the booking room to help meet the standard.

Decertification can lead to increased insurance costs, potential federal litigation by inmates, immediate loss of any pending governmental contracts, and the mandatory loss for all annual TCI-required basic and in-service training for correctional employees.

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