A Tennessee Senate panel wants officers at a privately-run prison rocked by a 2025 riot to wear body cameras despite opposition from the state’s correction commissioner. The State and Local Government Corrections Subcommittee recommended a pilot program Tuesday for the state’s private-prison contractor, CoreCivic, to equip detention officers at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center with body cameras in an effort to protect officers and inmates and provide clearer evidence for criminal investigations. State Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson pointed out that prisons can be “extremely dangerous” because of a shortage of prison officers. “Body cameras would keep everybody honest,” Jackson said.
CoreCivic President and CEO Patrick Swindle estimated the cost of putting cameras on Trousdale Turner officers at $350,000. Senators surmised that CoreCivic was willing to pay for the hardware, but a spokesperson said afterward the company hadn’t agreed to fund the equipment, only that it would work with the state on the policies it adopts. Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, though, balked at the notion of putting body cameras on every prison officer in the state, saying it would cost $6 million for the equipment and $2 million to handle public records requests, including the expense of hiring attorneys and technology specialists to go through video frame by frame and blur people’s faces for privacy reasons. He did not have a cost estimate for a pilot project at Trousdale Turner.
Instead, Strada told lawmakers the Department of Correction is putting together a central intelligence center in Nashville with nearly 30 employees using artificial intelligence to monitor prisoners. The department’s proposed budget for fiscal 2026-27 includes $8.6 million for technology upgrades. The department also plans to spend $1.7 million to fly drones over facilities to stop contraband and phones from being smuggled into prisons. Strada raised privacy questions about video surveillance, mainly the constitutionality of having officers and inmates on video in cells, restrooms and other areas…