NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield says the department will look into changing the way it reports assaults and the way it schedules workers — both issues that critics say have led to increasing violence in state prisons.
Schofield spoke Wednesday to the Senate Corrections Subcommittee. He was responding to recommendations in a recent audit of state prisons.
Schofield said the department will survey prison workers about the 28-day work schedule that critics blame for a spiking turnover rate that has left some facilities short staffed.
The department also will review its disciplinary codes. Currently an assault on staff where no one is injured is classified as "staff-inmate provocation," which is considered a nonviolent offense.