Correction facility authorities deny sheriff access after brawl
By Trevor Aaronson
The Commercial Appeal
SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — A bloody melee among 20 inmates at the Shelby County Correction Center ended with a scrubbed crime scene and two county agencies locked in turf war.
It all began Thursday evening when a large brawl erupted in one of the correctional facility’s buildings. Four inmates were transported to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Three suffered puncture wounds, including to the back and head, and one had an “X” carved in his back.
Two investigators with the Sheriff’s Office went to the Corrections Center at 8 p.m. in response to an aggravated assault call from Walter Crews, deputy director of the county Division of Corrections, records show.
But when the investigators arrived at the facility at 1045 Mullins Station, corrections staff would not allow them inside the building.
After two hours passed, Sheriff Mark Luttrell called Andrew Taber, director of the Division of Corrections, at his home.
“I emphasized to him it was a criminal investigation that needed to be conducted, and he finally allowed us in,” Luttrell said.
By then, though, it was too late for Luttrell’s staff.
According to an incident report from the Sheriff’s Office, corrections personnel cleaned the area of blood and clothes before investigators could gain access. All inmates were placed back in their cells and one of the inmates involved in the fight was downstairs taking a shower. Corrections personnel had already collected pieces of Plexiglass - the apparent weapons used - and placed them in two bags.
“Once we had entered the area, the crime scene had been cleaned,” Luttrell said. “That certainly impedes the progress of an investigation, but we’re investigating with the evidence we have.”
Among the inmates injured were Michael Wolfe and Chris Hughes, both 23, and Jemario Askey, Christian Taylor and Justin Cannon, all 20.
Those treated at The Med were returned to the correction center later Thursday evening.
The center, which houses state felons, is administered by the Division of Corrections as part of County Mayor AC Wharton’s administration. The facility averages 2,700 inmates at any given time.
Although the Sheriff’s Office has no authority over internal workings at the correctional facility, it is charged with investigating crimes that occur there.
Taber said the fight was a minor incident in which the Sheriff’s Office did not need to be involved.
“Fights, assaults - we handle those internally,” Taber said. “When the Sheriff’s Office made the scene, we had already started putting people in the ambulances.
“I’ve been through three riots,” Taber continued, “and in this case there was no staff assaulted, involved or hurt. There was no damage to county property at all. There was no fire set. At this point, we know it’s gang-related, something going on between the Crips and Vice Lords. What you see in prison is a microcosm of what’s going on in the streets.”
A former prison warden, Luttrell didn’t dismiss the fight - which was recorded on video - as simply another example of prison violence. A crime may have been committed, he said, and his staff didn’t have a full opportunity to investigate.
“One of the protocols you establish in a prison or a jail is that you have an acknowledgment that there are crimes committed in those facilities and you need to take exceptional measures to make sure that the crime scene is preserved,” Luttrell said.
“In this case, that didn’t happen. It’s unfortunate.”
Copyright 2008 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.