NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee lawmaker is pressing the state’s top corrections official for answers after an inmate attack at Morgan County Correctional Complex killed Correctional Officer Dustin Pedigo.
During a Senate finance committee hearing on April 1, State Sen. Ken Yager sharply criticized Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, saying warning signs were missed or ignored before Pedigo was ambushed and killed on Feb. 24, WBIR reports.
“This is a very, very serious matter that tells me somebody’s not doing their job,” Yager said during the hearing.
Pedigo, 35, was conducting a late-night lock check at the Wartburg prison when inmate Reginald Steed allegedly opened his cell door and attacked him with a homemade weapon, according to court documents obtained by WBIR. Pedigo suffered eight stab wounds, including a fatal wound to the carotid artery. He later died at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, the documents state.
Yager told lawmakers the attack could have been prevented.
He pointed to multiple issues inside the facility, including a known flaw in the prison’s electronic locking system that inmates were reportedly able to manipulate with paper to open cell doors.
“Astonishingly, the inmates could jimmy those locks with pieces of paper and open these doors and manage to have ingress and egress of the general areas of these pods,” Yager said.
The senator also said Steed had made repeated verbal and written threats before the attack. According to Yager, those threats included letters sent to Strada, statements made to other inmates and phone calls to family members that were recorded by the department.
Yager said correctional officers had also raised concerns before Pedigo’s death and asked that additional padlocks be installed on cell doors.
“I believe the padlocks were available to you guys, but nothing was done until after the murder,” he said.
Strada, who opened his budget presentation with a tribute to Pedigo, called the killing tragic.
“I can’t apologize to the family enough,” Strada said.
Strada told lawmakers the issue with the prison’s “narrow jam” locks had existed long before he became commissioner. Replacing the locks has been an ongoing project for more than a decade, he said, with Morgan County last on the list for repairs.
“Morgan County happened to be last on that list,” Strada said.
Strada also said he was not aware of Steed’s threatening phone calls until after the attack. Given the volume of inmate calls across the prison system, he said, it is difficult to catch every concerning conversation. He added that stronger security measures and better monitoring could help identify warning signs earlier.
The department has since been working with fire marshal officials to secure a waiver allowing individual padlocks on cell doors, a move Strada said would help prevent inmates from forcing doors open.
TDOC is still investigating what happened the night Pedigo was killed. At the time of the attack, Pedigo was checking locks alone around 11 p.m., while other staff were assigned elsewhere.
Yager said he plans to keep pressing for answers and suggested correctional officers could be called to testify before lawmakers if needed.
He also argued that the department’s bureaucracy has made it harder for wardens and staff to raise concerns directly with leadership. Strada pushed back on that characterization, saying he keeps open communication with wardens and regularly holds town halls with prison personnel.
Steed, 35, had been serving a 27-year sentence at Morgan County Correctional Complex, WBIR reports. Following Pedigo’s death, he was transferred to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
District Attorney General Russell Johnson has said the case against Steed will be presented to a grand jury once the investigation is complete. The next grand jury is scheduled to meet in May.
