Update On The MCCX Staff Assault

On Tuesday morning, there was an incident involving an assault on an officer at the Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX).  The incident took place in a minimum security zone.  The officer stopped the inmate Aaron Tate for corrective action when Tate struck the officer.  Other staff immediately responded to assist the officer.  The officer was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

While the investigation is on-going, it appears that Tate was attempting to conceal contraband and has been charged with the disciplinary offense of assault on an officer.  As always, our Office of Investigation and Compliance will investigate the incident and upon completion of the investigation submit their findings to the local District Attorney for prosecution.

It must be noted that attempts to link an assault at Morgan County Correctional Complex to staffing shortages are erroneous and misguided.  Morgan County Correctional Complex has one of the most stable workforce populations of any of our TDOC properties. While there are inherent risks in this field, any assault against a member of our staff will not be tolerated.  The Department is constantly researching and implementing best practices to make our staff, inmate population and the community safer.  These best practices have led to a 43% reduction in staff assaults since FY10.