During the final weekends of 2025, instead of shooting hoops in the gym, writing in the library or playing cards or dominoes in the dayroom, the men at my prison sat in their cells and mostly watched TV — if they had one. 

That was a result of recurring lockdowns spurred by a streak of short-staffing that, to my recollection, was unprecedented over the four years I’ve been incarcerated at Bledsoe County Correctional Complex, in Tennessee.

Despite $5,000 signing bonuses and increased salaries ($51,000 to $60,000 after 18 months on the job), the Tennessee Department of Corrections continues to struggle to recruit and retain guards. The state prison system’s staff vacancy rate has hovered around or even well above 20% in the last couple years, according to state data. 

On Oct. 2, 2025, ABC News Channel 9 reported there were 43 vacant guard positions at the prison where I’m incarcerated. Due to staff shortages the facility has been implementing part-day or all-day lockdowns on a regular basis since mid-August — mainly on weekends. 

Such lockdowns are more than a temporary inconvenience; they deprive prisoners of recreation time, library and law library access, and video visitation. For those able to work jobs during the week, being confined to their cells on weekends robs them of what little “free” time they have.

“It sucks to work all week, then the weekend comes and you’re locked down,” Carl H. said. 

“The ongoing lockdowns are an insult to the guys who work,” added another prisoner who, fearing retaliation for criticizing the department, asked to remain anonymous. “TDOC’s inability to properly staff its facilities isn’t our fault, but we have to pay the price.”

The Tennessee Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment from a Prison Journalism Project editor.

Lockdowns during football?

Some prisoners have noted that the lockdowns often correlate with college and professional football teams in Tennessee. There are no dayroom TVs at Bledsoe, and most staff members are not allowed to carry cellphones on the job. So there’s little opportunity for guards to get their football fix at work. If they want to watch a game closely, they have to be somewhere else.

Of course, weekends are a time of leisure for many people, and viewed as a more valuable time to have off work. But lockdowns occurring at the same time as our state’s college and professional football games made us wonder: Are the staff shortages less about vacant, unfilled positions and more about guards taking time off to watch their favorite teams play? 

The Southeastern Conference season — which includes Vanderbilt and Tennessee — began on Aug. 30 and the NFL season started five days later. From Aug. 30 through Dec. 6 there were 25 all- or part-day lockdowns at Bledsoe Site 1; of those, 16, or around 64%, coincided with games involving Tennessee teams (see sidebar). 

Since the football season ended on Feb. 8, we’ve had seven lockdowns (Feb. 9, Feb. 21, March 7 and 8, March 11 and 12 and March 14) as of writing this story on March 18. Four of those lockdowns occurred on weekends.

Lockdowns affect staff too

A fellow prisoner nicknamed Too-Tall, for obvious reasons, said that lockdowns caused by short-staffing not only affect the prison population, but also affect the staff who must work overtime or double shifts to make up for their missing colleagues.

“That creates strain and burden on the staff who do come to work every day,” he said. “That abuses the ones who do show up.”

Whatever the reason for the staff shortages, the resulting lockdowns have led to anger and frustration among the prison workers at Bledsoe. And while lockdowns are an expected part of prison life, the notion that they may be caused by staff taking time off to watch football has led to resentment.

“This really makes you think,” Abdullah Nafi Muhammad said. “If they have enough staff to consistently run the prison during the week, then why are there shortages on Saturday and Sunday? Are guards taking weekends off for personal reasons, and if that’s the case, why isn’t anyone holding them accountable?”