Metro takeover, new uses floated for Tennessee State Prison

From the outside, it looks more like a castle than a modern-day prison. And the fortresslike facility stands out just as prominently as ever from Centennial Boulevard in West Nashville.

But the Tennessee State Prison — built in 1898 during the tail end of the Gilded Age and last used as a state penitentiary in 1992 — is deteriorating.

Asbestos made the historic main entry of the Gothic-style facility off-limits four years ago. Its front door is padlocked shut. Paint chips have piled up on the floors of cell blocks.

Meanwhile, the prison — where Hollywood movies such as “The Green Mile,” “The Last Castle” and “Walk the Line” were once filmed — can only be used for exterior shots today because of its condition. As a result, movie production and photo shoots at the prison have declined.

Historic preservationists, though, have long pushed to save the old prison. And now, newly elected Metro Councilwoman Mary Carolyn Roberts, whose district includes the prison, is hoping to jump-start talks about Metro Nashville perhaps one day acquiring the 120-acre property from the state.

Her idea: Restore the historic portion of the building and bring in a private entity to renovate the rest of the facility for a range of new potential uses.

At her request, the Tennessee Department of Correction — which has a limited presence at the prison and does not offer public access — last week opened the prison to her and other council members for a tour. Those who took part were council members Jeremy Elrod, Mina Johnson, Kathleen Murphy and John Cooper, as well as Metro Historical Commission Executive Director Tim Walker and Joseph Woodson, the mayor’s office's new liaison to the council.

As a model for what she has in mind, Roberts points to the former Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Morgan County in East Tennessee, which is now slated to become a new tourist destination, anchored by a moonshine distillery with a museum, prison tours, an RV park and music festival. Its transformation began with the state transferring the property to Morgan County before the privately led Brushy Mountain Group signed on as the developer.

She believes a similar project could work here — perhaps an artist co-op to feed Nashville’s thriving creative class — if a new entity can take over ownership of the prison.

“It just makes so much sense to utilize this,” Roberts said. “There are places like Brushy Mountain that are actually using their prison as tours and for all kinds of different things. I just think it would be a real shame if we look up and we don’t do something to save it.

“It’s just a gem waiting,” she said, arguing that if the state were interested in preserving the prison it would have done so by now. “I’m hoping that we can turn it into something that would be useful for Nashville.”

But her efforts are very preliminary. The cost of what would be a potentially complicated project is unclear. So is the overriding question of whether the state would agree to part ways with the property. It hasn't been willing in the past. And a property acquisition is not on the radar of Nashville Mayor Megan Barry either.

6 things you may not know about Tennessee State Prison

Barry spokesman Sean Braisted said that Woodson, the mayor’s office aide, toured the state prison simply at the invitation of Roberts.

"While the mayor is always open to hearing proposals about how properties can be used to benefit the citizens of Davidson County, there are currently no plans for Metro to acquire the Tennessee State Prison facility," Braisted said in a written statement.

Although the Tennessee State Prison was last used as a penitentiary in 1992, the state Department of Correction still uses parts of the facility for storage as well as the headquarters for its Investigations and Compliance division and as a training site for its Strike Force unit. The Metro Nashville Police Department uses one wing of the facility each year to house Christmas baskets for needy families.

Built in 1898 near the Cumberland River, the Tennessee State Prison is made of Tennessee limestone, brick and concrete, among other materials, and was designed by Samuel McClung Patton, a prominent architect at the time from Chattanooga. The campus includes multiple cell blocks that extend from the front entrance, which was used for administrative offices, as well as a separate building that housed inmates on death row, a chapel, dining hall and health clinic.

During its period as a penitentiary, the Tennessee State Prison had an electric chair for executions. Its most well-known inmate was James Earl Ray, who was convicted for the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.

The prison — which at one time housed more than 1,900 inmates — was forced to close in the early 1990s after a well-documented federal lawsuit and subsequent court ruling that found Tennessee’s prisons to be overcrowded and unable to meet adequate living conditions. It was replaced by Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Cockrill Bend Boulevard in Nashville.

Since the Tennessee State Prison's closure, new redevelopment possibilities have been floated, but nothing has gained traction.

In 2013, the state building commission set aside $800,000 to hire an architect to create a new master plan to explore new development options, including moving the Department of Correction’s headquarters to the old prison. But all master planning on the property halted after it was determined that a department headquarters wouldn’t work on that site, according to David Roberson, Tennessee General Services communications director.

He said the state does not have any long-term development plans for the Tennessee State Prison site and suggested that selling the property could eventually be an option.

"If the state does not identify potential agency uses for the Tennessee State Prison site, it is likely we would seek permission from the state historical commission to sell the property in its current condition," Roberson said.

Also in 2013, businessman Dortch Oldham Jr. and partner Tom Baldridge offered the state $5 million for the site in hopes of moving forward with a proposal to turn the property into an education, entertainment and museum campus. State officials at the time said they were not ready to sell.

Today, Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman Neysa Taylor said the department “is still exploring different options” for the old prison site.

The Tennessee State Prison is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In the past, the prison has been listed among Historic Nashville Inc.’s annual list of nine historic properties threatened by neglect or demolition. Three years ago, a group called the Tennessee State Prison Historical Society organized to push for its preservation.

Walker, the Metro Historical Commission’s executive director, said the prison has potential for a “huge mixed-use property” and said he hopes that Metro might be able to step up. He expressed hope that the Brushy Mountain prison project could open the door for that type of transaction in Nashville. Though the condition of the prison has worsened, Walker said the prison can still be preserved.

He said its renovation would require multiple players working together but that possibilities are endless.

“It’s a lot of space and it has some challenges, but it also has great potential and it is a great part of our city’s history and legacy,” Walker said. “Certainly, because of that, it’s going to make it an attractive site for a lot of potential tenants.

“I think we shouldn’t close our mind to anything,” he said. “I think there are a number of models out there for large sites that have similar issues.”

Staff writer Nate Rau contributed to this story. 

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.