Riverbend Maximum Security Institution

The Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (RMSI) is a prison in Nashville, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. The prison opened in 1989 and replaced its 100-year-old neighbor, the Tennessee State Penitentiary. RMSI, which is made up by 20 different buildings, sits on 132 acres (0.53 km²) located off Cockrill Bend Boulevard in Nashville, TN. Riverbend's designated capacity is 714 offenders. Of that number, 480 are classified as high risk.

The prison's overall mission is to ensure the safety of the public, departmental employees and inmates by managing high-risk male offenders. Warden Heidle oversees a staff of nearly 400 people, including administrative workers, correctional officers, unit managers and medical personnel.

Education programs at the prison include GED and Adult Basic Education. There are also vocational classes available for printing, commercial cleaning, industrial maintenance, cabinet making/millwork and computer information systems. TRICOR, the prison industry, also manages a data entry plant and print shop at the prison. Inmates not involved in academic vocation, or industry programs are required to work in support service roles throughout the facility.

Most male death row prisoners live at Riverbend.^[1] The State's Electric Chair & Lethal Injection gurney are located at Riverbend. On September 12, 2007 at 1:00 am, Daryl Holton was executed in the Electric Chair. This was the first execution by the Electric Chair in Tennessee since 1960.

Notable prisoners

• Sedley Alley, convicted rapist and murderer, was executed there by lethal injection on June 28, 2006 .
• Lemaricus Davidson, sentenced to death October, 30 2009 for the 2007 kidnapping, rape, torture and murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.^[2][3]
• Daryl Holton, a convicted child murderer executed September 12, 2007.
• Stephen Lynn Hugueley, sentenced to death on September 16, 2003, for the prison murder of a counselor employed by the state.^[4][5]
• Paul Dennis Reid, convicted murderer of seven; Reid's execution date was set for April 29, 2003, but just before being taken to the execution chamber, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Paul Reid's execution on reasoning that Reid was mentally ill. Executions scheduled for June 2006 and January 2008 were also stayed. Reid died of natural causes in 2013 while still awaiting execution.
• Philip Workman, a convicted murderer executed May 9, 2007.
• Bruce Mendenhall - Convicted murderer and suspected serial killer. Although only found guilty for the murder of Sara Hulbert of Tennessee on June 26, 2007, he has subsequently been charged for three more murders. He is still under investigation for murders in five other states. If found guilty for the other killings he faces the death penalty.

References

External links

• Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Tennessee Dept. of Corrections
• Death Row Offenders, Tennessee Dept. of Corrections